Page 102 of Signed, I'm Yours!
“Congratulations. You’ve graduated from creep to disgusting.”
He does a little bow, barely moving from his position, and offers the mug back to me. I take it and drink more coffee. No disgusting creep is gonna keep me from my coffee. Especially one so cute.
I try the scrambled eggs, and they taste de-fucking-licious, as do the overnight oats, but since I’m not a pig, I give him the PB&J, and we eat in silence, which is eerily so unlike me, yet…I don’t mind it.
“So…are you ready for a trip to Newark?”
“What’s in New Jers—” I start when the events of the last twenty-four hours come crashing down on me.
It’s been such a whirlwind since April’s office that I completely forgot the address she gave us. My family’s address.
Or maybe I’ve been avoiding thinking about it because I’m not ready to get answers.
Isn’t that ironic, after everything I’ve done to get to them?
“Y-yeah. I guess.”
“You guess? What’s up?” Jack searches my eyes for answers, but how can I give him any when I don’t have them myself.
“Nothing. I’m ready. Yup. Let’s do this!”
He watches me for a moment longer before submitting to my fake enthusiasm. We get out of bed to shower and get ready. It’s almost eight o’clock in the evening when we open the front door of the apartment and stop in our tracks.
“What are you doing here?” Jack asks.
Robin, Annie, Lily, Zeke, and Brandon are all there, standing on my doorstep, staring at us.
“Movie night!” Annie says with overt excitement, but none of the others reflect it.
“We came to see if you’re okay after last night.” Zeke glares at me. I can’t say I blame him. Last night was a shit show.
“We are fine, guys. A lot has happened since then,” Jack says.
“But…” I step between him and his friends and eat some humble pie. “It doesn’t excuse what I did. Listen, guys, I want to apologize for everything that has transpired since we met. I shouldn’t have lied to you, and I shouldn’t have made Jack lie either. It was a mistake. In my defense…” Zeke scoffs as if I don’t know how that sounds. “In my defense, I’ve never had friends. I’ve never had anyone other than my mom and brother, and I lost them too. I thought Jack and his work were behind it, so I thought he was evil, and I didn’t feel an inch of guilt. Anyway, it doesn’t matter now. What I’m trying to say is I forgot what it’s like to be good to people. Hell, I forgot what it’s like to talk to people in general, let alone interact with them. And I’m sorry, so sorry, for hurting you and getting you mixed up in my bullshit.”
Are my cheeks wet? What the fuck? I didn’t mean for this to turn into the Seojun show, which is preposterous because everything is supposed to be the Seojun show. But these guys are good people and don’t deserve to be messed with.
“Aw, Seojun. It’s okay. I forgive you.” Annie is the first to cave, of course, and she and Lily hug me.
Robin smiles at me with a reassuring nod, and Zeke’s grimace turns into a pout, which I’ll take as a win. Brandon is Brandon. He’s crying as if the world has come to an end. Poor guy.
“Now, guys, if you don’t mind, we’ve got somewhere to be,” Jack says, and I reprimand him. How dare he dismiss his friends in a moment like this.
“Forgive him. We were just on our way to Newark to see if my mom and brother live at this address we got.”
Zeke lights up, blinking.
“Wait. You found them?”
I shrug.
“We’ll come with you,” Lily says.
“Oh no. It’s okay. Really.”
“Oh no, it’s not. We’re coming.” Robin agrees.
“If only to find out if you were telling the truth,” Zeke says.
