Truth

“Don’t even,” I blurted, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, come on, Brooklyn!” Cara squeezed my arms, her palms sweaty to the touch. “You have to listen. You have to. You helped him with his album. His single dropped at midnight. You can’t tell me that you weren’t sitting beside your Mac waiting.”

I pushed her hands off my shoulders.

“I even got Mom and Dad to listen to it.”

I walked right past her, all but running to the door. She caught up quickly. “Brooklyn, seriously. You have to listen to it.”

“No,” I blurted. “Why are you rubbing it in? I’m over the whole me-and-Reid thing. It was a little fluke thing that we had—fleeting fun while it lasted.” I placed my hands on my hips. “I mean, seriously. Let’s be real. The entire thought of me even helping him on an album was far-fetched, but I pushed myself beyond my comfort zone because we needed the money. Thinking I meant something more to someone like him is absolute nonsense! And you know it!” Even if he did tell me not to give up on him. He’s ghosted me since.

Cara grabbed my hand and pinned me down with a soft stare. “It’s not nonsense, Brooklyn. The second you enter someone’s life, they instantly love you. It would make perfect sense for you to mean something to him. Plus, he told you not to give up on him.”

I threw my head back and laughed. “Please tell me that you’re not actually saying Reid King, the King of Music, loves me.” Nonsense.

Cara stomped her foot like a child. “Stop it! You have to listen to it. I’ll pin you down and tie you to a chair and blare the song until you listen!”

I stopped laughing and grabbed both of her hands. “Can we please just go in there and celebrate the fact that our childhood home”—I angled my head up at the two-story brick house before looking back at her—“isn’t up for sale? Can we celebrate that we’re both in good health and that we’re not worrying about how we’re going to afford another year’s worth of medication plus past medical bills?” Cara’s face dropped. “Please? Can we please leave the Reid conversation alone?”

Her mouth opened and then shut, only to open up again seconds later. “He told you not to give up on him…”

I looked away, locking my eyes onto the copper- and bronze-colored leaves laying in my parents’ yard. He ghosted me! He hasn’t talked to me in months. I have a hazy memory of him at the hospital and that’s it. Before that, all I can focus on is that way his face looked when he told me we’d never be anything.

Cara waited a few moments before saying, “Don’t give up on someone who means something to you, Brooklyn. You’re not a quitter. We both know that.”

I smashed my lips together and gave her a pointed stare. She rolled her eyes and threw her arms up in defense. “That’s the last thing I’ll say about him.” Then, she grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “But you really need to listen to the song, okay? Promise me.”

I bleakly smiled. “Sure.”

She gave me a soft smile and pulled me inside after her. “Okay, now let’s go eat cake before your niece eats it all.”

???

I kept the radio on silent as I drove back to my shabby apartment. I could probably afford something else now, maybe buy a cute little house close to the elementary school, but I was almost afraid to spend the leftover money from my summer escapade. I never wanted to be in another position where I didn’t have enough money for something. What if I fell at a concert and got trampled on and damaged my only working kidney? What if Cara needed another surgery? You just never knew what could happen, so for now, the money was in a nice little savings account that I didn’t touch.

Cara’s words were on echo in my brain as I ran up the creaky stairs to get to my paint-chipped door. I nibbled on my lip as I tried to push the thought away. Maybe you could have one teeny tiny listen?

“No,” I muttered aloud. Hearing Reid’s voice would only hurt worse, like getting a splinter in your foot and having to walk on it. I just wasn’t ready to hear his soulful voice in my head again, because I knew it would wrap around my heart and squeeze it just a little too tight.

It wasn’t like Reid and I were madly in love.

But we were something.

That one thing was for certain: Reid meant something to me, even after several months apart. My heart still warmed at the sight of his face—I usually had to turn my head when I’d see it splattered on some stupid magazine in the grocery store. I always ignored the headlines—always. I was too afraid that Reid would be cozying up to some woman at an exclusive party. I didn’t want to know.

I turned the corner of the long hallway to get to my door and paused. My eyes zeroed in on a small brown package that was on my doorstep. I furrowed my brow, trying to remember if I’d bought anything recently, and I knew that I hadn’t.

I bent down slowly, picking up the package. I shook it while putting it up to my ear. It was light, but nothing seemed to rattle.

I quickly opened my door and shut it behind me, placing the package on my entryway table as I kicked off my Converse. I gave the package a small stare and then walked away.

My pulse was thumping in my wrist, and my mouth was drying out. I was tormenting myself. First, I was avoiding Reid’s newest single, and now I was avoiding a mysterious package.

Looking at it again from the across the room, I had the thought to throw it away. But right after that thought, the next was begging me to open it.

Something inside me told me that it had something to do with Reid. All signs of the day pointed to him, but to be honest, I was afraid to open it and it not be from him. For all I knew, it could be a sex toy for my upstairs neighbor.

It wouldn’t be the first time I’d been mistakenly delivered her package before.