The Odds of Lightning by Jocelyn Davies Read Free Book Online Page B

emergency.
    There was no sign of Josh.
    â€œLu . . . ,” Tiny whispered.
    â€œDon’t worry,” Lu said before she could even hear the rest. She linked a reassuring arm through Tiny’s, and smiled grimly. “We’ll be fine.”
    Outside the living room window, lightning flashed bright across the sky.
    One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three—
    Thunder rumbled ominously.
    â€œNathaniel!” Lu cried like a war general. “Onward to the drinks!”
    â€œYou’re still very bossy,” Nathaniel said. Tiny snorted. Lu frowned. Nathaniel pulled the sleeves of his sweater down over his hands. “They’re in the kitchen,” he said. Tiny noticed the tips of his ears were red. “This way.”
    Lu unlinked her arm from Tiny’s and followed Nathaniel through the swinging door, but Tiny paused. Her heartbeat sped up. She wanted to tell Lu to stop, that she just wanted to go home. She felt awkward in Lu’s crop top and cut-offs, and what if she really did see Josh? It’s not like she was actually going to talk to him. She was beginning to think this whole night was a terrible mistake. She should have just stayed home.
    But she forced herself to push through the kitchen door behind them.
    She hated herself for being so nervous, for losing herself so completely in the wanting that she wasn’t even sure what it was she wanted.
    Lu immediately marched up to the bar table and began pouring some kind of mixture of vodka and lemonade, while Nathaniel hovered by the wall between the door and the table. Tiny watched as people milled around the edges of the kitchen in small clusters, brushing up against the chrome refrigerator, the marble countertops, the shelves of expensive-looking copper pots and pans. It looked like the kind of kitchen that was more for show than for actually cooking in. All of the appliances looked spotless. Like a movie set.
    She reminded herself that she wanted this. She had needed to go out tonight; she had agreed to it. If she’d stayed at home, she would have melted into that puddle of water on the floor, and no one would ever have seen her again.
    â€œHere.” Lu broke into her thoughts by shoving a red cup in her face. Tiny was still feeling woozy from the courage shots they took before they’d left her apartment, but when it came to Lu, she had to pick her battles.
    So, she drank. She drank and drank because she didn’t know what else she should do. Then she grabbed Lu’s cup and drank that down too. She didn’t taste a thing.
    Lu’s mouth hung open.
    â€œWhoa,” she said. “There was a lot of vodka in there.” She eyed Tiny carefully. “Are you okay?”
    â€œFine,” Tiny said, her smile bright and her speech only slightly slurred.
    â€œDo you want some water?”
    â€œYes,” Tiny said. “I love water.”
    â€œOoookay.”
    The tap was running. A new red plastic cup was shoved into her hands. The water was cold and tasted slightly like lemonade.
    â€œSorry,” said Lu. “There were no clean ones left.”
    Tiny shook her head. “It’s okay. It’s fine.” The room tilted on its side, then righted itself. She blinked. She was going to be brave tonight. She was.
    â€œReady?” Without waiting for a response, Lu turned and pushed her way back through the swinging kitchen door.
    Tiny sighed. She wondered where she would be without Lu and her what ifs , but sometimes that also came along with some impossible expectations.
    She turned to follow—everything swaying sort of imperceptibly—but as she did, the swinging door smacked into her from the other side.
    â€œOw,” said Tiny. “Hey!”
    â€œOh shit,” a voice said at the same time. “I’m so sorry. I—”
    Tiny looked up and then realized she was staring, her mouth open, at Josh. His black, black hair, his dark brown eyes. Those broody eyebrows.