Chapter 16
Griffin
“‘Sup bitches!?”
Jack and I both nearly jump out of our skin as David bursts through my front door, duffel bag slung over his shoulder, twelve pack of Shiner in hand.
“Jesus, David, maybe knock next time?” I say, Jack swearing under his breath. “And why did you bring your shit inside, aren’t you staying with your parents?”
“Bro I haven’t knocked on the door of this house since we were six,” he says, tossing his bag on the kitchen floor and loading the beer in the fridge. “I’m not starting now just because I’m only here every couple months.”
“You need to start locking the door,” Jack mutters, mostly to himself.
Unfazed, David flops onto the couch, stretching his legs out in front of him and cracking his neck. “That drive fucking sucks, how do I forget that every damn time?”
“Maybe you should come back to Larkspur now that Jack’s back,” I say, “I don’t know why you stayed in Lubbock in the first place.”
“Jacky boy is back? Like permanently?” David asks, like this is the first time he’s heard this information.
“You knew that, dumbass,” Jack says, rolling his eyes. “We literally talked about it last week.”
“I never remember what you tell me,” David says unapologetically. “There’s not enough room in my brain for all that shit.”
“Oh, so what you’re saying is you can’t hear your own memories over the sound of the clown music. Got it.”
A burst of laughter erupts from my chest as David flips Jack the finger. Despite his heart attack of an entrance, I’m glad to see him. The three of us under this roof makes me feel like I’m seventeen again.
“I’m so stoked for this reunion,” David says, rubbing his hands together with a diabolical grin on his face. “I can’t wait to see who grew up hot. And find out who’s in jail.”
“Remind me why you came a full month early again?” I ask, pinching the bridge of my nose. Not even five minutes and he’s already stressing me out.
“Lubbock is boring as hell man,” he groans. “Why did I stay there?” He pauses, then continues with a sinister grin, “Maybe I’ll move back, like you said.
“I take it back,” I joke, lifting my hands in fake-surrender. “Don’t threaten me like that.”
“God help us all,” Jack sighs as David cackles maniacally.
“Anyway, back to this reunion shit,” David says. “Y’all know who’s coming?”
“Not sure,” I say, looking at Jack. “You?”
“I’ve heard some names, but I don’t know who makes the full list.”
David looks back and forth between me and Jack before exhaling an annoyed huff. “Okay let me rephrase in a way you bozos will understand. Is Ellie coming?”
My pulse pounds in my ears, breath hitching in my chest–I couldn’t tell you the last time I heard Eleanor’s name out loud. Hell, I can’t even remember the last time I thought about her.
This morning, you lying son of a bitch.
We both look to Jack for an answer. He’s the only one who still hears from her, though I don’t know if he’s talked to her recently. He doesn’t bring it up. I don’t ask.
“Um.” Clearing his throat, he shifts uncomfortably in his seat. “Yeah, she’s coming. She’s already here, actually.”
Pretty sure my heart just stopped completely.
“Wait, really?” David asks excitedly. “What are we waiting for, tell her to come over!”
Jack shoots me a furtive glance–David wasn’t here for the shit-show that was the last time Eleanor and I saw each other.
It was too hard to talk about for the first few weeks, and by the time I finally stopped feeling like even the thought of her was going to kill me, too much time had passed to bring it up without being awkward.
To his knowledge, things simply fizzled out when she moved to the east coast. I fucking wish that’s all there was to it.
Mercifully, Jack says something so I don’t have to.
“She’s part of the planning committee, she’s busy,” he says. I don’t know if that’s a lie or not, and I don’t care. At least I don’t have to revisit that night. Yet.
“How do you know?”
“I saw her the day she got here, she’s staying with Abby.”
I nearly break my neck as I whip my head toward the front window, where there’s a clear view of the yellow house across the street.
When Abby and Aaron bought that house, I spent the first year with a pit in my stomach, dreading the day she’d come visit.
The second year, I desperately hoped she would.
Three years in, I accepted that she would probably never set foot on this street again.
Now she’s been here for a week and I didn’t even know. How the hell did I not know?
She’s probably working damn hard to make sure you don’t.
I wrench my gaze from the house back to the conversation happening in front of me, but I don’t hear another word. All I can focus on is the fact that Eleanor has been less than 100 yards away all week, and I had no idea.
When David leaves for the night, Jack gives me an apologetic look.
“I’m sorry I didn’t warn you about Ellie being here,” he says quietly. “I didn’t know if it would be better or worse for you to know.”
“I don’t know if it’s better or worse either, honestly,” I say with a shrug.
“How are you feeling?” The question is tentative, almost nervous. I guess it is a pretty loaded one.
“I don’t know. Weird, I guess?” It comes out more like a question, like I need someone else to tell me how I’m feeling right now.
“Well, I’m here if you need anything. You might not even run into her until the reunion, you barely stay here these days anyway.”
For a moment, I’m confused by what he means.
Then it hits me like a ton of bricks. He’s right–I don’t stay at this house much anymore.
I’m usually at the apartment. Madison’s apartment.
Madison, my girlfriend's apartment. I haven’t thought about her once since Eleanor was mentioned, and the thought makes me queasy.
We’ve been dating for almost a year, shouldn’t I think about her when she’s not around? I usually do.
Eleanor usually isn’t across the street.
“When is this reunion thing again?” I sigh heavily, slumping down in the seat until my chin is touching my chest. I’m already exhausted by the thought of having to endure a night where Eleanor is close enough to touch, but still out of reach.
Out of reach because you have a girlfriend, dickhead.
“The 23rd, I think.”
“You’re fucking joking,” I say sharply, bolting upright. “That’s a joke.”
“I can assure you, it is not a joke. You’re the one who always says I’m incapable of making those.”
“The reunion is planned for her fucking birthday?”
“Well I don’t think it was planned specifically for that, but yes, the reunion happens to fall on Ellie’s birthday.”
“I don’t think I can do this, man,” I say wearily, dragging my hand down my face.
“You can. And you will.”
I shoot him a disgusted look–if I never hear those words out of his mouth again, it’ll be too soon.