Page 136 of Not That Ridiculous

“Uh-huh,” Jasper said, not taking me seriously at all. He fiddled with his phone again, then smiled at me. “Kevin!”

“What are you…? Give me that.” I lunged for his phone, and he calmly put a hand on my chest and pushed me back, holding me at bay.

“No, no,” Jasper said to Kevin, opening his eyes wide at me. “Don’t panic, Charlie’s fine. Nothing’s wrong at all, I was just calling to?—”

I squirmed under his arm, snatched his phone, and held it to my ear.

“—to what?” Kevin said. “You were calling to what? Jasper?”

At the sound of his voice, my breath caught. “Kevin.”

He hesitated a second before saying, “Charlie?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

He hung up.

I pulled the phone away and stared at the screen.

No, he definitely hung up.

Scowling, I shoved Jasper’s phone at him and dug my own out of my back pocket. I entered the passcode wrong twice, slowed down and entered it again a third time, then pulled up Kevin’s number from my favourites and dialled.

It rang and rang.

And rang.

I hung up.

“Charlie—” Jasper began.

I held up a finger, and dialled again.

He didn’t answer.

I ended the call.

Okay, I could admit it. Up to now, I’d been avoiding calling him or texting him.

There was no reason I couldn’t have done it the moment I opened my eyes this morning, rather than passively waiting for him to be the one to call or to text me.

I’d been telling myself that I was scrambling to catch up with the day before my life completely unravelled, that I’d get to it as soon as I had a second.

That was a lie. I’d been flat-out avoiding it—and this was why.

Jasper opened his mouth to say something when the phone in my limp hand rang.

Thank god. “Kevin?” I said. “What the?—”

“Kevin? Kevin who?” my sister said. “Kevin Wallis? And why do I have to hear about a fucking dead body in your house from Gemma Richards? Adead body, Charlie?”

“I’m sorry, I thought you were on an ashram where they didn’t allow phones,” I snapped.

“That was last month. I’m at a hostel in Phuket now.”

“Right.”

“Charlie, stop being a dick for once in your life and tell me you’re okay! Okay?”

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