Page 74 of More Than Chemical
The voicemail ended, and my heart squeezed tight, pain swelling in my esophagus. Why had he screwed everything up?
Tears welled in my eyes, but before they could spill, I wiped them away with my arm.
I pictured his mug shot. The same one I’d seen thousands of times last year. It was a horrible depiction of him.
I supposed I should break the silence and meet with him. It might be the last time for a while, if he was actually convicted and had to go to jail. And I definitely wouldn’t be visiting him there.
I typed a message to Dallas.
I’m fine. I’m in the building.
DALLAS
You coming over tonight?
I stared hard at his text, and my chest flooded with warmth. I wanted to be with him. And if I did, I’d be giving myself another shot at getting a night of sleep. But given his reaction to my dad calling me, I wasn’t sure Dallas would give me the best advice about how to handle him. That left Jay, who was the only other person in the dorm who knew who he was.
Not tonight. But do you want to walk to class together tomorrow morning?
DALLAS
Sure.
I left the bathroom and went downstairs to the first floor, to Jay’s room. I knocked. It was sort of late for a Sunday. Ten-twenty-two at night, to be exact.
The door swung open, and I met his friendly eyes.
“Hi,” I said. “Are you alone, or is your roommate in there too?”
He opened the door wider to let me in. “Come on in, I’m by myself.”
I walked in. The room was tidy, but it smelled like boys—cross-country-runner boys. Dirty socks and sweaty polyester running shirts. How did they live like this?
I sat on his couch.
Jay sat across from me on his desk chair. “What’s up?”
“My dad left me a voicemail. Can I play it for you?”
“Sure.” He crossed his arms.
I took out my phone and played the message. Jay leaned forward to get closer to the speaker. The sound of my dad’s voice made me all squishy inside again, and I remained that way even when the voicemail was over.
“Are you going to call him back?”
I shrugged. “I’m not sure. What do you think?”
Jay shifted in his seat. “Interesting that he called you.”
“No, it’s not. My mom is behind this, and the trial starts next week. Haven’t you seen it on the news?”
He shrugged. “I don’t watch TV unless I’m streaming something.”
“Well, it made the headlines tonight. I was hoping the media didn’t care about him anymore, but they’re probably even more excited now that there’ll be more drama.”
“Maybe,” he said. “Or maybe there was nothing else to report on.”
“So…” I folded one leg under my thigh. “You think I should meet up with him like he wants.”
