People felt comfortable around their friends.
People looked forward to seeing their friends.
None of that was weird.
So why did it feel so fucking weird?
I got ready for bed on autopilot, brushing my teeth without seeing my reflection and changing into sweats without registering the motions. WhenI lay down, the ceiling stared back at me, blank and unhelpful.
Brooke had asked me what was wrong.
I hadn’t been able to answer her because I didn’t know.
But lying there in the dark, reliving the night in my head, I was starting to wonder if the answer was bigger than I’d thought, bigger and more complicated and maybe a little terrifying that I’d ever imagined.
Something was shifting.
Something inside me.
I could feel it, like tectonic plates grinding against each other deep underground. The landscape of my life was rearranging itself, and I had no idea what it would look like when the dust settled.
I thought about Jacks again.
His laugh. His honesty. The way he’d said, “Night, Sky,” like it was the most natural thing in the world. My chest did that thing again, that warm, expanding thing that I couldn’t explain and didn’t know what to do with.
Feeling both frustrated and lost, I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.
Chapter 11
Jacks
My phone buzzed at 9:47 a.m., which was rude.
Saturdays were for sleeping in. All the gods decreed this was a sacred truth.
It was also acknowledged by anyone who’d ever worked a Friday night in the service industry.
I had earned this sleep.
I had bussed tables and hauled ice and talked a sad hockey player through an existential crisis.
The universe owed me at least until noon.
My phone buzzed again.
I groaned into my pillow and fumbled for the nightstand, fully prepared to silence whatever group chat had decided 9:47 was an acceptable time for human interaction.
But it wasn’t the group chat. It was a hyperactive golden retriever with more energy than any human should possess at such an ungodly hour.
And I couldn’t read his texts fast enough.
PuckingSkylerShaw: You up?
PuckingSkylerShaw: Wait, that sounds like a booty call. I promise it’s not a booty call.
PuckingSkylerShaw: I wanted to say thanks again for last night. I feel like I trauma dumped all over you and then fled into the night like a weirdo.
I stared at the screen, sleep fog clearing faster than it had any right to.
