Chapter Thirty-Three
Sailor
He doesn’t text me again. I don’t text him either.
Another week goes by without hearing from him or Shadow.
I send Shadow a message, but it goes unnoticed.
Or he’s just ignoring me now that I’ve messaged him personally.
I don’t know, but I do check the cameras every now and then.
More often than not, he’s not home. I don’t know where he is or what he’s doing.
He comes home at strange hours, and part of me is jealous, wondering who he’s with and what he’s doing.
Yet something in me knows he isn’t doing anything wrong—at least not to me. And we aren’t even together, yet I know he’s respecting me. At least when it comes to that aspect.
Orville gave me a number to text if I needed anything, so I texted him, asking if he somehow knows what Jaxon is up to. He said he didn’t know, and I didn’t push.
I’m on the fence about what to do with him, so I do the only thing that I can think of that makes sense—call my best friend.
There’s a knock on the door, and I quickly finish brushing my teeth so I can get to it.
Amelia is standing on the other side, looking tired but relieved.
“Thank fuck finals are over.”
I laugh and step aside. “I didn’t think I was going to make it out alive.”
She drops onto the couch. “Lucky you. I’m pretty sure they killed me.”
“Are we getting pizza?”
“Yes, please. Oh! And I brought something for you.” She waves her hand by her large tote bag she placed on the floor by her feet.
She brings it every time she comes over because she keeps clothes and her toothbrush in it, for when we have sleepovers.
Today, she doesn’t have her backpack because school is done. God, even thinking that is relieving.
She makes no further move to get her bag, so with a roll of my eyes, I go to it and shove it open.
“Seriously?” I groan.
“What? It’s needed.”
“How did you even get this?” I pull out the bottle of vodka.
“I know people. Now get us something to mix it with. I can’t handle drinking it straight tonight.”
She makes a face that makes me laugh, so I go to the kitchen to look through my fridge.
Only recently did I start stocking it with mixers, because Amelia sneaks bottles over more than not.
I grab the orange juice and cranberry juice, then go to the counter and take two glasses from the cabinet. I mix us each a drink, and put the bottles back in the fridge and go to the couch.
“Here you go, princess.”
“You’re the best.” Amelia grins and takes her cup, swallowing a mouthful before opening her eyes and looking at me. “So, what’s going on? No, wait!” She waves her hand and sits up straighter. “Let me guess…” She taps her chin. “Boy trouble?”
Narrowing my eyes, I hold her gaze.
“Mhmm, yep. I knew it,” she says with a nod, then takes another mouthful, hissing once she swallows.
I take a small sip of mine, then set it on the end table.
“If you aren’t going to take it seriously, you can leave,” I say, holding back my smile.
“Oh, please.” She rolls her eyes. “As if you’d kick me out. Spill, so we can order pizza before I drink too much vodka.”
Here goes nothing.
I tell Amelia every update I have. I tell her about Orville, the cameras, Jaxon’s odd behavior, and my text to him.
When I’m done, we sit in silence, her staring at me like she’s still processing everything I said. It’s a lot, so I can see how it would take some time.
“Stop wasting your time.”
My brows raise. “Huh?”
Amelia shrugs, settling into the corner of the couch.
“It’s obvious that you want to be with Jaxon.
It was obvious since you told me about him.
I get you’re worried about whatever stuff he’s into, and I won’t lie, I was a little worried too with all that Sam stuff, but every relationship has their problems, and if you think you can look past it and move past it together, then just talk to him. Although…”
“Although?”
She finishes her drink and puts the empty glass on the end table.
“Fucking with him does seem fun.”
“But he hasn’t been answering me much. He seems distracted. It’s not working out the way I thought.”
“Hmm…” She looks around the room as if she’s trying to come up with something. “How about this…” Turning on the couch to face me fully, she says, “How about you be just a little patient—”
“Hey—”
“And tell Shadow you want to meet up one more time. Do a chasing through the woods thing again, or whatever it is you’re into. And while you’re there, doing your thing and getting all freaky, call him Jaxon!”
I gasp.
She laughs.
“See, I knew it was good!”
“I can’t do that,” I say with a shake of my head.
“And why the hell not? If you ask me, it sounds perfect.”
Amelia gets to her feet, picks up her cup, and goes to the kitchen to make another drink. I’ve had only one sip of mine, so I pick it up and drink more while she makes her second one. When she comes back to the couch, I think I’m convinced.
“Okay, yeah…”
“Yes!”
“It does sound kind of fun.”
“Right?” She does a dramatic hair flip. “I know I have good ideas. Now can we order pizza?”
I laugh and pick up my phone to order the food, and when I’m done, I do some research on places I could go to with Jaxon… private places where someone won’t bother us, like the woods, but different. It doesn’t take long to find a spot, and just as I have my aha! moment, someone knocks on the door.
“Pizza!”
Amelia hops up and runs over to it, thanking the pizza guy and taking the box from him.
She doesn’t bother with plates, just takes one steaming slice and starts to eat.
I shake my head as I send Shadow a message and hope he finally responds.
Golden_Phoenix: I found a place for us.