Page 64 of Pucking Grey

I show her the phone. “Are you okay?”

She looks at me like I’m crazy. “He’s probably worried, which is really sweet.”

I start pacing her room. “That’s exactly what I don’t need to hear right now.”

“What? That he’s worried about you?”

“Yeah,” I fake cry. “He just needed to give me space to think, and I’ll see him tomorrow anyway. Look at my freaking eyebrows. I can’t just tell him that my eyebrows are hideous, and I don’t want him to see me this way.”

Sydney shakes her head. “You can just tell him that.”

“No, I can’t.” I scoff. “Help me, Sydney. What should I say?”

She is completely judging me right now. “Tell him that you’re okay and you’ll see him tomorrow.”

“Okay, right. Yeah, I’ll do that.”

Maddie: I’m ok. Are you ok?

“Okay, I hit send,” I say to Sydney, staring at my screen.

“What did you write?”

I show her my phone and she laughs.

My stomach fills with butterflies. “Oh, no. Should I not have asked him if he’s okay?”

She points at the phone. “It just reads really funny.”

“Should I text him again?”

“Did you guys have a fight?” Knox asks. “Did she breakup with you?”

“No, nothing fucking happened,” I answer. My phone dings. “She wrote back,‘I’m okay. Are you okay?’” I say, staring at the screen. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

Knox says, “Maybe she just wants to make sure you’re okay.”

Ace nods. “A question to keep the conversation going.”

“So,” I say, drinking my beer. “I tell her that I’m pissed off she’s not here?”

Ace chuckles. “Damn, bro.” He grabs my shoulder. “Don’t do that. Do you really want to be that clingy fucking boyfriend?”

“Shut the fuck up, man,” I snap. Is that what I sound like right now?

Ace says, “Ay, it’s not a bad thing to like this girl a lot. Just don’t tell her that.”

Knox cuts him off. “It’s his girlfriend! Tell her that you’re watching the hockey game, and then ask her what she’s wearing.”

I glare at Knox. “I’m not fucking asking her that.”

Ace and Knox hit each other with stupid smirks on their faces. Ace asks, “Dude, do you know how to text? Keep it simple.”

“Yeah,” I scoff. “Like you fuckers know what you’re doing.”

Grey: Just watching the game. You?

I leave the cave as Ace calls out, “Grey and Maddie sitting in a tree.”

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