“Stop talking, it hurts,” Kye groaned. “Everything hurts.”
“That’s what you get for drinking your body weight in vodka and smoking your lung capacity in weed.” Chloe stood in the doorway of Kye’s room. “What the hell happened to you three last night anyway?”
“Ask Z. It’s all his fault.”
“Fuck you, asshole,” I breathed, hauling myself off the floor. “I need water and Tylenol.”
“Grams is fine by the way,” Chloe added. “I checked in on her last night and again this morning.”
“Shit, what time is it?”
“A little after nine thirty. I’m making pancakes if anyone wants any.”
“I’ll take some of those and a coffee,” Nate said. “Strong black coffee.”
Chloe chuckled. “Let’s go, Miller. You can fill me in on what the hell happened last night.”
“Z realized he made a huge fucking mistake letting Celeste go and we spent the night trying to come up with a way for him to win her back. At least, I think we did. It all gets a little hazy after the second bottle of vodka.”
“Took you long enough.” Chloe flashed me a sly grin. “So what epic grovel did the three of you manage to come up with? Because I have got to hear this.”
“Actually, we didn’t.” Nate finally sat up, revealing his bare chest. Chloe’s cheeks flushed and she looked everywhere but at him.
“So I’ll uh… I’ll be in the kitchen.” She hurried off. “But I want to hear all about your plans to win her back.”
“Why does she assume I even have a shot?”
If I was Celeste, I would never want to talk to me again.
“I love you, man,” Kye said. “But sometimes, you really are a clueless fucking idiot.”
Celeste
“The press release was a huge hit,”Mom said over breakfast Wednesday morning.
It had been three days since the photoshoot, and two days since the paper had printed the story.
I refused to read it.
“Jeanine has already had two calls from potential donors.”
“That’s great, darling.” Dad dropped a kiss on her head.
This was new. Them both sticking around for breakfast. A lame attempt at getting me back on side, no doubt. But it wasn’t going to work. I was done being their golden child, their trophy, their pawn.
Unbeknown to them, I’d spent the last two days making some choices about my future.
“Isn’t that great, Celeste?” Dad attempted to draw me into the conversation.
Things had been strained to breaking point between me and Mom. But I still couldn’t get over the fact that she’d sabotaged my relationship with Harleigh.
“Celeste,” Dad repeated, and I blinked over at him.
“I have some news,” I blurted out. I’d been waiting for the right time to tell them, but there would never be a right time.
Better to rip the Band-Aid off and face the consequences.
“I’ve decided on my major.”