Thanks a lot, asshole.
I sigh and uncurl myself from the couch, pull on my hoodie then step into my Vans.
This is my life now.
Midnight walks with Fabio while I avoid my ex and my best friend, slowly drifting into that reclusive lifestyle I’ve always been accused of.
Maybe I’ll adopt another parrot or something.
It’s not like I’ll be getting married or having kids anytime soon. Might as well give my unused love to someone who needs it.
I chuckle morbidly and shake my head.
I am so pathetic.
But I am who I am, so I’m going to stop feeling bad about it.
“Let’s go, sweet boy.” I nod toward my shoulder and smile when Fabio repeats what I said as he perches next to my head.
A few minutes later, as we’re heading down the block, my phone rings, and asSummer of ‘69blares from my pocket, I sigh for the millionth time today.
I can’t keep putting Summer off, can’t keep ignoring her. Knowing her the way I do, after twenty-four hours without any signs of life from me, she probably called Tony and freaked out when he told her I wasn’t there. And she’s probably continued to freak out all weekend since I have yet to return a single text or call from her.
Just another part of my reclusive nature, I guess. I needed the reflection period.
“Hey—“ I barely answer the phone before my best friend starts screaming into my AirPods.
“I am so goddamn mad at you! I was mere seconds from calling the Sabine Woods Police Department before I drove my angry ass all the way from New York!” Summer shrieks. “I even considered flying, and you know how much I hate flying!”
She does.
Summer isterrifiedof flying.
“I’m sorry, Sum. I just—“
“No! No, you don’t get to tell me shit right now! I’ve been a nervous goddamn wreck since we got off the phone Thursday, and when I called Tony to find out if your phone was dead or broken or some shit and he told me you were only at his house for maybe fifteen minutes, I thought I was going to explode. I am so fucking angry with you, Theodora. So damn angry!”
I keep walking while Summer reads me the riot act, looking up at the star-covered sky as Fabio swoops and dips above me. It’s so pretty out here. I might have moved in a last-ditch effort to make my relationship work, but I’m glad I did it regardless. Sabine Woods feels like home, more than anywhere else I’ve lived.
“Are you there?! Goddammit, Theo, answer me!”
I blink. “Sorry, Sum. I was just waiting for you to get everything out before I opened my mouth.” No need to tell her I wasn’t listening and might have been daydreaming instead. “Can I tell you what happened now?”
“Yes, and it better be fucking good for you to have disappeared for three goddamn days.”
“It is.” At least I think so, and by the time I’m done explaining what I walked in on at Tony’s apartment, what happened after I left, and the many revelations I’ve had since, I’m actually feeling pretty fucking fantastic.
“I’m not going to say I told you so since you’ve been through enough and already know I was right,” Summer grunts. “But I am going to ask you one very important question.”
She’s going to ask me about the parts of Marion and Damon I never wanted to see.
“On a scale of one to ten, how gross were those two naked?”
Yep, I knew it.
I chuckle. “Probably a forty-five. Damon’s wiener was a little bigger than Tony’s, but it’s bent to the left, and Marion’s hoo-ha was the very definition of blown out.”
“I knew it!” She laughs. “And her boobs probably looked like boulders, right?”
