Taking my mug to the counter, I called Vinny. One ring, two, three, four. Just when I thought he’d send me to voicemail again, his voice came through on the other line.
“Vinny, I’ve been trying to get a hold of you since Tuesday!”
“Well, excuse me, Nins, but you and I aren’t exactly buds of the year. Figured you’d want another f?—”
“I’m actually doing you a favor.”
He scoffed. “Like I’d need a favor from you…”
“Vin… your dickhead brigade of friends isn’t around, and I need to talk to you. Cut it out.”
“Alright, Nina.” He huffed. “What’s up?”
“I got a visit from Captain Dickhead after work two days ago.” I exhaled, dragging my hand through my hair. “I was trying to get away, not paying attention.” I swallowed, giving Vinny an opportunity to ask questions, but he didn’t, so I continued. “Honestly, he got hurt pushing me away from a car. It was an accident.”
For a minute, I let myself feel it. The guilt of getting someone hurt to the point they needed cared for, fordays. It lodged between my lungs, heating from the inside out, frothing ’til it threatened to overflow. I tried to swallow it down, but it clung thickly to my throat, refusing to die down.
Vinny let out a long sigh, and I heard his fingertips doing that rhythmic tapping he did when he was anxious.
“Yeah,” he whispered, resigned. “I buy that. He can be intense. Especially to you.”
It was Lincoln, I reminded myself. I’d been walking away from his hate. The guilt simmered. Then Vinny’s words registered; I never thought he realized Lincoln was a dick to me—or to anybody.
There was a long sigh on the other end, the kind that rattled through the speaker and settled heavy in my ear. “What’s the deal now?” he asked.
“He’s okay physically, but he has retrograde amnesia.” I tapped my feet against the leg of the barstool. “Vin, it’s bad. Last thing he remembers is talking to you about my parents and that your cousin was about to move in. Supposedly, it’s just personal memories, people, experiences. He knows how to heat up some chicken noodle soup without setting his apartment on fire.”
“Wait a minute, why were you in his apartment?”
This is the shitshow I needed his help to fix. “They couldn’t get a hold of you, Vin.” I let that sit with him a second, fisting my hand on the counter. “You’re his emergency contact, butIwas there in the ambulance with him. Now, somehow, he thinks I’ve been his girlfriend and wants me to live with him forever.”
I took deep breaths, trying to keep myself from raising my voice. Then this awful cousin of mine, who ignored me on a good day, laughed. A burst of laughter. Atmyexpense.
“Vincent, this isn’t funny.” He kept at it. “The doctors said not to tell him. It’d slow his progress, but now he thinks I’ve moved in.” He was laughing so hard I could barely hear myself. “Vinny!” I finally shouted.
“I’m sorry, Nins, I’m really sorry.”
“You don’t sound sorry at all!”
“It’s just really fucking funny!” He chuckled. “I always kind of thought he had a crush on you.”
Lincoln Carter crushing on me. Yeah, and I was a millionaire.
“Tell me you’re flying back the minute we get off the phone.”
“Look—” Vinny exhaled, his voice calm. “I know it feels like a joke, but isn’t it convenient? You needed a new place, a cheaper place. Now you don’t even have to pay rent.” He giggled. “Run with it, Nina! Give up the studio and save yourself some money. Tit for tat and all. It’s actually kind of perfect for both of you!” I could picture his signature hand wave, the whole situation just a silly little thing.
“Vin, he’s going to recover his memory, and I’ll find myself homeless!” I was being too loud, Lincoln would hear, but I struggled to care. Maybe that was it. I should just have him overhear us and end this charade.
“He’s not going to do that, Nins.”
I didn’t dignify that with a response and just let the awkward silence thickening between us speak for itself.
Vin sighed heavily, raw, resigned. “Okay. Okay.” He clicked his tongue. “Listen, he’s not bad, you guys just… never got around to fixing things. Sure, high school was bad, but this could be a fresh start.”
My nails created crescent moons in my palm. “You know what he did and what it cost me.”
The unavoidable, uncomfortable truth took a silent hold between us. Vinnyhad failed to stand by me over his dickhead friends. I never asked him for protection, but an ally would have been nice.
