Page 113 of Daydream

I believe you. I have the paint in my hair to prove it

& I left like fifteen minutes ago!

Why leave at all? That’s what I want to know.

Come back. I miss you. Bring Joy.

Robbie probably won’t die.

I can’t My mom and stepdad surprised me by coming early

It wasn’t them though don’t even say it.

Don’t even think it.

After my Christmas present, I now know that Mrs. Astor uses her emergency key liberally, but I can’t imagine she’d steal condomsbefore the mixing bowl she’s been eyeing since Nana got it in the nineties.

As I exit the bathroom, box in hand ready to go into my bedroom trash, I decide that I have a ghost. Which is what causes me to jump out of my skin when I venture into the hallway and Will appears from the darkness like a freaking ghoul. “Oh my God, you made me jump.”

He laughs and holds up his hands defensively while I hide the box in my hands behind my back. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I wanted to use the bathroom.”

“Did you not want to use one of the other ones?”

Will shrugs, looking toward the staircase then back at me. “Let’s talk in your bedroom, Hals.”

“Let’s talk right here. Or you can just meet me downstairs after you’ve used your bathroom of choice.”

“I didn’t know you didn’t know we were coming. Nobody told me it was a surprise for you. I would have given you a heads-up if I’d known. I wasn’t trying to catch you off guard.”

The tenseness in my body relaxes a little. My shoulders drop an inch. “Oh. Don’t worry about it. Their intentions were good and it’s nice to see everyone.”

He nods. “Yeah, we missed you a lot at Christmas. Dinner was a disaster without you making everyone stick to the schedule; we ate two hours late. I texted you. Didn’t get a response, though.”

I wish I’d barked at him when I first stepped out of the bathroom. “Yeah, Gigi told me it was pretty stressful. And sorry, worked double shifts. I must have read it by accident.”

“No worries, no worries. How long have you been with your new boyfriend?”

It’s a funny thing when your gut picks up on something before the rest of you does. This is why I feel so unsettled around him. “I don’t have a boyfriend, Will.”

“Don’t treat me like I was born yesterday, Hals. The condoms and the guys’ name on your tits suggest otherwise.”

“Okay, this conversation is over.”

I step around him to head into my bedroom; he thankfully doesn’t follow me in. After disposing of the box, I quietly realize as it stares back at me from the wastebasket that I don’t have a ghost, I have an ex.

I leave to get downstairs quickly in case he actually did need the bathroom, but he’s still in the hallway waiting for me. He is leaning against the wall with his arms folded, only standing up straight again when he spots me. I’m fully intending to ignore him and go downstairs, until he speaks.

“I feel like every time I see you, you’re different.”

The question stops me in my tracks. “Excuse me?”

“You cut your long hair. You changed your makeup. You started wearing jewelry. You’re obviously having sex now. You even smell different. Did you change your perfume for him, Hals?”

My hand closes around theHhanging from my neck. “I wanted to do those things for me. Nobody asked me to. Nobody made me.”

“I see your stories, and you’re out all the time. Even when I don’t look, I fucking hear about it thirdhand from my mom.Halle’s new friends got her VIP tickets to a concert; Halle’s new friends invited her to Europe to go to a Formula 1 race in the summer; Halle’s new friends took her to a fancy restaurant in LA; Halle’s new friends took her to an NHL game. Do they even know the real you? Shit, do you even know the real you at this point?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Will. Let’s go downstairs.”

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