Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Andi
As soon as we arrive, I jump off the bike and toss Cat my phone to order pizza. I normally get cold on rides this far into fall, but tonight I’m hot all over and desperately need to change. Leaving Cat in my living room, I make my way to my bedroom to pull on a fresh T-shirt and pair of jeans. The change of clothes doesn’t quite cool me down, but at least it banishes the lingering sensation of Cat’s palms pressing into my sides.
I shake off whatever madness has come over me and review my reflection in the full-length mirror next to my bureau. I look like I’ve been drinking, my cheeks are so pink. I scrub at them, but the color doesn’t fade; if anything, my skin flushes brighter. Oh well. It’s not the first time I’ve gotten windburn while riding. Never mind that I was wearing a helmet.
The doorbell rings. Praying Cat hasn’t ordered three extra-large Hawaiian pizzas, I flip off the lights. I step back outside in time to see Ferret handing Cat a case of Natty Light. She tips over from the weight of it, scraping her elbow along the wall. I wince and jog over to help before she breaks a limb and calls OSHA on me.
With Ferret around, I don’t have to make any more small talk with Cat, and when Dana and Saoirse join us a couple minutes later, I dive headfirst into conversation with them. The newest song they’re writing for Spelljammer is an homage to AC/DC’s “Hells Bells” and they can’t seem to agree on how long the guitar intro should be, so they happily roll me into their bickering. I listen with one ear, but after a few minutes, I skirt my eyes over to where Cat’s standing with Ferret.
She’s smiling and nodding hard enough to set her ponytail swaying, but I get the sense—even at this distance—that she’s not really interested in how much Ferret loves the art of Cy Twombly. There’s a crease between her brows reminiscent of the one I saw that day she barged into my office, acting like chaos itself. It almost looks like she’s trying so hard to withhold a part of herself that her skin is wrinkling, folding up like a closed book.
She’s probably just excited for Sally to enter the room and save her from the rest of us.
Unfortunately, Sally texts us all (including Cat this time) right as the pizza arrives. Need another thirty minutes. Sorry. I watch as Cat’s face falls. She must be really into her.
“We could play something else,” Dana proposes, plopping in front of my TV with a slice of pepperoni.
Ferret frowns, dabbing at his pizza with a paper towel. “Like what?”
“ Halo Infinite ? Mario Kart ? There are board games in here too.” Dana flicks open one half of my TV stand and starts going through my things. “Andz has more games in here than a GameStop in Manhattan. I’m sure we can find something to pass the time.”
“Why not let Brush decide?” Saoirse proposes.
“Oh no,” Cat says, holding up a greasy hand. “I’m good. I’ll watch.”
“C’mon,” Dana encourages. She must turn on her I’m a lead singer of a band charm, since Cat floats over to sit next to her.
We’re all silent as Cat thumbs through the titles I’ve racked up over the decades. My heart pounds loud enough for me to feel it in my ears. It’s a weirdly intimate feeling, having another gamer go through your library.
“Who’s ’Ris?” she asks.
My spine snaps taut. Cat’s holding up Love Letter , a card game Iris and I used to play whenever we had fifteen minutes of downtime. It must’ve hitched a ride on my move to Seattle and back, although I don’t remember ever packing it.
“Why are you asking?” I growl.
“There’s a sticky note on it,” Cat explains, flipping over the game box.
Dread, dense and black, gathers in the pit of my stomach. Suddenly, I do remember packing it, remember vacillating between the trash can and a moving box and throwing it in the latter. As proof that once upon a time, someone chose me. Even if they unchose me six months later to chase their career dreams.
Stomping over, I snatch Love Letter from Cat’s grasp and rip the note off its surface. I crumple it up, although not before my eyes take in Iris’s scrawled handwriting. Can’t wait to seal the deal on our forever with a kiss! Love, ’Ris.
“Pick something else,” I say, tossing the note in the trash and the game in the back of my TV stand. “I don’t want to play this.”
“Sorry—” Cat begins.
“Pick. Something. Else.”
Cat stares at me, her eyes wide and the crease between them nowhere to be seen. It’s then I notice how tense the room has gotten. Dana’s shuffling her feet and Saoirse’s working her thumb along the label of her beer bottle. Only Ferret is acting normally, whistling to himself as he continues to sop up the oil on his pizza.
Shoot. I need to apologize, don’t I? Because from Cat’s perspective (and everyone else’s), I just blew up on her for no discernible reason.
“Listen—” I start.
The front door swings open. “I’m here! Beat my own time. Sorry to make you guys wait.”
We all turn. Sally’s standing in the doorway, shaking off her umbrella and flicking droplets of water to the ground. She lets in a gust of cold air and I shiver, goose bumps pricking my bare arms.
Bounding to her feet, Cat dashes across the room to smother her girlfriend with a hug. Dana, Saoirse, and Ferret follow in her wake, leaving me standing alone with an unuttered apology on my lips.