When she uncovers his plan to lead an entirely uneventful life, Mia Evian is determined to teach Preston Maddox how to stop living like a ghost, but Mia and Preston have history, tension, and a lot of complicated feelings.
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I find out through Margot.
She doesn't even say hello when I answer her call two days after Robbie's club night, just, 'you've heard, right?'
The tone of her voice is completely off. Wrong. I stand from my desk chair, abandoning the assignment that I was working on.
'Heard what?'
Silence over the phone.
'Heard what?' I repeat.
'I assumed–Shit, sorry, I should've called last night when Joe asked me about it. I just–I dismissed it, thinking it was some weird rumour or something, but it–Preston confirmed it, all of it, when I asked him just now.'
I still have zero context, no real indication towards what Margot is talking about, but I know. Somehow, I know exactly what she's talking about. Exactly what's happened.
'His life before London,' I murmur, more so to myself.
Another pause, then a soft, quiet, 'yeah.'
'How?'
I give as little context as she did, but Margot also somehow knows what I'm asking.
'I've got no idea. Joe overheard some girls talking about it in one of his seminars, but I don't know how they found out. Joe's sure they don't even know Preston, and then in my lectures today, people were talking about it. He's on our course, right, so not as weird, I guess, but yeah, anyway, I asked Preston when I got home–he didn't show up to any classes today,' she rambles. 'And he–Yeah, he said it was all true.'
'He just said it outright? Like, casually, or what?'
'Yeah, super casually.' She lowers her voice. 'Honestly, he's been acting weird since Robbie left. That's why I called; I really don't think he's, I don't know... coping, I guess.'
Since Robbie left.
I'm going to kill him. I'm going to fucking kill him. After what we talked about, after Preston housed him, after everything, he does this? I take a deep breath because if I don't, I'll scream.
'Acting weird?' I question. 'In what way.'
Margot hesitates again.
'Honestly, kind of like a dick.'
No. No, no, no. This is bad. This is really bad.
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