Miriam was strewn across Abi's bed when she got the call. Her feet were plastered to the wall, head dangling off the edge, and she groped beside her left thigh until she found the sticky warmth of her phone case, overheated from the charging device. "Hello," she said, voice slightly muffled from blood loss.

"Hey Mer," Grace's voice danced along the line.

Miriam shot up. A wave of dizziness floated down her body and disappeared as Abi walked into the room. "Who is it?" she asked.

"Grace," Miriam mouthed.

"Put it on speaker."

Miriam shook her head then returned her attention to the call. "What's up?" she asked.

"I was just wondering how this works," Grace said.

"As in the whole revenge thing?"

"Yeah, well, no. What I mean is, how do I pay you?"

Miriam almost always forgot about this part.

"Is there a set fee?" Grace continued. "Do you like paypal, bank transfer?"

"I don't mind," Miriam said, laying back down. "Some people pay me in cash, some in coffee, whatever works for you."

"Seriously?" Grace's voice fell flat, expectation bleeding down the line.

"Yeah, I don't do this for the money," Miriam said. "I mean it's nice, but I doubt any of you could pay me what I'm worth."

"Oh, right, well when do you want me to pay you?"

"When I finish."

"I thought you had," Grace said.

Miriam resisted the urge to laugh, modulating her voice as best as she could, and instead said, "What would make you think that?"

"He apologised."

"Ade?"

"Yeah."

An apology was certainly something, but Miriam didn't trust it. "That's a step in the right direction," she said diplomatically, "but I doubt he's learned his lesson."

Grace was quiet for a moment. "I guess you're the expert," she said.

"If you're having second thoughts—"

"No, you're right. Payment tbc?"

"Payment tbc," Miriam agreed.

Grace hung up and Miriam threw her phone across the bed while Abi clambered beside her. "What was that all about?" she asked, lining her feet up next to Miriam's.

"Payment."

"How much do you want to bet she gets you a caramel macchiato and calls it even?" Abi cackled.

"Maybe that's all I deserve."

"Are you serious?" Abi shoved Miriam's shoulder.

"I guess. Ade's the hardest guy I've ever worked on, and I have two people counting on me."

"But he's obsessed with you," Abi said.

"That's not enough.  Some guys would break from me ignoring them, but Ade seems to thrive off it. It's like the less interested I am, the more interested he is."

"Maybe he likes the chase," Abi guessed.

"Clearly, I think I just underestimated how much." Usually, by now, Miriam had them eating out of the palm of her hand. Ade was definitely sniffing at it, testing the boundaries, but one wrong move and he'd be in somebody else's watering hole making a mess. Somebody else who may just take his shit without a second thought.

Abi hummed and tapped her feet against the wall. "Maybe," she said, over enunciating to the point of ridiculousness, "you need change tactics."

"You think?" Miriam laughed.

Abi grinned and turned on her side, braids cascading like a pastel dream while she propped her head up with a freshly manicured hand. "I was talking to Daniel," she said, "and apparently, Ade hates Wes. Like, hate hates him."

"So?" Miriam sat up and hugged her knees to her chest.

"Don't you want to know why?" Abi asked.

"Why what?"

"Why Ade hates him."

Miriam shrugged. "Is it relevant to the problem at hand?"

"Very."

"Well then go ahead."

"Okay?" Abi sat up and crossed her legs.  "So apparently, back in first year, Ade was dating this girl. Anyway, they were together for like three months, never left one another's side until he found her at a house party, half-naked, with Wes. Apparently, he went crazy. Has hated Wes ever since."

"What's this got to do with anything other than satisfying your need for gossip?" Miriam stifled a laugh.

"It's his Achilles heel," Abi said, posture straightening into an uncompromising line.

"You think?"

"Yeah. If you convince Ade you like him, it'll all come crashing down when he finds you with Wes."

"Finds me?" Miriam's face scrunched into an unattractive ball.

"Like kissing Wes or something." Abi proposed her plan as if it was the simplest thing in the world. As if Miriam went around kissing people, much less Wes. Wes who she'd know for almost ten years. Who'd seen her get her first period and bleed through her school trousers straight onto the church's cushioned pew. Who'd spent her eighteenth birthday by her side when her parents, both away with work, forgot. Who's mother moved her to uni. Who held her braids when she got food poisoning three weeks ago. Who knew her favourite show, her favourite movie, her favourite everything. Wes, who, in no uncertain terms, was her home. Her family. Her centre.

"I can't kiss Wes," Miriam whispered, his name shrouded in something warm and reverential, pulsing like a gift to an overworked deity. "I can't bring him into this."

"Seriously?" Abi jerked back and fixed her wide, unblinking eyes on Miriam, who squirmed beneath her gaze and glanced away.

"Yeah, seriously," Miriam said. "Wes is too." She licked her lips and gestured hazily. "It doesn't matter, point is, the plan won't work."

"Okay." Abi nodded, rocking back and forth. "I guess you could always publicly reject Ade," she said.

Miriam had never resorted to such an obvious tactic, what she did was an art after all, but with someone who had as many hits on them as Ade, it was the only option she had left. The only viable one, anyway.

"Where do you think I should do it?" She fiddled with her index finger.

"Daniel's birthday's in two weeks," Abi said. "He's invited a bunch of people to his family's for the weekend."

"But I don't want to ruin his birthday," Miriam said.

Abi waved a dismissive hand. "How could you when I'm there?"

Under normal circumstances, Miriam would've laughed, but she could barely crack a smile. Lydia and Grace were counting on her, and all she had was an overdone ploy plucked straight from a ridiculous movie. "You're sure this will work," she asked, picking at a hangnail. It tore and released a fresh droplet of blood onto her cuticle.

"Positive," Abi said. "He's been running his mouth since he met you."

"Running his mouth?" Miriam frowned.

"Trust me, it's a good thing. He's practically told everyone that you guys are halfway to the alter."

"Okay." Miriam released a rush of air so forceful. her diaphragm collapsed. "So, we're really doing this?" she said.

"We are," Abi grinned.

Yes, she thought, we really, really are.

~*~

When Miriam got home, Wes was stretched across the sofa, remote on his stomach, watching an episode of New Girl. She heard his laughter first, the sound full and comforting, and the TV second. Then his phone rang, and he paused the television as Miriam crept towards the living room and leaned against the doorframe.

"Hey Daniel," he said, itching his forehead. "No, I'm not—oh, well, I—right—okay, I'll talk to Mer. Yeah, see you soon."

The moment he hung up, Miriam skipped into the living room and plopped beside Wes' feet. "What was that about?" she asked while he lifted his soles and placed them in her lap, heels sinking into her cushioned thighs.

"Daniel invited us out tonight. Apparently, there's some ACS thing at Enigma."

"Oh yeah, it's a fundraiser for the ball."

"Daniel said he has a couple tickets spare."

"For us?" Miriam raised a brow.

"Yeah."

She itched her forehead and cast Wes a sidelong glance, taking in the sharp curve of his jaw which tensed alongside his temple as he placed his phone face down on the armrest. "Do you want to go?" she asked.

He shrugged and avoided her gaze, looking instead at Zooey Deschanel as she popped into frame. "It's up to you."

Except it wasn't, not with Lydia and Grace relying on her. So, Miriam sucked up her aversion to Enigma, beat only by her feelings towards Sandy's, and shrugged as if agreeing to an impromptu night of pizza and a movie. "Let's go," she said, lips pursing slightly. "What's the worst that can happen?"

Wes paused the television. "Seriously?" he asked, swinging his legs down and sitting upright, spine so straight it's a wonder it didn't snap.

"Yeah." Miriam forced herself to laugh. Thankfully, it was as light as ever and breezed through the room at its usual tenor. "Abi will be there, the music will be good, and last time we went out we had fun."

"But you hate clubbing."

"I don't hate clubbing." She rolled her eyes and prayed the gaslighting would take.

Unfortunately, Wes narrowed his and cocked his head to one side. "You're not going because of Ade?" he asked, voice thick with suggestion.

Miriam snorted. "Why would you think that?"

"First Ryan's party, now this. I've never seen you spend so much time with strangers."

"You're being dramatic." Miriam heaved off the sofa.

"That's not a no," he shouted after her.

She stopped in the doorway and spun around, eyes closed, fingers clasping the bridge of her nose. "I can't believe I have to say this," she said, "but no, I'm not going for Ade."

"Good, because if you thought Joshua was bad, you have another thing coming with him."

It was like ice trickling through her veins, freezing everything it touched. Wes never mentioned Josh, neither of them did. The cheating was enough to make him off limits forevermore amen. And maybe Ade was worse. Maybe, in another world, he could break Miriam into a million tiny pieces, fragments of herself impossible to glue back together. But in this world, where hurricane Joshua tore through and forced Miriam to rebuild herself with steel rather than wood, Ade could do no worse than chip a tooth. Even then, they were reinforced.

~~~

Please vote, comment and share.

Misslaughalot_

xxx