Page 119 of Let's Get Textual

He holds up a brown paper bag. “I figured you’d be needing this.”

“Is that ice cream?” He nods. “Why couldn’t I have loved you?”

Laughing, he pushes past me and enters the apartment. “Zoe.”

She smiles. “Caleb.”

“I wanted to come check on you, D. How are you holding up?”

“Honestly? Not so well. I confronted Zach—that’s his name—yesterday morning. I cried and showed him the photo. He was angry and acted weird, then left. So, I’m fluctuating between pissed, confused, and heartbroken right now.”

He pulls me into a hug and I can’t help the tears that begin to flow.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t come by sooner. I did as much damage control as I could over the weekend and this morning at class. I texted and called everyone I knew, trying to find out who sent it to who.”

“Thank you, Caleb. I really appreciate it,” I tell him, pulling away and wiping my eyes. “Come in, sit down. Feed us ice cream.”

I run to the kitchen to grab a few spoons before returning to the couch, planting myself between Caleb and Zoe.

This isn’t the first time Caleb’s brought over ice cream and we’ve done this. He even got all three of our favorite flavors.

I could hug him all over again.

“So, how was everyone’s Thanksgiving? Anyone else have a naked picture of them passed around campus, or was that just me?”

They chuckle, and I try not to cry.

“Mine was fine, drove home to visit the family,” Caleb says through a bite of ice cream.

“Pretty much the same. I did have the privilege of witnessing my uncles in a fist fight though. That was kind of fun.”

“There was almost a fight at our meal too. Oh!” I slap my forehead. “I forgot to tell you. You’ll never guess who Zach’s brother is.”

“Who?”

“Shep.”

Zoe shoots forward on the couch. “TheShep?”

I nod. “The one and only.”

“Wow. I… Wow!” She leans back again, taking a huge bite.

Shep is still a sensitive subject for her. I’ll have to tell her later how Zach jumped to defend her honor, offering to rough Shep up for her.

“I know. I hadnoidea because they call him—”

“Slug,” Caleb finishes. “Holy crap. I know your boyfriend, D—Zach Hastings, computer nerd but doesn’t look it?”

“He mentioned he met you a few times. He was shocked I moved from dating a baseball player to him.”

Caleb takes another bite of his ice cream and shakes his head.

“D, I need to be honest with you…I don’t think Zach did this.”

“Why do you say that? I mean, you read that text. It was sent from ‘Z’. There’s no denying that.”

“I know, I know.” He sits forward on the couch and puts his ice cream on the coffee table. “Hear me out though. Is thereanyway at all someone could have gotten ahold of his phone? Someone we all know is a sneaky, slimy dick?”

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