Page 14 of Somewhere in the Sunset

“If you walk away now,” I whisper, “then you arenotcoming back. And I fucking mean it.”

Luca’s features twist. He glances at his suitcase, then at me. And just when I think the threat of losing me forever might just change his mind, he reaches for the suitcase, and my heart shatters once more.

“I want you to find yourself too, Gracie,” he says, and as I crumple back onto the bed, my chest heaving, he lifts my chin. Kisses the corner of my mouth. Brushes his thumb delicately over my cheek. And then walks out of my life so, so easily.

WESTON

I need to see Charlotte. Immediately. Because I can’t take one more second of this silence. She can ignore my texts, my calls, my voicemails, but she can’t ignore me when I’m standing right in front of her. There’s still so much I have to say to her. So much to apologize for.

That’s why, as I’m halfway home to my apartment, I decide to haul ass onto the BART green line. Charlotte and I normally drive to visit one another, but I’m still too fragile after last night to eventhinkabout driving yet. I find a secluded seat on the train and collapse into it, my hands tucked into the front pocket of my hoodie and my forehead pressed to the window. It’s over an hour to North San Jose, and despite how tired I am and how very easily I could fall asleep, I force myself upright and check out the texts from Adam and Cameron.

Cameron just wants to know that I definitely went home last night, and that I’m alive. I text and let him know I’m on my way to San Jose to see Charlotte, and he replies with a face-palm emoji.

Adam, however, I decide to call.

“’Sup, bro? You good?” he asks nonchalantly, answering on the very last ring.

“I’m good. Are you?”

“You busted my jaw. I have the sickest bruise ever,” he says with a laugh that very quickly transforms into a sigh. “You know I didn’t mean what I said. I’m a horrible drunk.”

“Yeah, you are.”

“And I’m sorry.”

“You should be.”

“And I deserved to be hit.”

“No, you didn’t,” I admit. It’s not Adam’s fault that Charlotte left. I spend a lot of time hitting up the bars and being his wingman, but it’s not because I’m doing him a favor. I choose to go out, because I need loud music and too many bottles of beer to decompress after work. I can’t put the blame on him for my screwed-up priorities, and I shouldn’t have lost my temper the way I did last night.

In the background of the call, I hear a female voice murmur, “Ask if he knows where Gracie went.”

I press my phone closer to my ear, trying to hear better. “Who’s that?”

“Elena,” Adam says, and I have to think hard about it before I remember who Elena even is. She was at the club last night, one of the girls celebrating Gracie’s birthday. The tiny brunette Adam had his eye on, and the one who erupted with rage.

“When I left, she was screaming at you.”

“That’s called foreplay, Weston.”

I can picture his smirk right now, and I roll my eyes even though it aggravates my headache. “Remember to get her Venmo username for me. I was serious about paying for the booth.” Throwing a punch at Adam last night is going to cost me the better part of a grand, I imagine, which is so not worth it, despite how good it felt at the time. “And also, Gracie got home just fine. I made sure of it.”

“You gave her a good time, huh?”

“You’re such a dick.”

There’s some rustling across the line and muffled conversation that I can’t hear, and then, “Okay, butdidyou spend the night with Gracie?” It’s Elena now, who sounds dehydrated as hell. Adam is the kind of selfish prick who would forget to even offer a girl some water, and I honestly don’t know how Cameron copes with having strange girls in their apartment every weekend. It’s why I live alone. In a shoebox, admittedly, but alone.

“No,” I tell Elena. Is it normal for girls to care so much about their friends getting laid? With Adam, I get it, because he’s a fucking Neanderthal. Maybe Elena is too. That’s probably how they’ve ended up in bed together.

“Aw,” Elena says. “That’s a shame. The guy she’s dated since forever dumped her out of nowhere and I’ve been worried about her all week .?.?. I think she needs to get under someone new to get over him, you know?”

“That’s exactly what I’ve been telling Weston,” Adam remarks in the background, and I roll my eyesagain.

“I thought you’d be the perfect guy for the job,” Elena continues. “Since you’re in the same boat and all. Adam says your girlfriend left you this week, so what if I give you Gracie’s number?”

“Or how about,” I say, “you both leave us alone? Huh? How about that?”

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