Page 74 of Exchange of Heart

Paddy’s eyebrows lifted. ‘He does that, too, when he’s nervous.’

My gaze shifted to Nora, begging for help.

‘Beans, beans, the musical fruit,’ she sang.

What in the holiest fuck was she doing?

‘The more you eat, the more you toot,’ she continued.

Paddy cleared his throat and grimaced. ‘Are you trying to tell me you’re hungry?’

‘Yes.’ Nora nodded so hard she gasped and grabbed her neck. ‘Let’s eat something.’

Paddy’s gaze darted between us beneath lowered brows. His outstretched finger moved from Nora, to me, then back to Nora. ‘Something isn’t right. You’ve been weird all week, acting like a different person.’

Nora crossed her arms and jutted her hip to the side. ‘What are you talking about?’ Her voice boomed with the confidence of Corey Flemmington, but her posture had the attitude of Nora Claremont.

‘Sit,’ Paddy ordered.

My weak knees obeyed, and my left eyebrow lifted, waiting to see what he’d do.

He walked to Nora who’d refused to sit and analysed her features so close I’d thought he might kiss my face. Warning bells rung through my head, and I widened my eyes to get her attention. Paddy knows I’d never let him stand so close to me. Similar to claustrophobia, except instead of being terrified in a small space, it terrified me to have people too close to my face for more than a few seconds. Suffocating me with their judgement.

Yet now I realised, I’d never had that problem with Nora. There was no my space and her space. It was simply our space.

‘Corey would never let me stay this close to his face,’ Paddy whispered.

My head dropped into my hands.

‘Corey?’ his voice shook.

He was closer to me than my real brothers, and I couldn’t keep this chaotic secret a moment longer. I sighed and lifted my head. ‘Yeah?’

His face spun to me and his mouth dropped open. ‘No.’

‘Yes,’ Nora whispered, nodding her head.

He twisted back and forth between us until he stumbled onto the couch next to me. A moment later, a ridiculous laugh burst from his mouth. ‘You got me.’ He continued laughing, but when neither of us laughed along, he quietened again. ‘Oh. Holy shit.’

‘Holy shit,’ Nora and I repeated back to him in unison.

I turned to her and tilted my head, trying to grasp her thoughts. Her teeth sank into her bottom lip as she shrugged, then glanced at Paddy.

‘We’ve all gone mad,’ he insisted. ‘We need to see someone. Group therapy.’

I shook my head and let out of a half laugh, ‘We considered it.’

He walked to the kitchen and pulled an enormous bottle of vodka from the top shelf.

‘Forget the wine, I think shots are in order.’ He lined up the small glasses on the coffee table with shaky hands and filled them. ‘This isn’t real,’ he muttered as he picked the first one up and poured it into his mouth.

Paddy didn’t believe in magic; he refused to even read fantasy books. My chest clenched with guilt for being reckless. We probably shouldn’t have come here, and I probably shouldn’t have gotten it off my chest. It was selfish. Nora hadn’t even spoken since the revelation. I’d taken her shrug as an ‘oh well’, but maybe she was freaking out. I reached forward for a shot.

‘Nah-ah.’ Paddy threw his arm in front of me and grabbed the remaining two shots, then tossed them into his mouth one by one.

I closed my eyes and sighed in relief. It turned out Nora’s friend karma had our back. At least if he kept that up, things could be saved.

Half an hour later, Paddy’s panicked words turned to slurs, until he eventually passed out on the couch. I tucked a blanket over him and Nora followed me out the door. We walked to the staircase and began our descent down the six flights of stairs.