Will got off the couch and started clearing the takeout containers. Charlie got up too and gently stretched his body out. Jonah lingered.
He took the opportunity of my brothers being busy to whisper, “Would you be mad if I came back?”
My stomach flipped. “No.”
He smiled. “Okay.”
“Okay.”
“Jonah and Eliza are telling secrets!” Charlie announced to the entire world. “They’re being weird.”
“Don’t lie,” I growled at him, “but how many painkillers are you on right now? Because what in the world made you think it was okay to act like that?”
He just grinned at me. “None at the moment, which is why it’s so important that we get back home ASAP, Will. I’m going to die over here, and you are showing no urgency. Just like the other night.”
Charlie was clearly doing better if he felt good enough to tease the rest of us about the night he refused to get medical help.
Will rolled his eyes. “All right, princess, let’s get you home. Come on, Jonah, help me make sure he doesn’t fall down all four flights of stairs.”
“Does it count as helping him not fall if I’m the one who pushes him?”
Charlie glanced helplessly back at me. “Eliza, stand up for me. Do something.”
“I’m trying,” I said boldly from my spot across the apartment from him, where I was parked comfortably on the couch. I didn’t move a muscle. “Really. I am. Trying so hard.”
Jonah and Will let out a chorus of “bye, Elizas” and then my apartment door was closed, and the room was quiet again. Nothing moved inside my apartment. I wasn’t just alone, I was by myself. Which was an entirely different thing.
My heart sank with their absence and then buoyed again when I remembered Jonah’s question. Was he really going to come back? How was he going to ditch my brothers?
What if they wanted to do something with him? What if they wanted to come back and watch another movie, another excuse for Will and Charlie to be all up in my business.
Ugh, why were they so damn involved in my life?
Never mind that I was all over Lola the second Will showed the slightest interest in her. And I’d made making Ada my best friend a personal mission for years. But this was different. Jonah and I had been close forever. We’d been hanging out alone forever. Why the sudden not-so-covert ops?
After several long, excruciating minutes of nothing happening, I picked up the remote and turned on my show. I was just getting really invested in a particular couple when a knock sounded on my door again.
I regretted giving the building code to all the people in my life. My day would have looked very different if none of them could gain access inside on their own, and I was able to play gatekeeper with the buzzer.
Nervous butterflies raced around my belly. I hadn’t been nervous around Jonah in years. At least a decade. It was surreal to be nervous now. There wasn’t even a reason to be nervous.
My body was being stupid. And my mind promptly tried to tell it that. No surprise, it didn’t listen.
When did emotions ever listen to rational minds? The world would be an entirely different place if we could just talk ourselves into feeling the logical, normal thing to feel.
Anyway, I opened the door with icy, shaking hands and rioting butterflies that had the adverse effect of making me feel like I wanted to puke. So top form. Great.
Despite all evidence pointing to Jonah being on the other side of my door, I was genuinely surprised to find Jonah standing on the other side of my door.
“How’d you ditch them?” At least I sounded normal. If you ignored the slight tremble and high-pitched squeak at the end of the sentence.
His mouth split into a wide grin. “It wasn’t easy. Will wanted me to go back to his place for beers. Thankfully, Lola called to tell him she wasn’t feeling well.”
“Uh, oh, what about Charlie?”
“I guess he was fine to go home. The worst of his pain is over, and he’s up to taking care of himself.” He paused, then winked at me. “Will made him promise to call you if there was an issue.”
“Oh, Will made him promise to call me, huh?”
