Page 134 of Come Back to Me

Aknock echoes on my bedroom door, followed by what sounds like Noah’s voice. “Can we come in?”

“Yeah,” I say.

Noah sits down to the left of me, and Xander plops down in my office chair. They have these ridiculous smiles on their faces as they stare at me.

I break the silence. “Instead of burning holes through my head, why don’t you ask me whatever questions are on your mind?”

“How did it go?” Xander asks.

“The trip to see my mom went great. She was so happy to see Violet. Mom moves in with Laura on Wednesday, but she said she doesn’t need my help. I’m taking her word for it.”

“You’ll be on standby though, right?” Noah asks.

“Oh, hell yeah.”

Xander flips the chair backwards, so he can lean on the back of it with his arms. “Okay, what did you guys do after you saw your mom?”

“We went to Coastal Shores for lunch. She cleaned off the barbecue sauce that was on my face with her thumb andsucked it off with her tongue. We went to Sweet & Salty because she wanted to make sure everything was running smoothly.”

Xander’s mouth drops open. “I’m sorry. Hold on a second. Rewind. What did she do?!”

Noah looks at Xander. “It’s the same shit that happened with Dani and I, just reverse.” His focus shifts back to me. “How did you handle that externally?”

“Fine. She didn’t suspect a thing. Internally, I felt like I was being set ablaze and there was no way to put the fire out. I’m surprised my hormones kept their shit together.”

“When are you seeing her again?” Noah asks.

“Halloween.”

“Why on Halloween?” Xander asks.

“The team is throwing a Halloween party, and I have no interest in attending. She says she normally stays in her apartment, watches movies, and eats candy by herself. I asked if she wanted company, and she said sure.”

“She saidsure. Did she have more enthusiasm when she said it to you?”

“Oh, shut up, Xander!”

Noah rolls his eyes. “Alright, moving on. So, you’re going to watch movies and eat candy with her?”

“Yeah…I’m not going to make a move on her if that’s what you guys are thinking. I still don't know what happened all those years ago, so I’m not doing shit until I find out the truth. I don’t want to jeopardize this friendship we’ve been building.”

“It’s obvious you know what you’re doing. We’re doing our best to look out for you because we’re your best friends. We don’t want to see a repeat of what happened six years ago,” Xander says.

“I’ve changed a lot since then, and I’ve taught myself how to handle tough situations. I do appreciate you guys looking out for me. Trust me, it’s going to be fine.”

“That’s enough chatter for the night. Good night, boys.” Noah gets up from my bed and leaves my room.

Xander stands up from my office chair, lingering in the doorway. “I know I can be annoying sometimes, but it’s only because I care about you, man. I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”

“I know. Good night,” I say.

He huffs and walks away from the entrance to my bedroom, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

Today reminded me how much I enjoy spending time with Violet. She radiates peaceful energy, and it’s such a nice change compared to when I’m around the guys.

Something I can’t wrap my head around is how Halloween is this week. Every year flies by faster than the previous year. I swear yesterday was Valentine’s Day, and now we’re getting closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I wish we could live life in slow motion to savor the good times, but that would only work if we were living in a sci-fi movie.