The Middle | ✔️

Chapter 56

Jamie

Erin will not stop Facetime calling me. I've already rejected two incoming calls and put my phone on do not disturb, but I can feel it vibrating in my pocket. Something must be up. I need to casually get away from Jay so that I can talk to her, which should be easy enough, but I'm in his house right now. The last time I talked to her on Facetime when I was over here, she got so moody as soon as she realised where I was. Ugh, but she won't stop calling! If she gets pissed because I'm at Jays, it's her own fault.

Jay and I are in the den, setting out plastic cups and bottles of liquor and stuff for the the party tonight. Benji is running around the house somewhere too, so I lie and say I'm going to check on him, before slipping out back. Benji follows me out so that he can go to the bathroom, great, so I'm not lying after all.

"Larson, what is going on?" I ask as soon as I answer. She's in her dorm. Laying on her bed. Smiling. I don't think there's an emergency.

"Nothing, I'm just bored. It's Saturday afternoon, thought we could catch up?" She's still smiling, although I know she must recognise the house I'm standing in front of. She's choosing not to be a baby today, fantastic.

"Sure, hang on, you wanna talk to Benji. Benji! Come here, boy! Auntie Erin's on the phone!" I flip my phone screen so that Erin can see Benji running over.

"Jamie, I am not talking to your dog over Facetime! That's stupid!" I hear her say, and I laugh as I flip the screen back around to me.

"Just kidding." I say. "So, what's up? Why so bored? Where's Sarah?"

"Sarah's on her way back from seeing her mystery lover." Erin says, frowning and pouting. "I hate it when she goes to see him, she's always gone for days. I get bored without her."

"Days? Sounds serious." I comment. I don't know anything about Sarah's mystery lover. Erin has sulked about him a few times though, because he steals Sarah away.

"She says it's not serious, but it totally fucking is. Whatever. So, I assume there's a house party tonight?" She still doesn't look pissed, this is going well.

"Yeah, there is. I'm just over here helping set up. Are you going out tonight?" I ask, hoping to keep the conversation off of Jay.

"Walker keeps texting asking if I wanna hook up with him tonight. Some girls from one of my classes invited me over too, though. I don't know." She shrugs her shoulders dismissively.

"So, this thing with Walker... Has continued?" I ask, unsure. After she realised he was one of Noah's High School friends, I thought she might have been put off. Clearly not.

"Yeah, I mean, it's just sex. Good sex. We both know what's up, so it's fine. He's a jerk, but he's good in bed. That's all I need." She smiles at me, but I am very conscious that she's telling me this while I'm standing in Jays back yard.

"Erin... He's not around." I say, hoping she'll know what I mean.

"Well, duh. You think I would have said that just now if I thought he was?" She asks with an eye roll. She's right.

"True." I say. "So, anyway. I haven't talked to Noah again, you know, since I told him I liked him and he ran out of my house faster than a smart girl in a horror movie."

"A smart girl in a horror movie?" Erin's confused.

"You know? The girls usually run up the stairs to get away from the crazy knife yielding psychos, when they should be running out the front door." I explain.

"You've watched too many Scream movies." She says, and I laugh. I do love those movies. "So how are you feeling about him now?"

I shrug. I don't know what to say. "I mean, my feelings for him aren't just gonna disappear over night. It doesn't work that way."