"It's been a long day. A long, long ass day."
"Uh huh." Courtney hummed from the other end of the phone.
"My dumb ass professor doesn't know how to speak loud enough for anyone past the front row to hear anything he's jabbering about." I went on.
"That sucks..." She mumbled in a mindless tone.
"THEN at the grocery store where I had only bought ONE item; cheese crackers-" I say in a "of course" tone.
"Yeah."
"-The door person or whatever...Stops me and is all like "Can I see your recipe?"."
"You didn't get a receipt?" She asks.
"Of course not, I'm not going to return CRACKERS! That's what recipes are for." I insist sternly. "Besides that they're just a waste of paper to get lost somewhere in my floorboard of my Honda!" I huff.
"You could always roll with it." She suggests.
I pause.
"Court...I don't think that's healthy."
"Whatever." She shrugs off.
"Anyways. Of course I don't have my receipt and-..."
I freeze in the middle of my story; My brain goes blank when I see my old friend sitting on my doorstep.
He offers a sheepish smile. "Hey." He quietly says.
"Lexi?" Court asks.
"Hold on, Court. I need to call you back." I say, before she can answer I hit the end call button.
"Long time no see?" He says, and it HAS to be a joke because it's a under exaggeration considering it's been two fucking years since I've seen or heard anything.
"Lincoln." I say sternly.
"Lexi." He smiles. But honestly? I'm pissed. It's been TWO YEARS no calls, no text, no letter. Nothing.
"What are you doing here?" I ask flatly.
He stands up. "Just thought I'd drop by." He says too casually for my liking.
"This is ridiculous. I don't know what you want or what you're doing here."
"I-" He begins but before he can go on I interrupt.
"You clearly want something." I frown.
His smile falters slightly. "Can't a guy just miss his friend?" He smiles again.
I bite my tongue. You didn't miss me for two years. I think to myself.
I just ignore his comment; walking past him to unlock my apartment door.
He just stands there, his eyes begging to be let in. I'd be a liar if I said there was even the slightest chance of me not letting him in...I'm so stupid...
I opened the door a little wider for him without a word.
His smile spreads to something more genuine.
"It's been too long, Lex." He says because unlike me he doesn't know how to shut up.
"Two years." I flatly remind him. Trying to not let my words carry any tone. I don't need him to know this fact actually bothers me.
His clueless smile pisses me off. I shake my head, closing the door behind us.
He twirls around, looking around. "Nice place you've got. Got some new decor?" He asks, picking up some of my framed pictures of Courtney and I together.
His eyes widen. "Holy shit! Is that Courtney?" He asks, showing me the picture as if I literally don't have it framed. I roll my eyes.
"People change in two years, Lincoln." My tone carries bite but I can't help it.
"She looks good." He comments, looking back at the picture. He looks up at me. "You look good too." He says quickly as if to fix something. But I don't want his compliments.
"Yeah." I answer.
"You cut your hair?" He asks, coming up to me he takes a strand of my shoulder length brown hair between his fingers. I can't help the expression that spreads on my face.
I hold my breath.
"It's honestly not that hard to believe that I've cut my hair since you last came around." I exhale.
He frowns but it doesn't last. "I'm here now." He offers. "That means nothing."
"I thought you'd be happy to see me." I roll my eyes. I don't know if it's ignorance or just straight up stupidity. "If you'd been gone a couple weeks? Maybe. But you've been gone two whole years. I thought I'd never see you again. Why in the world would I be happy to see someone who I haven't thought of in a year?" I scoff.
A look of hurt flashes on his face and it's honestly refreshing to see something that isn't amusement in his eyes. It's nice to know not everything I say is going in one ear and out the other.
I sigh a sigh of relief. "What are you doing here?" I ask, getting straight to the point.
"Can't a guy just miss his best friend?" He shrugs with a guilty smile that makes my fist clench. My eyes squint to a glare at his meaningless words.
"I wish you would've missed me before it'd been two years and some change." I say, crossing my arms. As soon as the valuable words leave my mouth I feel like an idiot.
"C'mon, I'm sorry. I'm here now." He insists.
I just decide to swallow my pride and shake it off. "Yeah, I guess. Why are you here?"
"I was in town and I was hoping I could stay with you.." I let his question hang in the air, hoping he'd feel as stupid as I did.
My eyes study his grey ones.
"I don't know..." His hopeful smile morphs to a look of confusion.
"Two years is a long time. What if you're a serial killer now?" It's nice having the upper hand once and a while.
"Even if I was I'd never hurt you, Lexi." He says in a sweet genuine yet playful way.
"That's because I'd beat you before you could ever attempt to attack." I "joke".
"So I can stay?" He smiles, raising his brows.
"If you can fit on my love seat." I give in, shrugging way more casually than I feel. I feel like I just agreed to let Lincoln stay at my house for an unknown amount of time.
"I'm gonna clean up." I say, heading to the shower.
Lincoln grabs my upper arm. "It's good to see you again."
"Yeah."
