“Or maybe you have ideas?” he asks.
My heart skips. Is he asking me because I’m convenient and on the phone with him right now? I’mnotgoing to read too much into this. I won’t.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Good. Please do. Take pity on me, Lie.”
I grin. “I might have ideas, but it’ll have to wait.”
“Because you’re going to Cash’s.”
I stare at his house, wondering where inside he is. If he asks me to come over, I will. It’s not like I told Cash I was coming over. The little bitch is probably asleep. Or maybe at work. Hm.
“Yep.”
“Staying there tonight?”
“Maybe.” I have no plans to. Is he fishing? I chew my lip as I consider what he’s trying to say or not to say.
“Call me later,” Laiken says. “I miss your voice when we don’t talk all day.”
I close my eyes, shoulders sagging. That’s a positive comment. I shouldn’t feel sad about it. “I will.”
“Have fun.”
‘I miss your voice’ could be shortened to ‘I miss you,’ right? Do I say it back? God, what has become of me? I’ve never pined after someone before. I don’t particularly want to start now. This is kind of a shitty situation to pine over.
“Enjoy painting.”
He huffs.
A few seconds pass where neither of us speaks or hangs up, but after a few more, I pull the phone from my ear and sigh.He gave me a flower, I remind myself.He took me on a paddleboard date.
But that was before my dad started poking around. Hinting about the person Laiken is hiding. I spend the walk to Cash’s house contemplating this. I’m not sure if I’m trying to convince myself to get over this thing with Laiken and move on, or that there’s something really here and…
And what? What’s going to come of this?
The walk to Cash’s house is eight minutes. I knock on his window on my way by, and Cash meets me at the door. His hair is sticking up, and I laugh, reaching up to brush it down. “What were you doing last night?” I tease when my fingers get caught in knots.
He rolls his eyes. “Nothing,” he mutters.
I follow him into his room, where I shut the door behind me. He drops onto his bed, feet hanging off the side, and draping an arm over his eyes. He looks like I feel.
Kicking off my flip-flops and dropping my bag on the floor, I climb onto the bed beside him, on my side so I can face him. “You up all night again? Is that why you look miserable?”
Cash sighs. “Yes, but not because he was in here,” he mutters.
“Why then? Why wasn’t he in here? I feel like we haven’t talked in months. What have I missed?”
“Since the last incident at the bar, Ben has been insufferable. He literally tried to break into my room at almost midnight,slamming on my door and demanding I unlock it. He was hollering at me about fuck knows what. He woke my parents, and they fought in the hall. I think they finally understand that I’m literally not doing a damn thing and Ben’s being a dickwad for any reason he can think of, even when I’m nowhere near him and haven’t been for at least four hours at that point.”
I shake my head. “It’s about time they figured it out.” I brush my hand through his hair, patting it down.
“Yeah, but anyway. Since the bar, Onyx hasn’t been coming in every night. He said that we can’t do this. Ben would lose his mind. I argued Ben has already lost his mind for a reason only Ben knows, apparently, since Onyx doesn’t understand what his problem is either. So it felt like the last few nights he was in here, it was… like… I don’t know. Cold? Yeah, so I locked my door the last couple nights, and listened to him tap on my door, and try the handle. Several times.”
“You stayed strong and didn’t let him in.”
“Yes. But last night he tried six times, Lie,” he says miserably. He rolls to his side to face me, hair falling into his face that he absently pushes away. “I don’t know what to do. He wants to come in, but… he doesn’t want to do this.”
