“Very impressive,” David said.
“Now you go.”
“Oh, no, I couldn’t—”
“Dude, I went, now you have to go. Ready … set …”
Amie rested her chin on her folded arms as Benny began counting. Her phone lit up from where it sat on the floor next to her.
Seriously, where the hell is everyone?
Starting to feel bad that Ziya couldn’t find her friends, Amie picked up the phone and tapped out a reply.Wrong person!
“—twenty-one … twenty-two … did you finish?”
“Intermission,” David choked out between gasps for air. “I think I’m halfway through.”
“Forget it, man.” Benny was chuckling. “It’s okay.”
“Oh, thank god.”
Hoping that Benny had a weak bladder, Amie reached down to her pocket to pull out the pieces of paper she’d retrieved from the wastebasket. Shifting her weight to one arm, she used her opposite hand to try putting together the photo side of the ripped-up paper.
“Can I be real with you for a second?” she heard Benny ask.
“That’s one of my favorite ways for people to be with me,” David responded. “Second only to ‘not.’ ”
There was a brief pause.
“Anyway, you were saying?”
“I just, I thought you were kind of a weird dude, if I’m being honest. No offense.”
“None taken.”
“But my girlfriend broke up with me, and I really didn’t want to be alone tonight. So thanks for hanging with me.”
Another brief pause.
“Glad I could be here for you,” David finally said, his voice strained. “Sorry to hear about your breakup.”
“It’s fine. Shit happens.”
“Sure does.”
“But you’re all right, man. Even if you did kill Savannah.”
Amie froze as the pause that followed stretched far beyond the definition of “brief.”
“I … didn’t do that,” David finally said.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, I don’t give a shit. She was a total bi—” Benny stopped. “Do you … believe in ghosts?” he asked tentatively.
“I guess I’m agnostic about it. Don’t really believe or disbelieve. Do you think you’re being haunted?”
“No. I mean, I don’t know. I guess I’m acrostic about it, too.”
“Has something happened to make you think—”
