Page 86 of The Drop

"We just wanted you happy, bud," I say. "Sorry if that made it harder for you."

Gunnar told us last night that the more he stayed in, the more suspicious she was of the rest of us being party animals and bad influences, but if he went out, it was ten times worse. He didn't want to keep fighting with her, so he tried to keep her as happy as possible to minimise the fights. The messages to Cami weren't even flirty, but he sent her one asking if he had upset her after the game, and he thinks Sasha saw it, thinking there was more to it.

She had cheated on him twice last year, and he found out right before they left for college, which explains the ridiculous number of phone calls and his being glued to his phone. He thought he could work past it, not wanting to throw a five-year relationship away, but enough was just enough.

"I've told Sasha it's completely over, and when I head back home next, we can give each other our stuff back." He takes a long sip of his coffee. "I've also had to delete all my socials and email, I need to redo them."

"I'm sorry, Gunnar," Brooke says, reaching over and touching his arm. "That must have been such an invasion of your privacy."

"I just can't believe she did that to me. I mean, she's the one who cheated." He shakes his head. "Not that I would, but surely it should be me checking up on her."

"You would never do that to anyone." Adam shakes his head, saying what we are all thinking.

"I just want to move forward; no more being on my phone and focus on my last two years of hockey." He chucks his arm around Adam. "Thanks for not just giving up on me."

"Not a chance you're getting rid of us that easily." I grin at him and he returns it.

It's good to see my buddy happy again, even if it's not under the best circumstances.

Text between Brooke B and Grant A

Brooke B-Are the beavers in the dam?

Grant A- Beavers are not in the dam. Beavers are at the watering hole

Brooke B- Wouldn’t the river that their dam is on be the Beavers' watering hole?

Grant A-Brooke. You're taking it too far.

Brooke B-I’m taking it too far? You’re insisting we refer to our roommates as animals in code.

Grant A-yeah, but we don’t need in-depth back stories…

Brooke B-You said watering hole!

Brooke B-you know what, never mind, I'm cancelling.

Grant A-You can’t cancel. The Beavers are out.

Brooke B-If you want it so bad, you can stop with the animals and come over here.

Grant A-You want me to fly around the eagle :0

Brooke B- I’m going to block you.

Chapter Forty

Brooke

We are a week away from Christmas and travelling with the hockey team on the bus to their last game before winter break.

"I feel like I didn't pack everything," I stress next to Cami, fiddling with my phone in my hands.

"B, we triple-checked it all." She's been trying to calm me down since we left, but since we have such a tight turnaround to get The Drop out tonight, I can’t calm down till it's up.

We are going to shoot the last shots for the December drop at the away game with the crowd in the background. Coach okayed it once Grant assured him it wouldn't interfere with the team having Cami and me on the bus. He left out how close our friendship group is, but that's for the best.

We are sitting at the front with the coaching staff, so we don't distract the players, but Bear keeps texting Cami memes from the back of the bus, so I'm guessing he's not in the zone yet.

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