The Men Next Door

Ch 28 - Luca

I did miss her. Already. As soon as I woke up. And I didn't know what to do other than get the hell out of that apartment building, which is how I ended up on Addy's doorstep saying, "You look like shit. Are you sure you're not sick?" first thing in the morning.

Well, morning for me. Afternoon for half the population. Including Addy, as far as I could tell.

She'd blamed her stuffy voice on allergies when I talked to her on the phone, but now that I was standing in front of her, I realized that December was a weird ass month to be having an allergy attack. Still, she was sticking with the excuse...or some version of it...as I scanned her weary features.

"Thanks, dickhead," she replied, rolling her eyes. "I'm sure I'm not sick."

"Then why do you look like you got hit by a bus?"

She snorted. "Again—thanks, dickhead. If you must know, Walker and I broke up, so I'm wallowing in self-pity."

I covered my mouth, trying to hide my shock. "Fuck, Addy. Why didn't you say anything? I wouldn't have invited myself over like this if I knew. Are you okay? Do you want me to leave?"

She rolled her eyes at me for the second time since she opened the door—sassy little thing—then grabbed my hand and pulled me inside. "I wouldn't have said yes if I was going to kick you out as soon as you got here. Although after you told me I look like shit and like I got hit by a bus in the first thirty seconds, I might reconsider."

I winced. "Sorry. What happened? Do you want to talk about it?"

"It's been a long time coming." Addy sighed. "But basically, he gave me an ultimatum to move out west or to end things. I chose to end things, obviously, and he bought a one-way ticket to Montana the very same night."

"That's fucked up," I said as we plopped down on the couch. I knew I didn't love the guy, but I didn't think he was that much of a dipshit. "You deserve better, Ads."

She nodded in agreement. "He wasted twelve years of my life and a hell of a lot of my money."

"Everything happens for a reason, I think. Hopefully it teaches you a life lesson or some shit." My eyes drifted between the romance movie paused on the TV and the pile of tissues on the floor under her armrest. "Also, you're torturing yourself. Why do you want to watch fake people fall in fake love?"

Addy frowned. "Helps me believe love is real after all, I guess. I don't want to become a cynic just because things didn't work out with my high school sweetheart. It's a miracle we made it as long as we did."

I wanted to make a snarky comment that I wasn't sure love was real, but I held my tongue. The little voice in my head not-so-kindly reminded me that I should've done that the night before, too. "I know it's cliché, but there are plenty of fish in the sea. Especially here in the city." And especially when you looked anything like Addy did. Something told me she wouldn't be hurting for options.

"Okay, Luca." She laughed. "Easy for you to say as a smoking hot twenty-five-year-old with the literal girl next door wrapped around your finger."

"Any man with a brain would snatch you up before you're off the market again," I countered, choosing to ignore the bit about the girl next door. Clearly, she hadn't heard the news yet, and I sure as hell didn't want to be the one to break it to her.

"Okay, let's assume you're right," she started, turning to face me and tucking her legs up under herself on the couch. "Here's the issue: fifty percent of men don't have a brain, and twenty-five percent that do have a brain are too young or too old. The next ten percent are taken, another five percent are gay, and out of everyone who's left, nine percent aren't my type. So now we're down to one percent of men, which isn't great odds."