Day 23 Allentown, PA #3
For a moment she has me on autopilot, too shocked to do anything but rest my hands on her hips. But then it registers that she’s fucking kissing me, and I spring into action, detaching her arms from my neck and pushing her away roughly.
“What?” she asks innocently. “Can’t I kiss my boyfriend hello when he gets home from his tour?”
“I’m not your fucking boyfriend,” I snap. “Or don’t you remember telling me that you were walking out my door and never coming back?”
“Oh, that —” Krista waves her hand dismissively. “That was just a little fight, you silly boy. You knew you weren’t going to be able to resist me for long.”
“But —” I’m opening and shutting my mouth like a fish washed up on the beach. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.
“But nothing,” she coos, reaching up to shut my mouth with her finger. She’s close, pressing her tits against my chest, clutching my upper arm. “I’m a little hurt that you didn’t even call me once while you were gone. But I guess I can forgive you, if you try very hard to make it up to me —”
She’s pushing herself up on tiptoe again, one hand sliding up my chest while the other grips my ass, and finally a warning bell goes off in my head.
“No!” I shove her away again, putting three feet of space between us. I’m vaguely aware that people are starting to stare at us, that I’m making a scene, but I’m too mad to care. “Don’t fucking touch me. You wanted it to be over, and it’s over.”
Krista narrows her eyes, and suddenly the syrupy sweetness is all gone. “Fine, be like that. Good luck finding another girl as hot as I am who’s willing to deal with your sad little dick. You’ll be back when you realize that there’s nobody out there who wants to fuck you.”
I’m shaking all over, my vision blurring at the edges. “I will, huh? Well, maybe you’re just a delusional bitch and I already found someone.”
“Oh yeah, who?” she snaps. “Some whore you met on the road?”
“Sam.”
Krista freezes, all the blood draining from her face. But then she screeches with laughter, clutching her sides. “I knew it! I fucking knew it! All this time when you couldn’t get it up with me, I knew you were a fucking f—”
“Don’t fucking say it —” I hiss.
She waves her hand dismissively. “Whatever. Best of fucking luck to him. Everybody knows he’s been moping around waiting for you to fall in love with him. Hope he can figure out how your dick works.”
It’s my turn to laugh derisively. “Turns out he can, actually. All I needed was a partner who wasn’t a frigid cunt.”
Her eyes go big in her head as she draws in her breath sharply. Then she reaches up and slaps me across the face.
“You fucking deserve each other,” she sneers. “Good fucking luck finding him, though, because when he saw you kissing me, he ran off white as a sheet.”
Oh, fuck. I turn around, scanning the room, and Sam is nowhere to be seen. Fuck fuck fuck.
My feet are moving, propelling me through the crowd. I know people are staring, that my cheek is white-hot where Krista hit me. But all I can think about is finding Sam, making it right —
Roxie is just outside the back door, loading her drum kit into the van.
“Roxie, please tell me Sam is here somewhere, I need to find him —”
“He left,” Roxie snaps. “Max, you stupid asshole, what were you thinking? Krista?”
“I didn’t want any of that, I would never —” I fumble for my phone in my pocket, flipping it open and navigating to my main contacts. “Did he say where he was going?”
“No, he just said he needed to get out of here.”
“C’mon, pick up pick up pick up —” But my call goes straight to voicemail, Sam’s soft voice apologizing for missing me. “Sammy, it’s me. Look, she kissed me and I’m sorry. I told her to fuck off. You’re my everything, dude. Please call me back.”
I snap the phone shut and look over at Roxie, stricken. “What the fuck do I do?”
Roxie sighs. “Blake and I will bring you home. But we have to load out first.”
It takes us less than ten minutes, but every second feels like an eternity.
The ride back to Kutztown is tense, with Blake and Roxie silent as statues in the front seat, throwing back the occasional reassuring platitude while I try not to scream.
As for me, I’m calling Sam over and over, leaving six more voicemails and sending maybe twenty texts.
I should have fucking listened to Sage. Why didn’t I tell him everything this afternoon, while I still had the chance?
When we pull up outside the apartment, I’m out the door as soon as Blake stops rolling, taking the stairs two at a time. I can barely get my keys in the door, my hands are shaking so hard.
“Sammy?”
But the apartment is dark and silent, our luggage piled up in the middle of the living room just as it was this afternoon.
In his room, the blankets on the bed are still rumpled, and I throw myself onto the mattress, breathing him in as I hug his pillow.
I can’t even go out and look for him, because he has the car.
And for some reason, that’s the thing that breaks me — cracks me right down the middle until I’m sobbing so hard I can’t breathe.
Just a few hours ago, we were so happy. How could it all go so wrong?
ROXIE
I don’t even have any fucking words.