We have at least one more conversation to have.
No matter what the ending is.
“Holy shit,” Violet yells. “Jolie… holy shit…”
“What?” I ask.
“You need to come see this right now.”
I grab the phone from Violet’s hand and stare at it.
It’s a conversation made up of screenshots.
About Ado.
“He’s missing,” Violet says. “Like you went missing…”
I shake my head. “No. This isn’t the same thing at all.”
“How do you know?”
I read the conversation.
There’s a picture of a flyer with Ado’s picture on it.
Completely and totally missing.
But this…
“Jolie?” Violet asks.
I hand the phone back to her. “What?”
“Why are you not freaking out?”
“Why would I?”
“You knew about this, didn’t you? This has something to do with Mac, right?”
Her eyes grow wide.
I smile. “Violet, stop. Of course I’m freaked out. But who knows what really happened here. Maybe Ado got drunk and hurt himself by accident. Maybe he pissed off the wrong person. I don’t know. Am I supposed to carry this with me?”
“No,” Violet says.
She’s not buying what I’m saying.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I sound cold right now. I’m just… I’m in my own feelings.”
“I get it,” she says. “This is just… wow. He’s missing. It wasn’t like this when you went missing. You could tell that was controlled, you know?”
“Let’s just forget about it all,” I say. “Let’s have a drink or something.”
“I’ll never argue with that. Can we go down to the beach?”
“If you want to,” I say.
“We can get a little tipsy and flirt with hot surfers.”
“Sounds like a crazy night,” I say. “Are there surfers on the beach in the dark though?”
“There’s guys,” she says. “A nice smile and a dick… I’m in.”
I laugh. “Oh, Violet, I love you.”
“Let’s pack a bag and find some nice smiles and dicks.”
“A nice smile and a dick,” I say. “I’m going to get a shirt made with that on it for you.”
We both laugh.
And we both stop laughing at the sound of a knock at my door.
Violet looks at the door, probably wondering who it is. Like a normal person would. For me, I’m looking at the door, wondering who’s going to attack me next.
I’m not sure that feeling will ever go away.
“Maybe they’re coming to us,” Violet whispers. “They heard us.”
“Who heard us?” I ask.
“The guys with the nice smiles and dicks,” Violet says.
I wave a hand at her and go to the door.
“Who is it?” I call out.
“It’s Les.”
I look back at Violet.
“Told you so,” she says with a big smile.
I roll my eyes and open the door.
“Are you here to say goodbye to me?” I ask.
“No,” Les says. “Why the fuck would I do that?”
“Hey, Les,” Violet says.
“Hey,” Les says. “What are you doing here?”
“Taking care of Jolie’s broken heart,” Violet says. “Mac really did a number on her.”
“Violet!” I yell.
“Yeah, that’s why I’m here,” Les says.
“For what?” I ask.
“For me?” Violet asks.
“I’m…” Les holds up a finger at me. He looks at Violet. “I’m here for you too, Violet. We can talk in a minute.” Les looks at me. “Got a second for me?”
“Sure,” I say.
I follow Les out of my apartment.
“You know, Violet was asking about Ado,” I say.
“What did you tell her?” Les asks.
“The truth. I don’t know what’s going on with him. Missing? For real?”
“That’s true,” Les says. “He is missing. We haven’t seen him in a little while.”
“How do you think that makes me feel?” I ask. “That I had something to do with it…”
“You didn’t,” Les says. “Shit happens, Jolie. Move on.”
“Move on? You came all the way here for that?”
“No,” Les says. “I came here to put my life on the line for you.”
“Meaning what?”
“Do you love Mac?”
I sigh. “Really?”
“Just answer the question, Jolie,” Les says.
“Yes,” I say. “You know that already. Look at everything that happened. Everything I went through for him. For you guys. Everything you all did for me. And it’s going to come crashing down because I-”
“Hold up,” Les says, cutting me off. “I didn’t ask for a story.”
“Okay…”
“I can tell you where Mac is,” Les says.
“Why do I care?”
“You should. If you love him, you should care. And you should do something about it.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. Mac is stubborn, Jolie. Really stubborn. You have to hit him hard to get him to listen to you. And Mac likes to destroy things. Around him.”
“That’s my problem?” I ask.
“No. But if you love him, you’ll save him from himself. Right now he’s about to destroy everything with you. For good. I’m not so sure that’s a good thing for either of you.”
“And what am I supposed to do, Les? Just show up and be his hero?”
“Fuck, no,” Les says. “Show up and kick his ass a little.”
I stare at Les.
He’s being dead serious.
I tell my heart to forget about it.
Forget about Mac.
Fuck that.
I open my apartment door and slide back inside.
“See you around, Les,” I say.
“Okay,” he says. “Hey, Violet… good to see you.”
“You’re leaving?” Violet asks. “No…”
I shut the door.
“Jolie, what was that about?” Violet asks. “Can I go talk to him for a second?”
I look at the floor.
“Jolie? Hello?”
I ignore Violet.
I shut my eyes.
I picture Mac with a gun in his hand. I see him attacking Declan. I know what he wanted to do. I saved him from that decision.
Then I picture Mac with me.
Alone in bed.
Just me and him.
The way he looks at me.
The way he touches me.
“Jolie, what the hell are you doing?” Violet asks.
I open my eyes and look at her. “Stay here.”
“What?”
“I have to go,” I say.
“Go? Where? What’s happening?”
“I don’t know what’s happening,” I say. “I just have to go…”