CHAPTER EIGHT
Lincoln
Linc: Tell me a joke.
Dani: Wilbur must really suck at keeping you entertained.
Linc: You're telling me…
Dani: Am I going to have to start looking up jokes in order to entertain you at night? Also, you have to be up in four hours — correction WE have to be up in four hours. GO TO SLEEP!
Linc: Did you just all caps me?
Dani: My finger slipped?
Linc: Finger slipped my ass. I think you just yelled at your elder.
Dani: Oh please. I'm almost eighteen. You're barely twenty-two.
Linc: Been visiting my IMDb page, huh?
Dani: Wouldn't your ego like to know?
Linc: Yes. It needs constant stroking. Quick, give me a compliment!
Dani: You have a killer tattoo.
Linc: Now that's just cruel, I'll have you know me and Bo go way back, even if he does look like shit.
Dani: You named your tattoo?
Linc: Is that not a thing? Do people not do that?
Dani: Maybe people in rooms with padded walls…
Linc: You say padded walls. I say fluffy.
Dani: Still an asylum.
A yellow smiley winked onto my screen, eyes spinning and tongue lolling.
Linc: Bo's offended.
Dani: Do you name everything?
Linc: Would it weird you out if I named my waffle maker Chuck?
Dani: Yes.
Linc: Then no, I don't name everything… *whispers* sorry Chuck.
Dani: GO TO SLEEP!
I grinned hard at my phone. I was too nervous to sleep, not that I'd admit that to her. It helped that the next few emojis she sent were of snakes, spiders, and then a bomb going off killing them all. Wasn't sure how that was supposed to put me to sleep, but it did make me laugh.
Linc: One joke, or maybe even a bedtime story.
I leaned back against my pillows, waiting for her response.
Dani: There once was a spoiled actor named Linc. He choked on Chuck while petting Wilbur, and Bo cried. The end.
Linc: You forgot about Penny.
Dani: Who's Penny?
Linc: Wouldn't you like to know.
Dani: LINCOLN GREENE — sleep. You need it. I need it. The world needs us to have it, otherwise I'm going to be really cranky tomorrow.
Linc: When was the last time you yelled?
Dani: That's a weird question.
Linc: Sorry, too personal?
Maybe I'd overstepped my boundaries. I hoped not because I really wanted to know the last time she'd raised her voice.
Dani: Probably after the accident when I was in a wheelchair and stupid Demetri thought it would be funny to push me around downtown Seaside at epic speeds. I yelled until I was hoarse. It was a fun day.
Linc: I'm assuming you were in the wheelchair because something was broken, and he had the audacity to push you into objects?
Dani: That's Demetri for you. But it did cheer me up. Until then, everyone had been treating me like I was so breakable, so it was nice to have normal. He gave me that.
Linc: I'm beginning to think it's not just the Sour Patch Kids.
Dani: It's not.
Linc: I feel jealous of his ability to be your friend when I seem to offend you every time I open my mouth.
Dani: You're a better texter.
Linc: Thanks, I think.
Dani: Go to bed.
Linc: Fine. And Dani?
Dani:?
Linc: You aren't breakable.
Dani: Thanks.