Page 12 of Boyfriend From Hell
“Uh, yeah-no, I’m fine. Well, I’m not fine—I have the hangover of a lifetime. So physically, I feel like someone put my brain into a blender, but other than that, I’m fine. I just woke up. So, if you could keep your screeches to a bare minimum that would be appreciated.” I put her on speakerphone while I thumbed through the slew of texts, secretly hoping to see one from Felix. “I was watching the meteor shower with Raios, then I went tobed—”
Shit, Raios.I scanned the living room, I woke up alone, on the couch, which was odd, considering I remember falling asleep in my own bed. I kind of remember getting up in the middle of the night to check on him, I think? I don’t know, everything is still a wine induced blur.
I glanced toward the door—locked. He must have left at some point, unless—I glanced toward the bathroom, which was open and clearly had no one in it. Bummer. Something about that disappointed me, part of me wanted to see him again this morning.
“Hmph,” I huffed.
“Wait, wait, wait. Back up! You watched the meteor shower withwho?” she squawked, I could hear the sound of her keys jingling and Vince’s muffled voice in the background. I wonder if they stayed up all night, it was very likely their night was just now coming to an end.
“Yea.” I laughed nervously, “That’s the, uh, name of my neighbor. He’s uhm, nice? Kind of strange, but nice. He actually slept over… kind of.”
The hair on my arms stood on end again, a tingle crawling up the back of my neck. My skin turned hot and prickly, my stomach twisting into a tight knot.
For a second, I thought I might puke—but this wasn’t the aftermath of last night’s drinking. No, this was that slow, creeping feeling of being watched.
Gracie went silent on the other end, and I finally gave in to the urge to look over my shoulder.
That’s it, I’m never drinking again.
“Deer, be so damn for real right now, you seriously hung out with him? Did you guysdoit?”
“This place has to be haunted, that or the side effects of a night drinking changes drastically as you get older.” I groaned and tried to shake the awful feeling. “No, we didn’tdo it, jeez, Gracie. He was locked out of his apartment and knocked on my door, what was I supposed to do? He needed to use my phone and—”
“And so, you let him sleep over,right.”She snickered.
“We didn’t!” I said quickly. “I was just being nice! I wasn’t going to make him sleep out in the hallway.”
A thud sounded from the hallway, causing me to yelp, my dehydrated brain throbbing.
“Deer? Are you good? What’s going on?”
I turned the volume down a notch on my phone and strained to listen to the hallway. Another loud thud, followed by muffled shouts.
“Do you want me to come over?” she asked, “We could get something greasy to eat, if you want?”
“No,” I sighed. “Somethings just going on in the hallway, it just caught me off guard.” I replied and begrudgingly hoisted myself off the couch to see if I could catch the drama from the peephole in my door.
No one was in the hallway, but a sudden loud slam came from the door directly across from mine, causing me to jump back.
“I think it’s coming from my neighbor’s apartment,” I whispered.
“Why are you whispering? It’s not like anyone can hear you in your apartment.” She laughed. “Is it coming from Mr. Hottie’s apartment?”
“I don’t know,” I hissed. “Maybe? It sounds like a fight or something, should I knock and see if he’s, okay?”
“He’s probably banging some chick.” Gracie snickered.
“Oh, shut up,” I hissed through clenched teeth. Whether or not he was banging some chick—which was none of my business and frankly, I had no reason to care—still opened a small wound next to the heartbreak Felix left behind. “Should I go knock?” I asked again.
I didn’t need to ask, I already knew I was going to walk my dehydrated, hungover self over there regardless of Gracie’s answer.
Before I knew it, I had my door open and was already making my way to his. I halted in the middle of the hall; I had no idea why I thought this was a good idea. He probably has a girlfriend and maybe they were arguing or something, or maybe theywerebanging. There was definitely shouting.
I sighed, my brain tight and throbbing as if my indecisiveness was amplifying the effects of my hangover. It’s not my business and it wasn’t like we were friends or anything. It would be weird of me, wouldn’t it?
“Uh, I wouldn’t?” She quipped, then yelled something to Vince.
Another thud echoed through the thin walls of the apartment building, this time sounding like something hard and large had been thrown or dropped. My heart pounded in my ears, drowning out Gracie's words. The only thing breaking through the haze was the urgent need to check on Raios. The floorboards above groaned, as if someone was walking slowly. The pit that had begun to form in my stomach swelled. What should I do?
