Page 83 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B
and no lungs left.
It ends with me coughing up parts of myself for him to leave with.
But Andrew’s already burned a hole into me, already soaked into my bloodstream.
I kept telling myself—one more drag.
One more inhale. One more exhale.
If he doesn’t sign the contract…
I’ll quit.
Cold turkey.
Then I go and fuck him.
And now he’s standing in my kitchen,
back turned to me, facing the fridge,
staring at Jalen and Honor.
My teeth tear open my lip again, and pain pulses through my mouth. I wince, tasting the blood, and pat my mouth with the back of my hand, realizing my hand is shaking.
I push off the counter,
chest tight as I head for the wine fridge.
Andrew disrupts the silence,
“How long’s this shit been here?”
I open the wine fridge, slide out a bottle of Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley. “Held interviews yesterday.”
“Jesus Christ,” he laughs. “You brought in another one.” He yanks open the freezer door. “Been real busy these last few days, huh.”
I open a drawer and dig for a lighter.
I find it, flick it, the flame jumping,
and slam the drawer shut with my hip.
“Remind me—
“when’d you sign the contract?
“I must’ve missed it.”
Andrew shakes his head.
Disappointed, maybe.
In me. In himself.
In the whole dumb hope that he could’ve changed the terms, thinking he was going to beat the system. That maybe the rules didn’t apply to him.
He grabs a bag of frozen blueberries, shuts the freezer door, and his eyes slice back to the taped-up headshots, Honor’s face fluttering from the breeze.
