Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
When Misha drove away, she whirled around to face Davey, demanding, “What was that about?”
“Your brother is adorable,” Davey sighed as he unlocked the door for her.
She stepped inside, muttering crossly, “You’re so weird.”
But Davey didn’t seem to hear her. He was humming happily as he carried her overnight bag inside and locked the door.
Seri stomped up the stairs, knowing that it would just be the two of them since Davey’s parents were always jetting to one country or another.
Davey followed behind her, still humming.
“Will you stop that?” she snarled as she threw herself on the sofa bed in Davey’s room.
Davey threw himself on his bed, too, but he did so with a dreamy sigh.
“Oh my God, Davey, I’m going to kill you if you don’t stop grinning—-”
“Okay, okay!” Davey reluctantly stopped replaying his masochistic fantasies about Misha Grachyov and forced himself to focus on his friend. She was lying on her back, her furious gaze trying to burn a hole through his ceiling.
“That bad?” he asked in surprise.
“Yeah,” she said flatly. “That bad.” And wasn’t that the understatement of the year.
Davey turned on his side, propping his head up with his hand while he studied her friend. “I heard you tell Misha about Vassi being busy,” he prompted.
Nothing.
“Things, you said?”
“Yeah.” Seri’s voice was even flatter. “Things that have boobs and pussies.”
Davey choked. “Seri!”
She turned to face him.
His laughter faded.
Seri was crying.
He sat up in panic. “Seri! What happened?”
Her lips moved, but no sound came out. Only the tears continued to fall, and it was as if her pain had rendered her voiceless.
He climbed off his bed and hugged her, and Seri threw her arms around him. It was Davey’s first time to see her cry ever since Marianna’s funeral, and the feel of her tears wetting the side of his neck made him want to cry.
Seri’s tears were heartbreaking.
A bit gross, but still.
Heartbreaking.
It was past midnight when she finally spoke her first word. “Davey?”
“What is it?” he asked immediately, hoping that she would ask him to do something. Anything. Because even though she had stopped crying, the pain was still there, the elephant in the room that neither of them could ignore.
“Vassi’s not a virgin anymore.”
“What?” Startled at her words, Davey switched the bedside lamp on so he could see her face.
She turned to him with a glassy smile. “And you know what’s so silly?” She laughed and cried at the same time, and the sound was so painful Davey wished he could cover Seri’s ears and prevent her from hearing her own pain.
Maybe if she didn’t hear how hurt she was, she wouldn’t know her heart was broken.
“E-even though I knew it was impossible, t-there was a part of me that really believed w-we would be each other’s first.”
Her smile started to crack.
“S-silly, right?”
Her voice broke.
Seri reached for the bedside lamp to plunge the room back into the darkness.
And then she was crying, and this time—-
Knowing that she was shattering into pieces right next to him—-
Knowing that all he could do was hold his friend’s hand—-
Davey’s heart did break.
Chapter Six
Saturdays had always been reserved for career planning with her manager Arielle. Or at least that was what it should be, but more often than not, the days she spent with the older woman could be summed up as Arielle yelling at her and Seri doing her best not to lose her sense of hearing.
Even so, it was something she looked forward to.
It had been three days since she had left home, and the emptiness of her days was driving her crazy. With nothing to do, she found it impossible to escape remembering, and all the memories were of...things.
That was the only way she could think of what happened, of what Vassi was doing with Shelby.
Things.
Things, she thought numbly, that were obviously more important than her.
Somehow, she had foolishly thought Vassi would get rid of Shelby the moment he found out she was gone. Somehow, she had foolishly thought he would be demanding that she come back to their house the very next day—-
But he hadn’t.
It was as if now that Vassi had Shelby, he no longer had space in his heart for his cute little sister—-
Arielle snapped her fingers in front of Seri’s face.
Seri crashed back to earth to find herself back in her manager’s Japanese-style office, seated seiza-style on the floor, her knees folded primly under her.
Arielle was glaring at her. “Did you even hear a single word I’ve said?” Being half-Japanese and half-French, Seri’s manager was able to exude an aura of demureness and sophistication even when she was yelling at the top of her lungs.
Seri gulped. “Umm—-”
“If I catch you lying, you won’t be going to any auditions this month.”
Seri threw herself prostate on the floor. “Apologies, sensei.”
Arielle let out a loud hmph.
“I promise not to be distracted again.”