“No idea whatthatwas about, but I’m too tired to dive into it. You guys are off the hook.For now.”
Alrighty.Guess that answers my question.
Chapter Fourteen
Crew
The house is silent, not a soul in sight, by the time I stroll through the front door. Not entirely surprising, but still grates my nerves all the same. Would it fucking kill my parents to be here, to spendsometime with me?!
According to the Google calendar we all share, they’re both off work for the next two weeks… so where are they? Thinking back to the texts we exchanged on my way home, they knew I was coming home, and they said they’d be home too.
Unlocking my phone and pulling up my mom’s contact, I hit the call button. It rings a few times before ultimately going to voicemail. Hanging up, my dad’s number is the next one I try. It rings several times, and as I’m starting to think he won’t answer, the line connects.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Dad. I just got home. Where are you guys?”
“Brad and LeAnn asked us to go boating with them. We’re on our way there. We’ll be back later tonight.”
“Oh. So, we aren’t going to go to dinner together?”
“No, sorry, son. Looks like you’ll be on your own for dinner tonight. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Nah. Hey, I’ll let you go. Bye, Dad. Have fun.” Setting the phone face down on the counter, I tryreallyfucking hard to not let this get to me. Try to not feel the twist in my gut or the stinging behind my eyes. The anger builds until it’s suffocating.
“Fuck!”
My hands grip the counter while I hang my head between my shoulders. I’m fucked up. So fucking broken because ofthem.What is it about me that makes me so fucking hard to be around? So hard to be loved? There’s obviously something intrinsically wrong with me. Hell, I can’t even stand to be around myself half the time.
Storming out of the kitchen, I make my way up the stairs, practically jogging. Once in my room, my feet take me to my dresser, opening it and finding that little box of gold in the very back. A heavy breath expels from my lungs as my fingers latch onto the three little white pills that are in there. My shoulders relax as soon as I toss them back dry. Sneaking these while camping proved to be challenging. I was always around at least one of the guys, especially Anderson, so I had to be sly and try to not get caught.
My phone chimes, letting me know I have a new text. It’s Anderson, and my lip curls into a small smile as I read it.
Anderson: Got anything going on tonight?
Crew: As a matter of fact, I don’t. You?
Anderson. Same. Care if I come over tonight?
Crew: Please do.
Anderson: K. I’ll be over in like two hours. I’ll bring food and we can continue our HP marathon… sound good?
Crew: Perfect.
It’s crazy how much better I feel knowing that he’s going to be here with me. I won’t be alone after all. My body is buzzing as I walk into the bathroom. A hot shower is a must after camping all weekend. The campground had showers, but they were coin-operated and barely heated up, so some scalding hot water beating down on my tired body sounds pretty fucking perfect.
After my shower, I toss my dirty camping clothes into the washing machine before putting on some reality TV to kill the time until Anderson arrives.
Almost exactly two hours later, my front door opens and closes, letting me know he’s here. My stomach does a flip-flop, and a goofy grin curves my lips. The way my body responds to his presence, you’d think we’d been apart for days or weeks, not a few hours.
Nerves coat my gut. Nervous about how he’s going to behave around me now that we’re back in the real world. If he’s going to be touchy and flirty with me, or if he’s going to tell me it can’t happen again. Or worse—pretend it didn’t happen at all.
Pretending isn’t an option. At least for me it’s not.
Putting everything that happened in the tent aside, the gas station kiss alone rocked my fucking world. Altered something deep inside my core. This weekend wholly changed my view of Anderson, the view of our friendship. It solidified feelings I had as a teenager that I buried. Feelings I forced myself to believe were nothing more than puberty and confusion.
The question is, does he reciprocate those feelings?