Home in Nevada [SAMPLE]

✨Chapter Three | The one where Jeff's heart gets spilled in aisle five.

The next day is Thanksgiving, and the house is buzzing with that warm, chaotic holiday energy. The smell of turkey and pie fills the air, and I can hear Lucy humming in the kitchen, flipping through old cookbooks like she's auditioning for a cooking show. It should be comforting, but I can't relax. Every time I try to settle into the couch or lean against the kitchen counter, something stirs inside me. Like there's a stone lodged in my chest that won't sit still. I feel boxed in, like I'm trapped between wanting to be here and this gnawing restlessness I can't explain.

​Lucy announces we're out of snacks, which, according to her, is a complete catastrophe. I try to argue that we don't need more chips, but before I know it, she's dragging me out to the grocery store.

​It's a madhouse inside—frantic shoppers darting around, their carts overflowing with last-minute holiday ingredients. The aisles are packed, kids screaming and crying as their parents try to wrangle them. The overhead lights buzz, sharp and too bright, like they're boring into my skull. The noise, the chaos, the heat of too many bodies pressed into one space. It's the last place I want to be right now.

​I grit my teeth, following Lucy, but every muscle in my body is tense. My eyes dart around, scanning for an escape route like I'm trapped in a cage. When did it start bothering me so much? I used to love this kind of energy. Back in high school, I thrived on it: the noise, the attention, the thrill of being on the field with everyone watching.

​I think back to those Friday night high school football games, the roar of the crowd filling my ears, the adrenaline pumping through me. Jamie and I were two of the most popular guys on the team. Me, the easygoing flirt who always had a joke ready, and Jamie, the golden boy who could do no wrong. We were unstoppable back then, the perfect duo. I loved the chaos of it all. The fans cheering, the pressure, the buzz of being in the spotlight... It made me feel alive.

​But Jamie? He was different. I remember how he'd get quiet before games, tuning out the noise, like he had to build a wall between himself and the chaos to stay focused. He's always been like that—hating crowded, noisy places. Even at parties, he could be the life of the party if he wanted, but he'd drift to the edges instead, content to watch and listen rather than dive into the chaos. I used to tease him about it, but looking back now, I wonder if he was just better at knowing what he needed, at protecting himself from getting overwhelmed.

​It's strange. I used to soak up the attention, bask in the noise like it was my fuel. When did that start shifting for me? When did the chaos stop being fun and start feeling like a trap?

​I shake the thought off, but it lingers like a bad taste in my mouth. My mind drifts back to our senior year, the end-of-year awards. Jamie was voted Most Likely to Succeed. No surprise there. Everyone knew he'd do something great. He had that spark, that ambition that made people believe in him. I remember watching him up on stage, grinning ear to ear, and thinking that he looked like he belonged there, like the world was already bending toward him, ready to hand him everything he wanted.

​I can't help but wonder now. What's he doing with his life? Is he happy? Is he out there, living up to that superlative in ways I never imagined? I feel this warm, affectionate ache in my chest, a mix of pride and longing. I want to know everything, but the thought also terrifies me. What if he's changed completely? What if I don't even recognize the person he's become?

​And then there's what I was voted for: Biggest Flirt. The memory makes me smile, but there's an emptiness to it now, like it was all part of a character I played back then. I can still picture the photo—me, throwing up a peace sign, grinning like I didn't have a care in the world. It felt like a badge of honor back then, like I'd won something just by being the guy everyone wanted to be around.