The birds outside wouldn’t miss me. The grass on the ground didn’t know who I was. The stars in the midnight sky would laugh at my absence. The world would keep going, but I knew my brothers would mourn, and I wouldn’t be there to comfort them. That had to mean something. If it didn’t mean anything, then what the fuck was I still doing here? Wasting time. Wasting life energy I didn’t deserve, since I was so ungrateful for the air I breathed in the first place.
So there I stood, planning out my next strike with the blade still in the drawer of my bathroom counter, wondering where would hurt the most. If I couldn’t find eternal peace, then I would settle for a moment of hell.
Just as I opened the drawer, I heard a knock at my door. It was faint from the bathroom, so I wondered for a second if Iwas hearing things when another one came. Closing my eyes, I huffed out an irritated breath and closed the drawer.
Thinking it might be a delivery of some kind, though I wasn’t sure what it would be, I only opened the door halfway, finding Emerson standing behind it. “What are you doing here?”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “One day, you’ll greet me better than that. I guess today isn’t one of them.”
“Nope. You didn’t even think about giving me a heads-up? I could be naked right now.”
“I wouldn’t have cared.”
“I would’ve. “
He waved a hand dismissively. “Eh, it’s fine. You going to invite me in, or do you want to talk with your head halfway out of the door?”
I actually didn’t have any pants on, which wouldn’t be good for Emerson to see. “Give me a second. I actually am half naked. Stay put, and I’ll be back.”
“Some of your neighbors are weird, Moon. Don’t make me wait for too long.”
“Just for that, I’m taking double the amount of time to put clothes on.”
“You better no?—”
I cut him off by closing the door and walking away. It truly didn’t take me long to put some sweats on, but I was feeling feisty. I made my walk back to the door leisurely, strolling along like I was admiring flowers on the side of the road.
When I opened the door fully, Emerson was glaring at me. “You really did take your time.” He walked in, stopping just in front of the door. “Now go put on clothes you want to wear in public and grab your wallet.”
“What? Why?”
“Because we are going hobby hunting.”
“What the fuck is hobby hunting?”
Emerson put a hand on his hip, cocking it to the side. “Exactly what I said. There are some workshops going on out of town. You need a hobby. I could do with finding one, too. We’re friends. Let’s go explore new shit together.”
I furrowed my brows at him, staring at his general audacity and the appalling way in which he looked so fucking handsome. Seriously. All he wore was a plain shirt and some blue jeans, but the guy had secret muscles for days, and it almost made me mad. Black looked fucking gorgeous on him. I didn’t need to think that about my friend. My straight one, at that. It’d be far too easy to scare him off. “You love making plans without consulting me, huh?”
“Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed today, Moon?”
“I woke up and saw you, so maybe.”
He scoffed. “Whatever. Anyway, there is a painting workshop, pottery, and a stained glass one going on. We are going to try all of them and see if we like any of them.”
“No on the painting. Sorry, but that’s all Elio and I know for a fact I don’t enjoy it.”
“Good! We narrowed one of them down, then. Now come on, you need to look presentable to the public, and I need to stop by the gas station before we go. I’ll pay for lunch.”
I stood there for a second, processing just how serious he was being. What kind of person willingly goes out and does something like this? Was he desperate to find meaning in life, just like I was, or was he just trying to fulfill some kind of friendship duty? “Bossy.”
“Brat.”
“Shut up. I still have to see Crescent, so no can do until after.”
“Already spoke with him, and he enthusiastically said you should come with me and then go see them at their house afterward if you’re up to it.”
Not seeing Crescent on his lunch break? The idea almost tore my heart apart. Not so much the idea of not going, because I’d done that before and was fine, but the idea that Crescent was so easily okay with it… It made me wonder if he actually even liked seeing me, or if he thought I was too overbearing, like Star did now.
