Page 73 of Before We're More Than Friends
In the middle of working on my homework on Tuesday evening, my phone buzzed on my desk. Toby’s smiling face popped on my screen, and I clicked the answer button, turning off my music. “Hey, bud.”
“You’re not dead!” Toby’s voice blasted through my headphones as his face appeared. He was in bed, wearing his usual white nightshirt. “I was about to report you missing.”
“I told you I’d call after finishing my homework,” I said as I propped my phone in my phone holder. “I still have a few problems left.”
“Yeah, but your after-homework is my beauty sleep time.” Toby brushed his hand through his messy brown hair and yawned.
“Because you go to bed at the time of a grandma.” I hadn’t thought the two-hour time difference would affect us, but we ended up missing way too many calls from each other and didn’t have many text conversations.
“That and because I need my morning walks.” Buster hopped on Toby’s bed, and Toby rubbed his head. “Buster, say hi to Uncle Dallas.” He shoved the screen in Buster’s face, and Buster nudged the screen.
My lips lifted into a warm smile. “I miss you, Buster.”
Buster nudged the screen again, and a loud tumbling noise came from the other end as the screen turned black. “Buster!” Toby shouted. “Why do you always do that?”
I laughed. “He’s so bad with technology.”
“Clearly.” Toby picked up his phone from the floor, adjusting the screen. “How have things been since your birthday?”
“Nothing eventful.”Except for nearly passing out at school. I was usually so open with Toby, but I didn’t want to fill him in on the truth.
“And why are you lying to me?”
I huffed. He could see through my BS too well. “How have things been foryou?”
“The next thing to hell.” He groaned, already sidetracked from my problems. “Okay, hell is a little over the top. But the longer you’re not here, the more I go insane. I miss having someone to walk with after my parents fight on the phone about something stupid or who’s having me for the weekend whenthey should stick to the court-ordered schedule. I feel like a toddler and not a seventeen-year-old.”
Another wave of guilt washed over me. Toby’s parents had gotten divorced a year ago, and since then, he’d been in the middle of all their fights. Our walks to the dog park had been therapy for him. When he needed someone to call, I always answered.
And now we always missed each other’s calls.
“I’m sorry,” I said again. “If it were up to me, Houston and I definitely would be over in a heartbeat.”
He sighed. “I know. It’s selfish for me to depend on you when you’re going through your own crap.”
“It’s not selfish at all. I miss telling you everything.”
“So how about you stop hiding things and tell me everything.”
I rubbed my forehead, my head pounding from stress. “Promise that you won’t think I’m the biggest jerk in the world?”
His eyes widened. “Am I going to have to drive over there to give you a spanking?”
“Gosh, please no.” Toby and I had taken our first driver’s test on the same day. While I’d passed, Toby had nine failures under his belt. The most recent one was before Christmas and resulted in him taking out two mailboxes. The driving instructor, whose blood pressure was probably through the roof, had no problem with failing him. “So you know about my pen pal, Chloe, right?”
“Let me see, you’ve only talked about how much you’re in love with her but are too scared to meet her, I don’t know, fifty-something billion times?” He rolled his eyes. “What’s going on?”
“Well . . .” I drew in a sharp breath, my chest aching. “I did meet her. By accident.”
Toby let out a loud gasp. A series of barking from Buster followed. “See, even my dog is shocked.” Toby shushed Busterbefore facing the screen again, his chestnut brown eyes huge. “But what do you mean by accident?”
“She lives in my new city, and we slammed into each other at a school event. My food got all over her, and we were fighting when I saw the bracelet I made for Chloe.”
His eyebrows lifted. “Are you sure it’s her? I mean, you’re not the most creative person.”
“Well, thanks.” I huffed. “Everything about her lines up with Chloe, and Chloe even messaged me that night talking about a guy named Dallas who dumped food on her—me.”
“Oh, man.” Toby’s short lashes fluttered. “How did she react when she found out you were Alex?”
