Page 73 of Tell Me I'm Enough

I huff out a laugh. “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do? Keep the dark parts hidden so everyone else stays comfortable?”

She shakes her head. “No…not from the people who care about you.”

“Yeah, I don’t really have many of those.”

There’s a long stretch of silence between us as she watches me. “Well, you have me…we’re friends.”

“Normally, my ‘friends’ don’t take on the caring role. Or I don’t typically let them.”

I look down to tie off another bag when I feel her hand under my chin, tipping it back up. “Then I will,” she says softly.

I just stare into her deep brown eyes. They’re angelic.She’sangelic.

I don’t know where this girl came from, but I want to keep her around. She makes me feel like I don’t have to hide anything. There’s no hidden agenda with her, no trying to get with me, no trying to use me, just…genuine friendship.

I clear my throat as she walks back over to an open bag, throwing more trash in it.

“Enough of the sappy shit,” I tell her, shaking off the feelings, “bring back my feisty, fiery, loves to talk back Simone.”

“I can be both,” she says, smiling.

We finish tying off the last of the trash, and I carry it out to the big bins on the side of the house. When I walk back in, the place actually looks decent. Still a frat house. But presentable.

All the Gamma girls are starting to pack up their stuff and head out.

When I see Simone going to grab her bag, I stop her. “Hey. You got somewhere to be right now?”

She shakes her head. “Nope, I was just about to head back to an empty dorm. Both my roomies are busy today.”

I nod my head to the newly cleaned sofa. “Wanna hang out for a little? Do something more fun than cleaning up after drunk college kids?”

“What do I get out of it?”

“I’ll buy you lunch and be good company.”

She pretends to weigh her options for a moment and then smiles. “Sure, why not?”

23

Mason

“Come on, man,” I drag out, nudging Bash’s arm. “One party. One night. It’s not like I’m asking you to go find your old coke stash and sell it to some college kids.”

Bash laughs, shaking his head at me.

“What do I have to do?” I ask, standing up from the table. “Get down on my knees and beg?”

Bash grabs my arm and glares at me. “Don’t you dare,” he laughs out. “Donotpublicly embarrass me like that.”

I throw my hands up. “Then agree to come with me tonight. I never see you anymore since you got clean and all holy on me.”

Erik is just watching in amusement. “I think you need to try nursing a bible and not a bottle, Mase.”

I look over at him, thinking about it. “Maybe you can read it to mewhileI nurse the bottle…”

“You’re so annoying,” Bash huffs out.

“Youused to be annoyinglyfunwhen you partied with me,” I tell him, pouting.