And I don’t know why I care. Why the thought even crosses my mind.
I duck my head, and it’s not because of Tyli’s light teasing. Storm and I watchedScreamtogether on Wednesday night, but he took me back to Ely the next morning and we haven’t spoken since.
I still haven’t spotted that camera he’s allegedly got outside of my place.
But I have had the desire to text him way too much.
Remi is with Cortland still in Beckley and she’s sent me photos of her and her small family in the mountains, and I love getting pictures of Baby Lyle, but I really want to talk to her about Storm. In person. She keeps hounding me about what it is I needed to tell her but I want to actually see her face in real life when I confess we’ve spent two nights together despite her warning.
It feels weird when I think about it, and maybe I feel a little guilty, too. Up until last year, she didn’t sleep well through the night and she had to go to extensive therapy because of what happened with all of them.
For a while, I hated Storm and Cortland both.
Maybe sometimes I still do, even though I see Cortland treat her well and show up every single day for her and Lyle.
But what would she think about me and Storm potentially hooking up? She already warned me to stay away from him. And Cortland, the one person who should vouch for him, did the opposite.
And why does it matter anyway? It won’t be anything more than a fling, so bringing it up seems pointless.
“I like having this place to ourselves,” Tyli says, glancing around the dimly lit library. She stretches her arms overhead and I watch her muscles flex.
I’m not very tired and I’m worried it’ll be another sleepless night worrying about Storm and who is after him, and my parents and Henry, and I decide I’ll probably just head to the gym after Tyli goes to her dorm.
“Me too,” I agree. A rumble of thunder seems to shake the entire stone and brick building and Tyli drops her arms and shoots her gaze to me.
“On second thought,” she says, pushing away from the table. “Maybe we should get home.”
“This building is probably safer than either of our places.”
Tyli swipes her maroon notebook from the table and drops it into her emerald-green fuzzy bag on the floor as she shakes her head. “Safer, maybe. More comfortable?” She stands, then snatches up her bag. “Absolutely not.”
I start putting my binder and my pens away too. It’s not like either of us got much done but hanging out and talking about the future was worth it. To me it feels like a spell of good energy; casting excitement over our dreams.
I imagine trying to tell Storm Leary something like that and it almost makes me laugh.
“You coming?” Tyli asks.
I’m still in my seat as I zip up my lavender backpack but leave it on the hardwood. “I think I’m going to stay here a little while longer. I don’t mind if I have to walk in the rain.”
Tyli wrinkles her nose. “You’re good walking by yourself though?”
“Are you?” I counter. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice my phone light up with a notification but I don’t grab it. Probably Heather or Caspian.
Tyli sees it too and she says, “Yeah, I am, but speaking of hanging out in the library at midnight alone, how are things with Dax?”
I click my tongue and roll my eyes. “I haven’t talked to him since the party.” Which is true, but only just. He texted me the same night everything went down, after I left with Storm, asking who the hell he was. Since he’d had his fingers all over him, I suppose that was fair, but I didn’t feel like getting into any of it with some guy I’m hardly dating, so I just never responded.
“Well, for what it’s worth, he left right after you did, and he seemed riled up about it.”
I smile but guilt flips in my stomach. “Poor baby.”
Tyli shrugs. “He’s fine, and he’s loaded. You could do better, yeah, but you could do worse.”
I don’t argue with her because on both counts, she’s right.
I wonder what she’d think of Storm, but I don’t ask. She’s ready to go and I don’t think we should get into it right now. What would I even say?Hey, I’m falling for a psycho drug dealer who has a camera outside of my apartment that I can’t find? Also, he fucked my best friend a few years ago.
Yeah, no.
