But then the tension cracked open and she let out a low, self-conscious chuckle that cut as hard as one of her vicious elbows. "I really should've taken Jamie's advice and done this drunk. Or at least popped a gummy."
Shrugging out of my hold, she flipped open the latch and exited the stall. I trailed behind, watching as she leaned close to the mirror. A finger skimmed under her eyes, over her brows, into the corners of her mouth. She fussed with her hair, the stall door clanking behind me.
I didn't care—notat all—but I couldn't stop myself from asking, "Who's Jamie?"
Her reply was smooth, like she'd rehearsed it enough times that she believed the lie. "You're not entitled to that information." She met my eyes in the mirror, her gaze dropping to where I had my hands propped on my hips. "But she's one of my best friends."
There was no reason to examine the relief I felt at hearingsheandbest friend, so I barreled ahead. "We need to talk. Let's get out of here and?—"
"No."
It took me a second to fully absorb her response. Funny how I still couldn't comprehend her rejections in real time. "Don't tell me you want to stay here. Not after—" I motioned to the doorlike I could summon those women. "Come on. We're leaving. Iknowyou don't want to be here. I'll buy you a drink. Or three."
Audrey leaned back against the sink, her shoulders loose and her arms folded over her waist. The look in her eyes told me she didn't give a single fuck if I got my way and—and maybe I'd miscalculated. Maybe I'd read this all wrong.
"Thanks but I think the toilet stall abduction put me over the limit for tonight." She nodded to herself. "Yeah, you've made quite a splash with this whole surprise appearance of yours andlet's give them a showand then stalking me halfway across the campus and barricading me in the bathroom while listening to the true confessions of law moms. Don't you think you've done enough?"
"Don't you think you owe me a real conversation? For once?"
Color flooded her cheeks and I knew I'd finally hit the one weak spot she'd never learned how to protect—guilt. No armor there.
"I'm not leaving until we talk," I went on.
"Then I hope you have a pleasant stay in Connecticut." She pushed away from the sink and moved toward the door. "I'm done with these games for tonight."
It took me a minute to recover from the satin slap of her words and say to her back, "Then you'll meet me tomorrow at ten. The usual place."
Her spine straightened and her chin lifted, and she didn't turn around or meet my eyes when she asked, "Why now?"
The truth was an option but not a good one. Not if I wanted her to show up tomorrow. Instead, I went with something on the inside of honest. "It's time. Don't you think?"
Audrey exhaled the whole world and I knew I had her.
"Ten o'clock." Her gaze still trained on the door, she held up one finger. "There will be no performance art, no kidnappings, no moving to second or third locations. Understood?"
"Sure, just as long as you understand I won't let you run away every time you don't like a question."
Her shoulders lifted. "And remind me what gives you the right to all my answers?"
My phone sounded in my back pocket and I knew my time was up. I wouldn't win this round, not in the way I wanted to. I was probably a fool—a desperate fool—for thinking I could. "I'll tell you tomorrow."
She scoffed as she shoved the door open. There was a pause when she stepped into the hall, a beat before I heard her heels hammering the marble floors, and I let myself believe she was waiting for me to follow. More likely, she was straightening her dress or cursing me in five different belief systems, but that stupid, stubborn part of me that didn't know how to let go had a different explanation.
I slumped against the wall and pulled out my phone.
Percy: call me
Jude: can you give me 5 minutes?
Percy:
Since I didn't care to be accused of stalking again tonight, I took the long way through campus back to the parking lot. Music and voices filled the thick night air and my palms itched with the memory of her skin. I wanted to dunk myself in freezing water and wait for frostbite to take over. Give myself something new to feel.
When I reached the rental car, I pulled the door shut with more force than necessary and took a minute to breathe. This…hadn't gone as planned. But in truth, it never went as planned when Audrey was involved. All I knew was that woman fucked with my brain chemistry. I never wanted to see her again and Iwanted her back more than anything else in the world, and that was a real fucking problem.
And I already had too many problems. No room in my life for another.
I grabbed my phone and opened a video call with my favorite problem. Percy answered in a dark room, the light of the screen reflecting off his glasses. An infantry of stuffed animals surrounded him.
