Sister Mother

Chapter 11

Addie

I walked back into the kitchen, stepped up onto the black stepping stool and started making myself my morning coffee. The day had started off so well. I orgasmed! Then I looked at my phone and life hit me in the face with an email that didn't have my name in it and now Beatrice needed a bra and I had to crush my sister's dreams and tell her she was going to get her period despite being artificially conceived.

"What else have you got?" I asked no one in particular. "How else are you going to spit in my face? What else are you going to throw at me? I can take it. Come on, I dare you."

As Dad's old Keurig brewed, I told myself "fuck it" and made a phone call. I'd dialed his number twice before, once on accident. I had been staring at the contact name in my room late at night, when The Damn Cat sneaked his filthy way onto my bed and jumped on me. My phone fell flat on my face and my nose hit the call button. I ended the call before he could pick up. The next morning, I called him on purpose, but I only got his voicemail and so I hung up without leaving a message.

I just want to hear his voice. It was already a weird, extra crappy kick-in-the-crotch and spit-in-your-neck 'cause you tried to make waffles but they turned out to be cock-waffles kind of day, and hearing his voice always made me feel better.

Fuck, I'm actually calling Leo.

"Hello." Leo's soothing voice traveled to my ear and wrapped around my body like a warm blanket.

That one word filled my entire being and melted me.

"Who's this?"

Who's this? This is Addie! Your batshit crazy girlfriend who kicked you out of her house two months ago and promised not to call you until things were better, only now they're worse!

My breath hitched in my throat. "This is your daily forecast alert. There's a thirty percent chance of snow in Brookfield and Worcester. Be sure to wear your winter jacket and bring a shovel to work today." I smacked myself in the face.

"Adds?" Leo asked.

I closed my eyes and melted just from that one syllable. "Um, maybe."

I heard what must have been Leo dragging himself off his bedsheets.

He was in bed. I woke him up. Does he sleep shirtless?

Is this really what I'm thinking about right now?

"I've missed you. I can't believe you actually called."

My heart weighed down in my chest and I put half my fist into my mouth. I bit my fingers. "I've missed you too. Lots. I have a stupid notebook full of romantic crap about you. I love you, but I think I'll die if you read it."

"What?"

"Pretend you didn't hear that. Tell me something," I begged as I sat on the edge of the counter. "Tell me something embarrassing about you that I'll never repeat."

Leo paused for a few moments. "I give myself pep talks sometimes."

"You what?"

"Pep talks. Sometimes in the mornings before an interview, a test or a big date, I'll stare at myself in the bathroom mirror and talk myself up."

"Are you blinking?"

"I'm not blinking. When I take you out, I'm going to have to wake up a whole two hours earlier than I usually do 'cause I'll be more nervous than I've ever been in my life. So yeah, I give myself pep talks sometimes. Your turn."