Page 154 of Shy Girls Can't Date Rockstars
I lower my face, wiping it with my sleeve. “I guess I stand on my own now.”
“Alice, you’re not making any sense.”
I shrug it off. “Sorry. Please, take me home.”
Madison fishes her keys out of her pocket, and we walk to the parking lot.
He left me.
He’d always wanted to leave me, but he hadn’t gone through with it before.
But now it’s raining, and he’s left me.
He knows how I handle storms.
The rain is still a light drizzle, but I know it’d be hitting his car windows.
And he hasn’t come back. He hasn’t made the driver turn around and collect me.
Ryder left me. I can’t take back the hurtful words I said, but can’t he understand why I thought he was at fault? For goodness’ sake, he put me at fault for so many other things.
We reach Madison’s car and when she unlocks it, I pat my face dry, realizing the usual pre-storm panic hasn’t set in. Yet, old habits ignite inside me.
I open the front passenger door and ask, “Can we swing by a gas station first?”
“I know you live out of town, but you don’t need to pay for gas.”
“No, umm… I want chocolate. And a soda. Maybe a packet of barbecue potato chips.”
Madison turns on the car’s ignition. “Comfort food, huh?”
I slink down in the front passenger seat. “Mm-hmm. I just want to stay numb for a little while longer.”
Twenty-Eight
Therainhasdiedoff, and there wasn’t a single clap of thunder on the drive home. Madison turns off the engine and I stare at the house through the windshield. The clouds have rolled in low over the ridge, turning the stone walls a deeper shade of gray, and the ivy looks blacker than usual against the fading afternoon light.
“Okay,” Madison says slowly, leaning forward over the steering wheel. “So this is the house.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“It’s very...” She tilts her head. “Gothic.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Madison turns to look at me. “And you live here?”
“For now.” I unbuckle my seatbelt, and the familiar weight of the place presses down on me before I open the car door. “You said you needed to use the bathroom?”
“I mean, I really do,” Madison says, getting out and following me up the gravel path. “And, you know, I can stay if you wantto talk about anything. You were so quiet on the drive up here. Well, besides the munching.”
The front door is unlocked, as always. I push it open and step into the foyer.
“Oh, wow.” Madison’s footsteps slow the moment she crosses the threshold. “Okay, so the outside was just a warm-up.”
The chandelier flickers overhead, casting its usual dancing shadows across the tapestries, and the suit of armor stands in its alcove.
“Is that...” Madison whispers.
