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“Will do. And Alyssa?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t fall back down the Logan rabbit hole. No good comes from that.”
“I won’t. And Erika?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t break a freaking lamp.”
“Deal.”
***
I pulled out the box.
The box that was supposed to be destroyed years ago. The box that Erika thought I got rid of because I let him go after the million voice messages I’d left him. But it was packed under my mattress, with all of our memories inside.
I took off the lid and went through all of the photos of us from when we were younger. I lifted the pressed daisy from when he first kissed me. I pulled out the teddy bear he stole from the amusement park when the guy cheated me out of the main prize.
The ticket stubs from the movies we went to.
The birthday cards he always handmade me.
His lighter.
“Why did you have to do this to me?” I whispered, lifting the red hoodie that he gave to me the first time we hung out. I smelled it, and could almost still smell the cigarette smoke traces that he left in the fabric. “Why did you have to come back?”
In the bottom of the box was a framed silver fork. I closed my eyes as I held it in my hands. I sat in the pile of memories until it was time to pack up the box and put it back under my bed.
I’d get rid of them one day, I was certain of it.
Just not today.
Chapter Nineteen
Logan
I was amazed when we walked into Jacob’s restaurant, Bro’s Bistro. It was so cool to see how Jacob turned his life around. When we were younger, we used to smoke weed and joke about how we both wanted to be chefs and to own restaurants. It was cool to see his dream live in action.
> “Well I’ll be damned! Look what the cat dragged in,” Jacob exclaimed from behind the large bar. “Logan Silverstone. I didn’t ever think I’d see you back in these parts of town.” His hair was buzzed short and he had that same big, goofy smile that he always showcased in the past.
I smiled. “It’s been a long time, man, that’s for sure.”
“You look good,” he said, hurrying over to me, giving me a bear hug. “Healthy.”
“Trying man. Trying. This place is amazing, Jacob.”
“Yeah, yeah. It’s still early,” he said. “I’ll get a bit of a rush closer to seven or eight. And tomorrow is open mic night, where you’ll find your brother performing.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Seriously? I haven’t heard you play the guitar and sing in a long ass time, Kellan.”
“Yeah. I’m trying to go back to the things I love, ya know? Life is too short to not do what makes you happy.”
“That’s the truth. This place is real cool though, Jacob. It’s not every day that someone has a dream and makes it come true,” I said as he walked me through the whole place, showing me everything. “You’re doing it, though. You’re living your dream.”
“Trying to,” he laughed. “Turns out running your own restaurant is really fucking hard.”
