Chapter 181
"Hey, Cole. Did I wake you?" A good bet, given the time, but if I didn't do this now, I was worried I never would.
"Nothing good ever happened in a 6AM phone call." His voice was scratchy with sleep.
"I'm sorry that I shut you out."
"Me too."
This wasn't a jettison, it was a mercy. Cole really was my past. He belonged to a Nava who didn't exist anymore and trying to resurrect that relationship would end up as well as reanimating the dead.
My throat grew tight. It didn't matter how I tried to convince myself otherwise. This was still a sacrifice. "Cole..."
"I know."
"I'm glad I saw you again." I drew a heart in the condensation on the window, then smudged it out. "I got closure."
"Then I'm glad." He yawned again.
"Go back to sleep. Be well."
"Wait. Do you want your Twenty-One Pilots T-shirt back?"
I looked at the Fugue State Five shirt that I'd stolen from Leo, now folded on my pillow. "I'm good."
And the biggest surprise as I hung up? I really was.