“Spit it out, Cereus.”
She checks outside the door and then closes it, turning back to me. “Did you kill Mr. Wallis?” She drops her eyes to her feet and looks up cautiously through her eyelashes.
Did she just ask me if I killed her teacher? I don’t know what’s more unusual, her asking or me having to try and remember the night before, because frankly, it’s possible.
“What? Is he dead?”
“Yes.” She’s animated today, using her hands to convey her distress and shock.
“Cereus, I got a little drunk last night and fucked the neighbor. I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
She flinches when I say fuck and looks to the door. “Gross, Ryan. I don’t need to know that stuff.” She hardly ever uses my name and I like hearing it on her lips. “Where’s your phone?”
I look around the mess and locate my jeans, digging out my phone from the pocket and handing it to her. I busy myself getting dressed.
“Oh my God.”
I turn to see Cereus staring at my phone. She holds it up and there’s the picture of her in her dress from the mall that Stacy sent me.
“You’re Stacy’s Sean? Oh my God.”
I walk over and take the phone from her hands. “I wanted to know about you. I wasn’t sure if I was going to interact with you. I didn’t want to bring my shit life onto you, and you’re all the family I have. I just wanted to know you in any way I could,” I claim, lowering my eyelids and furrowing my brow.
“Then why did you start interacting with me?”
“Because how could I not? You’re incredible. I needed to be in your presence.”
“That’s fucked up, Ryan, what you did to her.”
“I didn’t do anything to her. She read it all wrong. There was nothing romantic or sexual in the least, it was just conversation to learn about you. She went weird, texting me clingy girly stuff and I knew it was time to cut her off and ignore her. I’m sorry. I know she’s your friend.”
She holds her hand up to stop me. “It’s okay, I just don’t like secrets or lies, okay?”
That’s unfortunate, but my little pleas appear to have worked. I hold my phone up. “Was that why you wanted my phone? To go through it?”
She takes the phone back and fiddles with it, and brings up Facebook. She signs her name in and scans through it.
“Everyone’s talking about it. They say he was beaten to death with something. A few people are saying it was an old rock he keeps on his desk from a trip he took to some volcano. Who would do that and why?”
Memories of my first kill play through my mind like a video. Did I kill this teacher? I chase the thoughts from last night and keep hitting a brick wall.
“I need to get back home. Mom will be freaking out and Dad grounded me last night for coming in late so I won’t see you until the weekend.”
I grab her arm before she can dash out. “You were late home? Did the date go that well?”
She pulls her arm free and glares at me. “Actually it was nice. He’s quite charming. He reminds me of you in that way.”
Me? She thinks I’m charming? Apart from the odd time here and there I’ve never been anyone else around her other than me. I use charm to manipulate people. It’s all a façade, but not with her.
“So he didn’t talk about your Mom all night?” I cheekily ask.
Her eyes enlarge and then she bursts into laughter. “Is it crazy that I actually was mad at Mom for that? He talked about her all night. She’s an inspiration to be so successful and to stick with real news, real stories. Blah blah. I ended up being saved by Stacy.”
“How so?”
“Her Dad can get a little rough on her when he lectures her about the money he wastes on her private schooling, and she doesn’t appreciate it and stuff. He’s a total pervert when it comes to her friends but he would never really hurt her, but she’s dramatic. They got into an argument and he got a little rough left a small red mark on her arms. She called me in hysterics”
Cereus left to go back home and I’m left standing in an empty apartment trying to conjure up last night’s events. I need to talk to the neighbor. I open the front door and come face to face with Blake.
He flashes his badge and asks to come in. I’d laugh if I weren’t pissed at myself. If I killed that fucking cunt and I’m going back to hell for it, I want to at least remember doing it. “Nice place,” he says, and another guy enters behind him. I recognize him but his name escapes me.
“How did you find me?”
“It’s my job to know where you are, Ryan. Were you on your way somewhere?” He gestures to the front door.