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Jared restarted the game and chuckled. “You’re too much.”
“Like what the fuck,” Bryson moaned and then smirked in my direction. “These leeches, man. I left her place earlier this morning, and I’m still annoyed by it.”
I laughed because I would have had the same reaction if I were in his position. “I’m going to bed.” I rounded the end cap of the counter and placed a hand on Bryson’s shoulder. “Just another day.”
He shoved me, and I shrugged at Connor. He shook his head and widened his eyes to let me know he was staying out of it.
I shut my bedroom door behind me and threw myself onto the bed. I didn’t even bother to change out of the clothes I spent all day driving in. I was too tired to shower and didn’t feel like unpacking anything else tonight.
My schedule this semester wasn’t bad at all. I had three classes every day of the week, and nothing started before nine. My earliest class was on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I was done pretty early on Fridays.
It would be weird not having a class with Maci this semester. I was in the habit of seeing her every week. We hadn’t spoken since New Year’s, and that was ten days ago. It was the longest we’d ever gone without talking.
I pulled out my phone and brought up our text stream. I decided to take my shot.
Bryson doesn't have chlamydia. She’s some girl from last year.
I didn’t want to over-explain it or bring up any new topics. This gave me the perfect excuse to extend an olive branch that was directly related to what happened to her recently. The text bubbles appeared and then disappeared on my screen. Two whole minutes went by before she responded.
Maci:
Noted.
Chapter30
Maci
January 2016
“I’m goingto need you to give me averydetailed summary of what happened,” Katie demanded from my passenger seat.
Back at the apartment, I allowed Katie one hour of peace to unpack before I exploded into her bedroom with the Bryson Chlamydia story. Since we had already planned to go grocery shopping when she returned, all follow-up questions had to wait until we were on our way to Kroger. So far, she was doing a horrendous job of hiding the amused look on her face based on the high-level summary.
I took a deep breath and provided more details about the treacherous tale. “He was in the shower and told me to grab his phone . . .” I paused for dramatic effect, and Katie leaned eagerly in her seat. She was dangerously testing the elasticity of the seatbelt. “Some girl was texting him about having chlamydia, so I naturally assumed he had it. We had just had sex, Katie. I was atadon edge.”
“So you just accused him of having chlamydia?”
“Yes, Katie, I accused my hookup of having chlamydia. We established that information. Now, what do I do?”
We rolled to a stop at the red light on Wooster, and I turned to face her. The logical side of Katie had taken over.
“I don’t think you can recover from this.” She furrowed her brow. “Jaxon told you he doesn’t have it and gave you the details Bryson wouldn’t. I think you just need to apologize and wait it out. If he reaches back out, that’s great. If not . . .” She shrugged and shot me a sympathetic grin.
“I don’t think the usual ‘I’m sorry’ is going to cut it here.” I laughed nervously. The light turned green, and I stepped on the gas.
“You bought him Skittles, Mace.” Katie gestured toward the backseat, which held a few bags from our Walmart trip.
Returning home from a long break meant a desperately needed grocery haul, even if that meant a shopping trip on a Sunday evening. Our apartment was starting to look like we had been robbed.
“Well, yeah, I know he likes them.” I shrugged. “And I don’t like your tone. I can hear the judgment.”
“So an ‘I’m sorry’ won’t suffice, but a bag of Wild Berry Skittles is supposed to set the tone for forgiveness?” Katie cackled.
I pursed my lips and had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. “I don’t know, Katie. There is nomanualon how to apologize for accusing someone of having chlamydia. There is noreference guideon how to navigate the shitshow that has become my life. God, Katie, when did this become my life?”
“Halloween, I think it was,” Katie murmured to the window.
“Tell me about Connor,” I pleaded as we pulled into our parking lot. “Please shine some light back into my perspective on love and relationships. I need to hear about how happy you are.”
