11:32 p.m. B:
And then we can keep seeing each other?
Thursday
2:12 a.m. B:
I’ll do whatever I have to, H.
2:16 a.m. B:
I’ll be whatever you want me to be.
3:03 a.m. B:
Please.
Message could not be delivered. The account you are trying to contact has been deleted.
4:07 a.m. B:
I’m sorry.
Message could not be delivered. The account you are trying to contact has been deleted.
Friday
11:27 p.m. B:
It’s Friday, and I’m here. I know there’s very little chance you’ll come. But I’ll be waiting. Just in case.
Message could not be delivered. The account you are trying to contact has been deleted.
twenty-two
Benny
SPARE KEYS AND MAC AND CHEESE
Three weeks. It had been three weeks since I’d let myself get swept away in the moment and say things H hadn’t been ready, or willing, to hear.
I’d been back to the club twice. On Fridays, at the time we were supposed to meet, in the room he always reserved for us.
I waited.
He didn’t come.
I was finally realizing that he wasn’t going to, that I’d likely never see him again.
I didn’t even know his real name.
Should I try to find him? Should I admit defeat and let the man who might be my soulmate slip away into nothing?
I didn’t know what to do. So I did nothing. Hadbeendoing nothing outside of those trips to the club for three weeks. The gym didn’t need me. Riley and Georgio had it all under control. I was just dead weight.
So I’d just been here, on my sofa, watching movies that barely held my attention. Couldn’t even be bothered to cook or clean.The bags my food orders arrived in were still piled up on the floor next to the coffee table.
My phone vibrated. I knew it wouldn’t be who I wanted it to be, so why bother checking? I ignored it.
