Don’t talk to me.
Don’t talk to me.
Don’t talk to—
“Hey.”
Dang it.
“Hey.”
“I just came by to get the rest of my stuff.” He motions to his gym bag.
“I can see that.”
His blue eyes are empty, vacant. It’s clear that he hasn’t been sleeping. Probably too busy juggling conquests. Nevertheless, it feels like he’s gripping and squeezing my heart at full force just standing there looking this good.
“How have you been?” he tries.
Oh, you know, I’ve been partying every night to celebrate getting cheated on. One less goal on my bucket list.
“Fine.”
He nods, silently standing there with his hands in his pockets. Why is he forcing this? I sure hope he’s not waiting for me to return the question.
He lowers his gaze to his feet. “I should go.”
I nod and he heads for the door.
“Haze?” I say.
He swivels around, and for a brief second, I think I see a gleam of hope light up his stare. I must be insane.
“Please text me in advance if you come by again. I dropped out of school, so I’ll be home often until I get a full-time job. I’ll make sure we don’t run into each other.”
His eyes widen. “Wait. You dropped out of school?”
Like you care.
“Yeah. Journalism isn’t for me.”
He begins to reply, but he’s cut off by the front door swinging open. Snickering, Allie and Kendrick stumble into the apartment with Chinese takeout boxes in hand. Their smiles slip away at the sight of Haze.
“That’s my cue.” He flinches under Kendrick’s loathing glare. “Good luck with everything.”
I don’t reply and watch him exit.
“What was that?” Kendrick says the second the door closes.
I shrug. “He just came by to get more of his stuff.”
“Again?” Allie exclaims. “It’s been like five times.”
Kendrick snorts. “Yeah, the guy doesn’t even own that many things. He’s just looking for excuses to come back, I’m telling you.”
I almost scoff. When they see I’m not going to fuel their nonsense, they hop onto another topic and begin the classy inhaling of their food. A few minutes later, Allie sits by my side on the couch and bats her eyelashes at me.
“So… there’s a party this Friday.”