Page 83 of All In Good Time

“I dunno. By that logic, I guess it’s also her fault he hasn’t done anything in a month.”

Mal didn’tknowanything. Maybe she was hopeful that this was the start to a brighter era, but Derek knew better. Nothing good would come from Mark bottling it up.

Nothing good ever came from bottling those intense feelings up.

“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,” he ground the words out through his teeth. Luckily, he wouldn’t have to sit in silence with her, as he pulled to the curb outside her friend’s house and gave her a pointed look to get out.

She rolled her eyes at his tone, but didn’t waste any time freeing herself from the stuffy air of his car. “Just think about it, okay? I don’t think this is easy for her either.”

“Get out.”

She slammed the door and rushed up the grass as Derek peeled away from her.

Think about it?

He barked a maniacal laugh and slammed his palm against the wheel.

No. He won’t think about it. Not her, not his dad, not anything.

If there was one thing he wanted to do tonight, it was forget. That’s all he intended on doing.

* * *

Becca missed how exciting Halloween used to be when she was younger, up until her mom told her she had to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters rather than be one herself.

Last year, she’d tried to bring back that spooky excitement at one of Ruby’s infamous parties, courtesy of Marty’s invite, and that had almost ended in walking home alone, ditched by her friend. Somehow, it became one of the most significant nights of her entire life, all to be ruined not even a year later.

Stop trying.

There were no more reasons to try and fix something that didn’t want to be—like Halloween. At least for her.

Clearly, some people still enjoyed it—like Marty, who was back at Ruby’s house for the fifth year in a row. And others.

Others she wanted to avoid.

In its place, homework would be taking precedence over the rabid night, just like it had the regular nights.

She found she focused better at the kitchen table, with the TV playing some random show in the background to fill the silence that had expanded the past month. Her mom would be back soon, permanently. Until then, she’d have to make do.

She’d always been a good student but had transformed into agreatstudent, who worked on assignments late into the night. Even reports like the one in front of her—an extra credit assignment she’d begged Mrs. Bernard for.

“An academic monster,” Marty and Nicole called her now. Suddenly, she had no time for anything but school and the rare shift she took at the mall she now avoided like the plague. Of course, the school part wasn’t all academic. It included swimming in the school pool after hours thanks to Derek’s lessons through the summer. Through Marty and his connection to the swimming team coach, she was able to get into the facilities easily.

It gave her something to do when her hand was too sore to write and her brain too fried.

She sighed and set down her pencil to stretch—craning her neck and shaking her sore wrists. Swimming sure sounded great right now. She’d give anything to dunk her head under the water and silence the world.

Especially the irritating ring of the telephone on the wall. It was probably her mom, checking in to see what she had done that week. As much as she loved her mother, she really didn’t feel like chatting with anyone today.

The ring went silent, and Becca sighed in relief. Maybe she’d gotten the hint. It was late anyway—Becca could just pretend she was asleep.

But when it rang again, Becca turned to look at the receiver rattling in place. There were a few moments of internal debate, but she gave in finally and rose to answer.

“Hello?”

The first thing she noticed was the noise, loud and rhythmic with music. Certainly not a hospital or her mother’s rental apartment. “You’re gonna need to get over here ASAP.”

“Marty?” She wasn’t expecting a call from him tonight, and based on the coherency of his words, he wasn’t drunk like she thought he would be by this time. “Aren’t you at Ruby’s right now?”

---