Page 12 of The Snowball Effect

“Tell me,” Sutton flat-out commanded. “Come on.”

Regan squeezed her eyes closed, leaning into the handles of the grocery cart as she admitted, “Iamokay. It just – I…” She huffed out a breath. “I’m struggling a bit. With Emma.”

There. She’d spoken the unsurprising truth that she’d been trying to tiptoe around with Sutton for the last few weeks.

As she predicted, at her words, Sutton’s frown deepened, concern etching into her features. “Oh. I thought you said everything was okay? When I texted Emma the other day, she said it’s all fine?”

“Well, for Emma, I’m sure itisfine!” Regan felt the words burst out of her, throwing a look over her shoulder at the man behind her. Good, he was gone, and she was alone.

“Do you want me to set up a call to try and mediate?” Sutton offered, biting at her bottom lip as she studied Regan. The little lines on her forehead formed, and because Regan knew her best friend so well, she knew that those only appeared when Sutton started to really stress. “I knew I shouldn’t have so easily accepted Emma moving into my room while I’m gone. If I were thinking more clearly, I wouldn’t have–”

Regan shook her head, groaning. “No, I don’t, I…” She deliberately slowed down and made herself take a deep breath. “I don’t want you to be stressing about this while you’re literally inRome, okay?”

And that was the utter truth.

Sutton had been so worried about how Regan would fare without her that she’d seriously considered not taking her spot in this elite European internship. She hadn’t eventoldRegan she’d applied for it! Admittedly, Sutton had also been going through an intense heartbreak, so there were some other factors at play, and Regan didn’t delude herself to a grander level of importance than she deserved.

But it didn’t change that Sutton had sobbed in Regan’s arms only four months ago, confessing about this internship and apologizing to Regan. Telling Regan that she didn’t have to worry, that Sutton wouldn’t go.

It had been somewhat of a wakeup call for Regan herself at that moment.

A wake-up call that while she would always be Sutton’s best friend, one of the closest people to her in the world, she didn’t ever want to be someone that held Sutton back. Especially not when Sutton was capable of so many things and had such a bright future ahead of her, while Regan… didn’t.

So, even though she didn’t want to say goodbye to Sutton for over six months, even though she didn’twantto live with Emma Bordeaux – a woman whose dislike for Regan had never wavered in the last two years – Regan had womaned up and done what needed to be done.

She’d filled out Sutton’s acceptance form and reached out to Emma to broker a deal. And she’d resolved right from the start that she would be a Big Fucking Girl and handle her roommate business with Emma without needing Sutton to stress about it.

“But, I know that you’re only living with her because of my situation, and–”

Regan cut Sutton off with a sharp shake of her head. “Look, it really is… fine. Emma and I haven’t killed each other. We haven’t even gotten into a brawl.”

“She’d kill you,” Sutton deadpanned. “So, yes, I can see that you’re telling me the truth due to the fact that you are alive.”

Offense slid through her, and Regan’s mouth fell open with it. “Excuse you! She may be bigger than me, but I think I have a much more scrappier spirit than she does!”

Sutton’s silence, paired with her skeptical look, wasincrediblyinsulting, and Regan reeled from it, gasping.

“Wooow. I can’t believe you think Emma would take me in a fight!”

Sutton offered her a placating look. “You wouldn’t go down without getting in some licks, I’m sure.”

Regan sniffed.

“Before we go any further down this road, I sincerely hope that I will never have to find out how true these conjectures are.”

“You won’t,” Regan assured her quickly and knew that at the very least, that was true.

Regan and Emmabothwere outspoken and solid in their own personalities, but they’d never gotten physical. Not even close.

She sighed, giving in to a question she’d been holding out from asking. But since they were on the topic… “Can you just, like, give me some pointers? How to woo Emma, maybe?”

Sutton choked out a surprised, incredulous laugh. “Excuse me?”

“In a friendly way! Emma liked you from day one, and she hated me. So, how do I do it? How do I get her to like me? Or at least tolerate me?”

She knew she sounded desperate, and she didn’t even give a fuck.

Because the reality of her situation was that Regan was floundering at home with Emma. She’d been rapidly discovering about herself that she did not do well living in close quarters with someone that didn’t even want to have a simple conversation with her.

---