“I’ll give you a minute to get yourself together,” she called over her shoulder, moving into the hallway.
I stood by the sink, washing my hands and face. I would not spend another night bawling my eyes out. It was just getting pathetic at that point. Obviously, what I’d thought Kline and I were, and what he’d thought we were, were two very different things.
The voice in my head tried to remind me of the way his blue eyes had looked the night he told me he loved me—tender, vulnerable, his heart resting in their depths.
I told that voice to fuck off. He wouldn’t be the first man or woman in the world to profess love to someone they didn’t really care about. Believe me, I had seen the threads on Reddit.
People did some horrible shit to one another. Relationships, that were otherwise amazing, could end on the worst of notes. That was not how I had pictured things happening with Kline and me, but that was life, right? Sometimes things didn’t go as you planned or hoped they would. Sometimes bad things happened to good people.
Sometimes you just had to suck it up and move on.
I just hated that I missed him as much as I did.
I missed his laugh and his smile and his teasing comments.
I missed my big spoon.
As I wiped my face and hands off with the towel, I glanced down at my pants and noticed a giant grease stain in the crotch region. Normally, I would have just left it, but that night, I needed to not feel like the most pitiful person in existence.
I took off the sweats and headed toward my bedroom to grab a new pair of pants.
“Hey, Georgia, what do you think about The Walking Dead?” Cass asked from the other end of the hallway.
“Sure, why not?” I shrugged. Zombies seemed like a good, safe choice. How could I think about Kline when I was watching humans turn cannibalistic?
She started to turn back toward the living room but stopped in her tracks. “Hold up…are you wearing boxer briefs?”
Ah, fuck.
“No,” I answered, covering my underwear. Well, Kline’s underwear.
She flashed a skeptical look.
“Fine!” I threw my hands in the air. “I’m wearing Kline’s briefs because I’m pathetic and I miss him and they smell like him!”
“Smell like him?” She fought the urge to smile.
“This isn’t funny!” I groaned.
She held up both hands. “I never said it was.”
I pointed toward her mouth. “Yeah, but you’re about two seconds away from laughing your ass off!”
“Honey, you just told me you’re wearing your ex-boyfriend’s underwear because you miss him and they smell like him. His underwear. The material that literally cradles his balls.”
“Oh, God,” I whined, face scrunching into an agonized expression. “This is definitely a new low point in my life.” I leaned against the wall, head falling back. “I’m so desperate for him that I’ll take smelling like his sac over not smelling like him at all.”
Cass moved toward me and immediately pulled me into a tight hug.
“It’ll be okay, Georgie. I promise it’ll be okay.”
I sniffled back the tears, resting my chin on her shoulder and squeezing her tight.
“Do you want me to try to call him? Maybe it isn’t what you think? Maybe he has an explanation?”
“Doubtful,” I muttered. “He would have called. If there was an explanation, he would have called.” I needed to say the words for myself just as much as I needed to say them for her. Her face reflected my misery perfectly.
“I just want to forget him, Cass. I just want to wake up and not have to go through an entire day of missing him and wishing things were different.”
“I know, honey. I know. It’ll get easier, but it’s just going to take some time.” She ran her fingers through my hair. “But you know what? You’re still doing your best to move forward. You went out and got a new job. You’re not just sitting around and moping like most people would. I’m really proud of you.”
“Thanks for coming home early. I really needed you.”
“I will always be here for you. Even when you smell like ball sac,” she teased, a smile in her voice, “I’ll still be here.”
I laughed and groaned at the same time. “God, I know I said they smelled like him but I didn’t even really do a sniff check on these. I mean, Kline is usually a clean, well-groomed kind of guy, but for all I know, I’m wearing a post-rugby practice pair.”
A quiet laugh escaped her lips. “How about you go take a hot shower while I make those amazing Ghirardelli dark chocolate brownies we have in the pantry? Then we can watch humans turn into zombies and eat one another?”
“I really love you.”
“I love you too. Now go rinse the ball sweat off and meet me in the living room.”
A knock at my door picked at my already raging headache with an ice hammer.
“Yeah?” I asked, my voice heavily laden with days’ worth of heartbreak and aggravation.
The door swung open and closed without delay, Thatch starting on one side and ending on the other.
“Good morning, my old, melancholy friend.”
My eyes narrowed in a power-glare. He noticed immediately.
“Right. Not the time, I can see.”