Prologue Gianni

Friday, September 13, 2024

“ C ome on, Alex, it’s too late for this shit. We can just call him an Uber or something. The guy doesn’t even like you. Why would he ask you in the first place?” I ask my best friend, confusion and frustration lacing my words and a grimace firm on my face.

He looks at me with his light brows pulled taut and that small pout he knows I can’t say no to. “Gi, does it matter why he texted me? Maybe the guy has no one else, and if he hates me as much as he tries to make you believe…” His choice of words strikes me as odd. Make me believe? Not us ? But before I can ask, he’s already moving on. “Isn’t that even more reason to help him out? Because it means he must be really, truly alone in this world.” He pleads with me to change my mind, though I know he’s going anyway. And if he’s going, so am I. That’s how it’s always been.

I groan, grab the keys off the kitchen counter, and head to the door. “Fine, but we get him, dump him at his place, and leave. Nothing more, got it?” I ask.

Alex jumps up and down, clapping his hands together before heading to toss on a pair of sneakers. “You’re the best, Gi!” he shouts.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, let’s make this quick.”

***

“Please remind me why we’re picking up a grown-ass man from a fucking party?” I groan, making a right onto the road Alex just told me to turn onto.

I can feel, rather than see, him roll his eyes at me playfully. “ Because, Gi, he asked for our help, so we’re doing this.”

One of these days, Alex is going to help the wrong fucking person, and it’s gonna get him in trouble.

“Okay, now make a left onto Swanberry,” he instructs, pointing across the road. I stop at the red light, waiting as Alex messes with the Bluetooth, swapping the song from “Teenage Dirtbag” 1 to “Dance, Dance.” 2

The light turns green, so I pull out, making the left onto the one-way street within the small community.

Seconds later, a massive white truck comes flying around the corner of the road ahead, turning left instead of right and heading straight at us. Their headlights nearly blind me as I try to swerve off to the side of the road.

My heart is pounding, my mind going fuzzy as my tires skid through the wet grass and into a tree. It makes direct contact with Alex’s side of the car, and when we’re finally stopped, my gaze swings straight to him.

He braces his hands against the dashboard, his head hanging between his shoulders. “Alex,” I breathe out, my throat constricting with worry.

He slowly lifts his gaze to mine, and those bright eyes of his are now glossy and dull. “Call nine-one-one,” he chokes out, each word leaving him looking more and more pained.

My vision blurs with hot tears as I scramble in my seat, reaching for my phone, but before I can pull it out of my pocket, red and blue lights are pulling beside us. My stomach drops to my toes, bile climbing my throat.

This can’t be happening.

Alex reaches his hand out to grip my thigh, and it’s at this moment that I know I’m about to lose him.

1. Teenage Dirtbag – Wheatus

2. Dance, Dance – Fall Out Boy