Page 261 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

“What’d I do? Can I get dressed⁠—”

“No!” I blurt,

jamming the button harder.

A stunned laugh leaves him.

“You serious, this is wild.

“When I said scariest shit I ever saw,

“I was fuckin’ jokin’.”

The elevator pings,

and I let out an exhale.

The doors slide open⁠—

Andrew glances up.

And everything inside me collapses.

I freeze.

He freezes.

For a handful of heartbeats,

no one moves,

no one says anything.

Andrew’s jaw goes tight,

eyes darting between me,

and the naked guy standing next to me.

All hope drains from his stare,

leaving nothing behind but flat black.

The look on his face is one that hurts.

It hurts so much that if I could move,

I would walk back out onto the terrace,

swing my legs over the barrier,

and jump from thirty floors high.

And while I’m staring into his pained eyes, I picture it, wish it, replay it, killing myself again and again in my head, jealous of the girl who hits the ground.

“Oh shit,” B says, “You gotta be one of the new Boys. Nice, nice. I’m Brandon,” He lifts his chin, shifts in place. “I’d shake your hand, but uh—” He looks down at the clothes covering his dick. “Kinda holdin’ my business together here.”

When I thought it couldn’t hurt any more, Andrew's throat dips, brow slanting as he looks at me with devastation in his eyes.

In that moment, we’re both suspended.

Like time moved on without us,

forgot us after the crash.

Then the doors automatically slide shut around him with that little ding,

taking him.

And I keep standing in his absence, staring at my distorted reflection in the silver doors,

but seeing nothing,

hearing nothing,

feeling so still

and so empty.