Because I do love Presley.
Maybe not in the way Jonas seems to believe I do, but I’ve always had strong feelings for the Creeds.
Especially her.
I pace the floor of my living room as the midday sun beams light across the dull couch and empty walls. Pulling my phone out of my jeans pocket, I stare at the unanswered texts from this morning.
They are still all unread.
She’s never left any of my messages unread. Even at three in the morning, she’ll message me back just to say, “Go to sleep, old man.”
But for the last two days…silence.
An uneasy feeling starts to settle in my stomach. Sure, it might be nothing. She could be in Vegas right now, just too busy having fun to text me back, but something tells me that’s not it.
Or maybe I’m just hoping.
I decide to call her either way.
She answers on the third ring. “Hey, it’s my good friend, Hollis!” Her words sound slightly slurred together, and her voice has that dopey pitch that can only be achieved through copious amounts of alcohol consumption.
“Are you drunk?” I don’t know why I bother asking. I already know the answer.
She whispers the answer like it’s a secret. “Maybe.”
If I weren’t so worried, I might find Drunk Presley kind of cute. But I am. Worried, that is. Because it’s only three in the afternoon here, which means it’s noon on the West Coast, and she’s already trashed.
“Where are you?” I press, ready to bolt out of my apartment to…where? I’m in fucking Nashville. She’s…not.
“Vegas, baby!”
I swallow my disappointment. I guess that birthday trip is still on. This information shouldn’t bum me out as much as it does.
Friends do not get jealous, remember?
“Oh, okay. Well, I won’t keep you. I just hadn’t heard from you in a few days, so I wanted to check in and make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m great,” she assures me in that slurred voice again. “Nothing a little vitamin D and a mai tai can’t fix. Shit, how long have I been out here?” I hear the clanking of a glass, and she groans.
“Wait, where’s Jace?”
She snorts. “That cheat? How the hell should I know? He’s definitely not here.”
Cheat? My brain is struggling to keep up. “He cheated on you?”
“Dirty rotten cheat,” she murmurs into the phone. “He ruined everything, and now I’m in Vegas all alone.”
She sounds devastated. “You’re by yourself?”
“I have my mai tai.” She hiccups before adding, “Well, I did. Now, I just have an empty glass.”
I suspect she has more than one based on the sound of her voice.
I don’t like the idea of her drinking alone, especially so early in the day. “Where are you?”
“I told you. Vegas,” she says in an exasperated tone.
“No.” I chuckle. “I mean, where in Vegas are you?”
