Two things I can smell…coffee, and mahogany.
One thing I can taste…the salt from my tears, wait, when did I start crying?
It’s all too much.
I need to go.
“Hey, are you okay?” Greyson’s voice cuts through the thumping of my heart, his voice laced with worry.
“I need to go,” I suddenly announce, scooting out of the booth. “Thank you for the drink.”
He shouts my name as I run from the booth, but I can’t stop. I can’t breathe. I need to breathe. I could see the door, my escape. My vision narrows as I weave through the tables, trying my hardest not to knock anyone as I skittishly run past.
Once my hand comes into contact with the door, I push it open with all my strength and gasp in a large breath. The cool air greets me almost instantly, but it’s not enough. I keep running, my feet pounding against the sidewalk until I’m at my car.
I fumble with my keys, unlocking it before getting inside. Finding the lever to the chair, I push it back and bring my knees to my chest, hugging them tightly, cocooning myself in the warmth as I let out a horrid sob, my tears unleashing like a dam.
I’m so pathetic.
Why can’t I be enough?
Why am I never enough?
Chapter 8
Greyson
“Prims?” Chase asks as he closes the front door, referring to our favorite pizza parlor.
It’s Tuesday night and Chase is usually the resident cook around the house, but because he has a late lecture on Tuesdays, he decided it was easier to order take out instead of coming home to cook. I won’t complain, not when Prims is mentioned. I live and breathe pizza, especially Prims.
“Did someone say Prims?” Theo’s voice beams from the kitchen in an excited tone.
Of course he heard. The mere mention of food always has his ears perking up. Chase and I round the corner to the kitchen where Theo sits perched upon a stool with his sister Mia next to him. The kitchen counter is bombarded with paper, pens sprawled everywhere, and two open laptops. Just one look at the counter and it looks like a bomb went off…a bomb filled with stationary supplies.
“Hi, Mia.” I smile at her as I walk further into the room and lean against the island.
“Greyson, Chase.” She nods at us as she starts packing away some papers into a bright yellow folder that has me squinting from the brightness of it.
“You don’t have to stop whatever you’re doing on our account,” Chase mutters as he opens the fridge and pulls out a bottled water. “We’re ordering Prims if you want to stay?”
“I was just about to pack and leave anyway,” she gives him a faint smile. “Eloise and I are going out for tacos, taco Tuesday and all that. But thanks for the offer.”
“Can we get tacos?” Theo whines, giving beady eyes to Chase.
“No.”
“But—”
“I said no.” Chase responds in a stern voice which has me snorting, trying to hold in my laughter.
Mia finishes packing up the rest of the stuff into a bag that’s just as bright as the folder she had in her hands minutes prior and looks at Theo with a smirk on her face. “We still on for Saturday?”
He rolls his eyes. “Like I have a choice,” he scoffs. “You’ve already made the stupid costume.”
She grins at him. “Shouldn’t have lost the bet then.”
“It was a stupid bet!” He growls.
