AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Forty-five minutes and three more beers later, I am somewhere between tipsy and drunk. And for the first time since we arrived, I listen to the music playing. Some electronic dance music I haven’t heard before. The beat holds my attention while the bass resonates in my bones. If I wasn’t in loner mode, I would head out to the dance floor and give everyone the show of their life. But thankfully, some microscopic piece of logic still resides inside me.
Micah comes over to the table and shoots the shit with Jonas for a few minutes. Moments later, Jonas, Shelly, and Erin get up and go out to the dance floor. Leaving me alone with Micah. Who has hated me since Shelly and I became friends in the third grade. But the way he regards me right now is different. A sort of sympathy residing in the lines of his face. Sympathy he has never directed at me a day in his life.
“How are you?” Micah leans over and asks.
I bring the bottle to my mouth and finish off my beer. “Tired of people asking me how I am. You?”
“I’ve been better.” I catch him glancing over at a woman behind the bar. She’s pretty—simple makeup, darker blonde hair piled high on top of her head, a smile that would light up the night sky.
“Who is she?” I openly point at the woman behind the bar.
“Could you please stop pointing?” A few seconds after I comply, he continues. “That’s Peyton. She’s the new bartender.”
“And how long have you been in love with her?”
If Micah had a drink, he would have spit it across the room. Did I hit the nail on the head or what?
“I’m sorry, what? She’s only been working here for a couple weeks.”
“The length of time she’s worked here and how you feel about her are irrelevant. How long have you been in love with her?”
He stares at me like I have two heads. “You’re right, it’s irrelevant. But you know what isn’t? You and Gavin.”
I roll my eyes. Nice change of subject. One I cannot ignore or evade. “Ugh, can you please not join the Save Cora and Gavin party? If someone isn’t talking to me about it every day, the daily flower deliveries are. Isn’t it okay for me to just want to go bury myself in blankets and darkness?”
“Seems you are,” he states, lifting his chin toward my hair. “Your hair looks like it hasn’t seen a brush in weeks. And I know you love rocking the black, but not every day is a funeral.”
“You don’t get to judge me,” I say, pointing my finger in his face. “Black is life. And maybe I feel like death every day. Why do you fucking care?”
He sighs and slumps forward. “Normally, I wouldn’t care. But since I talk to Gavin every single goddamn day now, it seems caring is my new middle name.” He cocks his head and plasters on a pissy smile.
Gavin and Micah are speaking to each other every day. What the hell are they talking about? Me? Us? There is no us. There hasn’t been an “us” in thirteen years. And especially when he decided to stop returning my calls or responding to my letters shortly after he moved away. No matter how much time has passed, those memories still sting. Burn. Char.
“You guys talk that often?” I mumble, staring down at my beer bottle.
“Yeah. He’s got a lot happening all at once. Cora…” I glance up at Micah when he says my name. His expression shifts to something more sullen. “He hurt you, I get it. Believe me. But you two need to talk. Really talk. If you don’t want to speak to him on the phone, at least respond to one of the million texts he’s sent you. Of all people, I figured you’d be the first person to listen. You don’t need to explain anything to me, but don’t shut him out. Not when he’s doing everything within his power to make things right. Not when he’s doing everything to come back to you.”
Over and over, Gavin told me he would fix this. Told me he would come back to me. But I had heard those words before. Granted, we were kids and didn’t have the means to follow through. But like I told Gavin before, actions were what I needed. Lies are made up of words just like truths. And other than flowers, love notes, and his constant reaching out to me, I haven’t actually seen his actions.
“I’ll think about it. But I make no guarantees. I’ve been dealing with a lot on my end too.”
“Like I said, I get it. I’ve been burned in the past.”
And that is the most personal thing Micah has ever shared with me. This whole conversation is surreal. Maybe whoever burned Micah made him realize that being a dick wasn’t all it is cracked up to be. Hallelujah!
Shelly, Erin, and Jonas return to the table. They laugh about something, sweat shining on their skin under the multicolored lights. Seconds after their return, Micah slips away. Goes back behind the bar and wistfully side-eyes the new bartender.
I repeat Micah’s words in my head. Gavin is fixing things. Gavin is doing everything to come back.
To Florida.
To me.
And the light that snuffed out in my heart a week and a half ago, it flickers for a second. A blip. But sometimes, a blip is all it takes. Sometimes, a blip is what turns darkness into light.
