Page 5

He pauses for a second before responding, and I’m immediately worried.

“It’s probably nothing,” he says quietly. “I thought I heard something outside my window, but it’s probably a raccoon or something. I don’t know. I’m being paranoid.”

“Did you check?”

“Yeah. Didn’t see anything. Just…tonight’s been weird, I guess.”

“You want me to come over?” I ask, already halfway out of bed. “Or did you just wanna talk?”

He hesitates. “Just talk. I don’t know, I think I needed to hear you tell me it was probably nothing. I’m sure you were almost asleep. Sorry.”

My chest tightens.

“Don’t be sorry. You can call me anytime. But seriously, if anything else happens, you call me back and I’ll come over.”

“Okay. Deal.”

The line goes quiet for a few seconds, but I don’t want to hang up. I know he doesn’t either, probably still wired from whatever freaked him out.

“You remember that night junior year,” I start, “when we locked ourselves out of the apartment and had to sit on the porch wrapped in the car blanket until the locksmith showed up?”

He lets out a short, soft laugh.

“Yeah. You wouldn’t stop complaining that your ass was freezing.”

“Because it was! And you were no help. You kept reading random facts off your phone like that was gonna warm us up.”

“I wasdistractingyou. That’s called being a good friend.”

I smile to myself. His voice already sounds a little steadier. “You still do that, you know,” I say.

“What, read facts?”

“Distract me. Settle me down without even realizing it,” I say with a soft smile into my pillow.

He doesn’t say anything right away, but I hear the way he exhales like he’s finally letting some of the tension go.

“Thanks, you just did that for me,” he murmurs.

“Mmmm, I did, you caught me.”

“And thanks for picking up, I knew you’d talk some sense into me.”

“Any time,” I tell him, meaning it. “Now go to sleep. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay? But don’t hesitate to call me again if you need me.”

“Okay, thanks. Night, Logan.”

“Night, Ry.”

As soon as I hang up, I can’t help but wonder if waiting until tomorrow is too long. I let my thumb hover over his name in my phone, but I shake my head and set it back down. He said he’s okay, and I need to believe him.

But just in case, I turn my volume all the way up.

3

RYDER

Itold Logan I was fine, and I meant it.