Chapter 1-2
344 Words
“You’re fidgeting.”
“I hate flying,” I said, leaning my head against the uncomfortable headrest. We were fortunate in that at least there were only two seats on the row we were in. No stranger to squeeze us into tiny spaces. We were both pretty tall, with long legs and arms. “Should have gotten first class.”
Zach snorted. “At twice the price. It’s not ideal, but we’re managing.”
“Yeah, but at least I could be drunk and pampered by the time we got to LA.”
“No amount of pampering is going to make a difference.”
“How about the drunkenness?”
“Probably make it worse. Mick, I know you hate having to deal with this.”
I sighed. “Yeah. You know, I never intended to stay away for this long. It just…Things got out of hand, and it just never happened. And then part of me never wanted to go back.”
For a long time Zach stared at me in silence, his chocolate-brown eyes unreadable in their intensity. “You really loved Joe, huh?”
“I did at the time. I was young and stupid.”
“There’s nothing stupid about love,” Zach said.
“Says the guy who sometimes beds two different guys in one night.”
Zach rolled his eyes. “An exaggeration. You were saying?”
“It was so damn awesome having someone like Joe as into me as I was into him,” I said. Then I shook my head, pulling myself out of painful memories that served no purpose anyway. “So, yeah, it hurt a lot to find out it wasn’t true.”
“Maybe he was at first.”
“Yeah, who knows? We didn’t do a lot of talking about it once he dumped me for Raine.” I shrugged. “Of course I didn’t really want to listen to anything either of them said. I think if it had been any other girl I could have gotten over it. But my own sister? That hurt worse.”
“And now?”
“I think I’m numb, honestly. I stopped caring about Joe years ago.” I closed my eyes. “I think I stopped caring about any of them.”
Zach’s hand briefly touched mine and gave it a squeeze. “And yet here you are, the prodigal son racing back to them.”
“Ten years is hardly racing back, but yeah, makes no sense.”
“Family rarely does, my friend,” Zach in a matter-of-fact voice. “Try and get some sleep, Mick. I think you may need it.”
“Yeah,” I whispered, but my stomach was tied in knots.
- Writer
