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“But what if something happened to her mom? Did you call her?” I nod.
“Don’t overthink this, Addi, if she wanted me to be around she would have answered at least one of my texts, calls or messages. But she didn’t, so I think she's made it pretty clear where I stand.” Cash eyes me with a knowing gaze and Mark just looks confused. Typical.
“Drew, I know you are used to women falling over you because of your abs or whatever.” She rolls her eyes and gags when mentioning my body. “But that girl was into you. I could see it from a mile away, so there has to be more to this.”
All the guys agree, but I’m still wary.
“Then why didn’t she write a note, leave a message on my phone... fucking text me over the last few days?” I question because I’ve gone over all of these options a million times since I woke up that morning.
“I still think you should give her a chance to explain,” Addi says.
I shrug, giving off an air of nonchalance, but in reality, my stomach is hollow and all I want to do is swallow every regret I’m feeling right now and drown them in alcohol.
“I didn’t come here to talk about my love life, or lack thereof,” I mutter, walking back into the living room. “Let’s just watch the game and have an afternoon where we don’t talk about relationships,”
“So, I can’t talk about Branden?” Addison asks, teasing, and the murderous look I see coming from Max makes me chuckle. He’s so far gone for my sister that it’s bordering on comical, especially since my sister seems to be clueless.
“Let’s not talk about your boy toy of the month,” Max mutters under his breath but Addi hears and shoots daggers in his direction.
“All talk from the guy who hasn’t been on a date in months,” she fires back, and Max just stays quiet, leaning back into his chair and eyeing her warily. “What, no response?”
Max shakes his head and looks back toward the TV.
“Nope, you’ve said enough for the both of us.”
Jesus, take the wheel. These two will be the death of me.
“Can we stop talking about this now and get back to watching the game?” Cash asks and I breathe a sigh of relief.
Just as I’m settling back into the couch, my phone vibrates in my pocket and when I take it out and see the name, my heart beats out of my chest.
Kate.
I read her name over and over again until it goes to voice mail and when she doesn’t call back, I close my eyes. I know I should talk to her, I know I need to figure out what happened these past few days but right now I'm angry, right now I know I will say something I regret if I talk to her, so I put my phone back in my pocket and try to suppress the urge to call her back.
“You know you’re going to have to face her sometime,” Mark whispers beside me.
I eye him and shrug because that’s not what I’m doing right now. Right now, I’m watching football and drinking with my friends. All my other problems are on the back burner for the next few hours.
Hours later and I’m heading home. I stopped drinking soon after I started, because the alcohol was making everything worse, not better. The more I had, the more Kate’s face would pop into my head and the more I would want to drink, and I knew if I kept up this cycle, I would pass out. So, I stopped.
“Are you sure you’re okay to drive?” Addison asked before I left for the night, eyeing the guys that are now passed out on every surface of her living room.
“I’m good. I haven’t had a beer since we ordered that pizza for dinner.”
She looks at her watch and sees that it’s way past eleven at night, so she nods and smiles.
“You okay with these guys here?” I ask, wondering if she wants me to drive them home but she shakes her head.
“No, they’re good. They’ll find their way to softer surfaces at some point.”
I laugh because that’s usually what happens when we drink here.
“Okay, call me if you need anything,” I say before heading out to my car.
“Drew?” Addison calls from the covered porch, her oversized sweatshirt that I’m pretty sure is Max’s hanging loose over her small frame. “Talk to her,” she says before turning and walking back inside. She doesn’t give me a chance to respond, and I know that’s on purpose. She doesn’t want to fight with me, and she knows that’s what would have happened if she stayed out here.
I’ve thought about Kate all night and all these hours did not bring me any kind of clarity. I’m still falling in love with her and I’m still mad as fuck that she left without a word and ignored me for three days. And as if I conjured her out of my head, the second I pull into my driveway, I notice her slumped frame sitting on my front steps.
