The Double-Tap Accident

Chapter Twenty-Four: Wheel of Fortune.

Chapter Twenty-Four: "Wheel of Fortune."

LARINE GOT A HAIRCUT.

Her long blonde hair that had been so close to her waist now barely grazed her shoulders. The style was accompanied by curtain bangs and lighter highlights that made me stare at her for longer than I should have when I got home from work that Thursday.

She had a soft smile on her face when she showed me, swinging her head from side to side, "What do you think?"

She had a face that could pull off any hairstyle. But I also knew that this was just another method to the madness. She kept touching it. Even now when I came down the stairs, in different clothes. She was lying down on the couch in the living room with a blanket over her legs, her hands in her hair. Caressing the strands as if she couldn't believe what she had done.

I watched her go strand by strand through her hair, just thinking, not entirely focused on what she was doing. "You look great," I assured her as I approached her, fixing the white hat on my head that I had planned to match my shoes. 

She flinched at my unexpected voice but recovered quickly. She pulled her fingers away from her hair as she turned to face me. 

Larine perked her head up. "Aven here yet?"

"Not yet," I had told her all about our plans for tonight. I invited her too, but she declined. "Are you sure you don't want to come?"

"And be a third wheel?" She scoffed, shifting the blanket over her legs. "Not likely."

"You're not going to be a third wheel." If anything, she would be the first wheel. She would be the priority even if Aven's face came into my mind and penetrated my thoughts.

Disbelief clouded her expression as she held onto the back of the couch. "You can't be serious. Especially not after the pictures you posted on Instagram."

"His comment was harmless." No, it wasn't. 

Larine shifted to her knees on the couch, the blanket falling around her legs. "That picture you posted of the two of us? Good choice by the way."

"You helped me pick the photo." I deadpanned.

"And you made an excellent choice," Her grin was cheeky. That photo was placed third, after a picture of all of us and a picture of me. "But anyway, he could've just said something in general, you know? Like a fire emoji, or like, commented about something we did yesterday. A little inside joke—but no."

"Larine."

"He said 'toronto looks good on you'." She put her hands on her hips. And as if I didn't catch it the first time, she decided to yell the words, "HE SAID 'TORONTO LOOKS GOOD ON YOU'!"

"I HEARD YOU!" I yelled back with a grin. She said it as if Yasmeen hadn't texted me about it eerily a minute after he had commented. As if I didn't stare at the comment for five minutes during my break at work.

Larine wasn't going to let the entire app of Instagram go. She was an avid user, had a picture on the app at least once a month and her private Instagram which she had granted me access to had some kind of update almost every day. 

She'd deleted every single picture she had with her ex with teary eyes last night when Aven had dropped us off. She'd left the house this morning, headed out for a run and sat on this couch. I didn't think she moved. But if she was invested in whatever the hell I had going on with Aven, I was going to allow it if it took up a part of her mind that wasn't centred on her ex.

"Did you comment on his picture?"

"What is there to even comment?" I asked, leaning on the back of the couch to pull out his Instagram. There was one picture of the two of us Larine had taken walking ahead as we were exiting Union station. He was grinning at something I had said in the photo. I didn't remember the conversation, but I was a little surprised he had chosen that one to post.