AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I just stare at him, with a face like he hit me. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“Gray,” Avery says quietly.
I hate him for making this the last way I'll remember him. “Tell me what you want me to say and I’ll say it so I don’t waste any more of your time.” My chair scrapes loudly as I push it back.
“Wait.” It doesn’t matter where or how, that voice makes my legs stop working and I drop back to my seat. “If I brought you on next summer,” he says very slowly, “to work for me, would you let me help you figure all this out?”
Avery makes a strangled noise of shock, staring like Gray just whipped out his dick or something. I can’t breathe right. Why the fuck would he sit through this disaster and make an offer like that? He’s mocking me.
I finally manage to stand up. “Spend your time on someone who’s actually worth it.” I meet his eyes. “Sophie, maybe. I know she caught your attention.”
The interview isn’t over, I guess, but with that line I definitely am. Elliott calls my name as I speed-walk through the lobby and out into the sunshine, where I can stand with my eyes closed and listen to the wind and the humming of insects that don’t give a shit about internships and jobs and homework assignments that make no fucking sense.
Elliott catches up with me in the bunkhouse, packing my bag for the drive home. I’ve changed back into a t-shirt and jeans and laid his shirt and slacks carefully out on his bed. “So…” He leans his shoulder in the doorway. I’m glad it’s him and not Sophie, because I’m still working out how you break up with someone you never actually started dating. “I’ve never seen someone literally storm out of a room before.”
“How did your interview go?” I wrap my binoculars in a hoodie and tuck them in the middle of my backpack.
“It was tough, but good. Mr. Freeman gave me a lot of helpful advice. Stop avoiding my questions.”
I toss a thumbs up over my shoulder. “Same. Tough, good advice.”
“You’d tell me, right,” Elliot says uncertainly, “if you were worried about something?”
Turning around, I flash him a smile. “You know me, man. Head empty always.”
He chuckles. “You should see someone about that.”
“I don’t think they’ve found a cure for stupid.”
“Jonah,” he scolds automatically, but he can’t seem to find anything else to say. No one ever can.
We all load onto the bus once the interviews wrap up, so we can get back to Manhattan before dark. I hesitate on the creaky metal step and look around for Gray. I want to tell him I’m sorry or, if I can’t bring myself to talk to him, at least look in his eyes and hope he sees that this is all my fault, not his. Then I realize his Aston Martin isn’t parked in the lot anymore.
Avoiding Avery, I duck onto the bus and stretch out in the back row with my head on my backpack. As we bump down the gravel driveway, Sophie leans over the back of the seat in front of me. “Are you going to be okay?”
I shrug. She takes my hand, squeezes it. “You will.”
“I’m sorry for wasting your time.”
“You didn’t waste my time. You’re still my friend.” She turns around, pausing when she feels my grip tighten on her hand.
You’re so smart. Please tell me what I’m supposed to do next. Please don’t leave me alone.
“You sure you’re okay?”
I let go. “I promise. Thank you for everything, Soph.”
The sky melts into a keen, over-saturated sunset as we drive back to New York, filling the inside of the bus with orange light, like we’re all burning alive.
