Page 1 of It's Complicated

1

ISAAC

Sighing heavily,I glanced around the living room, taking in the aftermath of the party we’d accidentally thrown last night.

Clusters of drink cans and glasses were piled on tables, the arms of chairs, and even the windowsills. Crumpled bags of chips and other snacks were strewn about the floor, and most of the furniture had been rearranged and shoved into weird places.

The scene in front of me was tame compared to what our apartment usually looked like after a party, but with everything that had gone down last night, the last thing I wanted was to have to deal with this crap right now.

Something red and shiny caught my attention. Crouching, I tugged a patent leather high heel free from where it was jammed under the couch.

My cheeks burned as I stared at the tangible reminder of what happened last night.

The soft click of a door closing pierced the silence of the apartment. My brain sort of short-circuited, my fight-or-flight instincts kicking in and freezing me in place as they battled it out in my head.

Jamie was awake.

Time to face the music, so to speak.

Slowly, I got to my feet, the red heel still clutched in my hand and my entire body on edge.

“Morning,” Jamie said from behind me, his voice raspy and rough.

That was a normal greeting from him. Maybe things wouldn’t be as awkward or weird as I thought?

“Morning.” I turned to face him, trying for casual but failing epically when my voice cracked like I was going through puberty again.

Jamie looked exactly the same as he did every morning in a pair of worn sleep pants and a white t-shirt that was so thin it was practically see-through. His hair was a tousled mess, and his expression was carefully neutral.

The only outward difference was that the usual creases on his cheek from his pillow were absent, meaning he’d been awake for a while but hadn’t come out of his room until now.

Jamie wasn’t a morning person; neither of us were, but I was better at faking it. I’d trained myself to get up when my alarm went off. Jamie had a habit of snoozing his alarm and needing me to make sure his ass was up in time for him to get to work in the mornings.

Had he lain in bed piecing the night together? Or did he remember it in vivid detail like me?

His eyes fell to the shoe in my hand, and his cheeks went ruddy.

“Crazy night, huh,” I said, needing to break the silence.

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat and shifted his gaze to the rest of the apartment. “Really crazy.”

I tossed the shoe onto the couch like that would somehow erase its existence.

“At least this isn’t too bad.” I vaguely motioned to the room around us.

“Not too bad.” He cleared his throat again, his gaze downcast. “I don’t even remember how we ended up here.”

My entire being zeroed in on his words. Did he not remember last night? Or was it just how everyone had ended up at our place that was fuzzy?

Truthfully, I was more than a little fuzzy on that myself, and it had nothing to do with being drunk. I’d had a few last night, but barely enough to get me tipsy. And I’d been stone-cold sober by the time the party wrapped up.

Had Jamie been drunker than I’d thought?

“Yeah, me either.” I tossed him a quick smile. Hopefully it didn’t look as weird as it felt. “I think this is Andy’s fault. He’s the one who suggested we leave the club.”

Jamie nodded, the corner of his mouth ticking up in a small smile. “And the one who invited all those randoms to tag along.”

“So we’ve agreed it’s Andy’s fault?”

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