Page 17 of I Blame the Alcohol

Stella

“Wait. So, let me get this straight: you agreed to work out with a guy? Who you’ve never met before?”

I nod in response to Lou’s questions.

“But… why?”

I go to nod my head and then stop, realizing this one needs more than a yes or no answer. I open my mouth but find myself at a loss of words.

Why did I agree to work out with Hayden tomorrow morning? The answer is so simple yet feels infinitely more complicated.

Seems to be a life theme of mine.

“To get back at Cody.” I cringe at the juvenile word choice, but it’s the barren truth. And ever since Lou and I hit a rocky patch in our friendship because I refused to open up, I figure it's best to go with the most direct route possible.

The hand stabbing the cafeteria’s poutine stalls at my confession. I can practically hear the wheels of my roommate’s brain turning overtime.

“Because he didn’t let you visit him at the hospital? I thought we were over that.” I bristle at the comment, a topic that’s still sore but one I have exhausted on too many occasions.

I’m not one who easily admits I was in the wrong, but even I can’t deny there was a rough adjustment period during Cody’s recovery. I went from furious to furiously disappointed as the injured defenseman’s hospital stay prolonged for what seemed like an indefinite amount of time. His overall lack of communication told me all there is to know on his perspective of our friendship, but it still hurt to hear about Wes’ ER visits and no mention of Cody wanting to see me.

He was suffering from severe internal injuries. But still. A text or something would have been nice.

Needless to say, that issue was raised weeks ago and no longer applies to the situation at hand. Because six weeks ago, Cody would never have hit on me at a house party. He would never have almost kissed me. And he most certainly would never have shown the slightest inclination of being jealous.

Over-protective, maybe. But not jealous.

“It’s not about the hospital visitations. He just seemed angry to know there might be someone else I’m willing to go to the gym with.”

Which is ridiculous because as we’ve gone over, Cody and I don’t even goto the gym together, we are just there at the same time.

Is anyone else starting to see the problem here?

A glint of understanding lights up Lou’s grey eyes, “Oh, so you’re trying to make him jealous.”

“No, not jealous. More like… unstable.” I flick the end of my French braid over my shoulder and give my roommate a beaming smile.

“Unstable.” Disbelief echoes in Lou’s tone, but I choose to ignore it.

“That’s right. Plus, it’s always good to mix things up once in a while.” A smirk tugs the corner of Lou’s mouth, but I choose to ignore that as well.

“You are the queen of routine, Stella. I don’t think I’ve seen you eat a dinner that doesn’t consist of grilled chicken and spinach.”

I shrug, completely oblivious to whatever she’s implying, “That’s called consistent eating.Healthy,consistent eating.” I give her container of poutine a meaningful look and get a fry thrown in my direction.

“Okay, Miss Denial. So, what’s your plan?”

“Plan?”

Lou rolls her eyes, using her fork to scoop up a cheese curd from the steaming pile of fries and gravy.

“Your game plan. For the date. Are you going to make Hayden do one of your cardio circuits?”

I hum to myself, going over the various scenarios in my mind. Almost all of them ends with Hayden never talking to me again or Stephen having to carry him out on a stretcher. Which doesn’t sound half bad, but sort of defeats the purpose.

“That would be mean spirited. I’ll just let him lead the workout.”

Lou nods thoughtfully, “Probably the safest route.”

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