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Bill Me
“Silvia! You okay?”
She nodded, blowing her nose with a shaky giggle from the kitchen. She’d pretty much jumped off of her chair when the video ended, trying in vain to wipe her tears away.
“But this isn’t the video they have on YouTube,” said Claudia, frowning.
Paola huffed. “’Cause it’s not the official video.”
“Damned jerk!” Silvia grumbled from the kitchen, lighting a cigarette and shaking her head.
Claudia’s eyes were like grapefruits again. “He— He made this video for you?”
Silvia shrugged, still fighting back her tears.
Paola narrowed her eyes. “That place. It looked like a bus terminal.”
“Yeah, that’s where we met. Give me a mate and I’ll explain the video to you guys.”
She was still talking when Claudia handed her a mate, while Paola pointed at her empty chair. So Silvia spent ten times the length of the video explaining the zillion private jokes and winks they’d just seen.
The
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“Come play in my ground. Task of the week: a poem.” Jim liked Silvia’s DM the week after her clip. She hadn’t even asked what he thought about it. This was the first time she came up with a task, and it was a good one. “I’m in. Any particular subject?” “How about states of the soul?” “U r so fkn corny *rolling eyes*” “Humor me :P” She uploaded a poem to the Hey, Jay! before he did. It’s time The long thread of twilights I’ve built my life upon Has lost any meaning So I turn off the sun and lay Streams, hills, woods to rest And take off To some shady inner world Of demons unseen and falling angels Where I wander under starless skies Hunting down my own shadow Until the time comes
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Two weeks before leaving for the third leg of their world tour, that would take No Return to Asia and Eastern Europe until the end of the year, Jim had a fight with Barbara, the woman he’d been dating for the last two months. He heard his front door slam shut, a revving engine, a car skidding away. He ran down the stairs to the living room, his shirt open over his chest, still breathing heavily after the violent argument. His eyes moved slowly around the dark, empty room as he took his phone out of the back pocket of his jeans. He dialed and waited, dropping himself on the couch. “Don’t you dare call me ever again, you fucked-up son of a bitch!” The hand holding the phone slid down as he sank in the black leather cushions, still trying to catch his breath. Fine, he’d said too much, and not for the first time. Well, maybe he’d been a little too sarcastic. And things had gotten a little out of control when Barb had started crying and throwing th
No Return U There
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No Return Wish You Were Here
“Hey, dude, let’s go for a walk,” Sean said, ignoring the mayhem left in the room after the party. Jim didn’t seem to listen, cursing under his breath as he went through the phone menus. “Jimbo.” “Fuck!” “What’s up, man?” Sean grabbed a beer from the minibar on his way to his brother. “I can’t fucking find it! I deleted the DMs by mistake and now I can’t find the fucking number!” “You looking for a phone number?” “What’s the time in LA now?” Sean frowned, puzzled. “About four AM? Why?” Jim ignored his question. “So it’s seven AM in New York. One or two more hours. She should be already awake,” he muttered under his breath. Sean didn’t hear him do his math and asked, “You mean you lost Barbara’s number when we changed phones in Tokyo?” Jim frowned up at him. “What?” “Aren’t you looking for her number?” “Whose number?” “Barbara’s.” “Why the fuck would I wanna
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