Page 134 of Whisper Sweet Nothings
“I wish I wasn’t so far away from you guys right now,” I said with a sigh, because the mix of the hot water and the sound of his voice had me completely relaxing.
“Everyone is fine here, don’t worry at all, all right?”
If he told me not to worry one more time, my head might blow off my body.
“Okay. If you say so. How was your day?” I asked, trying not to feel rejected.
“Some major shit went down at school today, and I caught Melody sneaking off with my phone, so I think she tried to FaceTime you earlier. I told her that you were at the signing. Soyou can’t tell her that I told you, but I think you’ll want to hear this.”
I glanced at my phone, and my chest squeezed when I saw three missed calls from her. I’d had my ringer off for hours, and I felt terrible for missing those calls.
Those were not the calls that I ever wanted to miss.
“I’m so sad I missed her call.” A lump formed in my throat. It was nearly midnight, so obviously she’d been asleep for a long time now. “But you’ve got to tell me.”
“Well, Justine Schwartz, being the little shit that she is, stole Tommy Jordan’s underpants.”
As soon as he said it, loud laughter escaped, and my mood lightened. “How did she get his underpants.”
“Do you remember when Melody told us that he takes a long time in the bathroom?”
“Yes.”
“Well, apparently he likes to strip naked if he has to poop,” he said, and I could hear him fighting back his laughter. “Justine cracked the door open, saw the pile of clothing, and snatched his undies.”
“That girl is really something.” I shook my head with a laugh. “So where were the undies?”
“She placed them in Mrs. Groucher’s inbox.”
“No.” I was laughing hysterically now. “Just no. Everyone knows that box is for completed work only.”
“Well, I think he completed his work in the shitter, so she delivered his briefs for him.”
“So what happened?”
“I guess Tommy went back in the bathroom to put on his undies, and Justine went to Principal Carver’s office once again.”
“She’s going to need a nameplate on his door because she’s there so often.”
“Agreed. You want to hear the best part?”
“I can’t imagine that this could get any better,” I said.
“Melody asked me at dinner if we could go buy some tighty-whities for Tommy to keep in his cubby in case this happened again.” I could hear the smile in his voice.
I drained the tub water and climbed out, then wrapped a towel around myself and hit FaceTime.
His handsome face came across the screen when he answered.
“Hey,” I whispered as I padded out to the room and sat on the bed.
“Hi.”
“I was surprised you didn’t FaceTime me, and I wanted to see your face before I went to bed.”
“I love that face,” he said, with a sleepy smile. His green eyes looked heavy. “But I miss it more when I see it.”
I nodded. “I miss you, too, Archie.”
