Jio leaned against the island and propped their chin up on their palm. “Are you okay?”
She wanted to say no. She wanted to say yes. But her voice died in her throat like a snuffed candle. She set her mug down again and flattened her hands on the kitchen island.
Charlotte took a shaky breath. “I can’t, Jio. I’m sorry.”
Jio tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. They made little cooing sounds under their breath, just like Reece had done as he guided her out of the tent.
Charlotte’s eyes wandered to the fridge, to all those capital letters across construction paper. She turned to Wynn. “Does this place still have colored pencils?”
Chapter 13
TEXT MESSAGE FROM REECE KRUEGER TO CHARLOTTE THORNE, 2:25 AM: charlie?
On the walk back to Randall, her cracked phone smugly informed her of the time: nearly four o’clock in the morning. All the coffee in the world couldn’t mask the weariness in Charlotte’s bones. Her feet hurt. Her head ached. Her throat was a special kind of scratchy that only came from laughing, crying, and barfing in the same evening.
But her night wasn’t over yet. She had to talk to Reece.
Charlotte still didn’t know what she needed to say. They’d carved out this time capsule with the unspoken agreement that it wouldn’t last after the reunion. She wasn’t sure what she wanted after that, or if Reece wanted to explore an after at all.
Even if their interest in after was mutual, assuming Reece could forgive her for being a bitch at the Lawn Party, they’d never known each other outside Hein’s alternate reality. They’d never gone to the movies, or talked on the phone, or eaten a meal alone together. Oreos didn’t count.
But she knew Reece cared about her. Even if she didn’t understand why, or when, or how he had come to care for her, she could feel the truth of it in her bones.
She trusted him.
That trust allowed her to take out her phone and text him as she stood outside his dorm room. She knew Reece would text back. A man like that didn’t care about people on a whim.
She just didn’t know what would happen when he opened the door.
TEXT MESSAGE FROM CHARLOTTE THORNE TO REECE KRUEGER, 3:43 AM: Any chance you’re still awake?
Her message hovered on her screen and then was delivered. She leaned against the wall opposite Reece and Garrett’s room as she waited for an answer.
In the interim, she checked her other notifications.
TEXT MESSAGE FROM JACKIE SLAUGHTER TO CHARLOTTE THORNE, 2:51 AM: so uh I know we’re fighting right now but would you mind not coming back to the room for a while
TEXT MESSAGE FROM JACKIE SLAUGHTER TO CHARLOTTE THORNE, 2:51 AM: or at all
TEXT MESSAGE FROM JACKIE SLAUGHTER TO CHARLOTTE THORNE, 2:53 AM: not because I’m mad at you but because I’m gonna bone Nina
Shit. She’d been sexiled.
Well, good for them.
TEXT MESSAGE FROM CHARLOTTE THORNE TO JACKIE SLAUGHTER, 3:43 AM: yes ma’am, you crazy kids have fun
As she sent her reply, the phone vibrated with another incoming message.
TEXT MESSAGE FROM REECE KRUEGER TO CHARLOTTE THORNE, 3:44 AM: there might be a chance
Charlotte considered Reece’s tone. The text was clever but cautious, a raised eyebrow as opposed to a direct answer.
She matched his humor.
TEXT MESSAGE FROM CHARLOTTE THORNE TO REECE KRUEGER, 3:44 AM: I find myself in need of a bed to sleep in.
The typing bubble expanded and then disappeared. Then:
TEXT MESSAGE FROM REECE KRUEGER TO CHARLOTTE THORNE, 3:45 AM: is that so
TEXT MESSAGE FROM REECE KRUEGER TO CHARLOTTE THORNE, 3:45 AM: might I interest you in a twin xl
Charlotte snorted, more relieved than amused.
Thank goodness, her trust wasn’t misplaced. Reece hadn’t shut her out. He didn’t hate her for how she behaved tonight, or for her vanishing act.
The door swung open. Reece stood with one hand looped around the doorknob, the room dark behind him.
“I thought there was someone skulking around out here.”
“That’s me. The skulker.” She ran her hands over the front of her outfit, smoothing down the bedraggled hem of her crop top. God only knew what she looked like after the last eight hours. The dorm’s fluorescent lights weren’t exactly forgiving.
Reece kept his face blank. Scruff had begun to overtake his jaw, and he’d changed into pajama pants and a white henley.
“Did I wake you up?”
He shook his head. A wet lock of hair fell across his forehead, fresh from the shower.
