ndy rolled her eyes and carried the birthday cake she’d brought into the kitchen before carefully placing it on the counter.
The girls settled onto the couches. Since there was only one double couch and two single ones, I grabbed a chair from the dining table and dragged it over before sitting down beside them.
Kayla imdiately pulled out her phone and opened her gallery.
"So?" she asked, holding up a picture. "How does it look? I wanted a darker color, but this was the cheapest used one I could find."
The photo showed a silver Corolla parked outside a small dealership.
"Looks good," I said with a smile. "Although the front bumper is a different shade."
"Oh, yeah. The previous owner got into a minor accident. How did you even notice that?"
Penelope scoffed.
"Cars and hookers. n can spot either one from a mile away."
Kayla and I exchanged a look before bursting into laughter.
She continued showing pictures. There were photos of the interior, the dashboard, the trunk, the seats, and even the steering wheel from three different angles. Hanging from the rearview mirror was a small ani air freshener shaped like a cheerful chibi character that swung back and forth whenever the car moved.
"How much did you pay for it?" I asked.
Kayla let out a long sigh. "About eight thousand."
"That’s actually a pretty good deal," I said. "Especially in this market."
"Yeah, until I realized gas costs a small fortune."
"Tell about it," ndy muttered.
"Show too," Penelope said, leaning forward from her chair.
Kayla handed her the phone and let her scroll through the pictures.
I leaned back and stretched, my muscles still sore from all the moving around I’d done earlier. The apartnt cleaning alone had nearly killed .
"What happened to your neck?" Kayla suddenly asked while swiping through another photo.
Penelope instinctively touched the purple mark on the side of her neck.
"Oh, that?" She rubbed the spot casually. "So mutant fly bit . These damn things get bigger every year."
"Right?" Kayla agreed imdiately. "It’s not even sumr yet. Why are they already invading people’s houses?"
"Exactly," Penelope said before clearing her throat.
Then she glanced at .
"Those damn flies."
"Uh-huh," I replied.
The look she gave made it very clear she was waiting for to play along.
I took the hint.
"Nature is terrifying," I said with a completely straight face.
Penelope nodded solemnly.
"Truly horrifying."
ndy narrowed her eyes. "Right..."
Penelope clapped her hands together and got to her feet, pointing first at the cake ndy had brought and then at the gifts sitting on the counter.
"Alright, let’s get this started, huh?"
"Oh," Kayla said, glancing toward the pile of presents. "Where’s your gift, Evan?"
"Uh..."
Well, shit.
How was I supposed to explain what had happened to my gift? There was absolutely no way I could tell the truth. Penelope had taken the expensive Nuppia clothes I’d bought for her, cut them apart, and sohow turned them into sothing that belonged in a questionable online store.
"He bought one of those stupid Nuppia shirts," Penelope said before I could answer. "But it had a stain on it, so I threw it in the washing machine."
"Yeah," I said, forcing a smile. "Ordering clothes online. Never making that mistake again."
Apparently, that explanation was good enough.
Penelope clapped her hands. "Now... where in the fuck is my cake?"
We all got up and headed toward the dining table. ndy picked up her gift, Kayla grabbed hers, and I carried the cake over before opening the box.
It looked surprisingly good. Thick cream lined the edges, and a heart-shaped strawberry sat proudly in the center.
"They forgot the candles?" ndy asked as she peeked inside the box. "Seriously?"
"Well, everyone," Penelope said with a dramatic sigh, "I’m twenty-seven now. Officially a fossil."
"The heck you are," ndy laughed. "Co on. Make a wish and blow out the imaginary candles."
"Can we just skip that part and eat the damn cake?"
"Nope," Kayla replied imdiately. "You have to make a wish."
"Unfortunately, that’s the law," ndy added.
Penelope groaned and let her shoulders slump.
"Fine."
She stepped in front of the cake and closed her eyes.
Kayla and ndy imdiately pulled out their phones and started recording, while I stood a little farther back with my arms crossed, watching the whole thing unfold.
For a few seconds, Penelope remained perfectly still.
Then she opened her eyes.
The mont she did, she looked directly at and flashed the most mischievous smirk I’d ever seen on her face.
It was the kind of smile that instantly made nervous.
Without saying a word, she leaned forward and blew out the imaginary candles while Kayla and ndy cheered as if there were actual flas to extinguish.
⟁ ⟁ ⟁
I got back at the penthouse just shy of midnight, the night still cold and the rain still falling in a relentless sheet outside. I pressed the elevator button, stepped inside when the doors opened, slid my card through the reader, and hit the top floor. As the elevator started moving, I leaned back against the mirror behind and rolled my shoulders. I was exhausted. My whole body felt like it had been dragged through the week and left to rot. I needed sleep, badly.
When the elevator reached the top floor, the doors opened halfway and then stopped, frozen in place like sothing had jamd them. I frowned and tried to push them further apart with both hands, but they wouldn’t move. That was just perfect.
Then I noticed sothing wrong with the corridor outside. The lights were glowing a sickly purple, nothing like the normal warm lighting in the building. I leaned forward to peek through the gap, and the sight outside made my skin prickle. The corridor, the windows, even the sky beyond them had shifted into the sa unnatural purple shade, and everything looked still, like the world had been paused.
"My, my," a voice said from behind . "I never expected a re human like you to do all of this."
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