Lizzy was right. Once she told Alex that it was a kind of training exercise we would be doing, he was in, which made Lori begrudgingly agree to it. Not even Val would stop her from spending time with her man. I felt awful for lying to her, especially about something with Val. I didn’t see any other way that she’d willingly step foot into a room with the woman if it didn’t involve her getting beaten up or maimed, and we were trying to build up a team, not tear one down before it even began. Having Lizzy on my side with the idea did help soften the blow so all her anger wasn’t directed at one person.
“Am I a bad person for lying to her like that?” I asked Rebecca, putting my hand in hers. Since Val didn’t live that far, we just decided to walk to her place together. The sunset painted the sky in a beautiful pink-orange color, barely managing to crack the guilt I had been feeling.
“I don’t think you’re a bad person for doing it, Ethan, I just don’t like it. Lori is our friend. We shouldn’t lie to the people we care about.” Rebecca looked disappointed when I first told her, which made sharing that bed with her more uncomfortable than it had the first time. Her disappointment made me feel terrible. I would have rather had her screaming and yelling at me about it. Eventually, how tired I’d been won out, and we’ve managed to share the bed comfortably since then. “Her hating Val makes it all so hard, but I think you should have told her why we were all getting together in the first place.”
I groaned and hung my head low. I knew she was right, and I wasn’t too proud to admit it. “If she still wants to talk to me after this, I’ll give her a big apology.”
“You’re giving her one if she doesn’t want to talk to you ever again.” She saw my look and laughed. “It’s not because I told you that you would. It’s just what you’d do anyway. You’re a good guy, you just made a questionable decision. It happens. Your heart is in the right place, and if it makes you feel any better at all, I know exactly why you did it.”
“How are you so smart?” I was about to rest my head on her shoulder, nearly making us both tumble into the street.
“Getting close to two hundred years old helps. I just look good for my age.”
“Good and then some,” I agreed. She laughed and gave me a light slap on the shoulder. I appreciated her not bringing up my terrible attempt to knock us on our butts on the road. Val’s house was right up the sidewalk and was the only one with any kind of lights, painting a small section of the street in a creepy yellow glow. “That’s it up there. You ready?”
“Oh man, I’m going to kick your butt at Scrabble. I am a queen of the dictionary right now. No, not even the queen. I am the goddess of the dictionary.” Rebecca sounded genuinely excited to play. I didn’t even think about her nightly dictionary readings when I suggested Scrabble. She really was poised to wipe the floor with me, had it not been decided that we were going to play as a couple and Val would go solo.
“We’re on the same team and I like having my butt, so please leave it unharmed.”
“Yeah, I like your butt too,” she said. She dramatically leaned back to take a long look at my backside. I tried not to let her see me go bright ride, though trying to cover my ass with my free hand probably gave it away. I couldn’t see how she was looking at it, which frightened me most of all.
“You’ve been spending too much time around Lizzy. She makes people too weird when she’s around them.”
“Oh, you want weird?” She released my hand to pinch my backside. I yelped and jumped like a total loser. “How’s that for weird?”
“You’re lucky you’re one of the only people I enjoy touching me.” I tried to hold back the laugh and pretend to look angry to no avail.
Before my girlfriend could continue to appraise me—not that I truly minded—I picked up the pace to get to Val’s. Lizzy was there to watch over it anyhow, so it wasn’t like I was exactly safe there either. Those kinds of comments were something I’d come to expect from Lizzy. It was almost six, but only Lizzy’s sedan was in the driveway. I was disappointed to not see a vehicle proudly announcing that it was driven by a pizza guy, because I was starving. I skipped out on dinner since I was relying on the promise of massively unhealthy food to keep me going through an evening I was only slightly dreading.
I tapped on the door once and Val immediately flung it open. She looked much more approachable than normal, despite how wildly nervous she was, like she was ready to bolt out the door to her own home. She had on a sleeveless white dress that showed her lean muscles and almost reached her ankles. Her hair was up in a high ponytail, subtle eye makeup drawing attention to her face. I had to admit, Lizzy did wonders with Val’s image. It’s not like the lady had ever been ugly by any means. Lizzy just had this magical ability to turn someone’s presentation around entirely. If I ever had to do a photo shoot or something, there was not another person on the planet I’d trust to get me ready.
“Hey. Hey there. Hi. Good evening. You two, hope you’re well.” She smoothed out the front of her dress, folded her hands in front of her, and smiled wide at us after a brief wince from her rough introduction. The attempt was there, and that’s what counted.
“Morning,” I said, seeing if it’d throw her off. She reacted like she didn’t even hear me, or I just didn’t exist at all. After a few more seconds of standing in front of the blocked path, I rocked back and forth on my heels. “Bit windy out here. Mind letting us in?”
Her eyes nearly bulged out of her head as she took a step back. I had to refrain from keeling over with laughter. She leaned flat against her door and waved us in. Lizzy was relaxing in a simpler tank top and shorts on the couch, flipping grapes into her mouth. It was a nice enough space. Our place had been completely furnished, making it look like we had lived there for a year. Val’s place felt newer with fewer bells and whistles. Even the plain, cream carpet looked fresh out of the box. The roll? Whatever they stored carpets in before they laid them down over a floor.
On the wall above Lizzy were three menacing-looking swords of varying lengths, because of course there were. Well, that told me what birthday gift Val would probably like. It also told me a bit about her interior decorating style, which made me feel better about my own. Looking at them, I couldn’t help but smile. While I wouldn’t have put them up in my own home, they were very Val. I secretly hoped the walls of her house would one day be lined with nothing but weapons. I wanted the feeling of walking into a Renaissance fair weapons tent turned up to a million.
“You collect swords?” I asked. Rebecca broke off from me and reached for one. I grimaced, waiting for it to slip out of her grip, take a hand with it, and maybe impale Lizzy in the chest for good measure. “That’s kind of rad.”
“No one says that anymore.” Lizzy looked and sounded as if I was an embarrassing dad that just spoiled her first date.
“Well, I say it.” I sent a playful glare her way. I got an eye roll for my trouble.
“I do,” Val nodded, ignoring the two of us acting like children in her living room. “Those are cheap display ones that I picked up. Even when I lived with him, I would only put out non-sharpened, low-quality ones. If someone ever broke in, I didn’t want them to have anything they could use. Actually, if someone had one of those and thought it’d do anything to me, that’d put them at a disadvantage.”
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“Right,” I agreed, a little impressed at how seriously she merged decor and safety. “I recommend sword duels next game night.”
“You suggest Scrabble when I read the dictionary every night and then you suggest sword duels with a woman who is both taller and stronger than you. And she actually uses a sword.” Rebecca looked at me like I was nuts, and I didn’t have sleep deprivation to blame it on that time.
“I’m a brave soul, ready to take on all challengers. I’m just giving you guys a fighting chance.” I lifted my fists into the air like I was a newly crowned champion waiting for his applause. However, my friends were all anti-fun, so I didn’t get even a golf clap. “You’re a bunch of fake friends.”
“Please contain your man before he embarrasses himself,” Lizzy said to Rebecca, getting up to grab the game of Scrabble. When we got back with everything from the mall, I had to use Lizzy to distract Megan so I could bring everything up to my room without her seeing. After that, there was just no sense in having me keep the games, so I handed them all over to Val.
“Do I need to take you back home?” Rebecca asked, carefully putting Val’s display sword back up on the wall. “Are you going to embarrass me in front of company?”
“I will embarrass both of us constantly, as it is my only purpose on this planet.” I put my arm around her, and she just sighed. Being with Rebecca just made me feel better and goofier. I could just take a load off and relax with her next to me. “You knew what you signed up for when you agreed to that date, and this is just the tip of the Ethanberg.”
“I truly did not know what I was signing up for, and please don’t say ‘Ethanberg’ in front of me or anyone ever again.” She looked toward the kitchen, probably so Lizzy could save her from me. That wasn’t happening. “Maybe just don’t say it at all, even in private. And don’t even think about using it in Scrabble, because that won’t count.”
Lizzy began to unbox the game and unfolded the board on a low-lying table in the center of the living room. When she unloaded the word tiles, I started to get a little excited. Val went pale and looked like she was going to be sick. Did she have a fear of cheap wooden game tiles? I’d never make fun of someone’s irrational fear, but that would be a weird one. I was going to ask her what was bothering her when a knock on her door blocked the chance.
Val, looking eager to get away from the wooden menaces, opened the door for her expected guests. Even when I could only barely see around her, I could tell Lori’s face dropped the moment Val opened the door. Val hurriedly ushered them inside before Lori could bolt, punch her in the face, or maybe both. Rebecca and I tried to welcome them with smiles and waves. Alex even greeted us warmly. Lori was still sour. Expecting that reaction didn’t make it any less disappointing to see in the flesh.
“What’s with the dress? Doesn’t look like something you’d train in.” Lori eyed Val’s dress suspiciously, like she couldn’t comprehend that she could wear anything outside of a T-shirt, sports bra, or black suit of armor. “White’s not your color.”
Val frowned and tried to subtly assess what was so bad about the color on her. I was worried the situation would deteriorate further if we kept trying to lie. “Lori, Lizzy, Val, and I all put this together so we could try to get the five of us right. This isn’t an actual training exercise. This is just a game night and we’re playing Scrabble in pairs.”
“You lied to me to get me to play Scrabble?” Lori was enraged in an instant. I wasn’t able to look up to meet her eyes. “Are you guys serious? All of you were in on this stupid idea?”
“I wasn’t,” Alex said. “I just thought this was an actual training exercise.”
“Yeah, I did too.” Lori squeezed Alex’s hand and gestured to the door. “Come on, we’re leaving. I want nothing to do with her.”
“Lori, when are you going to get over this shitty attitude?” Lizzy stopped setting up the game and was standing with her hands on her hips. “You’re really going to stand there and say you want nothing to do with her, yet you want her to be under your constant watch? You guys are the only ones with a fifth person on your team. You don’t get to have it both ways. You can’t just try and wait for her to betray us and not want to be around her either. You have a team that she’s a part of. How’re you going to feel if your grudge gets someone like Ethan killed?”
“Okay, fine, I get your point,” Lori snapped back. She stopped walking toward the door and pointed at Val. “But why do we have to do this stupid ‘team building’ nonsense? Why couldn’t we do real training at least?”
“You know why!” Lizzy yelled. Her patience had obviously reached its limit. “We have that boat party in May, and guess what? My team is going to be there too. Everyone knows why you hate her. No one is telling you that you ever have to forgive her. But now you need to grow up and realize that this isn’t just about you or even your team anymore. You have four other people that have to trust in me, trust in you, and trust in your team. This has to work.
“And the reason we’re not just beating the piss out of each other with fists, swords, and whatever Ethan conjures up is because there are other things we need to focus on. We have this boat party coming up. Everyone needs to be acting as a single unit. Anything that jeopardizes one of us can get the rest of us in hot water. We don’t know exactly what we’re walking into, so I’m going to say it until everyone understands, okay? We. Need. To. Be. On. The. Same. Page. There is no other option.”
“What’s she talking about? What boat party?” Rebecca looked between the two team captains, neither of which answered her. When she looked at me next, I just pursed my lips.
“I’ll explain later tonight, promise,” I whispered, not wanting to derail what was going on. Lizzy was right and Lori really had to get it in her head. Hopefully Rebecca could wait until we were back at our place.
“You’re really saying it matters that much how I treat this one monster?” None of the contempt Lori had for Val had gone anywhere. Instead of looking heated up about it, Val just looked so tired and defeated. I knew taking those verbal beatings from Lori wasn’t going to improve anything.
“Yes, I am saying that!” Lizzy tapped her temple with two fingers a few times. “Think for just a second. I know you’re smarter than this. If you expect to have Val under your watch, but you keep treating her like dirt, how long until your teammates give up on your leadership abilities, huh? Maybe Alex won’t, but what about Ethan and Rebecca? Val helped Rebecca carry him out of Luna before it was taken over. Have you even checked in on him since then? On any of the other three at all? Your concussion was taken care of in a few minutes.”
“I-” Lori was cut off by Lizzy holding up a hand. Lizzy’s face was red, her jaw clenched. I couldn’t remember ever seeing her so furious. I could just about see the steam coming out of her ears.
“No, you will listen to what I have to say. Your attitude is acid for a team’s structure. Do you know how it’s going to reflect on me if I tell my team to trust you, but then you go AWOL because of your personal vendetta? I’ll lose their trust and my credibility, but more importantly, I might actually lose one of them because of a bad decision. I like you, Lori. You’re my friend. I want to work with you. When this entire thing is over and we win, maybe we can be actual heroes working together for something greater.”
“Fine! I get your point.” Lori looked like she wanted to cover her ears and throw a tantrum. I knew from that time she touched me to get a reaction out of me, despite knowing how much I hated it, she could have a bit of a nasty side to her. Lizzy was right. I was starting to lose faith in her ability to lead us. “I will make no promises beyond sitting down and trying to play Scrabble tonight.”
“That’s all anyone wants,” Lizzy said, her voice softening a touch. “I’m just here to watch and order pizza. Just use it to try and have some fun. You don’t even have to pay attention when Val plays. Your team and my team just need you to take the first step here tonight.”
“Okay, okay, I can do that. I’ll play the game tonight.” Lori took a few deep breaths and did look like she was really trying to calm down. She sat down at the low table and looked at the game board. “I’ve played this as a kid, but how’s it going to work when we play as couples?”
“When it’s your turn normally, you’ll just alternate between you and Alex. Ethan might start, then it goes to you, and then to Val. When it would go back to Ethan, Rebecca would have her turn, then Alex, and then Val again.” Lizzy sounded like she was explaining it to a kindergarten class, not being the sharpest guy in the world, I appreciated the extra bit of effort.
Getting down on her knees, she made sure the board and pieces were all set up properly. Her shift from angry team leader to supervisor for a game night was more than a little shocking. Gone was the yelling woman who looked like she was about to throw a shoe at Lori. She was replaced by the casual, easygoing lady who laughed at me when I shut my eyes to avoid looking at a woman’s underwear.
“Now, you guys read the rules and I’ll order the pizza.” Lizzy looked up and grinned at each of us individually. “Let’s have some fun!”