Tightrope

Woody Boy

"Clearly, you've never hated him more than you do right now, then?" Jonah droned. He batted a fly away from his face as he spoke; it was the most energy I'd seen him exert in a while. "What a dick. Do you need me to fight him for you? I can't simply stand by and let him commit these atrocities against your person."

"Sarcastic isn't a good look on you," I told him.

"Shit, someone should've told me," he said. "I've been wearing it for sixteen years."

"Funny," Cady said, bored.

"I thought so," said Jonah.

"You can think?"

Jonah and Cady were easily distracted. They were the kind of people who would pull apart a joke, beat it until it was dead and then poke it constantly as if they could bring it back to life. We all just left them to it; together, they could pretend they were funny.

Still, I smiled. It was so good to be back. I'd missed my friends so much it hurt, all of their weird sayings and strange habits. They were all just so strange; Chance was overprotective and sweet to a fault, Alex was a mischievous liar, Jonah was unfailingly lazy, Cady so antisocial she could melt false hair extensions with the acid in her glare. Such an odd collection of people that I loved so desperately. Being away from this, from them, just reminded me of how much I valued their friendship.

As the two morons continued their back-and forth, Alex returned to the subject at hand. "So, back to your enemy turned best friend for life."

I groaned. "Please don't remind me."

"I think it's cute," Cady interjected. "You guys have always had this weird, hot chemistry dynamic. Like, yeah, you hate him, but you would totally go there if given the opportunity, you know? Angry sparks. But now it's cooled into this casual, teasing bantering love fest."

I choked on the piece of bread I'd just shoved unceremoniously into my mouth. Chance thumped me on the back.

Eyes watering, I turned to Cady. "I'm sorry, what?"

She shrugged. "You know what I'm talking about."

I looked at my other friends. They pointedly examined a tree behind my head. "Do I have angry sparks with Jace Hartley?"

Chance coughed awkwardly.

"I always thought you two would have some weird angry love fest at some point, yeah?" Jonah admitted.

"What?" I repeated.

Jonah rubbed the back of his neck. "You're both reasonably attractive people, and for enemies, you do spend a hell of a lot of time together."

"Which is whose fault for inviting him into the group?"

"Yours," said Alex. "You insisted that Daria become a permanent fixture in our lives. Not that we're complaining, she's easily my favourite of all of you."

I gaped at him. "Yeah, I wanted Daria. But I didn't want Hartley!"

Chance scrunched his nose. "They're a package deal, Lena. You knew that."

"I was hoping I could save her from him! I didn't realise he would start hanging out with us!"

I couldn't believe I was seriously having this discussion. Angry love fest? Chemistry? The whole thing was strange.

Cady shrugged and bit into her sandwich. "I reckon you two should just make out and get it over with. I've heard angry hookups are better." I usually valued Cady's blunt nature, but right now it made me want to vaporize her.