“I miss you too. What’s it like there?” asked Kennedy. “Oh wait, let me guess. Creepy as hell?”
“Pretty much.”
“Do you think you’ll come to work tomorrow? I know you had called out sick today, but I thought you were still planning on coming tomorrow. I think it’ll feel normal, you know?”
Normal. I doubted that. But a night of work sounded a lot better than a night of whatever the hell this was. “Yeah, if I’m allowed out, I’ll be there. I’ll talk to Mr. Pruitt about it in the morning.”
“If you’re allowed out? What does that mean?” Kennedy asked.
“It means there’s a keypad and I don’t have the code.”
“Weird.”
I stared at the keypad. “I know.”
“Maybe the code is Isabella’s birthday,” Kennedy said. “Do you have any idea when that is?”
“Nope.”
“Hmm. You really should know your sister’s birthday, Brooklyn.”
“She’s not my sister.”
Kennedy laughed. “I know, I was just kidding. Maybe the code is 666. You know…the universal code for Isabella.”
“That’s not a bad guess.” I didn’t try it though. Just because I thought the Pruitts were evil didn’t mean they personally identified as evil. Or did they?
“So you’re really stuck there?”
“Yeah. Nobody is allowed in and I’m not allowed out.”
“Are you going to be okay tonight?”
“It’s the same apartment building that Felix lives in. It’s nice knowing he’s nearby even though I can’t see him.”
“Well, that’s not so bad then. His apartment isn’t exactly homey, but it’s nice. Not even a little creepy.”
“The Pruitt’s place isn’t decorated like Felix’s. It’s more haunted mansion-esque in here.”
Miller laughed from behind me.
I turned around and smiled at him. “I should probably go. I’m borrowing a phone.”
“Okay, but you should call Matt when you get a chance. He’s kind of…losing it. He stopped by about an hour ago and he looked awful.”
I swallowed hard. He’d been a jerk. Countless times. But it still hurt me to know that he was hurting. Or…hurt me more. I was already hurting. “So I guess he told you what happened in class?”
“No. What happened?”
I gripped the phone a little tighter in my hand. He hadn’t told her that I broke up with him? He just showed up at my best friend’s place to try to get her to make me call him back? That wasn’t him being hurt. That was him being manipulative. “We broke up.”
The line was silent for a few beats. “Because of what Isabella did?”
“No. Because of what he didn’t do.”
Another stretch of silence. Kennedy knew about Isabella blackmailing Matt. I’d spilled everything to her on the steps of Empire High the morning before Matt was supposed to announce to everyone that we were dating, but didn’t. The same day that my uncle died. We hadn’t talked about it since. I hadn’t talked about it with Matt either. None of it seemed important after that. But for some reason I expected today to be different. Especially since Matt had just asked me to be his girlfriend officially. Today was my first day back at school and I’d needed him. I’d needed him and he hadn’t stepped up. I’d lost my whole family. I just needed one person to rely on to have my back. And it wasn’t him. I sniffled, remembering how sweet he’d been in the park this morning. Secret rendezvous weren’t enough. “I’ll explain it all at work tomorrow. I just can’t be with someone who…”
“I’m proud of you,” she said, cutting me off. “God, I was so freaking mad at him for just watching when Isabella poured milk on you.”
I should have known she’d have my back. I didn’t need Matt. I had her.
“Screw Matthew Caldwell,” she said.
Yeah. Screw Matthew Caldwell. I said goodbye and gave Miller’s phone back. For just a second, my fingers brushed against his palm.
He cleared his throat and shoved his phone back in his pocket. “Do you want me to have some ice cream sent up to your room?”
He got me. A recent breakup meant eating a huge bowl of ice cream in your room and crying. But that wasn’t what I wanted. I didn’t want to be alone. But I also knew how inappropriate it would be to ask if I could eat ice cream with him. He’d already let me borrow his phone. So instead of saying anything at all, I just nodded.
“Have a good night, Brooklyn.” He gave me one last smile and walked back toward the kitchen.
I hugged my arms around myself to help prevent the chill in the air. A good night? That wasn’t possible. I watched him disappear down the hall. I was pretty sure I was already going mad in this house. Because all I could think about was how Miller’s arms looked just as strong as Matt’s. I didn’t know how to sleep alone anymore. I’d quickly grown used to falling asleep in Matt’s arms. But running to Miller wasn’t the answer. He worked here. He wasn’t my friend. And I was sure he didn’t want to hang out with a high schooler on a Friday night.
I knew all that. I knew it, and yet…I hurried after him.
Chapter 10
Friday
The kitchen was empty, so I pushed into the staff kitchen. Miller was leaning against the counter laughing at something the chef had just said. But his laughter faded away when he saw me. The chef turned around to see what he was staring at.
“I’ll be right up with some options, sweetie,” she said.
“Actually, is it okay if I just eat it in here?”
She looked at Miller and then back at me. “I guess that would be alright. What do you prefer, mint chocolate chip or…” she tugged open the freezer and pulled out two containers “…there’s also raspberry with chocolate chips.”
I wasn’t paying attention to the options because I was focused on the fact that each ice cream container had a little label with Miller’s name. “Oh, I don’t want to steal anyone’s ice cream. Don’t the Pruitts have some?”
She laughed. “No. The Pruitts don’t eat ice cream.”
“Are they lactose intolerant or something?” I was glad I didn’t inherit that. I wasn’t sure which was worse…never eating cheese or inheriting the evil gene. Probably the evil thing. But it was close.