The Double-Tap Accident

Chapter Twenty-Two: I Almost Killed You.

Chapter Twenty-Two: "I Almost Killed You."

WEDNESDAY WAS THE day that the most insufferable and irrational person I knew decided to knock on my door. Loudly. Aggressively.

At one point, I thought the police were trying to ram through my door.

Pulling myself out of bed, a groan filled with agony left my lips in the early hours of that morning. Warm light spilled into my room but the window I had left open that night by accident had me shivering once I kicked off the covers. I fetched my thick blanket, putting the softness around my shoulders before padding downstairs and to the front door.

On the other side stood a joyful Iman. A joyful Iman who started screaming dramatically while blocking my hits against his arm. "Ow! Ow, relax bro! Stop."

I stopped hitting him, putting my hand back on my blanket to secure the fabric over my shoulders. Outside, snow wasn't falling but the breeze that entered through the front door gave me the indication that the bright sun high in the cloudless was for show. "What is wrong with you?"

He snorted, looking down at my outfit. The long pants I was sporting had bananas decorated on the fabric. That was a gift from my dad one Christmas. The pants didn't help the fact that I was wearing a tank top that had a big wide smiley face on it. "You look so funny."

"What the hell?" I spat at him. Two nights in a row I had little to no sleep. He ruined sleep. My sleep-deprived self had every right to be mad at him. "Why are you up right now?"

"It's Toronto time."

He's delusional.

"Iman," I took a deep breath to calm myself down. My hands were fisting the blankets around me as snow started falling. Although it was very light, it drifted into my house from the open door started to hit me in the face. It needed to stop fucking snowing. "It's 9 o'clock. Sane people are still sleeping."

He completely ignored me, rocking on his feet. Immanuel was wearing a thick brown jacket and shoes I hoped wouldn't get ruined if he continued walking in this weather. Never mind. If he was still in front of my house trying to get me out of it in five minutes, I was going to start hoping they did. "C'mon. I'm heading out today. You said you'd think about it."

"I didn't say yes."

"You didn't say no either."

"I'm pretty sure I did."

"C'mon." He locked his fingers together then put them under his chin, pouting his bottom lip.

"What's going on?" Larine came up from behind me, peering up at Iman. Unlike me in my sleeping attire, she looked ready for the day, wearing a plaid sweater and light jeans. In fact, she looked so well on the outside for a girl who had spent most of the night crying into one of her many pillows while being surrounded by junior chicken wrappers and boxes of nuggets.

She also looked a little flushed. She had told me last night that she was going to go for a run in the morning. I guessed that was how she coped with things: by running. Literally and possibly figuratively.

Iman extended a hand in her direction. "I'm Iman."

She shook his hand. "Larine, but I usually go by Riri."

What? She usually goes by what?

My surprise must have shown because she shrugged bashfully. "Old nickname. You can call me either name. It doesn't matter."

Iman pointed at me with his thumb. "Did you know that Jaime's real name isn't Jaime?"

"Um," Larine looked equally surprised. "No."