Page 56 of The Perfect Spiral
I stood there, frozen on the pathway that cut through the grass. I gave him two minutes before he’d retract his apology.
“Yes, I’m serious. Why do you think I don’t have many friends? Well, I do, but not close ones. Don’t tell me you actually didn’t know?” He sighed through the phone again.
Oh my God, he really didn’t know?
“I knew I was an asshole to you at times, but I didn’t know I was an oblivious asshole. Fuck, baby doll, I’m sorry.” He just apologized... again. This was weird. I glanced over at Andy, who was just staring at me.
I pulled the phone away from my ear and handed it to her. “You talk to him. He’s acting weird, and I don’t know what to say or do.” She gave me a puzzled look, then hesitantly took the phone from my hand and put it to her ear.
“Knox? It’s Andy. What’s up?”
“Yeah, she’s... well, she’s a little weirded out by you now.”
“What did he say, sweetheart?” Wes asked, breaking my gaze on Andy.
“He apologized for being an asshole to me all these years.”
Wes let out a bellowing laugh, so loud that he bent over, clutching his stomach. I couldn’t help but smile. I’d only seen Wes laugh like that a handful of times, and the fact that I was the cause of it right now made me smile even more.
He is so attractive when he laughs, but damn, he’s hot when he laughs like that!
“Yeah, that’s Wes. What did you say to her? If it’s something sexual, I don’t want to know! B—”
I watched as a grin crept up on Andy’s face while she listened to Knox on the phone. I was trying to take in the whole situation, going back and forth between her and Wes. He just apologized to me... twice... within minutes of each other? He must be concussed. Yeah, that’s it!
“Oh my g—, Knox, you don’t... wait! Are you— hold up, no, I’m going to ask you the next time I see you!... you’ll see when I see you! Yeah, I’ll hand her back over.”
After listening to Wes’s laughter and Andy’s chat, she handed the phone back to me, smiling like she knew something I didn’t. Was I missing something here?
“Knox? Are you alright?” I asked cautiously.
“Haha, yes, I am, baby doll. Are you?”
“Uh, yeah, I suppose? So why did you call me?”
“Honestly, I wanted to know when you fly into New York, and to hear... from you? See how you’re doing?” He was hesitating. I didn’t like when he hesitated. Nothing good ever came out of him hesitating. Nothing!
“Okay...? I’ll be leaving tomorrow at seven a.m. with Wes, and we’ll land at four p.m. Kyle’s picking me up, and I’ll head home. I’m good, Knox. I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty weird that you’re asking me how I’m doing.” He chuckled at my honesty.
“I’ll see you at the airport, baby doll! I know, I can tell by your voice! I wasn’t that mean to you, was I?”
He was walking on eggshells with me right now, but he was also poking fun at what we were like in high school.
“Yes, yes, you were that mean to me,” I deadpanned. He laughed again, and there was a moment of silence. It wasn’t awkward, though. It was making me smile a little.
The silences had become more comfortable between us since Savannah. Who’d have thought that Knox and I would actually not try to kill each other these past few weeks?
“Will you ever forgive me, baby doll?” His dramatic tone caught me off guard when he finally spoke, and I snorted, a smile playing on my lips.
Forgetting where I was, Andy poked me out of my own little bubble.
“First you want my kisses back, now you’re asking for forgiveness. You’re asking a lot of me,
Knox,” I teased him.
“Well, I guess that’s another challenge for me then! Challengeaccepted. Shit! I gotta go, baby doll! See you tomorrow! Love youuuuuu,” he serenaded.
“Stop saying that! Bye!” He needed to cut that habit out. What if he said it in public and people heard, or the press heard him?
