Page 103 of Just for Fun
I push strands out of my eyes, surprised at his request.
“Done,” I promise. “I’ll go to a barber shop today.”
“Second, if you’re even a second late, the deal is off. Forever,” he adds for good measure.
Forever.
No pressure there.
THIRTY-ONE
Zara
Owen disconnectsthe call with Kyle, and I one step away from having a stroke. This was the last thing I was expecting.
“How did he have your number?”
My brother shrugs. “No idea, but not like I have it hidden or anything. Besides,” he grins at me. “I already had his number saved in my phone, so not like he could surprise me.”
“How did you get his number?”
“I took it from your phone,” Owen says nonchalantly.
“But why?”
“Just in case.” He throws some crackers in his mouth. “If you got kidnapped or killed, I wanted to make sure that I could give the police Kyle’s information. He would obviously be the number one suspect.”
I drop my head in my hands while resting my elbows on my knees. I feel disconnected and confused. Kyle has been trying toreach me, but when I didn’t cooperate, I didn’t expect him to reach out to my brother.
“Your boyfriend is calling,” Owen yelled from the living room a mere minutes ago.
I was in the kitchen boiling some spaghetti noodles for our dinner. At hearing what he’s said, I almost dropped the fork I’d been using to stir the noodles in the pot. I put it on the counter and ran out to where Owen had made himself comfortable on my couch.
“What did you just say?” A hand was pressed to my chest as I tried to calm down.
My brother, in his true form, took his time answering. He threw a handful of goldfish crackers in his mouth, then chewed slowly.
“Owen, this is not funny,” I snapped at him. “Did you say that Kyle was calling?”
He turned the phone over for me to see Kyle’s name flashing across his screen. Panicking, I waved my hands around, prompting him to answer before the call could go to voicemail. With a flourish, he accepted the call and put it on speaker.
“Why do you think he’s insisting on talking to me?” I ask Owen.
His eyes widen in surprise. “Did we not listen to the same phone call?”
“Yeah…” I know what he’s saying, but I am afraid to hope. “But…”
“Hold on,” Owen stops me. He munches on yet more crackers before taking a sip out of his beer.
“What am I holding on for?” I ask when nothing happens other than him happily eating and drinking.
“I just wanted to finish chewing. I can’t hear well when I chew.”
Leaning forward, I grab a couple of goldfish and throw them at his head. They hit their target and roll down on his chest. He picks them up and pops them in his mouth before smiling at me proudly.
“Please proceed,” he says.
I roll my eyes and rest back against the chair. As I take him in, I get flashbacks of all the dirty things Kyle did to me on that very couch. I miss him so much, and not for just the things he did to my body. I misshim, the way he always laughs at nothing in particular, how he sees the positive in everything. He’s been so supportive of everything that I shared with him…
