Page 544 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

my hand slips from the back of his head.

Outside, the roof rings in the new year.

People scream. Glass clinks.

The whole city’s alive at midnight.

Inside, Andrew is entirely frozen.

Does nothing.

Says nothing.

Not one word.

I’d take anything.

A lie.

A kiss.

A hand over my mouth.

A don’t say that, baby.

A fucking mercy.

So I’m not standing there a goddamn fool—split-open, stupid, and still full of him.

And then my lungs can’t hang on any longer, and all that held breath pushes out at once.

“Allison,” he breaks.

“Shit. Allison—I⁠—”

I shake my head, my hand coming over my mouth, as if I can physically keep myself from crying.

Then I’m removing myself in pieces,

one humiliating inch at a time⁠—

my spine from his chest,

his hand my from clit,

he slips out of me.

I can’t look at him, so I don’t.

Behind me, I hear his zipper.

Everything going back to where it belongs.

The bad feeling’s pouring inside me fast,

filling me up heavy,

making my stomach sink.