“He misses his friend. And I can’t go back to that. I can’t.” My voice broke. I took a breath. “I need time. I hope I can find it in me to be friends again. But not yet.”
Callie frowned harder and put her arm around me. “Why don’t you see what he’s doing tonight?”
“Ha! No fucking way.”Probably already with someone else.The thought made me want to throw up.
“Why? What do you possibly think he’s doing?” Her eyebrows rose and I didn’t like her speculative look one bit.
“Cal. I appreciate you. I do. But we said what we needed to say.” I stood and crumbs from the cookies I’d snarfed earlier fell. I didn’t have enough feelings to be embarrassed. I’d showered that morning and considered that a big fucking deal. “I’ll have to figure out a way to move on. It won’t be tonight, or tomorrow, but it’ll happen.”
She twisted her fingers in her lap. Her outfit and appearance were so beautiful—all but the pitying expression. “I hate leaving you.”
“Girl, if you don’t leave, I’ll cut you. Not everyone finds a guy like Zade. Go cherish that hunk of a man and bring me leftovers. That’s all I ask.” I jutted my chin out, daring her to argue. She sighed.Score.“Now, leave.”
“I’ll come back after the dinner.”
“No. No you won’t. Stay the night. Get freaky.” Her pain took precedence and I found my normal voice. “You’re my ride or die. Sister from another mister. My thunder buddy. But, right now, go be Zade’s girlfriend.”
“Okay. Call me if you need anything. Anything at all.”
“Yes,mother.”
“Fuck you,” she joked and I knew everything was fine. “You’re the best, G.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I brushed her off and busied myself with a true-crime novel. Nothing got me more in the mood to feel sorry for myself than a book about crime.
She left soon after and the unwelcome silence seemed loud. I heard every creak of our upstairs neighbors. Every echo of laughter from someone. I laughed without humor.Good for them for being fucking happy.
The large vacuum mocked me. Yeah, he knew I liked to clean to distract myself, so what better way to spend a Saturday night than cleaning?
Clyde had wanted to give me a night off since I’d been playing so much. I think he felt bad for me. The Robot had shown emotion and let me sulk. I appreciated the gesture but loathed the fact that I was stuck with my thoughts. I would’ve preferred to be at the bar, faking it. Sometimes escaping my own thoughts in a crowd of superficial people felt better.
And I knew Aaron was out tonight. Social media never let anyone go unnoticed. He was out with the baseball team—the wild ones—and I couldn’t imagine what he was going to do. Because he could now.
Fuck, it hurts.
I blasted some Dashboard Confessional and allowed myself to cry and clean. It was a hot mess of an experience. It wasn’t until an hour later that someone knocked on the door.Is it Aaron?
I ran to the shitty mirror in the hallway and rubbed under my eyes. I had remnants of mascara on but, other than that, I didn’t totally look like trash. I took a calming breath and wiped my palms on my yoga pants.
I opened the door with my heart in my throat. But it was a UPS guy.
“Hi there. This is Unit 232B, right?”
“Yes,” I replied with a loud grunt.Not Aaron. Just Frank.
“Here you go,” he said with way too much cheer.
“Wh-what’s this?” I eyed the cardboard box.
“A package for you, ma’am. You are Greta Aske, right?” His mustache twitched and I thought of a million jokes about it I wanted to tell Aaron—but then I remembered.Oh. Yeah. We don’t talk.“Ma’am?”
“Yeah, sorry. I’m Greta.” I took the pen and scribbled my name. The cold air slammed against my face and I wanted to close the door. But, Mr. Mustache-Man sighed. “Thanks.”
“Have a good night. Happy holidays.”
“Yeah, you too,” I mindlessly replied. I shut the door and eyed the brown box. I hadn’t ordered anything and no one in my extended family cared to know my address. I found scissors and tore it open.Maybe I ordered shoes?
Shoes could solve world problems. Paper rustled and I ripped it open. A typed letter stuck out and my gaze slid to it. It was as if a fist had plunged into my chest and squeezed my heart.Aaron.
