Page 158 of Breaking Point
dude
did you not just drive her home?
KIERAN ASHFORD
your point?
GRAYSON
and she still didn’t give you her number…
have you ever thought maybe she doesn’t want you to have it?
KIERAN ASHFORD
nah I don’t think it’s that
why wouldn’t she want me to have it?
I send excellent personalized memes
I literally won an award for it
GRAYSON
are you talking about the award we made up at the bar?
Kieran that award was written on a beer stainednapkin
KIERAN ASHFORD
doesn’t mean I don’t hold the best meme sender title
“Layla just texted me. Kieran dropped her off,” Bella announces as she rounds her car, parked next to mine.
“I guess they didn’t kill each other after all,” I say as I lift Bambi from the car, letting her off the lead. There’s nowhere on the property she can get out and she needs to sniff her new environment.
“Yet.”
As I unlock the front door, my eyes on Bambi, I ask, “How do you feel about Layla leaving for so long?”
Bambi shoots off inside my house, her tail wagging as her little sniffles fill the halls in her exploration. Thank God for my hardwood floors—I can stomp my foot and she’ll hopefully feel the vibrations if I need to catch her attention.
Bella’s heavy sigh trails behind me to the back door as I follow Bambi to the deck. Zoomies overtake her once she steps out into the yard.
“No judgment?” Bella asks softly.
“I’d never judge you.”
“Easy to say,” she mumbles. “I…I’m terrified of her leaving. She’s my best friend, and more than that, she’s my safety net. It’s hard enough as it is with my mom, and I can’t imagine not having her here to lean on, but when I think that it’s always followed by guilt because Layla deserves a chance to be healthy.”
“You’re allowed to have complicated feelings, Bella. It doesn’t make you a horrible person to feel scared. You’re going through something that’s unimaginable.”
She steps onto the deck beside me, her gaze latched on Bambi rolling in the grass. “Then why do my feelings make me feel so horrible?”
“Because you’re a good friend.”
Her head drops back with a groan and I can’t help but laugh.
