Page 16 of Never Really Over

“Like?”

“A lot, actually.”

It’s Dalton’s turn to sigh now. “You’re not giving me much to go on here, Lay. Just tell me what’s on your mind.”

“Colt’s a daddy.”

“Sorry?”

“Mom told me she saw Colt at the store and he has an adorable little girl.”

“So you’re upset because Colt, your high school boyfriend who you broke up with because he was too fucking selfish to move to Chicago with you, moved on and is a dad and now you’re fucking upset about it? Do you know how fucking childish that sounds, Lay?”

I turn to him and glare. “Why don’t you just kick me while I’m down, asshole?”

“Well, at least I got you to snap out of it, didn’t I?”

“Excuse me?”

“Listen. I know you’re scared because we have no clue what’s happening with your mom, and yeah, there’s some truth to what I said about Colt, and despite what you might think of me, I do get it, but here’s the deal. You can’t sit over there and worry when you have no idea what you’re even worrying about.”

“I’m not trying to worry. I’m trying to be positive but I can’t really do that when the only thing I know is that my mom was driving home from the store, there was a bad accident, and after hearing her scream before the line went dead, I’m more than a little concerned that she was one of the cars in the accident. Since she’s not answering, I feel like that worry is more than justified.”

He looks in the rearview mirror, probably not only to watch traffic but to keep an eye on his girlfriend who’s been following us this entire time. I saw Bridget briefly when he introduced us, but we didn’t talk. She said she’d heard a lot about me and I didn’t even care enough to ask what she’d heard because I was ready to get on the road to Hollow Grove.

“I agree that it’s justified but worrying over it isn’t going to change anything right now.”

He’s right but there’s no way to stop myself. I just need to see or hear from my mom and I’ll be able to relax.

“I’m sorry that I bit your head off and called you an asshole when you’re doing this for me. I’m sure you had plans for your weekend that didn’t include driving five hours each way.”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“It is. Thank you. I didn’t know who else to call and you didn’t hesitate to help.”

“I know how important your mom is to you, Lay. You forget that before the whole Jasper fiasco, you and I were pretty damn good friends. There were not many days that went by that you and I didn’t talk or share a meal.”

That’s not the only thing we shared, but we quickly learned that sleeping together wasn’t our smartest move. While he’s a good looking guy and, at the time, he and I were close friends, I never saw him as more. Probably because of Colt, if I had to look deep. It was one time and that was it.

“Does Bridget know that you and I slept together?”

“Yes, she knows. I learned from her that it’s best to be honest. I’d told her about you a while ago, how you and I were friends and tried for something more but it didn’t work out. For either of us,” he says with an exaggerated shudder, making me laugh. He’s right to shudder, though. We had a moment of loneliness and tried to pacify that by sex with each other. It was awkward and awful and forced. It took us all of ten minutes after to realize that it would never happen again, and thankfully we were able to laugh it off as a mistake and stay friends. “After we find out your mom is okay and we’re all back in Chicago, we’ll get together for dinner. You seeing anyone?”

“No. Well, I saw a mistake last night, but no, I’m not seeing anyone.”

He throws me a side-eye. “Tell me you didn’t.”

“No, I didn’t sleep with Jasper last night.”

“Who?”

“You’ll judge me. And I didn’t sleep with him. He was on the couch this morning.”

With a burst of laughter, he says, “Who the fuck do you think you’re you talking to right now? I’m the least judgmental person you know. Especially when it comes to sex.”

I sigh. “True. Okay, promise not to laugh? And I’m not lying when I say it wasn’t sex. He was on the couch this morning and I know nothing happened.”

“No, I don’t promise not to laugh because there’s a reason you’re repeating yourself.”

---