جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 10

It was already late at night when I followed the navigation app and stumbled home.The route Aimee Thompson had pointed out to me on the map took me past an abandoned factory. When I fell, a steel wire had cut my ankle. It might have impaled my foot had it not missed by a mere hair's breadth.Blood and muddy water dripped onto the floor. I barely had any strength to change out of my shoes, and it was all I could do to grip the shoe cabinet for support as I caught my breath.Mom was startled to find me in such a state. She anxiously ran up to me and clutched my arm to steady me. "What happened to you, Nathan? Aimee told me she was bringing you guys on a road trip!"I lowered my head and took in the torn-up skin and flesh of my ankles.I told Mom the whole story, and her gaze darkened bit by bit until disbelief gradually filled her eyes. She muttered, "That's not like her at all. She'd take the long way to pick you up on her bike and drop you off at school before your SATs so you wo

We took off our blindfolds. There were only two flashlights in the escape room, and they barely illuminated our surroundings.Dean yelped, then quickly clutched Aimee's hand. "I'm scared, Aimee! Promise you have my back?"Aimee gripped his hand and let out a low laugh. "Come on, you were the one who picked the horror theme! What happened to all that bravado?""I don't care. If you won't have my back, I'm calling our friendship quits!" Dean whined."Alright, fine. Hold on tight, then."They were behaving like a lovesick couple, bantering in the dark, eerie room without a care in the world.The attendant had only provided us with two flashlights. Aimee took one, and Dean held the other. I had no choice but to follow them, keeping track of my surroundings using what little light peeked through their hands.The pain shooting up my ankle forced me to walk slower."Slow down, guys. My ankle's hurting," I complained."The escape room operates on a time limit. Try to cope."They stop

"I'll have the post taken down after it stops trending. Stop throwing a fit."The tick below the message remained single even after Aimee hit "send". She went still."What's wrong, Aimee?""Nothing. It's just… Nathan blocked me," Aimee explained.Dean sighed. "He should be more mature about this. I already forgave him for smashing my camera. Why is he still upset?""Ignore him," Aimee said coolly. "He's so bad at directions, he can't even find his way home without me. He'll stop being a baby about this in a few days and beg me to include him again."Aimee returned to the office after that. She'd just taken her seat behind the mahogany desk when her secretary handed her the day's itinerary. "Ms. Thornton, will you be needing a plus-one for the dinner party tomorrow?""Give Dean a heads-up," was all Aimee said."Alright." The secretary's gaze landed on the porcelain mug, the color of the glaze already fading. "Ms. Thornton, would you like me to discard that old mug?"I'd bought

I found part-time work at a cafe near the apartment.I was wiping down the coffee machine when the bell above the door chimed, the sound crisp and clear."One black coffee, please. No sugar," an extremely familiar, gentle, yet firm female voice rang out from the other side of the counter.My hand paused, and I lifted my head.Aimee sighed, sounding exasperated. "You really know how to make a woman go around looking for you, Nathan."I set the rag down and hit a few keys on the cash register. "That'll be 16.50 Leardonian dollars. Cash or card?""Are you going to keep this up just to prove a point, Nathan?" Aimee pressed softly, as if coaxing a child who'd run away from home in a fit of anger. "You couldn't even keep up with the roads back home, and yet you've come all this way to Leardon to bus tables?"Quite a price to pay just to spite me, don't you think?"I picked up the card swiper. "You're holding up a line. Please make room for the customers at the back if you're not buyi

The rain in Leardon stopped.Aimee had played two trump cards consecutively. First, she ruined Dean, and second, she destroyed Dad's family and business. However, I had blocked her number in return.Things were not going as she'd planned. From what she knew about me, I was supposed to be the loser who couldn't survive without her. I should have been crying and begging her to take me home after I'd gotten her gifts."Your red wine, Ms. Thornton." The waiter set the glass of red wine before her.Aimee picked up the glass by its stem but didn't drink the wine. The scene from the cafe yesterday played through her mind. She remembered the cool indifference in my eyes when I'd told her the price of the black coffee.There had been neither resentment nor disgruntlement in my eyes, only a calm look that one might give a stranger. It made her feel an unprecedented sense of panic.Just then, there was a commotion at the restaurant entrance. A man in a khaki coat shoved the waiters aside an