Salted Wound

Chapter 56- Mar 12, 2019

Zamari

I lean back into the chair with a sigh, scrolling aimlessly through Instagram until I come across a picture that Ana posted not too long ago. She's in it, laughing with the rest of the group. It looks like they asked someone to take the picture because all of them are in the frame, leaning close together and all smiling or laughing. Ana has her eyes half-closed, her cheeks flushed in a frozen laugh. I look at the picture for a long moment and open the chat to text her. I hesitate a moment and send a simple,

I miss you.

There are only a couple of minutes wait before she responds.

Miss you too! I wish you could have come.

I sigh, and go to my camera gallery, scrolling slowly through all of the pictures she's sent so far. Which are a lot.

There's one of the water at sunset, a perfectly curled wave rolling in, the sand looking soft to the touch, and the sun at the edge of the horizon a blazing orange. I flip through some more, a few more of scenery but most of the group, Dante doing a handstand in the sand. Dante collapsed in the sand, presumably taken immediately following the handstand. Noah kissing Naomi on the cheek, both of them with windblown hair. Esme floating in the pool on a flamingo-shaped pool toy, appearing to be asleep.

I feel a pang in my chest at the next one, a selfie of Ana, smiling cheekily, her face flushed once again, the edge of her bathing suit barely visible, sunglasses perched atop her head, hair in a messy bun. She looks perfectly rumpled and I'm floored by how beautiful she really is.

"What ya looking at?"

I jump at the voice. I was so absorbed by my pity party I didn't hear Jade come in the room.

"What Jade?" I ask, annoyed.

"Sorry I interrupted your one-sided conversation." She says innocently. "This is, after all, a community room, and Strella and Freddie are here, so you might want to quit mooning over Ana."

I roll my eyes and stand up, ignoring her remarks as I open the front door for an extremely pregnant Estrella. The baby isn't due for a couple more months, but her slight frame makes her enlarged belly look even more pronounced.

"Hey, Zamari." She says warmly, and I give her a side hug, all I can really manage without worrying about the baby.

Freddie comes in behind her and I greet him with our usual handshake.

"Hey Strella, hey Freddie," Jade calls from the couch where she's lining up her afternoon medications.

"Hey girl, you gotta medicate too?" Strella asks while Freddie waves awkwardly as he struggles to take off his shoes.

"Yea, doctors love making an addict out of people." Jade jokes, but I see the flare of concern in her eyes as she says it. The constant medication use gets to her, in more ways than one.

"I bet I got you topped. I have four pills to take later, on top of the four I took this morning."

"Got me beat by two pills," Jade responds, grinning.

"It's that prenatal shit I got on you." Strella drops onto the adjacent couch with a sigh, propping her swollen feet up.

I grab a bag of chips and a couple of drinks for the invalids from the kitchen, and hand Jade the remote, while Freddie peruses the fridge for a snack. They both call their thanks and I roll my eyes, pretending to be annoyed, but truthfully I like having Estrella around. She gets along well with Jade and they seem to feed off of each other's misery, helping each other in ways none of the rest of us really can.