He hesitates just a second before taking long, quick steps to the road… right into the middle of it.
He stops, his body freezing, before he turns to face us…
And grins a mile wide.
“Hell yes!” he shouts, raising his arms and shouting to the sky.
I run to him, hugging him. He picks me up and swings me around, kissing my cheek a hundred times.
When he sets me down, I see Rhett and Wade waiting back on the property. Wade is cringing, while Rhett is giving a tired smile.
“Crap,” Gus says, taking my hand and hurrying back to them. “Come on, let’s get closer to the house.”
They don’t say anything as we go; we just make our way back to the house.
We find a movie to watch and squish on the couch together.
I’m not really tired, but I say I am to give the guys some privacy and go upstairs.
I don’t know what they talk about while I’m gone, but I hear them talking to one another, and a short time later, Gus comes up to bed. I pretend to be asleep, feeling a mix of emotions that I don’t want to talk about. Eventually, Ifall asleep. And the morning brings a whole bunch of new problems.
Shouting wakes me. I jerk up, glancing at Gus, who is slowly waking. He’s groggy, wiping his eyes. The shouting gets louder, so I get out of bed and hurry downstairs. Gus is right behind me.
Wade and Rhett are screaming at each other in my living room, the blankets and pillows all over the floor.
“Hey, what’s going on?” I say loud enough they can hear me.
Wade looks at me, scoffs, then leaves the house. Rhett moves to go after him.
“Wait,” I say, stepping in front of him. “What happened?”
“He—“ He runs a hand down his face. “I woke up like this.” He waves his hands down his body.
I look at the door Wade just left out of.
“And he didn’t,” I surmise.
“No, he didn’t.”
“Give him some space,” Gus says, putting his hand on Rhett’s shoulder. “I know you feel bad, trust me, I felt bad too, but… give him some time.
I glance at Gus, giving him a reassuring smile before going into the kitchen to start breakfast.
Charlie has been taking care of the animals for me in the morning since I’ve taken on the task of turning these chickens back to humans. And he’s told me that Wade helps too, to keep himself busy.
I hear Gus and Rhett talking as I work on making pancake batter.
“What do you think happened?” Gus asks.
“I don’t know.”
“What was different about last night?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t.” There’s a pause as I crack eggs and put them into the mix. “I just…” He lowers his voice, but I can still make out what he’s saying. “I was thinking about things when I fell asleep, and when I woke up, I was me.”
“What kind of things?”
“Just things, Gus,” he says, his voice louder again.
