Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 133655 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133655 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
“All right. I can get you robbed pretty quickly,” she offers. “I know a couple F-list actors I had during a photo shoot last week who are absolutely desperate for work. Wouldn’t even cost us very much money.”
Good grief, this advice is getting darker by the second. And I’m not convinced it wouldn’t land me in jail.
“Never mind. Forget I called.” There’s a knock on the door and Julia’s voice on the other side, so I try to beg off. “I gotta go. That’s her at the door.”
“No!” my dad protests. He even pretends to unzip his mouth and then zip it closed again for dramatic effect, opening it once more to add, “I have an idea.”
“Fine,” I grumble, taking them with me as I jump up and run to the door. As I pull it open, I steel my nerves, willing my ever-present gift for bullshit to rise to the surface like cream on coffee.
“Hey,” I say as casually as I can manage, holding the phone out to the side so Julia can see the screen when my parents start screaming their hellos.
“Juliaaaa!”
“Hi, hi, hi!”
“Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Kelly,” she greets with a wave before bugging her eyes out at me and whispering. “You said to come over when I could. What’s up?”
I open my mouth to answer, but my dad gets there first, yelling out, “Bugs, Julia! He’s got bugs!”
“Bugs?” she asks, and immediately, her eyes go wide as she scans my living room, her body tight with fear that said bugs are going to start crawling up her legs.
“Uh, yeah,” I ad-lib. “Remember the bug I was trying to kill with the fire? Well, turns out he’s not alone. There’s a whole family of bugs.”
“A whole family of bugs?” Julia screeches and jumps back two steps before immediately reversing the action to get as close to me as humanly possible as her gaze darts around my apartment.
Okay, so maybe this bug plan isn’t such a bad plan…
“Yep. Practically seventeen generations worth of bugs,” I answer, really laying the fake bug thing on thick now. Hell, maybe she’ll jump into my arms next. “They found them in the freaking walls, Julia, while they were doing cleanup from the fire. Now I need to have the place fumigated. Which is no bueno for the lungs, so they say I need to stay somewhere else again.”
“You’re kidding!” she exclaims, but she’s still huddled close to me. “How long?”
“Three days,” I lie, going with the first number I can think of on the fly.
“Jeez, Ace.”
“I know, I know. I just moved out. You just got your space back. I understand completely if you’d rather me go to a hotel or try to stay with Finn and Scottie or something. I can be a lot.”
“No, no. I mean, of course you should stay with me. You know I love being around you. You’re my best friend.” She shakes her head as if trying to clear it, and selfishly, I’m really hoping she’s shaking whatshisface all the way out. “And how about we go ahead and head on over to my apartment, like, now?” A shiver rolls up her spine. “I’d prefer not to come face-to-face with the bugs.”
“Yeah,” my dad chimes in. “I wouldn’t hang around in there too long. The exterminator said these bugs like to cling to shit and go from apartment to apartment.”
“Oh my God.” Julia cringes and grabs a hold of my shirt with a tight grasp. “Let’s go, Ace. Let’s freaking go.”
“I’ll talk to you guys later,” I say, glancing down at the screen of my phone where both my mom and dad are flashing me secret smiles.
“Bye, Julia!” my dad yells, my mom adding, “We love youuu!”
“Love you guys too!” she says as she practically drags me out of my apartment and into hers.
Three more days, and the next level of the plan officially unlocked.
Maybe, just maybe, I’ll manage to convince her to be with me before we’re actually twenty-five.
Saturday, Aug 23rd
Julia
Ace digs through the cooler in the kitchen of the Tau Kappa Epsilon house, which is an absolute freaking mess, despite the new brothers having only moved in at the start of school. This is something like their eighth party in just under three weeks, and evidently, they don’t have the number for a cleaning crew on speed dial.
I wait patiently until Ace hands me a sealed bottle of Mike’s Hard Lemonade, twisting off the cap before he does. I smile gratefully and turn it up to my lips, excited by the tolerable taste. I know some people are seasoned drinkers by the time they’re my age, but I’m still getting my boozy legs under me.
Ace takes a bottle of beer for himself and nods to Finn, nudging me forward to follow his roommate from last year as he exits the kitchen.