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“Not the girly kind,” I deadpan. “What are we? Mean girls?” I reference the movie but I’m sure he won’t catch on to it.
“I’m going to Vegas to get Chloe back,” he states, and like I said, my remark went right over his head.
“She moved?”
“No, asshole. Wyatt’s office worked out this deal I had with a sponsor. They wanted both me and Chloe. I never got to tell her before we took our break, and now she’s in Vegas to meet with the company reps. And I need to be there. I’m gonna get my girl back.”
“Why are you on a break anyway?”
“Dude,” he sounds scared to death now. “I don’t fuckin’ know anymore. And my mom had me watch this tv show where the two people went on a break. Then he went and slept with someone else. And I swear to fuckin’ God, Zach, if Chloe went and had sex with Brian, I’m gonna fuckin’ kill him. You’ll have to find a way to keep me out of jail, you hear?”
“Who the fuck is Brian?”
“Some dude on her volleyball team,” he explains, but that doesn’t clarify anything.
“So why was it so urgent that I called you back?” I have to get us back on track here.
“I thought you’d wanna go with me.”
“And why would I want to do that, Van?” I sound a bit sarcastic now, but my patience is wearing thin.
“I just heard back that Chloe is not going there by herself. She’s having Hunter tagging along. I thought you’d want to know…”
“Why would I want to know that?” My pulse picks up, and I can hear every beat of my heart echoing in my head.
“You mentioned her before…” Van hesitates. I rub a hand up and down my face, waiting to see what else he’s got to tell me. “And she came to Chloe’s that week before I left for New York. She was a mess, man.”
The way he says that makes me want to lose my shit. I want to beat on something.
I want to go to Hunter.
“She thought she’d seen you somewhere, and she was having some sort of panic attack.” Van pauses and I hold my breath, waiting for him to continue. I am living for this right now, for any and every detail regarding Hunter that I can get. “I’m not sure what happened between the two of you, man. Or even when. When did you have anything to do with Hunter? And where in the fuck was I? Because I would’ve remembered you mentioning it.”
“I knew her before you and I became friends.” My voice cracks at the memories that attack my brain right now with unbeatable force.
“Was it serious?” I would’ve never taken Van for someone who liked to gossip, but at the same time, I am not surprised.
“It was for me,” I admit. I could lie and say it never meant much. But it meant everything, and I never got over it.
“I think it was for her too, dude,” Van gets really excited when he says that, and I can only imagine how animated his face must be when he tells me that. “She was so upset, like it just happened. How long ago was this? We’ve been friends for five years, so longer than that, I take it?”
“Seven,” I mutter into the phone.
“Years?” Swear to fuck, if Van’s voice had been more feminine sounding, he would’ve pierced my eardrum with that surprised shriek-like sound.
“Yes, dumbass, let it go now.” I am done talking about this. The only people who know about my short lived love affair with Hunter are my dad and Grams, and my dad doesn’t even know that much, so it’s mostly Grams.
“Not until you say you’re coming to Las Vegas with me,” Van’s putting his foot down, ordering me around.
I question my own sanity for a second, then I question Van’s willingness to share his time in Vegas when he’s going there to get Chloe back.
“It’s not like that,” he admits with an embarrassed laugh. “If you’re busy with Hunter, that means Chloe is not busy with Hunter. I’ll have her to myself.”
“Fucker.” He makes me laugh even when I don’t want to laugh. He’s a good friend though. He deserves to get the time he wants with his woman. And I deserve to get some closure, I suppose. So then, why the fuck not?
“I’m in,” I blurt out before my brain can reboot and try to come up with reasons of why I should stay away from Hunter.
“I already emailed you the flight info,” Van is all business and I bust out laughing. He took my ass for granted. “We’ll get there at the same time. I already booked us a car to take us to the hotel where the girls are staying.”
