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Her phone goes to voiceain quickly I turn away froe…" I pause Shit, I don’t really knohat to say next And Casey is listening And now I’ve left about five seconds of silence on the phone "Sorry, I…got distracted with soht nohen I just stopped talking Well, now and earlier That’s why I didn’t call back Leah’s sick That’s what Iup so fast Did you want to talk about the room? It’s still yours…if you want it Just letweak My cheeks hurt froets worse when I turn around and Casey has his thuer stretched out like a phone "So, like, totally callme

"Shut up and eat another cookie," I say He wastes no ti nearly half away I hear Leah clapping upstairs, and I know thatbetter It’s only been about tenup a cookie is a lotup Saltines and Sprite I pull a cookie out for her, putting it on a plate, then pour a slass of soda, and start to walk back up the stairs

"Oh, this is Houston by the way," Casey says through a fullsentence out I don’t even acknowledge hi up, and I’ll have plenty of opportunities to say soe

Dad picked ood I’ure out why I wanted to co up theories and worst-case scenarios She does this with Cass more than me, probably because she worries over

I had a few hours at home alone when Dad droppedwith the assault case for my sister I welcomed the alone time Here, in my room, where I could erase the last six irl I was before everything got so fucked up and twisted

I haven’t been good at staying in touch with h school Most of the to stay in California…until I sacrificed everything for Cass I think I blamed her for a while Maybe I still do But I know ultio to Oklahootat my phone, I hover over Lexi’s nuh school, and she went to Long Beach for college I know she’s in town I text her

Just got back for the holidays Would love to see you! Callto call sinks intoher When I toss it on rab it with hope, but it isn’t a text e It’s a voicemail I flip to the missed calls, and see there’s three fro, or e frolad I didn’t pick up Ito waver on e is short, and sort of…weird He sounds flustered, which only adds toheadache andmy shoulders up tofeels like a soft blanket,ht?" she asks, letting go, standing back, and holdingan inventory to make sure I didn’t co she can see

"Good, no turbulence," I say Mylist of things she freaked out about when Cass and I told her ere both going to Oklahos on the rack by the door and kicking her shoes fros fro on new display iteht, but never really does any of it--she just takes the bags back and forth Cass and I used to pull a few of the beads out at night, when she was asleep, to ht now, the fa of going to dinner tonight--maybe to the pier, since your sister doesn’t like seafood as much as we do What do you think?" she asks, and I start to ansith a smile when my phone chimes in the distance