ANYTHING BUT ENEMIES

05. phone problems

I've just stepped out of the shower and changed when I hear the door outside the bathroom let out a squeal. A light knock hits the door as I slide on a headband.

"Hey, Cleo, that you?"

"Nah, it's Slenderman," I call back to Ruby, grin already splitting across my face before I can even throw open the door.

She's smiling too—infectiously, at that—before taking my surprise attack hug like a champ.

"This! Is! So! Cool!" Her words bounce higher the tighter I squeeze.

"I know!" Bats can probably decipher my squealed response.

Ruby pulls back, hands looping around my forearms before her smile morphs into a straight line with a raised brow. "Now, what happened to your phone?"

"Ah, about that."

She moves with me as I leave the hallway to snatch the device from my bag before holding it up.

Red lips pop open in response. "Damn, Cleo. You destroyed that thing."

I snort, holding up a finger. "Okay, but it wasn't entirely my fault."

"Do tell." She flips the grocery bag in her hands upside down over one of the beds, and I feel my mouth water as my eyes cross over the varied selection of candy, chips, and drinks. "I just bought a bunch of shit since I wasn't sure what you'd like."

"A woman after my own heart."

She puckers her lips to blow me an air kiss before beginning to sort the food into orderly piles. "Spill. Now."

"It's nothing major. I just ran into some guy at the airport and dropped it." I conveniently leave out the fact that said guy is my newfound worst enemy whom I hadn't seen in a month and would really like to kill one day.

"Dropped it or completely decimated it?"

"Hey," I say, eyes rolling before falling backwards into stiff linen. "Once again—not entirely my fault."

She's straight stuffing Nutella into her mouth with a spoon from the jar when I open an eye to meet her gaze. "Nothing to say to that, Miss Tanaka?"

In response, a bag of cheddar popcorn hits me in the face. "I'll look up a phone repair place."

"Thanks, babe."

"I'm gonna tell Ashley that you were flirting with me."

I pretend to throw up. "Ugh, you and your perfect girlfriend. Ashley this, Ashley that."

A bag of chips nails me in the face, and I throw it back at her this time, snorting when it pops her in the eye. "Behave, heathen."

"Why are you attacking the one person trying to help you out?"

I quickly snatch the bag back, sitting up to pat her on the head. "My bad. Please continue doing your research."

"Bitch."

A snicker leaves my mouth as I crack open the popcorn bag, popping a cheddar cloud into my mouth and humming in appreciation. "So this is all really happening, not a dream."

Ruby doesn't look up from her phone, nodding as her finger continues coasting down the map. "Seems so."

"And you're a real person, not just a figment of my imagination."

That makes her look up for a second, lips twitching. "I mean, I sure hope so."

My arm pumps up twice. "Now that's what I call a win."