Page 83 of The False Flat

“No massage should be orgasmic,” I said, still concerned with Piper’s lack of concern for any kind of boundaries.

Erin’s fingers entwined with Beau’s—fast—as she walked toward Piper’s tent and motioned for Grant to follow her.

“I think I need one of those massages,” Grant said, winking at me.

I put my lips to his ear before he could stand to follow. “If you want an—”

He held his hand up. “Not changing my mind. Unless you can honestly tell me—”

I threw my arms up, cutting him off. “Just go, Grant!”

He walked off with Erin, Beau, and William, who’d decided he wanted in.

If he’d been another man, I would’ve ignored his grimace of pain and carried on. Grant was different. I wanted him to do what was best for him, even if that was an orgasmic massage from Piper. That was what a normal, caring person would do when their significant other was under the weather.

Significant other.

Significant.

It felt good to care, to really care about another human’s welfare. I winced at the thought of who I’d been. Now that I was invested, my body wasn’t quite sure how to move, like my limbs weren’t comfortable with anything this real. How does a robot become a human? What does one do with the nuts and bolts previously holding one together?

When Brandon was still alive and when our mother hadn’t yet morphed into a machine and Dad hadn’t started drinking, our parents would read to us. The Velveteen Rabbit floated in and out of my stack. A stuffed bunny became real because of a little boy’s love. After Brandon died, I ripped that book to confetti and flushed the scraps of paper down the toilet because the little boy got sick in the story, but he had been okay. He had gone on to live his life. Brandon hadn’t.

The sentiment of the book held true. Love—Grant’s, Deanna’s, William’s, and even Erin’s—was slowly but steadily softening my hard edges. I’d lived with a dull ache in my belly, a distant longing for what I didn’t have, and now that I was getting it, the ache was fading. As country music filled the air alongside the smell of barbecue and freshly cut grass, I was happy.

Happiness came from having all the right ingredients, like a cake. Leave out one item, baking powder for instance—Deanna was rubbing off on me—and the dessert fails.

As I breathed in the night air, satisfaction and fatigue warmed my chest, until I looked across the courtyard and saw—

Chad.

He strode toward me, his golden hair highlighted at each incandescent bulb. White T-shirt. Fitted black blazer. Jeans.

I couldn’t move.

Someone said something beside me, but I couldn’t make out the words. And then I watched Deanna head straight toward Chad like a linebacker.

He stopped because Deanna didn’t give him a choice. He opened his mouth, but Deanna put a stop to that too. She was facing away from me, but Chad appeared to be listening, his unshaven jaw and shaded undereyes becoming more pained the longer she went on.

They stood like that for a while, Chad occasionally saying something I couldn’t hear. At one point he called out my name and tried to move around her, but Deanna wasn’t having it.

It was a warm evening, but at the sight of Chad, that chill had taken residence inside me. An arm came around my shoulders, led me several steps in the opposite direction until I couldn’t see Chad or Deanna. It was Keyondra. She was warm, smelled like vanilla, and somehow felt like home, which was probably because her scent came from the black vanilla leave-in conditioner from the Carol’s Daughter line. We’d talked about it, and I’d tried it. I’d tried every curly-hair product out there.

She pulled me close. “What is he doin’ here?”

“I don’t know.”

I was shaking, and Keyondra held me against her until Deanna walked up to us and exhaled. “He’s gone. Tenacious, though. He did not want to leave without talking to you.”

“What did he say?” Seeing him again was like a slash of paint across a delightful portrait, a reminder of my past and who I’d been.

“He said he wanted to apologize, to let you know he still had feelings for you. I told him that you’d moved on, and it would be best for everyone if he did the same.”

I nodded. “Thank you.”

“Well, it didn’t end there. He was pretty insistent, said he knew the two of you were meant to be together. That’s when he tried to get around me. So, I told him Grant probably wouldn’t agree because you and Grant were now dating. He took that one hard. He left after I told him if he really cared about you, he’d leave you alone, because you are happy.”

The air was heavier and more difficult to breathe. And then, I wanted Grant, even if I had to go through Piper to see him.