Page 30 of Forever After All
Autumn: Please let me know you got home okay.
Autumn: Ali, are you okay?
Autumn: Al?
Autumn: Earth to Alice… Come in, Alice.
Autumn: ALICE! At least let me know you are alive.
Autumn: Bitch, if you don't fucking answer me, I'm coming over.
Autumn: Right, I'm coming over.
Ilook at the messages that Autumn has sent since I left the bar last night and press Call on my phone. No answer. Typical. I really meant to let her know I got home safely, but openingyour heart and being railed against your windows will make you forget these things. I clamp my thighs shut, thinking about the dull ache between my legs. I call again. No answer.
Me: I'm okay, I promise. There is so much that I need to talk to you about. Please don't come over, I really am okay. I need to get my head sorted. Give me a few days, and I'll come and tell you everything.
I stand up from the couch and flex my feet into the rug underneath them. Walking over to the coffee pot in the kitchen, I flick it on and it bubbles to life. The cold coffees from last night sit stagnant on the counter.
Autumn flies in through my apartment door just as Carter emerges from my bedroom, and we all freeze.
Well, this just got fucking awkward.
"Alice, what the fuck?" I can't gauge the tone as Autumn's mouth pops open like a fish. She looks between me and Carter several times before walking back out of the door again, closing it behind her.
Well, shit.
Carter and I look between each other a couple of times.
"Something I said?" He shrugs at me, twisting the corners of his mouth down. Carter's phone pings with a message and hepulls it from his pocket. "Jesus, news really does fucking travel fast with you two."
I scowl at him and chase my best friend out of the apartment. Please don't let her be angry. Fuck. She'd have every right to be.
I swing the door open and step into the corridor, almost tripping over Autumn as I do. Able to regain my balance in time, I pull the apartment door shut behind me. Looking down, I find my best friend bent over, clutching her knees and laughing so fucking hard she’s wheezing.
"I fucking knew it!" she exclaims between breaths. "Now Sawyer owes me fifty dollars."
"Huh?" I ask confused. But I instantly relax, hearing the delight in her voice.
"Iknewthere was something going on. I just knew it." Autumn sounds delighted with herself.
"Wait, what? There was nothing going on. This is the first…going on." I point at the apartment door and press my finger to my lips urging Autumn to be quiet.
I sink down the wall and sit next to my friend, stretching my legs out in front of me and wiggling my toes.
"Bullshit it is. I have eyes." Autumn reaches up to swipe a tear away from the corner of her eye. Brilliant. She's laughed so much that she's actually crying. "You're not that dumb, are you? I think everyone could see it coming. Everyone apart from youtwo, apparently."
"See what coming? There’s nothing to see. I felt unwell last night so he dropped me home. I was horny, he was there. We're friends. He's fun, it's safe. There’s nothing going on outside the physical." I don't think I believe it myself when I say it, but I’m too scared to let the veil drop and have to tell Autumn the real reason he stayed. I'm just not ready for that.
"If you say so, Ali. You couldn't have felt that unwell if my brother-in-law ended up wearing you like a puppet." Her voice distorts as she talks through fits of the giggles.
"You're hilarious." I roll my eyes at her and playfully slap her across the arm with the back of my hand.
Autumn looks down at her phone at the message I sent to her earlier, and a look of worry grows on her face.
"Al, what do you need to talk to me about? Why do you need to get your head sorted?"
"It's nothing, just this situation, I suppose." I throw my thumb back, pointing at my apartment door. "Just give me a few days, yeah?"
