Page 21 of Clueless Romeo

I frowned while staring at my reflection in the bathroom mirror as I towel dried my hair. No, it was definitely a fucking big deal.

"CJ, hurry your ass up, or we'll be late." Caleb beat on the bathroom door. "And I'm seriously starving."

Since when was my twin more put together than me? Since Roman started fucking with my mind, I decided. I scowled at the thought. "Almost done."

His signature dramatic sigh was followed by the sound of his footsteps fading away. Caleb was right for once. We were going to be late to meet Archer for breakfast, and I didn't have time to continue dwelling on Roman or my inevitable date that would happen sometime soon.

After quickly brushing my teeth and running a comb through my hair, I hurried to my room and snagged an outfit for the day. I changed into a pair of dark jeans, a gray long-sleeved shirt, black shoes, and then a Hawthorne Pirates hoodie. I checked my phone, clicking on the group message with Archer, Caleb, and me. Scrolling up, I started reading the texts.

Archer:You guys ready? I'm leaving now.

Caleb:Waiting on CJ, and then we are headed out.

Archer:You are waiting on CJ?

Caleb:Trust me, I know. I'm pretty sure he's going through a midlife crisis.

I glared, even though I wasn't sure he was wrong at this point.

Archer:It's a little too soon for that.

Caleb:Then something else is going on. He's acting wired too.

The last message had been sent less than a minute ago, so I quickly joined the convo.

Me:*weird

Me:And no, I'm not.

Who was my brother to point out my change in behavior when he'd been the one to have a total personality transplant?

Caleb:Everyone hates gramar pirates.

I was purposely being a dick just because he'd been talking shit about me.

Me:*Grammar

Archer:You two stop fighting and hurry up.

Me:Sorry, Arch. On our way now.

Not giving Caleb time to add more stupid comments that may or may not be true, I stuffed my wallet in my pocket, grabbed my keys off my dresser, and headed out into the hall.

Caleb arched a brow when he saw me enter the living room. "Either you are getting slower, or I'm getting faster. Either way, the system is broken."

With his hair in disarray as usual and wearing the same clothes as yesterday, Caleb couldn't have spent more than two minutes getting ready in the first place. Honestly, I wasn't sure how I was ever ready to go before he was.

He was seriously getting on my nerves, so I walked by him without pausing. "Let's just go, preferably without you speaking for the rest of the day."

"About time. Archer is already on his way," he said as he followed.

"I can read, so I already know that," I responded as we took the stairs to the main floor.

"What's your deal?" Caleb asked, trailing me on the way to the shop door. "Something going on you want to talk about?"

Not even close. If I was going to talk to anyone, it would be Archer.

Since we'd all graduated and Phoenix and Archer had gotten engaged, I'd seen less of my best friend. And truthfully, I missed him. I wanted to tell him what I was dealing with. If anyone understood, it would be him, but I couldn't do that. Not yet anyway. He'd have questions—ones I couldn't answer until I figured out the answers myself.

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