“All right. Come on. Time to go home.”
I sighed. “I don’t have a home.”
And there it was. The five words I’d been scared to utter for months. Clint was my home. And without him coming to college with me, I didn’t have a home.
I had nothing without him.
24
Clinton
“I don’t understand why she can’t just talk to me. I mean, am I hard to talk to? Do I seem hard to talk to?”
The girl in the bikini sat beside me, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger.
“I don’t think you’re hard to talk to at all… what did you say your name was?”
I hiccupped. “Clint. Clarke Cli--no. Clint Clarke.”
She giggled. “I’m Ashley.”
I nodded. “That’s right. The triplet.”
Her hand settled against my thigh. “Uh huh.”
“You know, I miss her. I miss what we used to be. All the good times and the laughs and the random pastry runs to our coffee house. I mean, we have our own coffee house. And now we have nothing. She’s just… we’re nothing, you know? At least, it feels that way.”
“That’s not really fair to you.”
“It’s not fair to her, either. I just want her to be happy, and she’s not. And I don’t know what to do. She tells me she needs space, then she’s knocking on my door at three in the morning. She tells me she needs time away, and then she’s hopping on my dick.”
“Oh, lucky girl.”
I snickered. “She changed me. I mean, for the better. Like, she’s awesome. You’d like Rae.”
“Mmm, I bet I would. Does she like girls?”
“Eh, I don’t know. She’s got Allison as a friend, but I don’t see her hanging out with so many--”
I hiccupped and it felt like the alcohol was talking back at me. I managed to not puke at the bar, but I knew I needed to get away from that drinking contest. I stumbled up the porch and flopped back down into the porch swing. Just swinging back and forth. Trying to figure out how the hell things got so far out of control.
And this awesome girl was willing to talk to me about it.
“Tell me more about you,” she said.
I snickered. “Me? Well, I’m not the same guy I was before Rae, you know? My father was a dick. I mean, just as absolute asshole. Left me with my stepmom and it’s the best thing he ever did for me.”
“What’s your favorite color?”
I grinned. “The color of Rae’s cheeks when she blushes.”
She giggled. “What’s your favorite vacation spot?”
“Anything with Rae in it. Maybe a nice field somewhere. With a cabin, and a lake. Me working on my book.”
I felt my head falling forward before it snapped back up.
“Oh, so you’re an author? I bet you make tons of money.”