Page 118 of Lucky Shot
Me
Temporarily. The countdown begins until we get to be together again.
Pretty Boy
I know.
Me
Send me a pic, Pretty.
It takes a minute, but then I receive the little circle that tells me a picture is loading. My breath catches when it finally shows up.
He looks like he just ran his hand through his hair. The long strands are parted at the side as they messily lay to the right. His dark eyes are slightly bloodshot, and his smile is soft. My heart flutters when I see that he’s still wearing his collar. It’s peeking out from under his hoodie.
Me
I love you. Text me when you land.
Pretty Boy
I love you. I will.
I stare at the picture for another minute before clicking the screen off and pocketing my phone. Trudging up to my front door, I stop short when I see Sid sitting on my steps. He’s watching me, his expression unreadable.
“What’s up?” I ask.
Sidney shakes his head. “Coming from the airport?”
I nod as he gets to his feet. “Yep.”
“You okay?”
I shrug. Big pieces of me want to say that yes, I’m okay. Because that’s the socially acceptable expectation. You never admit you’re not okay when someone asks. But because I don’t feel okay at the moment, I just shake my head and shrug.
“I know it’s going to be fine,” I say. “Just hard right now.”
Sid nods as I move by him to get to my door and punch in my code on the keypad. One of the best inventions ever is keyless entry. Sidney follows me in and closes the door.
I take a moment to look around my house. While it doesn’t look any different, it feels cold and empty. Like a piece is suddenly missing.
Temporarily.
I kick off my shoes and head for the kitchen, where I find Pretty’s coffee cup in the sink. I hold it in my hand for a minute, imagining I can still feel the warmth of his touch on it, then put it into the dishwasher. Fuck, my bedroom is going to be hard.
Sid’s hand lands on the back of my neck, squeezing gently. It’s only then that I realize I’ve been standing over the sink for a minute. “He had to go back,” Sid says. “Summer isn’t infinite. It ends.”
“I know,” I say. “We’ve known that all along.” Doesn’t make it any easier.
I shift to look at him and give him a smile. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”
The bemused smirk he gives me in return says he doesn’t believe me. “You will be. In time. It’ll get easier.”
He’s not wrong. As the days dwindle down until we can be together again, it’ll get easier. There will be many times that countdown will start over, but eventually, we’ll make it to the last countdown. We’ll get there. There’s an end goal and we will reach it.
“Want to hang?” Sid says. “Watch a movie?”
I shrug and nod. Distraction. Sure.
