After discovering Addie had left, I crashed on the floor in Marcus’ room. Only to be woken up when he kicked me out around two in the morning. He was drunk as hell and had a girl with him, the dog.
And that girl definitely wasn’t Emma. Nope, it was freaking Monique.
I got my ass out of there stat and fell asleep on the couch in the family room. Then hightailed it out of there the next morning, as soon as I woke up, and went straight home to sleep most of my Saturday away.
When I finally got up around three in the afternoon, groggy and out of it, I fumbled for my phone, checking to see if I had a text message from Addie.
Nope.
I took a shower. Jerked off to memories of us last night. Contemplated what I would say to her via text.
I want to see her tonight. Hang out. Maybe continue where we left off last night.
Would she be down?
Unable to resist my growling stomach any longer, I head down to the kitchen to find my mom in there, cutting up a bunch of strawberries.
“There you are,” she says, as she watches me go to the pantry and grab my favorite cereal. “You slept most of the day away.”
“I was tired.” I take a giant bowl out of the cabinet and fill it almost to the top with cereal. Grabbing the milk out of the fridge, I dump a bunch in with my cereal, get a spoon and settle in at my usual place at the kitchen counter.
She watches me, seemingly amused. “You’re always tired lately. Or hungry.”
“It’s been a busy week.”
“It’s going to be a busy year,” she says, hesitating for only a moment before she asks, “How was the party last night?”
“Good.” I keep my expression as neutral as possible, not wanting to give anything away, but I must.
My mother has always been ultra-observant of me and my moods. Sometimes it’s annoying as hell, especially when I want to hide my feelings from her.
“Something happen?” Her tone is innocent, but she’s fishing for information.
“I uh—” Should I tell her? Ah, screw it. “I kissed Addie.”
The knife lands with a clatter on her wooden cutting board. “No. Really?”
I shovel a bunch of cereal into my mouth and chew, contemplating how I should answer. She’s always liked Addie. I don’t think she views this as a bad thing. “Really,” is all I end up saying once I swallow.
“That’s so sweet.” Mom is beaming. I think she likes this. “Are you two a—thing?”
“I don’t know.” I shrug. “Can’t put a label on it yet.”
She rolls her eyes but doesn’t comment on my label remark. “Do you want to be a thing with Addie?”
“I like her,” I admit.
“You’ve liked her for a while, huh?”
I duck my head and stare at the cereal floating in milk as I keep shoveling it in. I’m realizing cereal isn’t going to cut it. I need something with more substance. “Maybe.”
“I think she’s a better match for you than Sasha,” Mom says.
I glance up, watching her as she calmly slices strawberries, one after the other. “Why do you think that?”
“Don’t get me wrong, I liked Sasha. She’s a nice girl. But I always felt like you two wanted different things,” Mom says, ever the observer.
“Yeah. I guess so.”
“Do you think you’re moving too fast, though? You did just break up with Sasha,” Mom points out.
Yeah, I told her. I tell my mom lots of stuff, though I’m not going to confess what happened last night between Addie and me.
I can barely wrap my head around it myself. Still freakin’ blown away at what we did do.
Which was a lot.
And I want more.
“No.” I keep eating, so I can’t talk.
“I’m assuming since you kissed her that Addie likes you too.”
“Mom.” That’s all I say, and she clamps her lips shut, dumping all of her sliced strawberries into a bowl.
She’s quiet as she works about the kitchen and I finish my cereal, checking my phone, staring at my text messages, which I don’t have too many of. I’m sure all of my friends are still sleeping.
I wonder if Addie is.
Deciding I need to man the hell up, I open up our thread and send her a quick text.
Me: Hey.
No quick response. I go to refill my bowl with more cereal and milk, taking my time as I walk back to the counter and settle onto the stool.
Still no response from Addie.
Shit.
Once I consume two bowls of cereal and grab some Cheez-it crackers to take to my room, I head up there and start cleaning. It’s a fucking disaster, and I know I’m going to hear about it from my parents at some point over the weekend, so I may as well beat them to it.
My phone dings with a notification as I’m piling clothes in a laundry basket and I check to see it’s from Dom.
Pushing aside my disappointment that it’s not Addie, I read his message.
Dom: Yo, what are you doing? Party last night was lit.
Me: Cleaning my room. Yeah, it was.
Dom: Barely saw you tho.
Me: You were too busy with Tori.
Dom: Who were you busy with? Addie?
I don’t answer him. Not yet. I’m going to tell him about Addie and me, but I won’t go into too much detail.
Dom: Come on bro. Don’t leave me hanging. You were with Addie, right?
Me: Yeah.
Dom: Knew it. Talked to Sasha last night. She’s a jealous bitch, bro. She knew you hooked up with Addie and she was pretty fuckin pissed about it.
Wait a minute.
How the hell did Sasha know about me and Addie?
Having zero patience for texting, I immediately call him.
“Be glad you dumped her,” is how he answers. “That girl is straight-up mean. She was talking mad shit about you, bro!”
I ignore his mad shit comment. “How the hell did Sasha know I hooked up with Addie last night?”
“I didn’t tell her about it because I didn’t know about,” he says. “She mentioned it to me.”
This makes no damn sense. “So how did she find out?”
“Like I said, I have no clue.”
“What exactly did she say?” I need clarification.
“Lemme think. I was kind of drunk. Nah, more like really drunk.” He laughs and I grit my teeth together, frustrated. “Oh, I remember. She asked me where you were. I said I wasn’t sure. She asked if you were with Addie and I pretended I didn’t know what she was talking about.”
“Okay.” I draw the word out, hoping there’s more to his lame-ass story.
“She heard you and Addie hooked up, but I don’t know who told her, and she didn’t mention a name.”
“We did hook up,” I admit.
“Ha! Knew it.” His voice lowers. “How was it? Because her friend is kind of freaky.”
“Tori?” I’d rather distract him and have him tell me about his adventures with Tori than give him any details about my experience with Addie.
“Yeah. That girl is up for anything.” He chuckles. “I like that about her. She’s fun.”
“I like Addie,” I admit. “And after last night, I really like her.”
“Already forgot about Sasha?”