Page 115 of Loathe Thy Neighbor

“Oh yeah.” She chuckles. “Often, actually. Christmas, birthdays, anniversary gifts. He’s dropped a good amount of cash in there.”

“I haven’t once seen him in there.”

“Because he knows you’d kick him out. He always makes sure to shop when you’re not there.”

I…I can’t believe all this.

What else is Dean behind? And what does it all mean?

Nothing. Because he’s not here now.

“I’m telling you, River, he’s in love with you…though I’m not even sure he realizes it either.”

She’s wrong.

Just because he does things for me, that doesn’t mean he loves me. It just means he’s nice, and maybe a bit of a masochist.

“Look,” Maya says, pushing up to her feet. “I just wanted to come check on you and bring you pie. I need to get back to work. My boss is kind of a hard-ass, and I don’t want to get in trouble.”

She frowns when I don’t even smile at her joke.

With a sigh, she pats me on the shoulder and makes her way to the door.

When I hear the knob twist, I peek over at her.

“Tell him, River.”

Then, she’s gone.

I lie here for another half hour before surging to my feet and hitting the shower.

I need a distraction.

Something to keep my mind off this feeling. Need to bury myself in work, right back to the hilt, just like before when I didn’t have the chance to sit around worrying about my love life.

Anything to keep me from thinking about Dean.

20

Dean

I hate it here.

I glance around my empty apartment with a heavy feeling in my gut.

I don’t dislike it just because I’m practically starting from nothing and there’s nothing inside.

It’s everything else that’s wrong.

Nothing is where it should be. The layout is flipped and there’s not a single thing in here that feelsright.

It’s funny…I used to love my apartment. It was my favorite place in the world. A space that was all my own. Something just for me.

Now when I look around, I notice all the things that are missing.

Starting withher.

I sigh, scrubbing my hand through my hair and tugging on the ends in frustration. I am bored out of my fucking mind. The loneliness I haven’t felt in the last month is kicking in.

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