Series: Like Us Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 241
Estimated words: 236417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1182(@200wpm)___ 946(@250wpm)___ 788(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1182(@200wpm)___ 946(@250wpm)___ 788(@300wpm)
“I could kick you or worse,” I breathe. “I can’t hurt you.” It’d kill me.
She curls her pinky around mine. “I promise…that I’ll wake you up if you kick or thrash at all. I promise.” She brings our pinky promise to her mouth, kissing her own thumb.
I inhale deeper.
It’s hard to say yes. Even harder to say no. I want to hold her as I fall asleep. It sounds like the only comforting thing. Especially knowing I woke up earlier from the absence of her.
And it’s not like we haven’t “just slept” in the same bed before. The best night of sleep I had was in San Francisco. With Luna curled against my chest.
I raise our pinky promise to my mouth and kiss my thumb too.
Her smile grows.
“Sleep with me, space babe,” I say.
Her lips keep rising. “I thought you’d never ask.”
I laugh once, then lift her off the coffee table. I’m careful not to carry her. I set Luna on her feet before we go to the bunk room. Luna squeezing her legs around me will make me want to thrust inside her, and I am pumping those brakes like a motherfucker.
CHARLIE & LUNA’S TEXT THREAD
Dec 24th
6:03 a.m.
Luna: Hi, heidi ho ho ho. This is me. Luna. You know that, obv. No rush in finishing the dournal. But I do have a question when you do get close to the end.
7:05 a.m.
Charlie: I finished it last night.
Luna: Whoa…really? I just gave it to you yesterday evening.
Charlie: It was light reading.
Luna: Oh. Good reading?
Charlie: Do you want a critical review of your writing style or to help with your memories?
Luna: I mean…I wouldn’t be opposed to hearing your review, but I would rather you help an amnesia girl out.
Charlie: I’ll get back to you later. If not in person, then over text.
Luna: K! 👍👍
9:47 p.m.
Charlie: Here again.
Luna: For a minute there, I thought you forgot about it.
Charlie: My brothers haven’t left your side all day. I’m not doing this in front of them.
Luna: Prob wise.
Charlie: You don’t date your entries, so I had to piece the timeline together contextually. You don’t cover the entirety of the last three years that you’ve forgotten. Based on your use of present tense in certain areas, I’ve deduced that you started writing in the diary about three months ago. Which means you haven’t written in it for very long.
Luna: That’s bad then…?
Charlie: Not necessarily. It opens with you reminiscing about the past. And there are more spots where you reflect on past events. It’d be impossible for you to write down every moment of your life, but even with narrative blanks, this isn’t nothing. These are your words and thoughts so you can take what’s here as fact.
Luna: Okay. So my question is…do I mention any drug use???
Charlie: Cocaine, briefly. You don’t list out any other drugs, but it’s implied you’ve done more.
Luna: I don’t say what *more* entails?
Charlie: No.
Luna: Any guesses?
Charlie: Why do you care about this?
Luna: Idk. It feels like I put foreign substances in my body without approving of said foreign substances. Even though I know it was me. Just a different me. Or the same me? It’s confusing.
Charlie: Ask Donnelly about the FanCon tour.
Luna: Why?
Charlie: When you joined us, he saw you taking something before I did. So ask your boyfriend.
24
LUNA HALE
Christmas Eve night.
It’s 9:48 p.m.—and I’m cradling my phone in my hands, seated on a closed toilet lid, and staring wide-eyed at Charlie’s response.
“What’d he say?” Donnelly asks, casually bent towards the cracked window. He hangs his arm outside, a cigarette burning between his fingers.
We snuck into the bathroom to smoke, and as much as I love the holidays for all the family-gathering and bonding, especially with my best friends, I miss having more alone-time with Donnelly. I’ve barely seen him today.
He volunteered to drive to the nearest town after my aunts realized no one bought coffee. And the coffee canister, left from the last trip here, quickly became empty.
I thought he’d be an hour max. But he didn’t return until closer to dinner. He said it was foggy, and he was driving slowly. I thought maybe there was more to the story, but he whispered to me that he’d explain tomorrow.
Now it’s late at night, and this is the time I’d usually spend with Tom and Eliot. Partaking in hedonistic engagements, sneaking off to the woods. That kinda thing. I knew they’d want to join my smoke break with Donnelly if I mentioned it. So I had to subtly imply that Donnelly and I were leaving to hookup.
I guess I could’ve just said, we want to be alone. But that also would’ve led them to the same assumption.
They think Donnelly is fucking me in here, when really he’s still holding out.
But I thought he was only holding out sexually. I reread Charlie’s last text. “He said I mentioned taking cocaine, which we already know, but I implied doing more. Then he said to ask you about the FanCon tour.”