Page 46 of Devil Inside

“Yeah. Leave me the fuck alone.”

Lys halts. “For real?”

“I see what you’re doing. I get it, I do. And I know I’m being an asshole...”

“Do you, now?Really?”

“I understand how much my misery is dragging everybody down, but...”

Lys waits for me to finish, but I’ve got nothing left to say. There’s nothing left at all.

I feel so empty.

“We’re gonna keep trying,” Lys says. “You understand that, right? We’re your friends and friends don’t bail, even when you want them to. Sorry, but we’re not giving up on you.”

“Thanks,” I say. “You always know what to say...”

“Fuck off.”

“No, I mean it.”

“Sure. Fuck you, too.”

The conversation lulls for a breath, settling into a cul-de-sac of silence, only for Lys to pick it up again. “There’s something I want to tell you. Before word gets around.”

“Oh? You got some hot goss for me?”

“Me and Deak are getting hitched.”

Whoa. Hold up.“For real? Didn’t you guys just break up again?”

“Yeah, we did... but he came crawling back. Again. Life is short, you know?”

Not what I was expecting. “Holy shit. Congrats.”

“I proposed and everything. He was too chickenshit to pop the question.”

“Check you out.”

“This year’s Miracle Mile is my last,” she says. “Finally applying to law school.”

“Wait—really?”

“Been a long time coming. I can’t keep doing this, you know? After what happened to you... That was a real wake-up call, you know? For all of us.”

You can say that again.I’m still asleep.Wake up, Jordan. Wake—the fuck—up.

“Can’t act like we’re kids on bikes forever,” Lys says. “Need to grow up someday.”

“Someday,” I repeat, but the words are barely there. All my friends are growing up. Getting married. Getting jobs. Getting serious about life. Getting their shit together.

All I’ve got is shit. A world of it. A fucking cesspool right here.

And no one to share it with.

“Deak wants you to be his best man,” Lys asks.

“Is he gonna ask?”