Page 72 of Dirty Roulette
“Yeah...”
Charlie sighs and stands up to find one of the clean towels underneath the counter and throws it into my face. “I swear if you have another meltdown over him, I’m not going to pick you up off the floor.” She stumbles out of the bathroom.
Scooting to the tub, I twist the dial. Warm water steams up the mirror, and I slump out of my clothes and crawl into the tub. Standing up on two feet seems like a death trap, and I’m not willing to take the risk.
Chapter twenty-five
Ryder
I’m back to the same old boat, where insecurity is a never-ending cycle. I know Payton wouldn’t run off to parties out of spite just to make me jealous like Brittni did, but she’s been ignoring my calls all day long. This cold shoulder hurts just as much. This morning she didn't meet me at the coffee stand, and at lunch I sat by myself searching for her in the crowd of people swarming in. I took the time off my studies to help her with algebra, but she didn’t bother to show up for that either. At practice her eyes didn’t meet my gaze once.
I have this one night off from work this week and want to spend it with her, but all I have is the littledeliveredreceipts of my messages. I stare at her name and check her social media for any activity, but she seems silent. Laying in bed and talking to the ceiling isn’t my idea of how I want tonight to go. I need to get out and do something.
Ryder:Hey, please talk to me. You’ve been ignoring my calls all day. I can’t do this with you.
Payton:Sorry, I turned off my phone today.
Ryder:Why? I waited for you this morning and at lunch.
Payton:Idk. I saw you talking to Brittni, and I’m not an idiot. You aren’t over her.
Ryder:You can’t take what Charlie said seriously that night. You’re reading into it.
Payton:You were clearly having an intimate conversation with Brittni. I saw you two.
I can’t do this back-and-forth over texts. I run both hands over my face, rubbing the pain out of my eye sockets. We seriously can’t be having this conversation right now. I call her, hearing the phone ring several times, and I can already imagine her staring at my name contemplating it.
“Hello...” she says.
I swallow the bulge in my throat. “I told Brittni to stop, like you asked me to. That’s the gist of the conversation we had. You ran off that night before I could talk to you, and now you’re ignoring me. There is no reason for you to be jealous of her, Ido notwant her.”
“You asked her to stop? Why now? It’s been weeks, and I’ve been in hell!” Her words bite me through the speaker.
“Because I have feelings for you. This entire time I had feelings for you. I wantyou,” I say and she’s silent. It’s the white noise filling my ears and the little hints of static between us. “Go out with me tonight, I want to see you.”
I hear her sigh on the other end. “Okay, can you pick me up in thirty minutes so I can get ready?”
“I’ll see you then.”
***
Instead of a normal movie theater, Payton convinces me to pull into the drive-in where they show the oldies. It’s a million times cheaper and a box of candy doesn’t cost fifteen dollars, including a severed arm. The one they are showing is Fright Night, and the muse fits Payton perfectly. The acting is terrible, and she giggles at every corny scene.
There is about fifteen minutes left of the movie, and it’s going on midnight. My cell vibrates in the center console, and it’s Charlie’s picture on the screen. I let it go straight to voicemail and continue watching the movie. The phone goes off again. Charlie never calls me, it’s always a text message to drill into me. So I grab my cell and put it to my ear.
“Hey.”
“I need you to come home!” She screams into my ears, but it’s not the normal loving bitchy sister I’m used to listening to. Her tone is off.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“Mom won’t wake up. She called me and... and she was crying and...” Charlie sobs on the other end, stuttering as she says, “I dunno what to do!”
“Calm down!”
“Don’t tell me to calm down!”
“Is she breathing?” I ask.
