AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s not even funny, Caroline. We had sex once.”
Caroline’s chin lowered, and she gave me an all-knowing look through her eyelashes. I threw my hands up. “Okay, more than once. However, condom, every time.”
“One didn’t slip?”
As I took a bite of salad, I remembered an “Oh shit” from Max the first time. At the time I didn’t think anything of it. “The condom just slipped, no big deal,” he said as he readjusted it. Then, he sunk into me again, and all the worries flew out of my head.
“Let’s get a test. Just for fun,” she suggested.
“What a waste of ten dollars,” I said.
It wasn’t fun as we watched a distinct, opaque pink line join the line already there.
“I was joking,” she said, looking up at me with wide eyes and parted lips.
I burst into tears, and Caroline held me. “It’ll all be okay. He said he loves you, right?”
“Yeah,” I said through sobs.
“It’ll be fine. Everything will be okay,” Caroline said, handing me my phone, perched on the bathroom counter. “Be brave.”
When Max left me for his dental mission in Costa Rica, he promised he would email me, since he had no idea what the service would be like in the mountains. It had been six weeks since he left, and I assumed he was getting settled.
We always figured I would get his email once he sent me one, and I really wished I had gotten his email at the same time as he got mine.
His phone number was all I had.
I take a deep breath and shake my head. “You know, I should wait until he gets home, because he told me the service is terrible in Costa Rica…”
“You’re stalling.”
“Well…I’m just not trying to get my hopes up because I haven’t gotten an email and we might get voicemail…”
“Emily, you’re my dearest friend, but if you don’t stop talking and call him, I will murder you.”
“Okay, fine.”
My thumb shook as I scrolled to the Ss, to Sawyer, Max, a small heart after his name. I pressed on it and held it to my ear. An automated message startled me.
This person is unavailable right now. Please try again later.
Pulling the phone away from my ear, I dialed again, just to be greeted with the same message.
“Told you. His phone isn’t taking messages.” I couldn’t think. Looking up at Caroline, her shocked expression alarms me.
“Did he block me?” I asked.
“No, no, no,” Caroline said. “There has to be an explanation.”
She grabbed the phone from me and tried again, just to receive the same message. Her face grows long.
“What?” I asked.
“You remember Brett from that party last year? He blocked me, and I got that very message.”
“No,” I responded, but the inkling invaded my mind. What if he blocked me? What if I’m being ghosted right now?
“Oh my God.” I covered my face because the tears were inevitable.
