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“I’ll get you a glass.”

I checked my phone one more time as she got a ceramic mug. She poured it half-full from the spigot on the side of the wine box.

“Whoa,” I said, reaching for it. “Not so much.”

“You need to let loose.”

I lifted the mug in the air while she grabbed her more traditional wine glass, the only one we had in the house. We clinked them together then both took a drink.

“Ugh. Awful,” I said, scrunching up my face.

“Right?” she said, giggling. “To old times.”

She raised her glass again. Reluctantly, I did the same. Two drinks soon turned into four somehow. Before I knew it, midnight had come and gone.

“Shit,” I said, standing up. “I need to sleep.”

“Hey Brooke,” she said, getting serious for the first time all night, “I’m sorry I’ve been such a wreck lately. I shouldn’t have been so cold about Austin. I just want you to be careful, alright?”

I saw sincerity in her eyes for the first time in a while. I nodded before shutting the door behind me.

TWENTY-ONE

Brooke

I usually allowed myself to sleep until I woke naturally on Saturday mornings, but the morning after getting tipsy with Jocelyn, I woke up to her playing music in the kitchen.

I threw the covers back and got out of bed. Jocelyn sat at the kitchen table, staring at her own cup of coffee.

“Thanks for making coffee,” I said.

She lifted her head. “No problem. Thought it was the least I could do after getting you wasted last night. Dude my head is killing me.”

“Yeah well your music isn’t helping,” I said turning it down.

I walked back into my room and sent Austin a text message, apologizing for missing his call while I was drinking and asking if he minded me coming over. Almost immediate, he sent the address.

* * *

He answered the door wearing boxers and nothing else.

“You always walk around the house half-naked?” I teased.

“Come on in. I usually sleep in on Saturdays, but my phone woke me up.”

I stepped inside, closing the door behind me.

“Tell me about it.”

“Someone called and woke you up?”

“No, not exactly.” I glanced over at two guys on the couch yelling at each other. “Can we go to your room and talk?”

“Sure,” he said.

I followed him up a staircase.

“Is that Trey’s room?” I asked, nodding my head at a second door across the hall from the one he was opening.


Tags: Nicole Elliot Romance