Page 112 of Come Back to Me

I complete most of my usual morning routine in about ten minutes. The last thing I need to do is brush my teeth. The second the minty toothpaste on my toothbrush lands on my teeth, the sensation tickles my tongue.

When I open the door, I’m met with Noah staring at me. “Were you waiting for me?”

“No, I was waiting for the bathroom to become available,” he says.

“We have two bathrooms.”

“Xander is in the other one.”

“It’s all yours.” I present the bathroom to him like we’re on a gameshow, and he’s the contestant seeing what the prize is.

“Why, thank you very much.”

I make my way back into my bedroom to get dressed, so I don’t have to worry about that later on.

Crap, what am I going to wear?

I have the most basic outfits because I don’t care aboutimpressing anybody most of the time. I guess I can wear a white T-shirt with light-wash jeans and sneakers. Once I grab all the pieces to the puzzle, I hold them up to my floor-length mirror.

I need something to cover up this mess on my head.

I look on top of my dresser and see my favorite baseball cap chilling there. It’s navy blue and has my jersey number, twenty-two, stitched on the front in white. Coach Taylor gave this to me when he promoted me to Team Captain. It’s one of my most prized possessions because it symbolizes how far I’ve come on my basketball journey.

After I throw my clothes on, I adjust my baseball cap, so it sits on my head with the brim facing forward. I’m too lazy to put my shoes on now, so I’ll just do it before I leave.

“Are you making breakfast?” Xander smiles at me innocently.

“I’mthisclose to sending you to pick up breakfast from somewhere.”

“What are you two kids arguing about now?” Noah cracks open the bathroom door as he comes out.

“I asked him if he’s making breakfast. He woke up on the sassy side of the bed this morning.”

“Why do you always ask him that every morning? You’re an adult, Xander. You can make yourself breakfast.”

“Yeah, but I’m not a chef like Grayson.”

I roll my eyes, shaking my head. “What a cop-out. You’re a great cook, man.”

“Oh, c’mon. You’re just saying that.” Xander waves me away.

“Okay, we’re wasting precious time. Do we want to order something or make something here?”

My lips lean into Xander’s ear. “Looks like I’m not the only cranky person in this room.”

Xander laughs, covering his mouth to filter out thenoise. It doesn’t help much because Noah’s getting angrier with every minute that passes by. His face is crinkling, his chest is heaving, and his nostrils are flaring.

“Forget it. I need some fresh air. You two dipshits are on your own.” Noah grabs both sets of his keys and his phone, then storms out. The door slams shut behind him, leaving Xander and I to keep each other company.

We stand in silence for several minutes as we both try to figure out why Noah is so pissed off.

What the hell was that?

“Obviously something happened between now and last night. Did he get into a fight with Dani?”

“I mean, I don’t know. We didn’t talk much after we said good night to you.”

“Okay. Did they get into a fight last night at the party?”