The tight coil that’s been wrapping itself around my chest all week starts to loosen, bit by bit.
I’m… an asshole.
Making everything about myself, when Sev is actually away to support his mother.
“It’s really sad,” Niko says. “He’s kind of watching her like a hawk, apparently. Getting up each night to check that she isn’t taking too many sleeping pills or Xanax.”
“Jesus Christ,” I say, frowning. “Does she have a history of attempting an overdose?”
“She tried once.”
My heart sinks. “That’s horrible,” I say softly. “I’m… we have to do something, Niko.”
“I offered to come over yesterday after class, but you know Sev. He said he’s fine on his own, yadda yadda, just like usual. Lone wolf shit.”
“Fuck that. How far away is his mom’s house?”
Niko shrugs. “About an hour.”
“Then we can go tonight.”
“Weston, trust me, Sev doesn’t mind handling things on his own?—”
“We’re going,” I say, my tone final.
12
Sev
“Oh,shoot,” Mom says when a knock comes from the front door.
“What’s the problem?”
She gets up from the couch, pulling a hair tie around her hair and bringing it into a messy bun. “It’s Betty from next door. Guarantee it. Coco digs under the fence sometimes, and when Betty finds the dog in her yard she kind of flips out.”
“Let me handle this,” I tell her.
I pauseCheerson the TV and follow Mom toward the front just as the doorbell goes off again.
“I got it, sweetie,” Mom says.
“I can also reinforce the bottom of the fence so Coco can’t dig through it. You should tell me about these things, Mom. Let me help you.”
I get to the door before she does and swing it open, steeling myself to deal with a very angry elderly woman.
“I’m sorry, Betty,” Mom’s already calling out from behind me as the door opens.
And I see two people whovery mucharen’t elderly women.
I see Weston first and for a moment I think I must be dreaming.
“What the fuck?” I say under my breath.
“Hi,” Weston says, looking up at me with bright eyes.
He’s holding four stacked glass Tupperware containers, each filled with something different. In a tight white T-shirt out on the front porch, he practically looks like Captain America, buff and golden and earnest.
Niko is walking up behind him, carrying more shit. It looks like he has a couple of board games in his arms as well as a pink box of donuts on top.