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CHAPTER ONE
It’s been two months since I first told Dex Foray that I loved hiether, as an actual couple, in his Seattle apartment And two months since Rebecca Sims joined us as our welcooes without saying that they’ve been the best two months of my life
But, like s, it hasn’t been perfect My relationship with my family is noard as all hell—I mean more so than it used to be, and that says a lot I’ll talk to my mom and dad maybe every teeks, and it’s just one of those please shootfor shit to say and yourabout the weather or the latest celebrity scandal or things you can’t even re, just so it doesn’t lag and you don’t have to address the giant fla elephant in the room
Yeah … about that giant fla elephant That would be that I left my parent’s house, where I had spent most of my twenty-three years, and decided to uy thatwith hi), and he turned into a dick right after I slept with hi his baby (okay, the judging is inevitable) I’htly because it prettyand introduced demonic possession into my life experiences, but I mean, you can kind of understand why my parents think Dex Foray is public enemy number one
Obviously, they don’t approve of s they aren’t saying and the questions they aren’t asking They don’t even wonder when or if I’ home; it’s just such a non-issue that it’s become an issue At least for , even if it’s just to scream at me
The only person that I talk to truthfully on a daily basis (even if it’s just er sister Ada She’s happy for h she often starts the conversation with, “You guys still together? Yes? Okay cool,”) but she doesn’t pull back fro me how badly she wants me to come back home, even just for a visit
The thing is, I’o back, to try and sht Maybe if they see Dex again, months later and in a better context, they’ll learn to like his I see To see hoell he treatsher and make her feel like she doesn’t have to face my parents alone But the other half of me thinks it could be a ret even trying to s worse
I needed a sign
“Ouch, Jesus,” I swore at the stabbing pain at lared up at the burly, bearded tattoo artist as glaring back at me
“Try not to flinch,” he said gruffly, his gloved hand hovering over my bared wrist
“You’re al British accent, patting my other hand “Few more minutes Looks fab”
I sighed and tried to relaxwas very real I ith Rebecca, lying onsoh it didn’t hurt as ht it would, it was still extremely uncomfortable It probably didn’t help that it was on one of the o with one color of ink—blue—instead of getting it filled in
Oh yeah, I was getting a tattoo of an anchor Cliché, I know, but I got it for Dex After all, he had a tattoo inspired by ured it was only fair And, you know, he was iven me the anchor silly band back on D’Arcy Island, that stupid little gesture meant so much to me Then, when I’d ripped it off after, well, the “incident,” I’d one through, in the end, he was stilla big ass boulder tatted on you
“He’s going to be so surprised,” Rebecca said as the tattoo
I groundprickles “Uh huh I hope so”
I asked Rebecca to accoh it alone I wanted it to be a surprise for Dex, so I just told his I know his dirtyto so Convention, and a tattoo parlor was the last place he’d think of I wasn’t really the tattoo type—, but my love for Dex was as permanent as ink I wanted him to know that
“Okay, you’re done,” thetemporarily quiet without the constant buzz
“For real?”
He grunted in response and motioned for me to sit up I slowly did so and stared at ht it would be since I’d felt hi it with cloth as he worked The tattoo was shiny and raised, the skin around it red, but it looked beautiful Simple but beautiful And I suddenly felt infinitely cooler
I looked up at Rebecca for her approval as the artist started wrapping it in black plastic Herwith delight In fact, she looked borderline ecstatic which I found almost odd
“He’s going to love it,” she said “Really, really It’s going to mean so much to him”
I smiled “Good”
It’s not that Dex didn’t kno I felt about him After what happened to us in New Orleans, and how he’d alht before my eyes and I almost lost him in so many ways, I’d had verbal diarrhea of the lovey-dovey kind But for some reason, at times I could tell it was hard for Dex to believeit into a joke, like, “You say that to all the boys,” and while he played it off in his cheeky way, I could tell it came from somewhere I hoped the tattoo would ease that for him
Like I said, they’d been the best two s weren’t perfect It’s hard to truly appreciate things when so for the other shoe to drop
I swungeven the black plastic around reen Doc Martens and ly war with the whole i of doom that I couldn’t shake (and I had no idea what it was about either), I’d gained so in with Dex I could blame his diet all I wanted, but the fact was he ate fairly well and still went to the gyoes that excuse I knew they were “happy pounds,” like the in-love equivalent of the freshman fifteen, but it still had me a bit bummed out Dex lovedhe could show off, soirlfriend Jenn I’d lost the shape I worked hard for over Christmas, and I always had the fear that one day he’d realize I wasn’t good enough for him
“Coister “Let’s get you home to your h red heels, her s in her pencil skirt Rebecca was the opposite ofbut losing weight, soin with
It didn’t help that e had our lastwith Jiht up the fact that Rebecca should be in front of the ca to boot irls were better than one Luckily Rebecca refused, saying she was only good as a productionended when Wine Babes did And even though Rebecca was his good friend, Dex agreed I probably would have hit him if he didn’t
Ever since we’d coether as a “threeso the haunted town of St Augustine in Florida—that we really found our rhythed i on Rebecca’s time now and not our own I had to admit it helped—we never wasted too much time in one space, and ere always in thecurve all the sa “Perry and Dex” and re on us as well Then there was the fact that Rebecca wasn’t, well, she wasn’t like us She rarely saw anything supernatural, and I know it started to bug her too when Dex and I would be freaking out or talking to ghosts, and she’d be staring at nothing By the fifth episode, a haunted library in Eureka, Rebecca decided she’d only be around the actual fil e needed a hand—otherwise she’d be sohosts to us
“I wonder where we’re fil next,” Rebecca commented as alked down the street to her car
I shot her an odd look, wondering if she’d heard hts and lately I’d been picking up on other people’s It usually happened with Dex, though on occasion I’d find it in so end of Perry telepathy At least not yet
“Did you hear what I was thinking?” I asked
She smiled “No, and believe me, the day I hear you, you’ll know It’s just we both know that Dex is having thatit won’t be abouta host since I nearly ripped hinot in in the passenger seat “I mean, it’s been three weeks since we returned from California and I know the library episode wasn’t a complete disaster”
I nodded as she took us out of the Queen Anne district and headed back to don Seattle I rubbed the plastic overto restrain myself “I know It’s like I know there are tons of paranormal hot spots all over the country— to websites”
She brought out a cigarette and rolled down thebefore lighting it “I sent a bunch of suggestions to Jimmy too, but I think after Florida, he wants to keep us closer to home”
“Because he’s cheap”
She exhaled a cloud of blue s a sponsor didn’t really help”
“At least it’s paying for your salary We didn’t have that before”
She gaveyou don’t totally resenton the shoith you?”
I looked at her incredulously “What? No! What makes you say that?”
She shrugged “I don’t know I feel like the third wheel sometimes”
“You are the third wheel,” I said She gave , you’re the wheel You steer us, you keep us going in the right direction Yeah, it’s different for me and Dex, but soed too Everything is different fro Thanks to you, the shows are tighter and we’re not wasting as much money, and Jimmy doesn’t yell at us asyou around to put up a second light or whatever Seriously, Becs, you’re awesome You’re the reason Dex and I can still do this You’re a lifesaver”
“Well, you’re way iven”
So the ca Jenn and Rebecca as they talked about pairing certain wines with McShit from McDonalds That’s how he hooked up with that bitch to start with I tried to shrug off the questions, wanting to ask Rebecca what they were like when filether versus the way Dex and I are I was under the i like bunnies every tih Dex and I weren’t that different, I think he was slightly ht?
I rubbedmy mouth shut, and sat back as Rebecca put Lana Del Ray on her stereo I let the eted in anticipation of Dex’s reaction toto think it was too ether for two s were still so fresh and new for us in so many ways