Unexpected (26 page)

Was I really that predictable? Probably.

I blinked back tears. I wasn’t about to admit it was because mint reminded me of Tristan. So I shrugged. “I’m tired of vanilla.”

Jamie didn’t comment. She narrowed her eyes at me instead. I think she knew but was kind enough not to point out that she knew.

I hadn’t really wanted to make the trip to Common Grounds. But when they’d both shown up on my doorstep, insisting they weren’t going to let me wallow, I was outmatched.
And they had been right. If left alone, that’s exactly what I would’ve done for the rest of the day. In fact, that’s exactly what I’d
been
doing. It had been after noon when they’d shown up but I hadn’t even gotten out of bed yet. I was just buried under the covers, feeling sorry for myself. Or in other words,
wallowing
.

But now, I was seated in our favorite booth. I was trying to let myself be comforted by the familiar scent of coffee and the company of my friends.
Jamie had ordered scones for us. I wasn’t sure why she bothered. She had to have known I wouldn’t be hungry. Instead, I began mindlessly crumbling it into little pieces.

They had both insisted I would feel better if I got out of the house. So far, they were wrong.

“I’m not going to be caught in the middle. But I am taking sides. I’m on your side. You know that, right?” Jamie asked. “I gave him the silent treatment all morning. Not that he really cares or even notices. I mean, I don’t talk to him a whole lot anyway. Especially lately because he’s never home.” She winced at the last part. “Sorry.”

I shrugged. “It’s fine. You were right all along. This was a terrible idea.”

She looked at me sympathetically. “To be honest, I thought it would be you breaking his heart. Not the other way around. I thought this would end with me being mad at you. Not with me being so furious with my brother that I can’t even look at him.”

Willow gave me a sad smile. “Not me. I just thought the two of you would work out. Like, maybe be forever or something. I never thought some little hussy would—”

“Well,” Jamie said as she cut her off. “He and the little hussy won’t be seeing much of each other for a while.”

“Why?” I asked. I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know. The question had just snuck right out of my mouth.

“He broke curfew by a few hours last night. Mom and Dad were furious. They were waiting up for him. Let’s just say, he’s not going to be leaving the house for a while,” Jamie informed us. “It didn’t help matters at all when he refused to tell them where he’d been. And they knew he wasn’t with you because his car wasn’t at your house. And when he came home, he was obviously coming from town.”

I felt myself blinking back tears again. I had one gues
s where he’d been. I couldn’t even get a few hours out of him during the week. And last night he broke curfew by several hours. Wasn’t that just sweet and lovely?

“Can we maybe not talk about Tristan?” I asked. I thought the whole idea of getting me out of the house was to cheer me up. Not to bring me down.

“Let’s talk about
Corey,” Willow suggested. She’d placed her mug of tea back down on the table. She was leaning forward on her elbows.

“Let’s not,”
I tossed back. To be honest, that was the last thing I expected her to say.

“He came back to Krista’s last night,” Willow told me. “He was really upset. He said he’d blown it with you for good. He couldn’t stop talking about how much he missed you. He got a little carried away. He probably had a bit too much to drink.”

I groaned. I was suddenly pretty sure I knew what was coming next. When Corey was in one of his moods, and when he was drinking…it seemed to always have the same end result.

“I don’t think I want to hear this,” I told her.

Jamie leaned forward, grinning at Willow. “Oh, I think I do.”

Willow’s face became a little too serious. “He was
a wreck.”

“I’m sure,” I muttered.

“I mean, he was fine at first. Well,” she conceded, “not fine. But just
talking
at first.”

“T
he more he drank, the worse he got?” I guessed.

“Corey was crying Britta!
Crying
!” Willow whisper-yelled to me.

I think maybe I was supposed to feel bad about this.
Or possibly just surprised. But I didn’t. And I wasn’t. I was used to it.

Because, oddly enough, “
Corey’s a crier,” I said without a lot of sympathy. “I mean, not always. But when he starts drinking? If things don’t go his way? He’s like one big blubbering mess of a pity party.” I have to say, the first time, possibly even the second or third time it happened, I was touched. I felt bad. I felt like the whole ordeal was touching and endearing. But then I just realized the truth. The boy cannot tolerate liquor. Sad, but true. Once I’d made that connection, it no longer seemed endearing. It just seemed…awkward. And though it wasn’t like it happened all the time, or even all that often, it had happened more than enough during the time we were together.

Willow gave me a sympathetic look. As though she thought I was only pretending to blow off what she thought was a monumental revelation.

I shrugged and took a careful sip of my hot chocolate. My
mint
hot chocolate. I stuffed down a sad little whimper. Maybe mint had been a bad idea. A sad little reminder that I didn’t need.

“I should’ve gotten vanilla,” I muttered.

“I knew it,” Willow muttered back. Though she had no idea what the reason was behind my change of heart. “So, anyhow, Corey?” she pressed.

I shook my head. “No, no to
Corey. No to even talking about Corey.”

“But Britta,” Willow sighed. “You should’ve seen him. It was really sweet. We talked for hours—”

I raised my eyebrows at that.

She blushed.

“Well, Willow,” Jamie said, as she cocked her head to the side. “I do think you have some details you might need to share.”

Willow cringed. “Okay. But it’s not what it sounds like.”

“Go on,” I said. My interest was piqued whether I wanted it to be or not. Or maybe I just wanted to hear about something that would keep my mind off of Tristan.

“Okay,” she relented
. Then she blew out a breath. I got the feeling she was preparing to make a confession.

Jamie and I glanced at each other. We were probably wearing matching looks of confused wonderment.

“Well,” Willow said, starting again. “I thought I should get him out of Krista’s. I mean, he was a wreck. So I thought maybe he should have a little bit of privacy. Besides, I didn’t want him driving, obviously.”

“
Uhhuh
, go on,” Jamie prodded when Willow paused.

“So we went for a drive,” Willow said with a shrug. “We talked for a long time.”

“How long?” I asked out of curiosity. It wasn’t that I minded but the thought of Willow and Corey together was just…bewildering. It had been late when he’d left my house. So by the time he’d met up with Willow, it was obviously later still. Unlike Jamie and me, her parents were pretty laid-back. She didn’t really have a curfew.

“Hmm, what? Oh, the drive? Maybe an hour or so. And then he was hungry so we went out for burgers,” she admitted as she fidgeted with her napkin.

“You went out for burgers. With Corey. In the middle of the night.” Jamie repeated it all with a tiny smirk. “Well, that’s…interesting.”

“No,
no
,” Willow said. “Not interesting. It was just…we were talking.” And I realized
she
was blushing. She looked at me imploringly. “He was really sweet Britta. I felt so bad for him. He was so nice. He kept thanking me for talking to him. He even paid for my meal.”

“Are you forgetting that he’s the one that chose to end things with me? And now…you’re feeling bad…for
him
?” Oddly, I realized I wasn’t all that upset about it. Primarily because I realized that when it came to Corey, I simply didn’t care all that much.

She nodded.

Jamie looked at Willow suspiciously. “Did you tell Corey that you would talk to Britta on his behalf?”

“Maybe
.” Willow squeaked out the word.

“Traitor,” I mumbled. I was mostly teasing and yet, part of me wasn’t.

“Why would you be doing favors for Corey?” Jamie wanted to know.

Willow had the nerve to look at us like
we
were being unreasonable.

“Because I think really, he’s a nice guy.” She glanced at me. “You know it’s true. I mean, yes, you two broke up. But you were together for kind of a long time. So I know that you must’ve thought so, too. Because I know you wouldn’t have been with him otherwise.
And last night, he was so worried about you.”

I wrinkled my nose but didn’t respond. She was right. Darn her. Instead I said, “What exactly are you hoping to get out of this conversation?”

“I think you should give Corey another chance,” she said. Her response was immediate. She was looking at me hopefully.

“Don’t you think it’s kind of soon for her to be giving
anyone
a chance right now?” Jamie demanded.

“It’s not just anyone,” Willow argued. “It’s
Corey.”

“It is
Corey. And I’m not interested,” I assured her.

She bit her lip. Countless emotions seemed to flit across her features.

Jamie sat up straighter in the booth. She narrowed her eyes at Willow. “Britta’s not interested. But…are you?”

“Me?!” Willow ask
ed, her eyes were wide. “No.
Uhuh
.” She shook her head to accentuate her answer. Her blond curls bounced around her shoulders.

“If you want him,” Jamie said, “you could probably have him. Right, Britta?”

I raised my eyebrows at her. “I guess…but you say that like he’s mine to give away or something.”

Willow reached for her mug of tea. I thought she looked a bit conflicted.

“Do you
like
Corey?” I sounded incredulous. She hesitated. I could tell she didn’t want to answer me. “It’s fine if you do,” I said. “I really don’t care.”

“Really?” she asked. She’d scrunched her face up into a look of pure guilt. “I mean…I don’t know if I do or not. I probably don’t. But it’s just…after last night…”

Jamie and I waited in patient silence. The thing we both knew about Willow was that if we waited her out, she would almost always cave. It was usually just a matter of who could hold out the longest.

“Okay, maybe I might but I really just don’t know.” The words shot out of her mouth. She winced, as if she expected there to be backlash.

I just nodded. I was a little bit speechless.

Corey
and Willow.

It was an interesting thought.

*~*~*

“Britta?”

The sound of my mom’s voice pulled me out of my nap. I didn’t usually, or ever, take naps. But I hadn’t slept much the night before, despite just lounging around in my bed all morning. And I was exhausted from what had turned into a seemingly endless crying jag. I hadn’t wanted to lose it in front of my friends. So I’d held it together until I’d gotten home. Then I’d cried myself to sleep. My eyes felt icky and my chest ached.

At first Willow and Jamie had insisted on coming into the house with me. I’d finally convinced them to leave, claiming I was tired. I hadn’t really meant to sleep but after they were gone, I couldn’t think of anything else to do. Besides, when you were sleeping…it meant at least you didn’t have to be thinking.

And I had desperately wanted to stop thinking. I couldn’t get the image of Tristan and Jayde out of my head. Images of them together. The real one, them walking arm in arm. And imagined ones. Him kissing her, his lips on her neck. His hands on her body. Hers on him…It had all been too much. After sobbing myself to sleep, I didn’t exactly feel better but I was grateful for the reprieve sleep had brought me.

“Are you sick?”
Mom asked. She had left my door open. I glanced at the clock. It was almost dinner time. My room was gloomy and gray. The light from the hallway sliced across it. It cast enough light that I could see her expression when she put her hand on my forehead. She was worried.

“I’m not sick,” I told her. I gently pushed her hand away as I sat up. “What’s up?” I asked. It was a futile attempt to dodge more questions.

“I wanted to talk to you about something. But…” She shook her head. “Now isn’t the time.”

“Are you sure you’re not sick? Did you catch what I had?” she wondered.

“I thought you got an upset stomach from the food?”

She shrugged. “It might have been a flu bug. It’s hard to say. Especially if you’re not feeling well. Maybe I caught something and passed it on to you.”

“I’m not sick,” I repeated. Then I asked, “Are you just getting home?”

She nodded.