Series: Cobalt Empire Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 234
Estimated words: 226965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1135(@200wpm)___ 908(@250wpm)___ 757(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 226965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1135(@200wpm)___ 908(@250wpm)___ 757(@300wpm)
I let out a long breath. “I’m not happy his band broke up. It actually sucks knowing The Carraways may never put out new music.” I crinkle my nose at myself. “And I’m the real asshole for not telling him that.”
“Tom is in his own feelings,” Ben says. “I think the only thing that’ll really make him feel better are solutions to the problem. So this doesn’t feel like he just lost everything.”
“Is there a solution?” I ask.
“I have no fucking idea,” Ben says with a heavy sigh, his empathy on the hallway where Tom disappeared.
“You should check on him again. I’ll pull out the bed.”
He nods. So that’s how we split apart for several minutes. By the time Ben returns, I’ve slipped under the covers, dimmed the lights, and scrolled through Netflix on his laptop. He brings over a couple glasses of water and cozies up beside me.
A tin of cookies balances on the armrest of the couch. Eliot brought them back from Wednesday Night Dinner and told me they were baked with mischief and love from his little sister. Apparently, Audrey has a thing for giving sweets to people, and I’ve been devouring the little drum-shaped sugar cookies. She slipped a note in the tin too.
It feels good knowing Ben’s little sister, who he cares for greatly, thinks I’m important enough for cookies and a meet-up. I snuggle next to Ben with the laptop, and we’re about five minutes into Okja when a door shuts from the hall.
I perk up and glance behind the couch with Ben.
Tom has a pillow tucked under his arm. “Please tell me we’re not watching monkeys digging in the dirt.”
I give Ben a confused look. “Did you invite him?”
Ben shakes his head with a rising smile and a laugh. “This is Tom.”
Tom hikes a leg over the back of the couch and slides onto the pull-out. Not just anywhere—he chooses in between me and Ben. I’m not kidding.
I scoot over so my arm isn’t butted up against his. “Do you understand personal space?”
“Yeah, can you give me some? It’s a little cramped.” He wiggles his arms, shoving me and Ben farther apart and fluffing his pillow behind his back.
I would be more irritated if Ben wasn’t trying to stifle full-body laughter. Just hearing the sound is like a serotonin boost.
“He’s not sleeping with us,” I tell Ben.
Tom makes a face at me like I’m the weird one. “Like I want to sleep in the same bed as my sleep paralysis demon.”
“I hope I give you nightmares.”
“Ben, tell your girlfriend to be nice to me. I’m emotionally fragile right now.” He doesn’t appear it as much as he did, so I wonder if Ben’s pep talk helped. “Look, if I’m left alone, I’m going to text RJ to come over here, and the last thing I need is an emotion-fueled hookup. In fact, take my phone. Take it.” He plops his cell on Ben’s lap.
Then he pries the laptop out of my hands, holding it since he’s in the middle. “Okja? Never heard of it.”
“It’s one of Ben’s favorite movies.”
Tom frowns at him in hurt. “And you never shared this with me?”
“You won’t like it,” Ben says with certainty.
I’ve never seen Okja before, but the science-fiction fantasy premise of a little girl going to great lengths to save her animal sounded interesting. It also has glowing reviews.
“Let’s see it first without passing judgment, Ben Pirrip.” He rewinds and presses play.
This is how I find myself wedged beside Tom Carraway Cobalt on a pull-out couch watching Netflix on a random Thursday night. Oh and he’s icing his soon-to-be black eye.
Ben smiles over at me a few times. That’s the best part.
We’re an hour into the film, and Tom has a stink-face.
“You can hate it, Tom,” Ben says with a smile. “It won’t offend me.”
“There’s still more left to go.” He’s squinting at the screen midway through. Then his silent rumbling laughter shakes the laptop.
“Dude,” I say flatly.
“It’s a big hippo,” he defends. “How is this not supposed to be a comedy?”
I’m so invested in the plight of this little girl and her CGI animal that I’ve been restraining tears for the past ten minutes. “It’s a super pig,” I correct. “And it’s not supposed to be funny.”
“But if you watch it thinking it’s a floppy-eared ugly hippo…?” He holds out a hand of reason.
“It’s a cute animal.”
“It’s pretty fucking ugly, and I don’t know if Ben’s going to like knowing you’d only save the cute animals.”
I fling my pillow at his face.
“Ow, watch the eye, Harry.”
I almost feel bad, but not quite. When I glance over at Ben, I’m about to apologize for reinjuring his injured brother, but his expression on me steals my breath. He’s looking at me like he could kiss me, hold me, hug me, lie with me in a field of grass and watch the rolling clouds forever.