Page 159 of The Incredible Ordinary

“I’ll see you,” I bite out, then I turn around, and walk away.

By the timeI make it home, the pettiness is gone. Instead, I’m just cold, miserable, and ashamed about losing my shit so epically.

It’s late, but all the lights are still on, and voices carry toward the hallway from the living room. It’s as sharp a contrast as can be to the minutes I spent losing my shit in the cold at Milán.

The undercurrent of panic is still there, but it’s overshadowed by the intense guilt and shame of unloading all my insecurities on Milán and then running away.

I handled it all as if I was deliberately picking the absolute worst way to do it.

I make my way toward the living room, where Theo and Rory are sitting on the floor, controllers in hand, battling it out with Sutton, who’s lounging on the couch. Wren is tucked in next to Sutton with his sketchpad.

No one else notices me, but Wren lifts his head. He starts to smile, but then whatever he sees on my face makes his brows knit into a frown while he slowly tilts his head to the side. He gets up in the middle of some intense battle scene on the screen and comes to me.

“Hey,” he says.

“Still up?”

Wren glances back before he rolls his eyes. “They’ve been at it for hours. Just a bunch of nerds.”

“I heard that,” Sutton says without taking his eyes off the screen.

“I didn’t say it that quietly, so I don’t know if that’s something to brag about,” Wren says over his shoulder before he concentrates back on me. This time he lowers his voice. “What’s with the long face?”

“Genetics?”

“Uh-huh.”

The next moment, I find myself being escorted to the hallway and pushed down to sit on the stairs.

“Where’s your sidekick?” Wren asks.

“My what?”

He gives me a look and waits.

I sigh.

“I,” I say in my most measured tone, “said some things.” That’s about as long as my composure lasts before I lean forward and press my fingertips to my eyes. Wren sits down next to me, his shoulder pressed against mine, and waits.

“Did you?”

I groan and squeeze my eyes shut even tighter before I blow out a breath and lean my elbows on my knees.

“I have no clue what the fuck I’m doing.”

“That’s rare,” Wren says.

“It sucks.” I rub my hand over my mouth and glance at him. “I don’t know how you regular people manage on a day-to-day basis.”

“You get used to it and then really good at dealing with it?” Wren offers with a barely hidden smirk.

“Clearly I missed that step, because I just lost my shit on Milán in a pretty epic way.”

“Because…?”

I clutch the back of my neck.

“Turns out I might have a few issues with abandonment.”