Mitigate the damage of Addison’s home invasion
Changelocks
See if coffee machine can be repaired/purchase new one
Get Pecan to clear up the broken glass. Remind him that he owes me because I did his laundry last week.
TWENTY-THREE
HEY, MR. FLOWERMAN
In my comms class,one of the few I’m not flunking, they call this ‘controlling the narrative.’
Mostly, I call it fixing a fuckup.
I flop back on the couch once I’m showered and dressed and ready to face the world. Ish. Everything about my outfit is something I second-guessed.
I’m going to be on Zach’s arm, and the only women who are ever there wear dresses shorter than his jersey on me and have lip filler.
Now, I’m not dissing the lip filler. I’ve googled it myself a time or two. And the lip gloss I bought when I chickened out might say it has cayenne pepper in the solution to plump up my lips, but they’ve yet to receive the memo.
So, dressed in one of his Dukes jerseys and a denim skirt that I also fourth-guessed over, my lips are burning, my hair’s loose when it’s never loose, and I’m wearing Converse sneakers.
I feel like my face wanted to go to a party but the rest of me is ready for a day in the library.
Gusting out a breath, I stare at the ceiling.
Not that it has any answers.
Neither does what lies beyond it.
Zach’s room is above the living room.
I could be watching him get dressed, and instead I’m having a crisis of confidenceanda freak-out sesh with a floor between us.
He seems all-in. I’ve been around Zach and his girlfriends for too long not to notice how different he is with me. But as much as this works on paper…
Annoyed with my uncertainty, my doubts, when Zach has never let me down without making up for it in the past, I look away.
A small posy of flowers snags my attention.
Grabbing the bud vase on the edge of the coffee table, I bring it closer to me.
