Page 18 of Catch Me If You Can

caleb

I’m stalking her profile again. I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t help it.

She’s been posting non-stop since we broke up. Instagram, Snapchat, evenfuckingTikTok. It’s torture. Bikini pics. Hikes. Smiling with her hair all windblown and perfect. Lattes. More smiling. Sure, she posted like this before we ended, but it hits different now.

Is she with someone else? Why does she get to look so damnhappy, while I’m sitting here feeling like a shell of a person?

Alone. Like, capital-A Alone.

“I’m telling you, bro. Just get with someone else. Fuck her out of your system. It’s the oldest trick in the book,” Tony says, completely unfazed, lounging on the other end of our L-couch.

I groan and chuck a pillow at his head. It hits him square in the face.

“I don’twantsomeone else, you dickwad. I want her.”

Tony shrugs. “Since when don’t you want sex? You get real cranky when you're in a drought. When was the last time you even got laid?”

I bury my face into the pillow like I’m trying to smother the thought. He’s not wrong. It’s been a while. Like, alongwhile. Days are stretching, my brain is foggy, and I swear I’m becoming some tragic version of myself. A husk. A ghost. The other day, I swear I was walking funny.

“But thinking about anyone else just makes me want to throw up,” I say into the cushion. “I only want her, dude. Why is that so hard for you to get?”

Tony throws his hands up. “Then maybe you should’ve just proposed to her, like your dad’s been nagging you to do. If that’s what she wanted, and you knew it, then yeah, kinda sounds like you blew it.”

Record scratch noise.

Wait.

I sit up straight, blinking at him. “You…actually may be on to something.”

Tony raises an eyebrow. “I am?”

“Yeah! Whydon’tI just ask her to marryme?" A different kind of commitment,she had said. I’m so silly, why didn’t I think of this before? I stand, the idea catching fire in my brain. “I feel like shit without her. And marriage? Marriage could be kinda cool, right?”

“…Cool,” he repeats flatly, looking at me like I’ve just announced I’m joining a cult.

“Yeah! I mean, people get married all the time. Plus, my dad would be thrilled and finally get off my back. Boom. Two birds, one boulder.” I rake a hand through my hair, already picturing the Instagram caption:She said yes.

“I think it’s ‘stone’...”

I snap my fingers. “Right. Stone. I need one.” I scratch the back of my head as I look through my banking information. It’ll be tight but I can definitely swing it.

Tony stares at me like he’s watching a car crash in slow motion. “Are yousure? Because it sounds like you’re spiraling. And if this is just about getting sucked off, don’t you have like fifty girls on your phone who’d line up to blow you?”

I groan again and storm over to the kitchen island, pulling open my MacBook.

Tony bolts up. “Woah, woah, woah—what are you doing?”

I start typing furiously. “Her latest story is tagged in Toronto. If I leave now, I can grab a ring, hop on a flight, and surprise her there. Super romantic.”

“There’s no way this is real life,” Tony mutters.

“There’s a flight at 5 PM tomorrow.” I grin. “Perfect.”

“What about work? You’re not seriously thinking this through.”

“My dad will be overjoyed. He’ll probablypayfor the damn flight and give me the week off.”

Tony sighs and leans on the counter, rubbing his temples. “You’re wild, Caleb. Absolutely batshit. But I admire the commitment.”

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