Page 1 of Late Nights

1

Cannon

Explosions and gunshots sounded through my headphones, drowning out the nauseating couple in the kitchen making protein bites together.

My best friend, West, and his new girlfriend, Halle, were still in new couplehood bliss, making healthy snacks together to grab on the go, like the fit couple they were.

If I sounded bitter, I wasn’t.

Okay, maybe a little.

Not because I was jealous of his sickening lovey-dovey relationship. That was not what I wanted. But I did miss my best friend.

West and I used to hang out all the time. I’d drag him out to the bar, and we’d be each other’s wingmen. More like he would be my wingman, since he hadn’t been interested in anything other than work. At least until Halle had shown up.

Now I was all alone. And not just when I went to the bar.

West wasn’t just my best friend, he was my only friend. Which hadn’t been a big deal before he ditched me for a pretty brunette.

My fingers flew over the controller, moving on their own. I’d played this video game so many times that I didn’t even have to think about it anymore.

I’d gotten into video games at a young age. Same as now, I’d used it to block out the conversations happening around me back then. It would drown out the yelling, the cursing, things crashing to the ground. I could get lost in a fantasy world and pretend I was somewhere else, anywhere but in that awful house.

A loud knocking broke through the sounds of my game.

Pushing off my headphones, I looked around but didn’t see West or Halle in the kitchen, where I had thought they had been.

Knocking sounded again, and I set down my controller and walked toward the door. I opened it and took a step back in surprise.

She was the last person I expected to see on the other side of the door. And I especially didn’t expect to see her surrounded by more luggage than any one person should ever have. The shiny rose-gold suitcases covered practically every inch of the third-floor landing.

My eyes couldn’t completely focus on her luggage enough to count how many pieces because they didn’t want to stop drinking in the beautiful woman in front of me.

Her blonde hair was down, with one side in the front pulled up and back in some intricate braid, showcasing a face so beautiful that I always struggled not to stare at whenever I was with her. She wore a matching black athleisure set, the zip up jacket fitting to her upper body with a sliver of her skin showing that had me hurrying to look back up at her face.

“Hey, Cannon,” she said, looking past me. “Is West home?”

Her voice pulled me out of my daze and made me finally notice that her eyes were watery and her cheeks were blotchy.

Had she been crying?

But before I got a chance to say anything, West came to the door, shifting me aside.

“Demi?” he asked, his voice full of concern. “What’s going on?”

Demi broke out in a sob and threw herself into West’s arm. “Dad kicked me out, and I have nowhere else to go.”

West’s eyes widened as he held his sister. “What do you mean he kicked you out?”

Halle stepped out into the hallway from West’s bedroom, where they must have been hanging out. “Oh no, what happened?” She rushed to West’s side and placed a hand on Demi’s back.

Demi pulled back to look at West and Halle. “I…I…” she hiccupped. “I dropped out of Stanford.”

A ripple of shock and silence filled our apartment.

West looked over at me. “Cannon, can you bring in Demi’s bags?”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” I said, moving robotically to get her luggage.

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