Midnight Muse

To be honest, my head’s been a mess all day and I’m more than thankful that I’ve finished my finals already because I can’t stop thinking about the message I received from my father days ago, rubbing it in my face that the deal has gone through and that Third Street Apartments is going to be getting a facelift over the summer by the person I consider to be the Devil in disguise.

I thought that the walk to campus was going to help me clear my head of the dreaded news I have to break to my roommates and Rory tonight, but the trek didn’t help in the slightest.

Quinn beams but her hazel eyes are knowing. We talked about it last night when we were cuddled up in her room and were taking a break from me quizzing her on her Art History cards. She’s improved tremendously since we started studying together, but I know she was still a bit nervous going into the final exam this morning.

I brush a soothing circle against the small of her back with my thumb, craning my neck down to murmur, “I don’t know how to tell everyone.”

Her eyes soften and she pulls my hand from her back, intertwining our fingers instead. When she notes the minute tremble, her brows furrow and she squeezes in sympathy, letting me know that she’s here if I need her.

Fuck, I love her so much.

“I think the best way to do it is going to be coming right out and saying it.” She offers this solution gently so the others don’t hear, and I nod, biting the inside of my cheek.

I’ve never had trouble telling Ace and Slate the things that I’ve needed to, but this somehow feels worse than recounting the night of my accident and my asshole of a father to them. The fact that he’s still haunting me after I’ve all but told him to fuck off from my life is more than frustrating.

No wait, I’m pretty sure I’ve actually told him to fuck off before.

Why is he so obsessed with me?

I nod at Quinn. She’s right. We’ve planned a dinner for the five of us and decided to tell everyone then. I don’t want to be the source of this bad news, the fact that we’re all going to be scrambling to find somewhere new to live during the spring semester makes my stomach twist. I don’t want to add to anyone’s stress, but I know that I can’t handle it all on my own.

Quinn told me that all of them would rather share this burden than let me go through it alone, letting it eat at me. The guys will notice something is up with me eventually, and I know I’ll feel even worse if I keep it from them longer than I should.

“You’re right.” I want to sigh. I really, really hate this.

My girlfriend winks up at me, bumping me with her hip. “Always am.”

The answering scoff I make gets me a pinch to my own ass.

We come to a fork in the sidewalk. To get to Third Street Apartments we need to head left, but Reid says his goodbyes to the girls and begins heading to the right.

Ugh. I really hate what I’m about to do.

“Hey, Reid,” I call after him. Rory and Quinn both look at me surprised. I’m sure they didn’t even know I knew his name.

Reid turns, his brows furrowed and wearing a frown. I should probably be thanking him for being a good friend to Quinn during the semester, especially when I was trying my best to do everything in my power to annoy the fuck out of her, but extending this olive branch is going to have to do.

“We’re throwing a party Saturday night to celebrate the end of the semester; you should stop by.”

My words hang heavy in the air between us. Quinn pinches her arm, probably to see if this is a dream, and I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from chuckling. Rory’s eyes are nearly bugging out of her head, and I wish I had my phone out to snap a picture and send to the group chat.

Reid stands and stares, dumbfounded. He looks like he’s one second from looking around and trying to figure out if it was actually me or not, even though he just watched the words come out of my mouth. I know he wasn’t expecting me to offer something like this, but hey, I’m trying, even if it is for Quinn and not because I actually want to form a relationship with the guy.

See? I can be nice.

“Yeah,” he answers, but it doesn’t really sound like he means it. Maybe he thinks that this is some sort of joke or something. Either way, no skin off my back if he doesn’t show. At least I can say I was nice about it. “That’d be cool.”

“Cool,” I echo. “You probably know where I live.” Okay, so maybe I’m still a little bit of an asshole.

“Yeah,” he winces, trying to smother it by scratching his head. “Thanks. I’ll see you there.”

I nod, guiding Rory and Quinn down the other sidewalk as Reid returns to his own path.

The girls are still gaping like some sort of alien has taken over my body and is pretending to be me, and it kind of makes me want to laugh.

“What?” I sigh, wanting to get this over with.

“You seriously just invited Reid to one of your parties after you’ve been beefing with him all semester?” Rory explodes, and maybe I should take offense at how shocked they are about this.