Page 47 of Never To Suffer

“Uhm in about—” I pull the phone away to check the time. “Shit, like six hours.”

“Damn, I hoped you’d say tomorrow, and we could see you before you go. Did you see the pictures I sent you? Of course you did, duh, you replied. Wait, hold on!”

“Wait, what’s your news?”

I don’t catch her in time and the sound of fabric shifting and garbled noises that I can’t make out before a voice from the past sends my mind racing.

“Morning, Xanda Panda. Guess who joined Beetle’s band?”I’m instantly transported to a stairwell in my mother’s office building. Skylar had come to drop something off for Dani and that’s when they told me they were leaving. We went to the stairs to get high, but we never even got that far, too busy trying to rip each other’s clothes off. Skylar was a unicorn, a once in a lifetime perfect match…until last night. Until Theo.

I’d wanted Skylar since I laid eyes on them, but with Steve in the picture, I wasn’t about to screw with that. Steve’s a damn truck and would have laid me out. I’m not that much of a dick.

“Skylar? Shit!”

“Bro, who am I kicking out of your bed when I get there?”They sound so much better than the last time I heard them. When we broke down in the stairwell after they told me they were leaving.“Hey, coffee’s here, gotta go. Oh, we made the cut, so we’re on to the next round or whatever, but we’ll see you soon, gorgeous!”

“How perfect?!”Dani yells into the phone so loud I pull it away from my ear.

“Yeah, that’s uhm, great?”

“That’s all you’ve got?! What’s going on? Why aren’t you asking about what happened or for pictures or something?”She knows me too well, as she should. The sounds behind her become muffled and I assume she’s covered the mouthpiece when she whispers.“This isn’t about Sky, right? About us hooking up?”

“Hell, no. No, Beetle, it’s not that. I’m thrilled about that and about them coming back to LA. I, uhm…nothing. I'll tell you about it another time. I’m tired, nothing more.” I realize I’m missing something. “Wait, what happened to Todd?”

Her voice drops to a whisper, and I barely hear it.“I told him to hit the bricks. Okay, he kind of quit and maybe because I bitched at him, but whatever. Are you okay? Did that guy stay overnight or something? Wait! Did he hurt you?”

“No!” I say too fast and too loud, before I stop and take a breath. “Beetle, no, he didn’t. I swear. It’s…it was…

“OH MY GOD! You like him!”

“Hang on, let me… hang on a second.” I cover the phone and poke my head back into the bedroom in time to watch Theo pull on his pants. There’s a knife twisting in my gut at the thought of going back home, sitting there alone in the dark without him. When I notice he’s looking at me in the reflection of the mirror, he winks. A rush spreads through my body like a wildfire, but instead of throwing him back on the bed, I tell him I’ll be right back.

“Xander?” He calls out as I turn. When I glance back at him, he tosses me a pair of sweatpants. “Put those on if you’re leaving. Otherwise, you’ll kill old Mrs. What’s Her Name down the hall.”

“I’ll be right back. I promise.” When I close the door to his place, I take a deep breath. “Okay, Beetle, don’t freak out on me,but I kind of, I uhm, yeah. I like him. He helped me with a thing and—uhm, we kind of?—”

“You and a super hot older guy? Duh. Sky and I both agree you were glowing in that picture this morning, babes. Or, I mean, he looks older. I mean his hair does. We couldn’t see much of him. Who is he? You swear to me he didn’t hurt you?”

“No, he… D, it was… I’ve… shit, I can’t even make words work right now. He’s, uhm, he lives…in the building. He’s… we were…”

“You were fucking all morning? That’s like karmic or some shit since we were, too. They had me screaming your name, Xander. Yours. Because that doesn’t scare them! It was so…”

“Freeing?”

“YES! Wait, you, too? Although, after we woke up, I needed pancakes, and that’s when Skylar joined the band.”

“Beetle—he, we—I cried, Dani. But like, the good cry. The get it out of my system cry. I haven’t done that since?—”

There’s silence on the line as it hits me, but she answers before I can.“Skylar?”

“Yeah,” I answer in a breathy whisper. “I still can’t believe you found them. That you’re banging them in some skeevy motel before you both come home.” I laugh.

“Xan, is this…normal?”

“For anyone else, no! For the grand scheme of our lives, I hope so. God, we’re the worst. I’m proud of you, Beetle. I am. About Skylar, about the competition. You’re doing it, sweetheart. You’re fucking killing it, and I miss you, but…we’re good. Right?”

“Aw, I love you, too, Xan. And yeah, we’re better than good.”She reads between my words like only she can.“And I’m proud of you, too. Hold on to this one. We’ll figure it out when we’re all back at the apartment.”

There’s a thud down the hall, and when I glance up, I find two giant dudes with blue jumpsuits on. They’re heading toward our place, and I panic until I read their uniforms.

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