Page 12 of Sunflower

He stopped mid-fumble and glared at Amelia. “You said you were single!”

Amelia started protesting her innocence in it all, when I stated quite clearly over the top of her, “Well, she isnow. Maybe you should ask yourself what else she lied about.”

I let out an exasperated huff, then focused all my energy on staring blandly at Amelia, but I kept speaking to the guy to my left. “If you still want her, have at her. I’m done.”

And with that, I turned and walked out the door, dragging my suitcase along behind me.

Chapter Five

Joey

Iendedupgettingthe pretty sunset photo I wanted through the window of the plane I’d been able to change my ticket to on the way to the airport.

With the unrelenting need to get out of the hotel as quickly as possible, I didn’t bother looking for Callum, Erin, or Dad to let them know what had happened. Our parents had booked and paid for our hotel rooms for another two nights, and the last thing I wanted to do was request another room and chance running into Amelia accidentally and get caught up in a scene. The weekend was supposed to be about Erin and Dad, not whatever drama Amelia might cause if we randomly saw each other in the hotel breakfast room.

I shot my family a group message to let them know I was headed home early because of unexpected course work but heaped praise on the ceremony and reception. Dad and Erin had outdone themselves organizing everything, and I wanted them to know that.

Because I’d slept a little on the plane, I ended up being wide awake by the time I made it back to the frat house just before eleven that night. I dumped my luggage in my room to sort out in the morning and headed for the kitchen to see if there was any ice cream I could liberate from the freezer.

“Hey man, you’re back early. How was it?”

I poked my head around the freezer door to see one of my good frat friends fumbling with a box of pop-tarts on the other side of the kitchen island. “Hey, Bobby. Yeah, it was good. Real good. Erin looked gorgeous. I haven’t seen Dad in a tux for quite a while either, so that was fun, too.”

The blast of cold air to my cheeks made me realize I still had the freezer door open, so I grabbed the cookies and cream ice cream and wrenched the lid off as I headed for the cutlery drawer.

“Uh oh.”

I dug around in the drawer for a spoon before looking up at him with a raised eyebrow. “What?”

He tilted his head and frowned at me. “You’re eating ice cream.”

I mirrored his actions. “Yeah. So?”

He narrowed his eyes, dumped the pop-tarts on the bench, and planted his hands flat on the counter. “You only eat ice cream when something’s happened. What happened?”

It was honestly really annoying that a good friend could pull this sort of bullshit when all you wanted to do was wallow in self-pity. I wondered if I could distract him with one of his favorite topics: himself. “I’m assuming it’s quiet in the house tonight because everyone decided to go to that house party down on Elmwood. Why aren’t you there too?”

He shrugged. “Got a final report due first thing on Monday. Figured I’d get more done here while it was quiet than at the library. Stop trying to change the subject. Spill.”

I rolled my eyes and sighed. When he wouldn’t allow himself to get sidetracked, Bobby had the focus of a predator. I felt pretty confident that he’d taken Ritalin to help him get through finals in the past, so I couldn’t be too surprised he was hyper focused tonight.

Figuring it’d be easier to just rip the band-aid off, I blurted, “Found Amelia in bed with someone else just before the reception wrapped up.”

“Fuck, Joey,” he drawled, shock clear on his face if the dinner-plate-sized eyes were any indication. “I thought you two were end goals. We all did.”

I shrugged, then let my shoulders sag. I knew what Bobby meant. Everyone at the frat house loved Amelia, but they didn’t know her like I did. I was the only one who saw and heard the bitchiness and vitriol that constantly streamed from her mouth when it was just the two of us. She might put on a kind mask in public, but underneath, she was rotten to the core.

It didn’t stop me from being upset with myself that I’d wasted so much time with her. That was what the ice cream was for, not the fact that I’d found her cheating on me. And if nothing else, that told me everything I needed to know about the end of our relationship.

Bobby started moving around the kitchen, pulling out one of the family sized blocks of chocolate from the pantry and dumping it in front of me before rummaging around above the refrigerator for something.

“What are you doing?” I asked, picking up the plain block of chocolate. “I don’t need this.”

“Shut up,” he said, voice muffled while he stretched high enough to poke around the back of the shelf until he shouted a triumphant “Aha!” and pulled a half full bottle of vodka from the depths of the cupboard and plonked it with the chocolate. “Yes, you do. You’re going to take all these comfort foods”—he eyedthe vodka—“and drink, and you’re going to disappear into your room and watch some porn and jerk off so much that you fall asleep from cum dehydration and limp dick exhaustion.”

I blinked at him.

He smirked and shrugged. “What? It’s a legitimate condition.”

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