Page 33 of Fall of Us
Me: I miss you.
It was stupid. I’d seen him this morning before I’d gone to work, but it was odd to not hear from him at all throughout the day.
The longer I sat there and stared at my phone with no messages back, the worse I felt. After ten minutes, I got up and went to the kitchen. The bottle of tequila taunted me, sitting on top of the fridge. I never drank alone—it was definitely an Andrew and me thing—but it didn’t stop me from pulling it down and taking it back to the room with me.
Why the hell was I being so emotional about not getting a text back?
I looked at my phone again to see there still wasn’t a response.
I unscrewed the cap and took a swig directly from the bottle. The liquor burned as it worked down my throat, and I grimaced.Feeling a little self destructive, I picked my phone back up and fired off another text.
Me: Do you miss me?
Nothing.
I got absolutely nothing.
Another swig from the bottle.
I lay back in bed, staring at the ceiling. Last night I’d been in this exact position, only with my best friend by my side.
Had I fucked up by saying I still wasn’t ready to say something?
Chapter 21
Andrew
My phone went off for a fourth time. My gaze landed on Rebecca after I uttered a curse. “I’m really sorry. I need to take a break for a second.”
She nodded as I stepped out of the pharmacy. The day had been insane. Patients had come from nowhere and everyone had an issue. You knew it was bad when they offered me extra hours to get them caught up. When I pulled out my phone only to see four messages from Brandon, all of them asking silly questions about missing him, I shoved the phone back in my pocket and went back to work. I didn’t have time to deal with that. He wasn’t the overly needy type.
“Everything okay?” Rebecca asked as I came back in and started helping the next person in line.
“It’s nothing that can’t wait.”
She nodded as we kept working until the pharmacy closed for the night. Even then, people groaned when we started to close the gate. There were four people still waiting when we finally had to call it. No one enjoyed leaving customers un-helped, but if we leftthings open any longer, people would just keep lining up. There had to be a full moon tonight or something.
“Thanks for staying and helping today.” Rebecca patted me on the shoulder as she left the store.
I waved to her before reaching into my pocket for my phone. It had continued to go off through the evening, but I hadn’t been able to get to it. I hadn’t even been able to take another break.
Seeing fifteen missed messages made my heart pound. That wasn’t like Brandon at all. He was normally fine if I didn’t get back to him right away, but scrolling through his messages, that level of unease only got worse. His messages changed from “I miss you” to “I’m sorry” to incoherent rambles that made little sense.
I lifted the phone to my ear, attempting to call him, but the call went straight to voicemail. I cursed because I didn’t have a damn car to get to his place. I would either need to walk or take a bus. It was so late, I wasn’t even sure the buses were still running.
A car pulled up next to me and the window rolled down. Taylor Swift blasting over the speaker system made me roll my eyes before I realized it was Rebecca.
“Do you need a ride?”
My shoulders sagged in relief as I nodded. I grabbed the door handle, and she moved her purse from the front seat and set on the floor behind her. Once I buckled myself in, we sat there for a moment before I realized I needed to tell her where to go. That meant telling her I needed to go to Brandon’s place instead of myown. She already knew about us, but that differed from asking her to take me there.
“I need to...”
“His place?”
I couldn’t fight the smile. It was nice to have a friend who understood and didn’t judge. “Yeah. I need to check on him. I’m a little worried.”
Rebecca’s eyebrows furrowed, but she only nodded and didn’t ask questions. “Tell me where to go, and I’ll get you there.”
