Page 100 of Follow Me Down

And just like that, we slip back into the abyss, neither of us in any rush to rejoin the real world anytime soon.

——

“Holy fuck, they’realive.” Link looks up from his bowl of cereal as Titus and I enter the room.

Titus throws his best friend the middle finger, dropping a kiss to my temple before heading toward the fridge. I slide into the stool next to Link, bumping my shoulder against his.

“Glad to have you home, puppet.” He grins at me.

“Glad to be home.”

“Everything good?” he asks.

When we arrived here last night, we caught Link up to speed on everything that had transpired, but we didn’t linger much beyond that. He, of course, had already put it together that my father was the one responsible for my sudden departure but Titus wasn’t so sure. I think Titus is used to people letting him down, so his gut reaction was to believe that I had walked away.

I know what the last few days were like for me, and I can only imagine what they must have been like for him. Not knowing the full truth and second guessing everything.

“Everything is perfect.” My smile takes over my whole face.

“How are you?”

“Me?” he grunts, watching Titus set a glass of orange juice in front of me before flipping his gaze back to me. “I’m good. Ready to get things back to normal.”

“Normal. What does that even look like?”

“You know, I’m not really sure.” He chuckles.

“Babe, you hungry?” Titus draws my attention to where he’s standing across the counter from me.

“Famished,” I admit.

His eyes dance with amusement because he knowshe’sthe reason I’m so damn hungry. After last night, where neither of us got much sleep, I definitely worked up an appetite.

“I can make you something,” Link offers.

“No need,” Titus interjects. “I got it.” He turns, pulling open the pantry.

“You got it?” Link eyes him curiously. “You know, Fallon, this mother fucker didn’t even know where the real plates were before you moved in.”

“That’s not true,” Titus argues. “I just pretended not to know where they were so I wouldn’t have to wash them.” He throws me a wink.

“I swear, I don’t even recognize this dude anymore. What have you done to my best friend?” He jabs at me playfully. “You know what, don’t answer that.”

We all laugh in unison.

As much as I missed Titus, I missed this just as much. The three of us spending a lazy morning together in the kitchen, poking fun at one another, laughing. This feels like family to me. This is home. I know that now more than ever.

“So what’s your plan for the day?” Titus asks Link, emptying some oatmeal into two separate bowls. My stomach instantly growls.

“Not sure.” He shrugs, his eyes following Titus when he turns and retrieves the milk from the refrigerator before pouring some over the oats. “What about you two?”

“I guess that’s up to Fallon.” Titus’ gaze swings to me.

“Me?” I question.

“Yeah, you.” He grins. “Anything specific you want to do today?”

“Hmm...” I think on that for a moment. “I can’t think of anything in particular. Is there something you’re wanting to do?”

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