Right now, though? When I’m facing the possibility of losing out on everything I’ve worked for? Well, I kinda just wish they’d give me a pass, even if I did get myself into this situation to begin with.
“Okay, well, we’re just sitting in the long-term parking lot now, so…” Theo trails off.
“Yeah, Nix and I need to head out anyway. We’re having dinner with Kason and Hayes.”
“Bullshit that you guys see my best friend more than I do,” Quinton grumbles, and Oakley chuckles.
“And you say I’m the one crying myself to sleep from missing my friends.”
With that, both Theo and Holden hang up, heading off to continue with their respective evenings. Oakley lingers, though, keeping me on the phone while he and Quinton finish eating. But soon enough, they need to go too, and a pit forms in my stomach as we say goodbye.
I drop my phone to the mattress beside me after the call goes dead, alone with my thoughts once again. For the briefest second there, in the midst of all the banter and bullshitting, it felt like they were still here. Like nothing had changed, and we haven’t been split apart to different states and time zones across the country.
I sigh and drag a pillow over my face, allowing myself the night to wallow in self-pity.
Because the reality is, my friends are gone, leaving me to live with a bunch of strangers, and the only guy Idoknow hates my guts. And to make matters worse, I’m now flunking a class, and the entire internet has seen me do the helicopter with my dick.
Senior year fucking blows.
Two
Logan
My pen moves over my sketchpad with ease, the sound of Taking Back Sunday blasting through my headphones as I work on the next page of this one-shot manga. I’ve been at my desk like this for a couple hours, and I’m pleased with the amount of progress I’ve made in such a short time. I might even finish the page before having to leave for my seminar at noon, which would really set the tone for a fantastic Monday.
Unfortunately, my good mood is short-lived, plummeting to the pits of Hell when my phone lights up with a text notification.
Mom: Will you come home for dinner this weekend? Your dad and I want to start looking at flights to New York for Christmas.
I let out a little scoff and go back to drawing, ignoring the text completely.
Despite going to college in the same city where my parents live, I make it a point to avoid going home as much as possible. Being this close to them is a hazard to my mental health, and it’s one of the reasons I wish I’d stood my ground on going to Tufts instead.
But it’s not the dinner invite that sets my irritation on edge; it’s theflights to New Yorkportion of her message.
Right when school started, she decided to drop the bomb ofby the way, we’re doing Christmas in New York this yearon me out of nowhere. And I’ve told herrepeatedlyover the past six weeks, I have zero interest in going.
It was bad enough that my parents dragged me there over winter break last year against my will. I’m not looking for a repeat, knowing the entire trip would just be about Oakley and hockey—yet again. Going to games to watch him and Quinton play, listening to them and Dad talk about the team, the season, their stats, blah blah fucking blah.
It’s insufferable.
Unfortunately for me, ignoring Mom never works out for long, because a FaceTime notification pops up ten minutes later.
“I’m not going,” I tell her the second I answer the phone.
She lets out a long sigh and shakes her head. “Logan, I don’t understand why you’re fighting us so hard on this.”
I bite the inside of my cheek, doing my best to rein in my frustration with my mother andnotblow up on her over FaceTime. But she’s making it really freaking difficult when she won’t just drop it.
“Because what if I made plans, Mom? It’s not fair for you to expect me to live around Oakley’s schedule.”
Her brows lift. “Do you have plans?”
Shit.
“Well, no. But the point is you didn’t ask me first.”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. You’re right. I shouldn’t have assumed,” she affirms, offering me a gentle smile. “I just don’t want to spend another Christmas without your brother. And since he and Quinton can’t come to us, it only makes sense for us to go to them instead.”
