I tense, the hairs on the back of my neck raising. A shudder races down my body at the familiar voice. The very same one that pleaded and begged me to stay a few days ago.
She rolls her eyes at her brother, Daniel. The guy who pulled me back before I ended it all. The guy who held me while I broke down. The guy who watched the stars with me. The same guy who gripped me all night like his life depended on it.
“Thanks for coming so quickly.” She smiles at him, but it drops when another guy approaches us.
“Yeah, of course.” He and the other guy stand between us. Daniel’s gaze is on Penelope before it peers down to me. “You’re in the best…” His voice wanes, and when our eyes lock, his brows furrow. “Hands.”
Surely, he doesn’t recognize me. He will when he hears my voice maybe or my name, but he hardly saw my face. Unless he already forgot about me. I’m pretty forgettable, I’ve been told.
“Oh God, don’t say that to Josefine. Damn, Danny, who raised you?”
“Josefine.” He exhales a breath that feels both relieved and frustrated. But the expression on his face is impassive, so I can’t really tell what he’s thinking. Or whether he’s thinking anything at all. “Josefine.” This time around, he sounds more relieved than frustrated, hopeful even.
Please don’t go.I hear his frantic words echo in my head.
Penelope’s eyes bounce between him and me. “Wait, do you two know each other?”
“No,” I quickly say, as he counters with, “Yes.”
“Oh, ooooh…” She slowly nods as though she is piecing everything together.
But she’s got it all wrong, and just as I’m about to correct her, Daniel does.
“Not like that, idiot. We met…the other night. Midnight, Christmas Day.” It feels like he’s saying it more to me than to her.
My tire blowing out didn’t cause my heart to race, but his words do?
“I’m assuming you two met on campus?” At Daniel’s confused expression, she explains, “She also goes to MCU.”
“So happy you’re all catching up, but we should really change this tire. It’s dark and you all know how shitty the drivers are here, so we need to get started,” the guy whose name I don’t know says.
I know all about shitty drivers, and maybe it’s what I want to happen, but thinking of them getting hurt dissolves the thought.
“Right, yeah, we should.” Daniel clears his throat. “We’ll need to grab the spare. All we’ll need you to do is hold the flashlights.”
“Can you do that, or will that be too heavy for you?” The guy directs that question to Penelope, and it sounds a little condescending but also like a tease.
“Angel, the year just started. I thought your New Year’s resolution was to be less annoying?”
“Must be confusing yours with mine.” Angel smirks, winking at her.
“Don’t start,” Daniel chides, his gaze straying to mine, but I look away.
The crack in my chest deepens, but oddly enough, there’s no ache behind it. I don’t ponder over why. Instead, I hold the flashlight just like he instructed.
5
DANIEL
“She’s alive,”Angel says, slashing the silence in my car.
In return, I only exhale a breath, keeping my eyes glued to Josefine’s Mercedes-Benz.
We’re following behind her, making sure she gets home safely. She protested against us accompanying her, said she had it all under control, and to some degree I believe that, but she’s driving with a spare, so I didn’t want to risk it.
I’m also struggling to believe she’s really here and not…dead.
I hate thinking that but ever since I left the cliff with Angel on New Year’s Day, wondering what she ended up doing has been plaguing my mind.
