Page 111 of Wild Ever After
She sinks back into the seat next to me. “What are you waiting for?”
“I’m not sure.”
“If you don’t want to see her, then maybe you should text her.”
“And say what?”
“I don’t know. Doesn’t matter. Most of the joy of receiving a text from someone you like is just seeing their name light up the screen.”
I pause a second to imagine what it’d be like to see Jade’s name flashing on my screen right now. My chest tightens.
“I can’t go home or text her until…” I trail off. “Until I can live with the consequence of her decision. Whatever it is.”
“You’re a good guy, Declan,” she says. “And Jade is great. I’m rooting for you two.”
“Thanks, Little Sharpie.” I wrap an arm around her neck and bring her in for a quick hug.
When we break apart, she stares toward the kitchen. “I better go. You’re sure you’re good?”
“I’m fine.” I tip my head. “Get out of here and go have fun.”
I walk with her to join the rest of the group.
“Ready?” Everly asks Grace.
“Yeah.”
The girls say their goodbyes and start for the door. Ash pulls a beer from the fridge and offers it to me.
I shake my head. “No, thanks, but is it cool if I use your shower again?”
“Don’t even need to ask,” Ash says, still staring after Grace.
“Thanks.” I slap him on the shoulder. “Could you be a little less obvious?”
“Huh?” He glances at me. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing, man.” I fight a smile.
Upstairs in the guest bathroom, I strip down and step into the shower. There’s some girly smelling body wash from when Everly lived here. I open the bottle and squirt some in my palm. Jade started using mine since she moved in and I love that. It’s like I’m with her all day long. Another pang of sadness slams into me. Fuck. Is every little thing going to remind me of her until the end of time?
I’m shampooing my hair when I think I hear my phone ringing. I pause and stick my head out of the shower. My heart leaps when the ringtone plays again. I jump out of the shower, wet and sudsy.
Nobody calls me, and the ones that might are all here. All but one.
I wrestle the device from my sweats pocket, while soap streams down my face and into my eyes. It stings. Fuck does it sting. I let out a scream as I widen my blurring eyes. Jade. Holy shit, it’s really Jade.
Panic has me frozen for a split second. What if she’s calling to tell me it’s over? I guess at least I’d get to hear her voice one last time.
I swipe to answer and reach for a towel. “Hello?”
“Declan.” My name comes on a sob that has a whole new kind of fear screaming through my veins. Something’s not right and I have a bad feeling it has nothing to do with me. “C-can you come to the house?”
“What’s wrong?” I ask, already pulling my sweats on, skipping the boxers because it’ll take too much time. I grab my shirt and bolt for the door.
“I…” She sniffles and takes a second to compose herself. I don’t know why. I’d take her snot-nosed, red-eyed over any other girl in the world.
“I—” she starts again, her voice quieter, “I need you.”
