Slowly We Trust (Fall and Rise #3)(63)
Author: Chelsea M. Cameron

“I’ll come with you,” Audrey said, giving me a hand up. “We’ll get clean together.”

I liked the sound of that plan.

Aud wasn’t one of those girls who was always on her phone, but the next few days I kept catching her pulling it out, or just staring at it constantly. I asked her about it the first few times, but she would just brush me off, or give me some sort of half-assed excuse.

I also caught her staring off into space and thinking a lot. Well, a lot more than usual. Once, she even did it while we were having sex.

“Aud?” I said, pausing, mid-thrust. She looked up at me as if she was waking up after a dream.

“I’m right here,” she said, stroking my back. “I’m right here with you.” I almost lost my hard-on, but she started begging me and digging her nails into my back and I kept going. I couldn’t say no when she begged me.

Lottie told me that Audrey was just distracted and that I shouldn’t worry.

“Why are you always trying to find a problem where there isn’t one? It’s not healthy.” I’d gone over to her place to have her help me find the roller skates that Aud had described to me. I was having no luck finding them online, but Lottie found the exact pair on eBay after some searching.

“Don’t you get scared? About Zan?” She nodded.

“All the time. But I can’t let that fear ruin what we have. Hell, I could be hit by a car tomorrow. Anything can happen. You have to live in the moment. I can’t believe I have to tell you this. I feel like we’ve switched personalities,” she said.

I tried to take her advice to heart, but it wasn’t easy. I left her place and went back to my dorm room to grab something and found Simon crying. I could count the number of times I’d seen him cry on one hand, so this was a big deal.

“What happened?” He looked up at me and wiped his eyes with a tissue. He would always yell at me for using my sleeve when we were younger.

“Brady and I had a fight. It was so stupid. I don’t even know why we fought. It was one of those things where it escalated and then I forgot why we were fighting. I’m sorry.”

I sat down next to him on his bed.

“Was it breakup bad?” Simon had never been in such a serious relationship before and I knew if they broke up, it was going to be devastating.

“I don’t think so. I hope not. I don’t know how I’d survive it. I love him, Will.” His voice broke and he put his head in his hands. Neither Lottie or I was really good at the comfort thing, but when your best friend is hurting so much, it doesn’t matter if you suck at doing the comforting thing. You do it anyway.

“I’m sure you’ll work it out. He loves you so much.” I’d never really seen two people who were that disgustingly in love. And happy. They were so f**king happy, you could feel it in the air around them.

“And I’m pretty sure that if you didn’t fight there would be something wrong with you. Oh, and make-up sex is the best sex, so you have that to look forward to.” I was grasping for ways to spin this positively.

Simon chuckled at my mention of make-up sex.

“You’re right about that.” He sighed. “It just that this is the first big fight and I’m so afraid to lose him, and it’s not just him. His parents are so wonderful, and they make me feel like I’m part of their family. I feel that way with you and Lottie, too, but it’s different.”

“I know, I know.”

I sat with him for a little while and we talked about relationships and I tried to give wise advice and tell him that it was going to be okay. I was in the middle of telling him about a crazy fight I’d had with Kandy when there was a frantic knock at the door.

I got up to answer it and saw a red-faced and still-crying Brady through the peephole.

“It’s him,” I said in a low voice. “Do you want me to let him in?”

“Babe, please let me in. I’m so sorry,” Brady yelled loud enough for both of us (and probably the whole hallway) to hear.

Simon nodded and I opened the door. Brady staggered in, sobbing and apologizing. Simon got up and held out his arms and I saw my cue to leave. I grabbed my stuff and made a quick exit before the make-up sex started.

“So here’s a question for you,” Stryker said the next night at dinner. Brady and Simon were cuddled up on the couch, as close as ever and they definitely both had a killer sex glow going on. I kept catching them whispering to each other and I had the feeling that the make-up sex was more of a marathon than a sprint.

“Yes, Abe?” Katie said, earning a glare from Stryker. She’d started calling him by the nickname for his middle name, mostly because it made him mad.

“I know we’re all doing our own Valentine’s Day things, but how about we all go out the day after? Sort of like a Valentine’s Hangover Day.” I was kind of shocked at his suggestion, but he frequently surprised me.

“We could go out to dinner or something,” he said, handing out plates.

“That’s not actually a bad idea. Restaurants will be packed on V-Day, but the day after they’ll probably be pretty empty. Good idea,” I said.

“It sounds lame,” Trish said.

“You think all my ideas are lame,” Stryker said, holding the plate over her head so she couldn’t reach it.

“That’s because your ideas are lame, ass**le,” she said, elbowing him in the stomach, causing him to contract in pain and bring his arm down so she could reach the plate.

“I think it sounds nice,” Audrey said, leaning her chin on my shoulder. I doled out spaghetti from a huge pot as everyone handed me their plates.

“We should have some sort of democratic process to make this decision,” Lottie said, sprinkling cheese all over her plate so that the sauce went from red to white.

“We could vote,” Zan said, shaking his head when she offered him the cheese container.

“All in favor of doing Valentine’s Hangover, raise your hand,” Stryker yelled. All of us raised our hands but Trish.

“You all suck,” she said, flopping on the couch.

“But you love romantic things,” Max said, sitting next to her. The kid didn’t talk much, but Trish had enough words for the both of them. Kind of like Lottie and Zan.

“Shut up,” she said, but her voice was soft and she had a smile on her face.

“Okay, it’s official. Valentine’s Hangover is a thing. Now where are we going to go?” Lottie said. “Not Caroline’s, obviously, because they kicked us out last time.”