*Buzz buzz buzz—*
Curled up in her mother's arms, deep in a blissful sleep, Juniper was rudely awakened by an endless barrage of message notifications pinging from her phone.
Who was deranged enough to spam texts in the middle of the night?
Careful not to wake Theia, Juniper slipped a pale arm out from beneath the covers, blindly grabbing her phone to check her messaging app.
Jimmie, Harold, Melvin, Celine, and Coralie.
All five had sent her walls of texts at the exact same time.
Jimmie: "I highly recommend you get Shanley a neurological exam. I think his brain is genuinely broken."
Harold: "If he's this unhinged over an engagement, what is he going to do at the wedding? Keep your man on a leash. Do not let him harass people at 2 AM!"
Melvin: "That old fox… You know what, I'm just going to stay quiet before I say something truly offensive."
The messages from Celine and Coralie were much the same—mostly complaints about Shanley's midnight "good news" terrorism campaign, complete with audio receipts.
Juniper tapped one of the voice notes. Even through the terrible audio compression, she could hear the manic, obnoxious glee radiating from the old fox's voice.
Juniper rubbed the bridge of her nose, letting out an exasperated, helpless laugh.
Was all this really necessary?
If she knew he was going to act this psychotic, she would have waited until daylight to bring up the engagement.
The next morning.
Juniper woke up early and quietly slipped out of the room.
She had assumed that since Shanley had spent half the night terrorizing people with phone calls, he would be dead to the world, catching up on sleep.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABEL
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Don't Mess with the Girl with Candy