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“So, let me guess,” I said, looking at Felix as we stepped out of the elevator, “Elliot’s wallowing in some dark and dingy corner of your mansion?”
“Not exactly,” he said. “His dad found a small apartment to rent in our neighborhood. He’s staying there.”
I stopped in my tracks.
“Wait,” I said, looking between him and Leo. “I didnotsign up to meet Frank Lancaster.”
“You won’t have to,” Leo said, a warm smile flashing across his lips. He put an arm around me and started walking again. “We’ll lure Elliot out for you, don’t worry.”
“You better.”
Even though we were returning home, after all this, I wasn’t ready to see myownmom, let alone the dude who hated my guts because of her. If it came down to it, and I had to talk to him, it all came back to Pierre. At this point, I wouldn’t shy away from anything if it meant doing something, anything, for him.
How could I have been so selfish?
We made it through the lobby and out onto the sidewalk, early sunlight lining roofs of the campus the buildings. A new day. A new start. Last night, something had almost ended. Someone.
It didn’t have to be that way.
I was going to deal with the consequences, no matter what. For the both of us.
We made it into the parking garage, and into Felix’s car before I even knew it. If I had to guess, the car couldn’t have been more than a few weeks out of the shop, still reeking of that new car scent that almost made me want to hold my nose. Wouldn’t be surprised if his daddy had bought it for him just for college.
I took the back seat, and Leo the front. Felix started the engine, and we rolled out in silence, deep in our own thoughts.
“Pierre,” I whispered, a whisper so small that even I couldn’t hear it. Just mouthing the words. “I’m sorry.”
There was nothing else to say.
Actions, of course, spoke louder than words. And with my actions, I’d make it up to him. I’d make everything, everything, up to him.
Vivian was going down.
I couldn’t have it any other way.
7
Felix ended up going fifty in a twenty mile per hour zone, which was fine by me. We crept up against the curb in front of Elliot’s new apartment building in less than ten minutes. As I left the car, I could feel my pulse rising, as if I’d just stepped out of a rocket ship and onto the moon.
Thrill.
And fear.
“Okay,” I breathed, looking up at the mass of gray brick that made up the apartment complex. “You guys go in, and I’ll wait out here.”
“Uh-uh. No wayyou’restanding out here alone,” Leo said, looping his arm back over my shoulder until I shoved it off. Just because I almost gave him a hand job didn’t mean he could get closer to me in any other way. “Sorry. I’ll stay here with you, Felix will go.”
“Whatever,” Felix said, already walking off toward the entrance, tossing and catching his keys in his hand.
We watched him go into the building. As soon as he disappeared, I leaned back against the car, crossing my arms. My mind could only focus on one thing, one face,onename. And as much as I bit down on my tongue to feel some other type of pain, nothing could make Pierre’s voice go away. The voice I should’ve heard at the other end of the line when he’d called. The call I’d missed.
Was this all my fault?
Was it even real?
“Hey,” Leo said, breaking the tense silence between us as he slipped his hands into his front pockets and joined me against the side of the car. “I’m sorry about your friend.”
“Sure you are.”
