Page 140 of Sincerely, Your Enemy

I slouch into the couch with a scoff. “Thanks, Captain Obvious.”

“It sucks. About your mom.” Chance’s voice is ridden with pity.

It’s sickening. Maybe I shouldn’t have told them about her either. I’d never toldanyonebefore, precisely because I didn’t want people’s pity.

“You should tell Lacey,” Chance adds.

“It wouldn’t change anything. She’s done with me.”

“That’s it? You’re just going to give up? You’re not even going to try to get her to forgive you?” Theo asks.

I cringe. “You didn’t see the way she looked at me when she found out about Daniel. She practically kicked me out of her house.”

“To be fair, you deserved it.” Theo grabs a pillow on his couch and lobs it at my head. “I specifically told younotto hurt her, man. You promised.”

“Just like you promised not to get back together with Ashley?” I fire back.

He’s one to talk. No one’s broken more promises than Theo has—granted, they were promises he’d made to himself, butstill.

“Dude, low blow,” Chance scolds.

I throw my head back with a sigh. “Sorry, I’m on edge.”

“What now? Are you going to try to win her back?” Chance asks.

I groan. “Why are we still talking about her? Wasn’t the whole point of getting me out of the house so that Iwouldn’thave to ruminate about her?”

“Hey, we got your mind off her for five hours, didn’t we?” Theo points out.

He’s right. I’ve got to give them credit for making me feel human again—however brief as it might’ve been. I didn’t think getting out of bed would help at first, but they managed to distract me from the giant mess I’ve made.

We went for a ride, stopped by the arcades, got some junk food, and now we’re at Theo and Chance’s house, playing video games on the couch.

Aaron’s still on vacation. Lucky for him. The fucker better buckle up because he’s in for a rough ride when he gets back.

And it’s not even that I blame him for spilling my secret. He was right—she was bound to find out eventually, but it’s the way he went about it.

The way he humiliated Lacey in front of all of our friends while wasted out of his mind. He was so eager to bust me he didn’t even stop to think about how it would affect her. Now,thatwill earn him a black eye. Or two.

“It’s time you stop running and face your shit head-on. Tell her everything. She deserves to know,” Theo declares.

“How can I when she won’t even talk to me?”

“Do you love her?” Theo asks the million-dollar question.

My answer is a no-brainer. “Yes.”

A smile lifts the corners of his mouth. “Then you keep trying. I don’t care how long it takes.”

I’m probably delusional, but his speech convinces me to reach out one more time. I unlock my phone and select our conversation.

That’s when I see them.

The moving dots at the bottom of the screen.

She’s already typing a message.

At first, I think all the sleepless nights have gotten to my brain and I’m hallucinating.

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