Page 26 of The Plan

Before I can reply, she’s already out of my car and opening the door to hers.

I let out a sigh and head home. Walking through my apartment door, I kick my shoes off and lay on the couch. When I go to rest my feet on the coffee table, I knock over the pill bottle that's still sitting there.

I wasn’t expecting her to get rid of them, but I’m glad she didn’t. I stand and grab the bottle, then head to the bathroom. Opening the bottle, I pour the pills into the toilet and watch them disappear as I flush the toilet.

“I’m staying clean because I want to.” As I turn to leave, I stop when I notice a sticky note on my mirror.

I realized today that I definitely don't hate Vid. I’m just not sure if she still hates me. Walking out of the bathroom, I decide to call my sister. My mom is right; I need to talk to her and mend things.

It’s been a few weeks since we spoke, and when we did, it was short. Obviously, we’ve always been really close, but after everything that happened those few years ago, there's been a strain between us, and I need to stop being a dick and fix it.

She answers my Facetime call almost immediately, and a smile lights up her face. “And here I thought you were dead or something.” I break into a laugh and flop onto the couch.

“You of all people should know I’m not easy to kill.”

She throws her head back with a laugh at the memories of her waking me up from every nap by suffocating me. I’m not sure why she found that funny as a kid—she’s disturbed.

“How have you been?” I ask, and her laugh sobers. She lets out a sigh as she sets her phone up against something.

“Are you asking because you really want to know or because you’re being nice?”

“I’m just being nice,” I say without missing a beat, and I watch her go still.

“Fuck you.” She snatches her phone and hangs up, and I break into another laugh. Not even a full minute passes before she calls me back. “Let’s try that again.”

I chuckle but then turn more serious. “I asked because I care, Lis. Always.” A small smile stretches across her face, and she tucks her golden hair behind her ear. She looks like she’s thinking for a beat, and then her piercing blue eyes meet mine.

“Not great, you?”

“If I say ‘same,’ are you going to ramble about how we’re connected or some bullshit?” Lis and I somehow seem to relapse or go through rough patches around the same time, and I think they’re just weird coincidences, but her spiritual ass doesn’t believe in coincidence and is convinced we’re somehow connected. I let her believe what she wants at this point.

“Pick a number, Sire.”

“Absolutely not, Lisette.” She breaks into a laugh at the way I sound so fed up with her. “Seven,” I say, just to see if she’ll lose her shit, and she literally tosses her phone across her damn bed.

“I swear I was thinking of seven!” I break into a laugh and just stare at the phone for a beat, grateful as fuck that no matter how long we go without talking, and although I said all that shit to her four years ago, we can still get on the phone and pretend it all never happened.

But then I remember itdid,and I should apologize to her any second now, but I hate awkward situations, and she said she isn’t doing so well, so I’ll save it for another day… again.

Chapter Seven

Sire

You two are real mature.” That gets Vidia’s attention, and she turns to me, shooting me a glare. I hold her gaze, but she doesn’t say anything—her best friend does instead.

“Haven’t you heard of Dr. Gomez’s new policy?” I turn to her at the smug tone of her voice. “All patients more than ten minutes late will not be seen by her and will need to reschedule their appointments.” She sounds happy, which is weird for her, but I know it’s only because this bullshit policy is an inconvenience to me.

“Too bad for her other patients.”

“Too bad foryou,” Hazel says like she’s correcting me, and Vidia stifles a laugh from the other side of the room.

“Don’t you have turtles who are choking on plastic that you need to save?” She gives me a bored look, but I’m not wrong. She works at the mammal rehabilitation center downtown, so I’m pretty sure something along those lines fits her job description.

She rolls her eyes and sits up from the bed. “Don’t you have backs you need to stab?” We hold each other's stares before I flipher off. I don’t know who's more annoying. Her or her little shit best friend. Both of them together are unbearable.

Ever since Vidia and I had our falling out, Hazel’s taken her side without knowing the full story, and she’s just a menace. I can’t wait for the day August breaks up with her ass, but with the way he looks at her, I don’t see that happening. Hasn’t he gotten tired of her sometime in the five fucking years they’ve been together?

As if on cue, the menace’s keeper walks in with the biggest smile to see hissweet girl.“Hey, gorgeous.” He greets her, and Hazel smiles innocently at me before leaning in to kiss August. I fake a gag, which makes August actually gag as she tries to kiss him because of his weird reflex.

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