Try Me (Extracurricular Activities #2)

by Neve Wilder

“It’s gonna be okay. Maybe not right now,” I hastened to add when he shot me an icy glare I felt all the way to the pit of my stomach. “But later. It’ll die down.” Even I wasn’t swallowing the Pollyanna bullshit, though. I sounded like my mom. “Nothing will be okay for a long time. Let’s just not talk about it, okay? I can’t stand to keep fucking talking about it. That’s all my mom wants to do, and it doesn’t fix anything.” “Okay. No talking, then. Got it.” I made my way back to my bed and crawled under the covers, reaching to turn off the light. In the darkness, I heard the quiet sound of his breathing and the few times it came out as a muffled hitch. Chet was an absolute bastard on the court, and frequently off, from what I’d heard and what I remembered of him myself, but I couldn’t help the pang in my chest as I listened to the sound of his life unraveling. It felt too intimate, too private, too unearned given how long it’d been since we’d interacted regularly. I kept trying to think of something comforting to say, but nothing came to mind that didn’t sound like another spoonful of sunshiny crap. And even though we hadn’t been friends in years, I still knew he wouldn’t want that.