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It was dark when I woke up. Someone had moved me into my bed. I definitely remembered falling asleep on the sofa, and I was pretty sure it was curled up next to Ian. But I woke up in my room, with all three of the cats sprawled out in various places around me. And alone.
I didn't hear any sounds coming from the front room, and the lights were off, all except for a nightlight that had been left on in the hall and my door was cracked open. I didn't even know what time it was. Stumbling upward, I went looking for my phone and there it was, sitting next to the bed on its charger right where it was supposed to be. When I picked it up, the first message I saw was from the guys, specifically from Archie but with a follow-up from Jake right beneath it.
Archie:You were sleeping too soundly and none of us wanted to wake you. Tucked you in and made sure the cats were fed before we left.
Jake:I would have stayed, but I had to go home and see Mom. Coop has your spare key, he locked up.
After I readthose and cleared them, two more messages popped up, one each from Ian and Coop.
Ian:Sorry about today, I know you said it's not my fault, but I keep thinking if I hadn't done the ask the way I did, or if I'd at least dealt with Sharon when she came to the table afterwards, this wouldn't have happened. Trust me, I'm going to fix it.
Coop:I've got your key. I'll be by first thing in the morning. I would've stayed, but Mom has to work late, and I need to be home for Sis. I hope you feel better. Also — you owe me a date.
A laughingface emoji capped it.
I groaned and rubbed a hand over my face as I fell back against the pillows. Crap. Coop and I were supposed to have a date.
My second attempt to get up and out of bed actually worked, and even though I was awake, I was still really groggy. And the phone said it was just after eight, so I’d slept for several hours. I made my way to the bathroom, took care of business, and then headed to the kitchen to get something to eat. Leftovers were sitting in a baggie on the counter with a note next to it that said:We saved the last two sandwiches for you, will grab breakfast in the morning—Jake
Okay, the guys had way too long in here without me while I was asleep. I mean, I kinda figured it would be easy to nap while they were there. I just hadn't expected to sleep like that, and I still had homework.
Holy shit.
I grabbed a bottle of water and the sandwiches to carry back my room. The cats were all different kinds of disgruntled because I’d disturbed them.
Someone had rearranged the roses too and combined them in one vase with fresh water. I stared at that for a long moment, then shook my head. Just not going there. They’d been sweet, even with the roses.
Light on, I dragged my backpack onto the bed with me and then checked my messages while I ate my sandwich.
There were three voicemails.
Fun.
The first voicemail was, surprisingly, from my mom. "Frankie, I had several calls from Joe, regarding an incident both at the school and online. I spoke to him a little while ago, and he filled me in. Why didn't you tell me? I had no idea! Are you all right? I've spoken to Eddie about it, and he's having his attorney contact the site to get that post removed. Call me when you get this message."
I just sort of sat there and stared at the phone for a minute. It was probably the most caring thing she’d said to me in a while. Although her tone when she asked why hadn't I told her sounded more aggrieved than it did concerned. Maybe Mr. Rhys’s calls hadn't annoyed her as much as I thought it might.
The second message was from Cheryl. "Holy crap, girl!” At the first screech over the phone, I had to hold it away some. Sweet girl, but way too loud. “I saw the post.Everyonehas seen it. Wicked bad. You still going to Homecoming with Ian? Even if you're not, we should still get dresses. You could totally go with me. It's fun to go to these things with friends if you can't find a date.” No it wasn’t, but nice effort for trying. I had been to plenty sans date. I was looking forward to doing this with Ian. “Anyway, I want to get together and pick out dresses. Hit me up."
Yeah. Cheryl could wait till tomorrow, although that was a really kind message. In her way. I’d text her the next day.
The last message caught me off guard. "Frankie, it's Rachel. You disappeared before lunch today, and the fight Jake got into with Rodney was the talk of lunch. I swung out to check on your, car but it was also gone. Let me know that you're okay. Worried about you."
One, since when did Rachel check on my car? Two, she was worried about me? We had a kind of love-hate relationship and had for a really long time. Then again, she seemed to have been on my side more often than not lately. When Patty posted the little nastygram on one of my photos from junior year, Rachel immediately clapped back on it. I just deleted the photo to get rid of both comments, but still.
I sent a text to Cheryl that I'd reach out later that week, I had a lot of stuff on my plate to do, and I needed to get it finished.
Then I sent a text to Rachel and told her I was fine, just buried. We had to get our college applications ready, and that included scores, essays, and transcripts. She didn’t hit me back, so hopefully that solved that. Speaking of applications, I needed to check the mail. Shoving off the bed, I headed to the front door but there was a whole stack of mail sitting on the table just inside the door. The mail key hung in its spot.
Coop.
He knew which box was ours, just like I knew his.
It was really weird that they were all doing all of this stuff for me. I was so used to having to do it all for myself.
Weird, but nice.
I went through the stack, pulling out the dozen or so different college brochures and postcards all sayingcheck me out,you want to go here!
