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Page 51 of Call the Shots (For The Arena #1)

BEAR

OKAPI

Before we left Austin, I pulled into one of those barbecue places that touts itself as a ‘real Texan eatery.’ It had a hundred animal heads on the walls and peanut shells on the floor. June sat quietly in the booth, picking at the plastic lining of the menu.

“I’m sorry, Bear,” she apologized again.

“Don’t worry about it.”

The waitress came for drinks, and I pointed to the menu. “Can we get this, this, and this too?” When the waitress tried to read it out loud, I cut her off. “Yeah, that’s fine. Thanks.”

“What’d you order?” June asked quietly.

“You’ll see.”

“Bear, I know what you’re doing.”

“Huh?”

“You can’t shoulder somebody’s problem like this. It’ll weigh on you and become really toxic.”

“We can be toxic.”

Her eyes slid to mine. “Bear.”

“This’ll be the healthiest toxic thing I’ve ever been in.”

“It’s not fair to you.” She rubbed the inside of her wrist. “It’ll hurt a lot if this happens…again.”

“This happened before?”

“Yeah. A lot worse than this—I was hospitalized in high school. Like my hair started falling out. It was that bad.”

That was when she was openly with Xavier. Suddenly, I connected the dots. The reason why her breakup hit her so hard.

“Was Xavier helping you deal with it?”

“Oh my god, no. We had very clear boundaries on what I could talk about.”

I froze and her eyes snapped to mine. Neither of us moved, not even when the waitress returned with our drinks.

“I didn’t mean to say that,” June blurted out. “That’s not—there were things we both decided not to talk about. It was a mutual decision. It was healthier.”

“Healthier?” I echoed.

“It’s—it’s complicated. The eating disorder was so hard on everyone. I can’t imagine how difficult it is, to watch someone you love…wilt, I guess.”

Yeah. I can’t imagine.

“Do your friends know?” I finally asked.

“King knows about high school…”

“But he doesn’t know about this. They don’t know.”

“No.”

“ How? ”

“An eating disorder isn’t hard to hide when you’re living alone,” she confessed.

I took a long drink of my soda. I would’ve bet the bank account I’d be emptying out for this lunch that her family didn’t know. And the longer I thought about Xavier, and what she was ‘allowed to talk about,’ the angrier I became.

“June? I don’t know how to talk about this with the right terms and stuff so I want to say what I mean, and I can fix that later.”

She swallowed. “Okay.”

“The weight-loss shakes have to go.”

Slowly, she nodded.

“That dress you have hung up? The weight you used to be? That’s gone too.”

“It’s a size zero,” she admitted. “I wasn’t even close.”

I flinched and took another drink. “Is there anything else?”

“Um…”

“Anything.”

“The journals under my bed. The ones in the cardboard box.”

“You don’t want to keep your journals?”

“They’re my old calorie-counting journals.”

“Fuck,” slipped out of me.

“Sorry.”

“No. It’s fine,” I hurried to say. “Tomorrow we’ll talk about the right stuff, but I don’t know how to talk like that yet so let’s just say what we want.”

“I’m really sorry about this,” she said quietly. “I didn’t mean to ruin your night.”

I ran my thumb along the rim of my glass. “If I hadn't found you, it would’ve ruined a lot more than my night.”

The waitress appeared with the Texan Rodeo Round-up, the appetizer sampler meant for a party of eight.

Pretzel bites, wings, celery, fries, tortilla chips, quesadillas, stacked onion rings, tons of different dips, along with a salad and a bowl of fruit.

June’s eyes shot wide as the waitress slipped the platter to the table.

“Bear, I—I can’t eat all of this, I’ll throw-up?—”

“You don’t have to eat everything,” I assured her, waiting for the waitress to leave.

“I figured if I’d been avoiding food for a while, I’d want a variety.

And we can bring the leftovers back. Trust me, I’m a hockey player, I’ll finish this.

” June couldn’t hide her shock as I dug an onion ring through honey mustard.

“Fuck, it’s hot—careful with the onion rings. ”

June just stared while I passed her a small plate.

“Do you throw-up?” I winced. “Sorry, that’s not your thing, right?”

“No. I don’t even count calories anymore or—um—do any of the other stuff I used to. It’s like a bad habit. It is a bad habit.” Gingerly, she pulled the plate closer. “I drink a lot at events, I think that’s part of it.” June shook her head. “This is weird.”

“Good kind of weird?”

“No. Bad kind of weird.”

“I’m not an expert—I don’t know anything about eating disorders—but I’m pretty sure talking about it is a positive thing? I don’t know.” I picked up another onion ring with a shrug. “It can’t be good to hold it inside.”

“You’re so…calm.”

“Well, you’re sick, so now we have to get you better.”

She watched me, puzzled. “How are you so optimistic?”

“Because you’re you.” I caught her eyes again.

“It’s so easy to root for you, June. You want to go to law school, I know you’ll graduate.

If you wanted your house at any cost, you could’ve gotten it, you just don’t want to embarrass your dad.

” I took a bite of the onion ring. “You said the Gladiators would become an actual team and—this is fucking crazy—I believe you now. I can’t think of anything you couldn’t do. ”

My phone rang, and I swore under my breath, ready to ignore Vernon’s call.

Shit.

“Is it one of the Gladiators?” June asked.

“No—uh—” I scanned the restaurant. I didn’t want to leave and accidentally break the conversation. “It’s my cousins.”

“Baby cousins? Is it your Zoo Cultivation time?”

Reluctantly, I nodded. “I forgot to text them…”

“You can take the call, Bear.”

I shot another look at the door. I’d never skipped a gaming session before and if I messaged now, they’d keep calling until I answered.

“Thirty seconds, tops,” I promised, pulling up the video call.

“Commander Teddy!” Jillian shouted through the screen. “Your presence is requested on deck!”

I hunkered down. “Jillian, I?—”

“That’s not my rank! You make us use them, you have to use them!”

My neck burned as June stifled her giggle across the booth. “Lieutenant Jilly-bean, Sergeant AJ, I can’t login?—”

“ What?! ”

“What about tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow is grandma’s house!”

AJ ran to the camera. “Commander Teddy, you’re not coming?”

“Teddy, you have to come!”

“I’m not in Houston?—”

“What?!” Jillian demanded. “ Why? ”

“Teddy’s short for Teddy Bear,” June realized.

The embarrassment of June finding out about my family nickname was only matched by my cousins’ mouths falling in sync, gazing with overwhelming interest. Jillian pressed her face so close, the screen fogged up. “Is that a girl? ”

I fumbled for an excuse while June inched over. When she came into view, my cousins’ eyes shot wide.

“Hi.” June gave a little wave. “I’m sorry for keeping Bear. I had a medical emergency, he took me to the hospital.”

“Holy crapola,” AJ whispered.

“I’m telling mom you said crap,” Jillian replied, still shocked. “Teddy, who is she?”

I hurried through a quick goodbye, but June smiled. “I’m June. I’ve heard a lot?—”

“You’re June?! ”

Oh, fuck .

“Okapi!” AJ screeched.

June blinked. “O—what?”

“We’ll game tomorrow,” I promised. “We ordered food, so we got to go?—”

Jillian threw me a murderous look. “I want to talk to the okapi!”

“What’s an okapi?” June asked.

AJ took the helm. “Okapis are mammals in the Congo, related to giraffes. They’re endangered and herbivores?—”

“We can game Saturday,” I insisted.

“We have an okapi named after you,” Jillian informed her, smug.

“You do?”

“That’s not—” My face was hot. “We needed a name?—”

“Uh, no ,” Jillian interjected. “Okapis start with an O. We could’ve named her Ophelia or Odette or?—”

A slow smile crossed June’s face. “You have an animal named after me?”

“Not just any animal,” Jillian added. “Bear has this whole enclosure for her even though we could’ve put her in the rainforest one for the Asian elephants, but noooo ?—”

“I have it up!” AJ said with glee before I yanked away the phone, ready to end the call.

June grabbed it from me. “I have my own waterfall? ”

“They’re not telling you everything,” I said, my voice strained. “You can only get okapis from other zoos. The better you treat her, the more likely you can keep her, and—yeah, I used your name—we live in the same dorm—I say your name constantly. It’s not that weird. It’s not weird at all!”

“A beautiful, rare animal is named after me.” June’s smile widened. “I don’t care if you picked it out of a hat.”

AJ pointed at the screen. “Look, Teddy made this cool sun rock for her.”

“She’s the only one in there?” June asked.

“Uh-huh,” Jillian confirmed. “She’s so rare, we can’t even buy her from the main menu.”

“Must be kind of lonely for her,” June said softly.

“Nope, her social engagement’s green,” AJ boasted. “That’s because Teddy visits her every day?—”

I slid June’s plate closer. If I couldn’t end the humiliation ritual, June wouldn’t go hungry during it. While my cousins talked about our zoo, I motioned to the food.

June nibbled a quesadilla. “I have my own okapi statue outside of my exhibit.”

“Shut up,” I said gruffly.

“I have my own island in my own lake.”

“Eat your damn food.”

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