Page 85 of The Likelihood Of You

“Breaking and entering your friends’ apartments, is that part of your morning routine now?” I asked dryly, taking a seat on the couch as I did.

He set the bag on the coffee table before pulling out what looked like a breakfast burrito and tossing it to me. “It’s not breaking and entering when you have a key.” He twirled the key in his fingers, making his point, before grabbing a second burrito and taking it for himself.

“Thought I’d bring you breakfast like a good best friend would.” He paused to take a bite of his food, not waiting to swallow before he carried on. “And I think it’s my right as your best friend to say, I love you, but you look terrible.” He took another bite, larger this time. “You know that, right?”

If I’d have called Nate over, his insult would have been deserved, but he showed up on his own accord, and thought that kicking me whilst I was down was an appropriate thing to do, greasy breakfast food aside.

“I own a mirror, so yeah, it occurred to me.” I passed him a sarcasm-riddled smile as I placed the wrapped burrito back onto the coffee table. “You can leave now.”

An irritating laugh emerged from him, as did some chunks of sausage, as he placed himself on the armrest of the couch. “Being an asshole to me isn’t going to change anything. I’m sure after a few more jabs, you’ll still feel like shit.”

“I don’t know about that. Making fun of you is a useful pass time.” He chuckled. “Why are you here?”

He slipped from the armchair onto the couch cushion beside me with a thud and a groan. “Oh, you know, just making sure that the reason you’ve been avoiding my calls all week wasn’t because you were dead.” I rolled my eyes. “Have you even changed? Or taken your dog for a walk? What the hell happened?”

“If you quit being an ass for a second, I’ll tell you,” I shouted at him, angrier than I’d intended to. I flicked my eyes to the floor and then back to him, the guilt of shouting at him eating me up. “I’m sorry, man.”

“It’s okay.” He said, sliding off the armrest and sitting next to me. “Addy heard from Florence. She didn’t tell her a lot. Nothing at all, really. Just that you and her…you know.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“But Add’s said she’s okay.”

I felt a happy pang in my heart for the first time in forever. “Really?”

“Yeah, but her okay could be completely different to what we think. I don’t know. But according to Addy, she sounded okay too.”

I narrowed my eyes at Nate, “This is probably the wrong thing to focus on, but you and Addy sure do talk a lot these days. Something you wanna tell me?”

“Don’t change the subject, J, tell me what happened before we delve into my suddenly complicated life.”

I really didn’t want to regurgitate what happened with Florence again; I’d been doing that enough on my own this week.

But he knew something was up, and he did bring me breakfast. He was my best friend at the end of the day; if anyone was going to listen and provide a solid shoulder to cry on, it was him. We sat back on the couch, and I told him everything. About Darcie, about Florence, every timestamp and what happened when. Everything up to the moment she left.

I thought getting everything off my chest to someone other than my bedroom walls, and Bagel, would lessen the pressure a bit and take away what had been rotting my insides this past week; if anything, it made me cling to all the little details and feel ten times worse than I did when I woke up.

I’ve cried in front of Nate before, and not when acting either, so I wasn’t bothered when he turned around to grab me some tissues from the end table, because he’d seen how damp my face had gotten.

After I’d dried my face, I turned back to face Nate, who, despite having half of his mouth smothered with ketchup and chunky guacamole, looked genuinely concerned for me. “Fuck, I’m sorry, J. That was a shitty thing for her to do, seriously.” He grabbed the damp tissues off me and tossed them into the empty bag on the coffee table. “How the fuck did she even know where you lived?”

Now that was the only productive thing I’d done this week.

“You’re fired.”My face was like stone, and my words came out just as solid and angry as I’d wanted them to.

“Well, hello, Jacob. Nice to see you too,” Charlie said without lifting his eyes from his laptop screen. “Take a seat, and we’ll run through the new schedule for the Allure meet—”

“I can assure you, Charlie, that we won’t be doing anything of the sort. At least you won’t, because, as I said, you’re fired.”

Finally, his head lifts and his attention falls right onto me, and he must see the anger on my face, because the second his head is fully upright, he laughs right at me.

“Look at you! Who the fuck pissed in your coffee this morning?"More pathetic cackles spewed from his mouth."I honestly don’t know what’s up with you at the minute, Jacob. You’re becoming a real asshole.”His arm stretched across his desk to grab the matches that lay next to his cigar, pulling one out to strike it. “That girlfriend of yours not blowing you right or something?”

Clouds of crimson faded my vision.“Don’t fucking talk about her like that.”I take a step forward, resting both my hands on the glass desk.“I don’t know what you’re fucking problem is with the girl you’ve never met, and I really don’t understand how you and Darcie are even involved with one another to come up with a plan like this. I don’t care; I only came in here to say that you’re fired, and now you know, I’m gonna head out.”

I didn't make it two steps before he called after me with a deep sigh.

“She’s my daughter.”

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