Page 139 of Groupthink

“Why, so you can tell me how screwed up everything is? How I should get rid of them? Write them out of my life?”

A shadow crossed his face. “You can only live in La-La Land for so long. It’s a mirage, and eventually, it’s going to collapse. You’ll be left with something that’s impossible to get rid of—”

“Yeah yeah, whatever,” I said. “You’re still dealing with your bipolar ex?”

He looked down at his hands. I noticed his fingers dancing near his pocket.

Was he… was he nervous?

“Turns out re-writing her didn’t work as well as I planned. You can only change certain parts of them, but whatever’s at their core is gonna stay.”

“And did you figure it out? What’s at her core, I mean.”

He brightened. “I think so.”

“So you’re going to get rid of her?” I asked. “How do you get rid of them, exactly?”

“It’s complicated—”

“I want to know,” I insisted.

Bo’s broad shoulders sank, and I saw his sleeves pull up to reveal a little more of his colorful tattoos. “This is going to sound weird, and I’ve got an appointment to get to—”

“Just tell me,” I pleaded, looking up at him.

“You’ve got to… You’ve gotta not need them anymore.”

I felt my forehead crinkle. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve really got to go,” he said, looking at the door behind him.

“Meet me afterward?” I asked in a small voice.

For some reason, I really,reallywanted to talk to Bo about all this. I just wanted to make sense of it; to talk to someone else that had been through it.

“Alright. Meet me at that cafe down the street. I’ll tell you everything I know.”

22

Bo

After the appointment with Dr. Silk, I made my way down the street to the hipster coffee shop. A small part of me worried that I wouldn’t find Grace there; that she would have left. If that was the case, I could easily just pick up some coffee or something to go and then escape.

I entered the space with the tall glass windows, the bright green plants dangling from netting in the ceiling, and the aroma of fresh coffee beans wafted into my nostrils. I remembered being a design student and coming in here all the time.

Oh, when times were simpler. Back when I gave a fuck about every fucking thing that crossed my path—

I could hear the squelching sound of a barista fucking up the milk on one of those lattes…

I peered around, looking for Grace. Hoping I could find her here. Because damn, I wanted her to need me.

I needed someone to need me besides Summer.

But the sad truth was, normal people didn’t need guys like me. Only total shit shows wanted to spend time around me.

Thus, I kept attracting Summer.

I did a quick sweep of the area, looking for her.

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