Page 30 of Quarantine Crush
“Of course we are,” Nina agrees.
“And if you want us to break the Shelter-in-Place order and drop you off bottles of liquor, we will,” Hadley adds.
“I don’t have protective gear, but I do have a spandex one-piece from Halloween,” Taylor adds.
I laugh. “That’s fucking friendship.”
I spend a few minutes catching up with each of them, laughing when Taylor tells us about Henry’s latest antics and listening to Hadley complain about her tyrant of a boss. Even Nina manages to make us laugh when she tells us about her latest shenanigans in the ongoing feud she has with her neighbor.
When we’re all caught up on each of their lives, I blow them a kiss and sign off, my eyes landing on the jetted tub. Suddenly, I know exactly what I need to release the rest of this tension. I fire off a text to Knox, asking him to bring my laptop inside, and run myself a bath. Time to let Calgon take me away.
9
Knox
The fresh air on the balcony helps with the jet lag, and after my call with Nelle and a quick check-in with Dad, I refocus on my work. Below me, the street is nearly empty of pedestrians. The roads are eerily devoid of traffic with only the occasional Uber and bicyclists cruising past. It’s surreal to see the city that never sleeps looking so desolate. It’s a sight that I never thought I’d see. Now that I am, I can’t help but feel unsettled by it, especially considering the circumstances.
The sound of voices gets my attention, and I look down through the bars in the balcony railing to see a woman in a flowing white dress laughing at her companion as they make their way to the middle of the empty street.
I stand up for a closer look, curious.
Peering over the railing, I smile at the sight of the woman clutching a bouquet of flowers in one hand. With her other hand, she clings to the arm of the guy beside her. He’s dressed in a tux and motioning to someone hanging out of a third-story window on the building across the street.
“Ready?” the person in the window calls down.
He’s a bit older than the couple, dressed in a black robe like the one my parents’ preacher wears.
“Ready,” shouts the woman in the street, echoed quickly by her date.
“Dearly beloved quarantined citizens, we’renotgathered here today but socially distanced and sheltering in our homes to witness these two…”
Holy shit. A quarantine wedding.
“Emy, you need to see this,” I say, watching the ceremony unfold several stories below me.
When Emy doesn’t respond, I glance behind me through the balcony doors and frown when I don’t see her inside. In fact, I don’t hear her either. No sink water running. No dishes being loaded into the dishwasher, which is what I’d assumed she was doing this whole time.
I check the clock on my phone and realize Emy’s been gone a lot longer than it takes to clean up a couple of dishes. Where the hell did she go? It’s not like either of us can leave the apartment.
Leaving the wedding behind, I duck back inside and listen for some sound, but there’s merely silence. I’m beginning to wonder if Emy might have fallen and hurt herself or some shit when I get a text from her.
Can you bring my laptop inside? Taking a bath.
She doesn’t mention why she’s suddenly decided to ditch me for a soak in the tub, but I’m not about to be nosey and ask, so I send her a thumb’s up emoji and grab her laptop. When my hand closes around it, my thumb brushes the mousepad, and the screen blinks to life. Emy’s open Word document illuminates, and I catch sight of the words on the screen.
I fully intend to respect her privacy, but the words are so familiar, I freeze as the memory she’s recorded washes over me, and I’m transported back in time to ten years ago.
“Bullshit!” Jemmy grins.
“Dammit.” Fox tosses his cards down, face up, scowling as he reveals his lie.
The card game is their favorite despite the fact that Fox rarely wins a hand, but ever since they realized it was the one time their parents let them get away with cursing, it had become their go-to way to pass a boring afternoon.
Jemmy glances down at the cards Fox has just revealed and grins victoriously. “I knew it!”
“You win. Again. How do you always know?” Fox asks.
Jemmy smirks confidently. “I can read your mind.”
