I sniffled and pouted.
"The girl is about to die, and the guy can't do anything, and now they're dancing one last time."
"Again with this movie?" Feyza rolled her eyes and turned to Mete, exasperated.
"Okay, she's crying at the movie. Why are you crying?"
Mete rubbed his eye and answered grumpily.
"I poked myself in the eye while taking out my lens."
Aylin giggled while Feyza rolled her eyes again and started throwing her stuff around. Since they knew my obsession with this movie, they climbed onto the bed and watched with us in silence. Half an hour later, the closing credits rolled. I blew my nose into another tissue Mete handed me, then finally exhaled like I could breathe again. Crying without holding back had actually helped.
"I seriously don't get why you cry so much over this movie, Red," Feyza said from my other side.
I turned to her with a hopeless look and clicked my tongue.
"Then God really did curse you perfectly."
"Why? It's just a classic tragic love story. What's getting you this much?"
I sat up and frowned. "No, seriously, there's no way we're from the same planet. Your parents definitely adopted you from aliens. You heartless creature. You didn't feel anything about what that poor boy did so the girl could die happy, fine. But at least you should've felt something when he went to the father he hated for help in the middle of the night and cried to himself. I'm swapping tissues just for the way that boy cries!"
I pointed at Mete and Aylin.
"Look, even these babies felt something, but you're still sitting there like a horse. Can someone be more emotionless than Free Willy? You're sadder than a killer whale, you sadist woman!"
Aylin laughed and smacked Feyza's arm.
"You know how obsessed she is with this movie, Sapphire. Do you have to poke at her every single time?"
"What can I say? I love how she loses it when she defends the movie. She gets so cute." Feyza laughed and pinched my cheeks. "Look, she's bright red from anger."
I swatted her hands away and shoved them off my face.
"Get your hands off me! Right now you're like a commercial break showing up in the most exciting part of the movie, and I hate you."
I crossed my arms and turned away, but when I side-eyed her, she shrugged and got off the bed.
"Fine, your choice. Then I'll give the chocolates I bought for you to someone else."
I uncrossed my arms instantly and sat up on my knees, hands clasped, staring at her like she was holy.
"Did you buy my favorite ones?"
She laughed, nodded, and dropped a bag from the pile of stuff on the carpet into my lap. She ripped it open and dumped a ridiculous number of chocolates onto the bed. Hearts practically formed in my eyes as I grabbed one and peeled the wrapper back, then I paused and narrowed my eyes, scanning each of them suspiciously.
"Okay, what is this? Last I checked, all of you were out having fun in different places. Did you suddenly receive a prophecy that I was home alone and miserable, so you lined up at my door one by one with my favorite junk food?"
They exchanged hesitant looks, and something clicked in my head.
"Did Rüzgar tell you?"
Before they could even answer, I rolled my eyes and took a bite of chocolate.
"Of course he did. Fake Santa. He can't do a nice thing without being mysterious about it."
Feyza opened her mouth to speak, but Mete cleared his throat and jumped in.
"I'm saying tomorrow night, the four of us should go out somewhere and clear our heads. We haven't done anything together in forever."
Aylin nodded enthusiastically.
"Mete's right. We need to shake off this heavy mood and have some fun. I'd say we should go to our usual bar, but since Atlas works there, I don't think that's a great idea."
I stared at Feyza and Aylin.
"Why not?"
"It's because I broke up with Atlas, but it's not a problem for me," Feyza said flatly, trying to shut it down. "We can go if you want."
Mete cut in immediately.
"Don't be ridiculous, Bluey. You're going to go 'have fun' at his workplace the day after you dumped him?"
Feyza's deadpan stare didn't change.
We all scolded her at once, and she replied with the same blank look.
"You'd think we ended a twenty-year marriage the way you're acting. We dated for two months. And Atlas isn't exactly more emotional than I am."
"Wait! Then did I win the bet?" I grinned and nudged the girls. "I want my dinner with a waterfront view, babes."
"Look who's calling someone emotionless," Feyza muttered.
Mete spoke again. "Leave the place to me. I know somewhere you'll love. We'll meet here and go together. Deal?"
We all agreed, and I scanned Aylin, who had tossed her cardigan over a chair.
"Teresa, did you lose weight?"
"Obviously," Aylin said. "Do you have any idea how many calories you burn breaking into the police station and stealing a file with Demir in one night? A gym can't compete, I'm telling you."
I giggled and patted the bed, telling her to sit. "Then tell us the details already. I want to know how you pulled it off."
"Hey, hey, not yet," Feyza said. "I bought a ton of snacks. Let's set everything up first."
When we all went downstairs, I saw the mountain of shopping bags Feyza had left in the kitchen. I grinned, threw my arm around her shoulder, pulled her in, and planted a wet kiss on her cheek.
"Normally I'd yell at you for going overboard, but this time your timing is perfect, Blondie. Thank you. I'll make the tea, you set up the plates."
We finished our tasks and chatted while waiting for the tea to brew. As usual, Feyza and Mete started bickering over the dumbest thing, and before the kitchen could turn into a war zone, I sent all three upstairs with the trays. I grabbed the last few things and followed.
We placed the trays in the middle of the bed and sat around them. I looked at Aylin across from me.
"Okay. Tell us. What happened that night?"
I popped a salty cookie into my mouth, and Aylin began telling the police station adventure. We listened closely, equal parts horrified and thrilled, as her story dipped into tension and danger. From the sound of it, they'd lived through a night that could outdo half the action movies I'd seen.
When she finished, something sparked in my head and I remembered my conversation with Demir that day. I put my tea glass down and shook my head, laughing.
"So that was the 'surprise' he mentioned to test your skills. That's cruel, but honestly, I'd expect nothing less from Demir."
"What surprise? What skills? What's funny?" Aylin demanded.