Page 100 of Howl for Me
The phone won’t stop ringing. I crack one eye open and glance at the clock on my nightstand. Shit. It’s already noon. The ringing dies off, giving me a blessed moment of silence before starting up again.
“Damn it,” I mutter, dragging myself out of bed. My head is foggy, my limbs heavy. I stumble across the room, stub my toe on the edge of a boot, curse louder, and finally answer the phone.
“What?”
Cassidy’s voice comes through sharply. “It’s noon. Why are you just waking up?”
I rub my face and flop into the armchair by the window. “Good morning to you too, sunshine.”
She goes quiet for half a beat. “You sound like… wait. Were you drinking?” Her tone shifts from annoyed to full-on threatening. “Johnny, so help me God,”
I laugh, low and a little raspy. “Cass, no, I didn’t drink.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not lying.”
“I’m on my way.”
“No, wait, I swear I didn’t drink!” I stretch, looking around the mess of the living room. “I did get high, but that’s different.”
She groans through the receiver. “Johnny…”
“I got high with Reggie and Teddy, alright? I was behaving all morning, cleaned up the place a bit, and did a little project. We ended up watching Scooby-Doo for like three hours. For Christ’s sake, I didn’t even leave the house.”
She goes quiet again. I can almost hear her trying to decide whether to believe me.
“I got you a car,” I add.
“...You what? Wait, you actually hung out with someone, hold on, what do you mean you got me a car?”
I grin and lean forward, eyeing the object in question still sitting on the coffee table.
“Well, I was bored as hell, and you mentioned liking blue once, so I built this little model car I had lying around. Not as easy as it looks, by the way. Took me all morning. Then when Reggie and Teddy showed up, we got high and decided it needed a custom paint job. So now it’s blue. Teddy even tried to add some cute little flowers.”
I pause, squinting at the thing.
“The paint job is… maybe not as great as I thought. The flowers look like, I don’t know, blue fried eggs or some shit. But it’s got heart.”
She laughs, and I can’t help the warm flush that creeps into my chest hearing it. That laugh.
“Well,” she says, still chuckling, “thank you very much. I’m sure I’ll love it.”
“Yeah,” I say, feeling stupidly proud, “we can take it to the event tonight. Which, surprise, I remembered.”
“Oh,” she says casually, “I appreciate the ride, but I already have one. I’ll meet you there. And you better be on time.”
I sit up straighter, frown tightening.
“What do you mean? Why wouldn’t we ride together?”
There’s a pause, just long enough to make me nervous.
“I have a ride,” she says, evenly. “I have a date.”
The ache in my chest turns to heat, fast and searing. “What the fuck do you mean, you have a date?”
Her tone shifts instantly. “Not that it’s any of your business, but Hugo. He works in set design. I met him yesterday, and he asked, so I said yes.”
