“Sure.”
I bite my bottom lip, hating that I’m even thinking about this right now. “I know it was different for you and Miles, but how did your mom feel when she found out you were dating him?”
Wren gives me a lopsided smile. “She warmed up to him eventually. I think she hated being out of the loop the most.”
I hum. “My mom’s the same. She always wants to know what I’m doing.”
Especially now that I haven’t spoken to her in over a month, I know it’s killing her that I haven’t reached out. As much as I hated it at times, I tell my mom everything. She’s known the ins and outs of my life since I was born. She always wanted to get involved in any gossip, eager to get to know me as a teen and find out all the things that I liked. Knowing that we haven’t spoken in so long and so much has happened is making me uneasy. I still have so many questions for her and my dad, but I miss being around them. I miss feeling safe with them and having somewhere to go that isn’t my apartment.
“What made you think of that?” Wren asks, bumping her hip into mine.
I let out a deep sigh, feeling my shoulders drop with the weight of my words. “I don’t know, I just . . . I feel like maybe it’s about time I speak to them.”
“Do you feel ready to?”
“Honestly, I don’t know when I ever will, but I want to move on from this era of my life,” I admit, and Wren nods, smiling softly. “I’m having fun putting together my portfolio and working on new designs, on somethingIreally enjoy. I think I needed the reality check.”
“Can I be honest too?” Wren asks, her voice quiet. I nod. “Watching you these last few weeks has been really inspiring.”
My cheeks heat instantly and I scoff. “Shut up.”
“No, I mean it, Scar,” she insists, tugging at my arm. “I’ve seen you overcome some really tough shit and instead of wastingyour time being angry with your parents, you putyourselffirst. And I just know that whatever is going to come out of these designs will be something amazing.”
The heat that warms my cheeks travels down my neck and across my chest, the pride and hope all mixing together into something beautiful that somehow makes this next chapter in my life a little less scary.
I grin at Wren. “You just know, huh?”
“Duh,” she says, sounding a lot like her thirteen-year-old self, and a laugh slips out of me. “And about Evan, tell your parents when you’re ready. If you want to be with him Romeo and Juliet style, go ahead. That’s not their call to make. Just don’t be afraid to be vulnerable with him too.”
“Trust me, that’s not something I’m afraid of anymore. I’ve broken down in front of him too many times to count,” I laugh. I squeeze Wren’s arm, dropping my head to her shoulder. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know, everything. The way you and Kennedy have picked me up these last few weeks. It means a lot.”
She doesn’t say anything else, and I know she doesn’t have to.
In times like these, I always wonder where I would be without these girls. We’ve had each other’s backs through everything. Through the crazy self-discovery phases of our adolescence to helping each other through college with days out and spontaneous karaoke in the middle of the night.
They are my lifeline. The more time that goes on, the more I realize that there’s nothing that could tear us apart.
My phone rings, and I smile when I see Kennedy’s name flash across the screen. Speak of the devil. I answer it immediately, pressing the phone to my ear. “We already have your cereal, don’t worry.”
Instead of the expected laugh, Kennedy sniffles on the other end of the phone. “I need you guys to come home.”
“Is everything okay?”
“No,” she whispers, her voice wobbling. A sharp sob rips through her, and a part of me breaks. “I’m losing my spark. I’m losing everything.”
“What do you mean, Ken?” I gesture to Wren to leave the crate of water, and I turn the cart around toward the checkout.
“I’m not good at anything,” Kennedy cries. “My grades are slipping, all my art and photography work is literal dog shit and I-I don’t know how to produce anythinggoodanymore.”
I shake my head as if she can see me. “That’s not true, Kennedy. You’re the most talented soul on this planet.”
“I used to be. Before I got stuck in my head about everything.” She sniffles again, and I wish there was a faster way to check out our groceries. “I have no idea what I’m doing.”
My chest pinches. I know that feeling all too well. “We’re coming home, Kenny girl. Just hang on.”
