Page 75 of You Again

Me: Apology redacted.

Zev: Thank you.

Me: Do you work today?

Zev: Bright and early at the bank.

Me: Ha. Ha.

Zev: Yes, I work today. PT first. Let me guess… You went back to bed.

Me: I am bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and attempting to be productive, thank you very much.

I snicker and pull my butterscotch fleece blanket up around my face, the only light in this dim room, my phone screen and the sliver of sunshine streaming through the crack in my blackout curtains.

Zev: My apologies. Lunch then?

Me: Okay, so I might not be THAT bright-eyed. Besides, you said you had PT and work.

Zev: I do. Have you never heard of a sick day? I thought I might have the Rosalie flu. However, if I don’t, I suppose I’ll go in.

Me: Two hours of sleep never worked well for me. You were right the first time. My jammies are on and I’m in bed.

Zev: Rest well, beautiful Rosalie. We’ll talk later.

And I do. For six whole hours. In fact, I’d still be asleep except⁠—

“Waa!” I karate chop mid-air, and the person sitting on my bed jerks back and out of the way of my smack.

“Rude,” says the voice of my best friend.

“Fran?” I squint, but it’s dark in here.

“Yes, Fran,” she says, switching on her phone’s flashlight. “Who else? Maybe… Zevulun?”

My brows knit. “Hey. Ah⁠—”

“Grammy told on you.”

I burrow a little farther into my blankets. “Snitch.”

Fran bounces on the bed. “Why aren’t you the one telling me?”

“Um.” I hold up a hand, blocking her light that is now shining right in my eyes. “I didn’t want a lecture.”

“I heard your soul found his soul quite attractive.”

“Grammy,” I mutter. “It just sort of happened. I had no intentions of falling for anyone. I was still working on getting over Robert.”

“Yeah. Grammy told me about that, too. So, you went out with the vampire.” She pulls in a breath. “Because he is a vampire, Rose. We were wrong all along. He’s more vampire than Edward Cullen ever thought of being. He sucks the good out of everything.”

“You know, I think you might be right about that. And I went on a double date. He and Margo happened to be the other half of that double.”

“Are you okay?” She lies down next to me, wrapping one arm around my middle, her head on my shoulder.

“Surprisingly, yes.”

Fran exhales. “Are you sure?”