“Babe, are you back?” a deep voice rang out from behind Emily as she spun around. Emily turned as Cole Carrigan rounded the corner, stepping into the small kitchenette, a white towel wrapped around his waist. His wet, muscular torso shimmered in the soft gray sunlight piercing through the silk curtains above the kitchen sink. “Oh, hi, Miss Keller. I’m sorry, I didn’t—” Cole said, his voice trembling as tiny drops of water dripped from his soaked, shaggy blonde hair.
“Cole, don’t worry, I’ve seen a man before.” Emily giggled as Cole smirked, his cheeks growing red.
“Did Blair come back with you?” Cole asked, swallowing as he bit the inner right corner of his mouth nervously.
“What? What do you mean?” Emily asked, her eyebrows raised in confusion as she stepped toward Cole.
“After she got back from lunch with you yesterday, we had a bit of a fight. She said she was going to stay with you for the night,” Cole said, staring down at his wet, bare feet pressed firmly against the tile floor.
“What did you guys have a fight about?” Emily asked as she spun, eying the tidy kitchen that surrounded her.
“It’s a long story. I don’t really want to get into it.” Cole sighed, shaking his head as he turned and rested his back against the corner of the wall beside him.
“Well, she wasn’t with me, Cole. She wasn’t at my house at all last night,” Emily said as she swallowed. If their fight was bad enough, Blair would have called.
“That’s just what she yelled at me before she stormed out,” Cole said, his head hanging down in shame. “Where the hell could she have gone?”
“Have you talked to Zoey? Does she know?”
“Why would Zoey know?” Cole asked, crossing his chiseled arms over his pecs.
“Well, girls do talk, Cole.” Emily laughed, shaking her head.
“Not them, not anymore, at least,” Cole said sternly. “They haven’t really talked in, well, probably a year or so.”
“What? We just—she just told me yesterday that they were good, that she missed her while she was gone,” Emily said, her eyes narrowing on Cole in front of her.
“Look, all I know is that before Blair left for Greece, they had a falling out. Blair never really went into detail, but she pretty much cut her out of our lives entirely. I didn’t really mind if you ask me. Zoey’s annoying as hell.”
“Do you know if she’s home?” Emily asked, shoving her hands into the front pockets of her peacoat.
“Yeah, I saw her this morning getting the mail. She’s two doors down, sadly.”
***
The black wooden door of apartment 1B slowly opened as Emily stared back inside at Zoey Duncan, the person she thought was Blair’s best friend…
“Miss Keller, what are you doing here? It’s been so long.” Zoey grinned, her perfect, white smile beaming back at Emily.
“I know, it really has.” Emily snickered. “Do you mind if I come in? I’m sorry if I’m interrupting.”
“No, of course not,” Zoey said, shaking her head as her blonde hair swayed, her long locks tied in a high pony. Emily stepped inside as Zoey closed the door behind her, turning the deadbolt. “There was a break-in on the first level last night so I’m kind of shaken up about that.”
“Oh, my gosh, that’s horrible,” Emily said, her eyes wide, as she stepped into the living room and plopped down on the white leather loveseat sitting in front of a large flat screen mounted on the gray wall.
“Yeah, it was pretty crazy. The cops were here for hours and the sirens kept me up all night.” Zoey yawned as she grabbed the edges of her tan cashmere cardigan and wrapped it around her thin frame, folding her arms over her chest, holding the jacket closed. Zoey lowered herself down into the white loveseat beside the sofa as she grabbed a black chunky knit blanket and draped it over her legs.
“I know me showing up at your door seems really random.” Emily giggled as she nodded.
“Just a tad.” Zoey laughed nervously as she picked at the knitted fabric of the blanket with her polished nails.
“I just wanted to ask you if you’ve seen Blair. I guess she and her boyfriend, Cole, had a fight last night. She said she was going to stay with me, but she never showed up. Do you know where she might have gone? Did she have any other friends?”
“Not that I know of,” Zoey said, shaking her head. “I mean, me and Blair don’t really talk all that much anymore. I mean, we pass by each other on the way to class or in the hall, but we aren’t really on the same level that we used to be.”
“Can I be a super nosey mom and ask why?” Emily smirked.
“It’s really complicated, Miss Keller.”
“Please, call me Emily. you’re making me feel ancient.” Emily laughed.
“I’m sorry.” Zoey grinned, staring down at her lap. “I guess we just kind of drifted. I mean, things just weren’t quite right before she left for Greece. Her and Cole were fighting a lot. She started pulling away. She wouldn’t respond to my texts or phone calls. It was like she vanished off the face of the Earth. Eventually, I just gave up; I stopped trying.”
