Page 18 of Phantom Faceoff
“Zander?” I bolt upright and swing my legs to the side.
What little bits of sleep had collected at the corners of my eyes gets hastily swiped away.
He doesn’t reply, only groans, and my first instinct is to wake up Julian. But I don’t know what kind of trouble this knucklehead has gotten himself into.
Surely nothing Julian needs to be involved with.
“C’mon, jackass,” I mumble, fumbling around as quietly as possible for a pair of pants and a t-shirt.
“Fuck you,” his words come out in a slur, and I can practically smell the alcohol through the phone.
I should have guessed. Classic jock.
I’m sure calling me was a mistake. A slip of the thumb in his inebriated state. I’d call someone who most likely gives a shit about him on a personal level, but short of Julian I don’t have that kind of contact with anyone in his circle.
There’s Micky, but we barely exchange words at work, let alone phone numbers.
“Fuck you, too,” I whisper as I shove my feet into a pair of sneakers and snag my keys off the hook by the door. “Tell me where the hell you are.”
“Rude shop.”
“That makes no sense.”
Zander makes a gurgling sound, and I think he might puke, but then all he does is clear his throat and take in a deep, audible breath.
“Record shop,” he says slowly. “You’re rude.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
“The silver streaks in your hair are pretty.”
I pause, a foot catching on a crack in the concrete, and absently run my fingers through the strands of red and silver.
“You are wasted.”
“Guilty as charged.”
“Look at us agreeing on something.”
His response is a quiet hum followed by a stretch of silence.
“Zander.”
“Hm?”
“Making sure you didn’t pass out on me.”
A low chuckle through the line causes a warmth to bloom in my chest.
“Let’s hope not,” he says. “That would be a painful fall.”
I’m still a few minutes from the shop, and a warning tingle in my brain has me picking up the pace.
“I don’t think your coach would like you breaking any bones.”
He scoffs. “Coach is ready to bench me for the whole damn season over that stupid music class.”
“If it’s so stupid, why are you taking it?”
