Page 28 of The Quiet After The Fall

The place is a ghost town and it has me reconsidering whether or not we’ll leave here with food poisoning. We slide into a corner booth with small tears in the vinyl anyway. Sawyer picks up the laminated menu and I watch her eyes move down it. She flips through each page, reading carefully, before starting from the beginning again.

“You know you want chicken fingers,” I say.

Her brows scrunch and she leans in, elbows on the table. “Maybe I’ve changed.”

I keep my gaze locked with hers. She won’t admit that I know her almost as well as she knows herself. Fuck, maybe more. She’d rather sit here and let me believe otherwise than give me that.

I flag down the waitress as she passes by, Sawyer watching me with interest. “Good evening,” I glance at her name tag, “Sally. Can we please get two chocolate milkshakes, chicken fingers with fries, and a grilled cheese? Oh, and extra honey mustard.”

Sally jots it all down on her pad before glancing down at Sawyer. “Anything for you, hon?”

Sawyer looks at the menu, barely, then sighs. “No, thank you. What he said is fine.”

Sally heads toward the kitchen and I keep my mouth shut. I don’t even look at her. It’s unnatural and I hate it.

“Not a word,” Sawyer says.

“I haven’t said anything.”

“You’re thinking it…loudly.”

I laugh, and lean closer, hoping she doesn’t smack me. Or maybe hoping she does. “So now you can read my mind, Thorne?”

“When it comes to you being a smug prick…yes, I can.” She settles back against the booth, putting some distance between us.

“Kinda like how I can read your mind when you’re being a spoiled princess brat.”

Fuck. It slipped out.

She blinks then laughs, mouth open in surprise like she didn’t mean to let it out. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

“Spoiled princess brat. That’s what you’ve got?”

“It’s accurate.”

“That’s rich coming from the person who sulked for an entire summer because Owen got the bigger bedroom.”

“That never happened.” I fold my arms across my chest, not breaking eye contact.

She mirrors me, folding her own arms and lifting her chin. “It absolutely happened. Owen and I were eight. It was when your parents bought the lake house.”

“I was ten, so I remember better.”

Sawyer raises an eyebrow, staying quiet. The blender starts whirring, probably Sally making our milkshakes. Sawyer doesn’t have to try to talk over it. Her expression says enough.

I hold out for another five seconds. “That bedroom had a window seat.”

“Fucking knew it,” she says, before bursting out laughing. Her whole face lights up, and the sound lands deep in my chest.

When she notices me watching her, she packs it away, forcing herself back into that neutral box. But hell, I’ll take what I’ve gotten so far.

“To be fair, a window seat is a completely legitimate thing to sulk about when your favorite thing to do is read.”

“And I’m the princess?” She shakes her head, letting a small smile slip out. “Such an ass.”

Sally arrives with our milkshakes, passing them to us along with thick straws wrapped in paper. The food comes out a few minutes later. Sawyer wraps both hands around her milkshake, taking a long pull from the straw, closing her eyes for a second.