“I wish he’d just say something. Spell it out. Give me a sign or write it on the wall or tattoo it on his forehead.”
Nova snorts. “Yeah, but that’s not how this works. You’re both stubborn idiots who flirt like middle schoolers and avoid real feelings like they’re contagious.”
I laugh. “God, you make it sound so off-putting.”
“Just do it.”
I’m not sure if I can, so I do not make her any promises.
turner
. . .
Three weeks later
Three weeks.
That’s how long it’s been since I’ve heard her voice echo down the hallway, since her stupid fuzzy slippers slapped against the hardwood, or her laugh floated from the kitchen while she burned her eggs.
Three weeks since she moved out.
I wasn’t even home when she left.
Out of town for a game. One night, one hotel, one too-long bus ride back, and when I walked into the house, her room was empty.
Gone.
No warning. No note.
How fucked up is that?
I thought we were friends.
Scratch that—I thought we weremore.
I thought every time she looked at me like I was hers, itmeantsomething. She stole my hoodies. Left her shampoo in my shower because she liked my shower better. And had wanted to paint her walls beige.
Now her room is empty.
Nugget keeps whining at the front door. And every time I walk past the kitchen, I expect to hear her singing badly or yelling at the blender like it personally wronged her.
But it’s quiet.
And I’ve never hated silence so much in my life.
Sheis. Everywhere.
Her nail polish still stains the armrest of the couch from the night we drank too much and she painted her toes while we watched a horror movie. The freezer still has her weird oat milk popsicles. Nugget’s new favorite toy is the one she brought home the day before she moved out.
I flop onto my bed and instead of jerking off like I want to—because it’s been three weeks since we last had sex, I do what I should have done months ago: open the dating app with intention.
Time to get back in the saddle, for real this time.
I prop my phone on my chest and start swiping like a man trying to prove a point to absolutely no one.
“No.”
“Nope.”
