“Yeah, you put up with a lot to be with him,” Kellan added. “I’m not saying he isn’t worth it, but he kind of needs to give something in return. Band or no band.”
“And like you said, things will only get more difficult if they keep going the way they are. Do you really want to put yourself through that?” Josh asked.
“So, you think I made the right decision.”
“One thousand percent,” Kellan said.
“Should I call him?”
“No!” they both said so vehemently that it was almost comical.
I couldn’t help but smile grimly.
So, I didn’t return his calls. By Wednesday that week, he’d stopped trying to contact me. His last text was simplyI’m sorry. By then, I was too slammed with all the schoolwork I’d been putting off to dwell on my emotions. Finals came and went in a blur of anxiety and studying, and the next thing I knew, the semester was over.
True to personal form, I was alone in my room on my last Friday night before going home. Student pickups were scheduled for the following Monday morning, and damn near everyone on campus was out partying and celebrating one last weekend of freedom before their parents came and brought them back to the real world.
Not me. My plan was to be superproductive by staying in bed, wrapped in my blankets, desperately trying to drown out every emotion I’d been repressing for the past couple of weeks as they welled up in me all at once. I was successful at the lying in bed part—not so much when it came to ignoring my emotions. Focusing on any one app on my phone was proving to be much more difficult than I thought it would be. I kept scrolling through my texts with Grey, fighting every instinct to reach out to him. During finals, staying away had been easy since I’d been fighting for my life in those exams. But with nothing else to fixate on, all I could think about was him.Was it that unreasonable for him to ask me to keep things low-key betweenus?Maybe I’d overreacted. A lot. Suddenly, alone in my room, the weeks of frustration didn’t seem so bad.
A text popped up at the top of my screen, and my heart leaped in my chest… until I saw it wasn’t from Grey, but from Kellan.
You should get dressed.
Why?I responded.
We’re going out to celebrate our emancipation.
That’s a fancy word. Did Josh teach it to you?
Shut up. I know words.
Right…
I’ll be home in fifteen. Your ass better be ready.
I didn’t reply after that. He wasn’t my parent or my boss. I could do whatever I wanted, and I had a full night of moping ahead of me. Fifteen minutes later, I was fully dressed and waiting in the living room when Kellan and Josh walked in.
“Told you he’d be ready.” Kellan smirked.
Josh grimaced and handed over a bill to Kellan. “You owe me twenty bucks, Ethan.”
“Where are we going?” I asked, refusing to acknowledge the fact that they’d placed a bet on my level of preparedness.
“It’s a surprise.” Kellan winked.
When I looked to Josh for answers, he held up his hand. “Hey, don’t ask me. I’ve been sworn to secrecy.”
I didn’t bother asking further, unable to find the energy to spare. Besides, it only took us a few minutes of walking to reach our destination, which turned out to be Lucky Charlie’s Bar. I realized as we walked in the front door and handed our IDs to the bouncer that I hadn’t been there in months.Has it really been since the first time I saw Grey perform?My roommates and I had been frequent customers before then—ever since we’d figured out which bartenders didn’t care to check for scrubbedoff Xs on the backs of underage college student hands. It was oddly sad that we hadn’t spent as much time here this year.
I grinned at Kellan. “Okay, I’ll admit it. This is a great surprise.”
“I know, right?” he replied, clearly pleased with himself. “I wasn’t about to let you go back home for the summer without getting hammered here one last time.” He was such a thoughtful friend.
We quickly retrieved drinks—beer and tequila shots—and found a table to cluster around.
Josh raised his shot glass in the air. “To another successful year.”
“And to one fucking less year to go!” Kellan added enthusiastically.
