Page 6 of Fall Hard

I cringed. The second hand embarrassment was getting me even now, almost forty-eight hours later. I was actually still a bit hungover which didn’t help and my feet ached something fierce just from the short walk Bryn had permitted while I’d been barefoot before she’d taken pity and carried me.

Considering we didn’t know each other that well, I should probably be thanking her. Would flowers be okay? Or would that seem too romance-y? Like,hey, sorry I touched your boob and you felt obligated to help me home from the club, hope you like freesias!Okay, so not flowers then. Wine? No, no, that was a bit too… adult. Serious.

Crap. I was starting to feel nauseous from thinking about this too hard. Maybe it was just better if I didn’t say anything and we could both just pretend that nothing had happened? It wasn’t like I had to see Brynthatoften, and when I did it was usually in a group setting.

I dried my hands on the towel and set about cleaning the counters and drying the dishes… so now I was stress cleaning.Great.

It had been fun letting loose the other night, but losing control wasn’t everything it was made out to be. Especially not when it left you stress cleaning in your kitchen and trying to come up with a better plan thanignore the problem and hope it goes away.

I slowly set down the disinfectant spray and looked blankly at the spotless kitchen in front of me, the wooden countertops gleaming. I didn’t need to think about any of this right now. I could just go back to bed, save this problem for another day.

A knock at the door made me mumble a curse under my breath as I grabbed the kitchen towel and dabbed a little frantically at my still-soaked front. I’d made sure the key under the matt had been replaced, so why would Jamie be knocking?

My mouth went dry as I walked up to the door and hesitantly cracked it open. Crap. We desperately needed to get a peephole.

“Hi,” Bryn said, somewhat cautiously. It was the first time I’d seen her since yoga and I’d left before she could try and speak to me afterwards. She was probably wondering how much of the other night I could remember, and right then I wished it was a lot less.

“Are you stalking me?” I blurted and she blinked, one eyebrow rising up as she folded her arms across her chest.Do NOT look at her chest!I kept my eyes trained firmly on her face as she watched me silently but I wanted to scream because all I could think about wasitouchedherboob.It was dumb. I wasn’t some sixteen-year-old with a crush. I didn’t evenlikeBryn. I mean, I didn’tdislikeher, but I didn’t want to touch her boobs either—or anywhere else.

“Are you okay?” She peered at me, leaning in closer and I backed up reflexively. “Your face has gone all red.”

“I’m fine,” I rasped, mouth suddenly dry. “What are you doing here?”

A slight scuff in the hallway had me peering over her shoulder as Jamie, Kit, and Ryan appeared carrying a couple boxes and a suitcase.

No. Surely not.

“What’s going on here?” I could hear the panic in my own voice and Bryn frowned like she might try and comfort me. I retreated into the apartment as they all filed in and Jamie smiled at me, her dark eyes warm but clear.

“Bryn needs a place to crash for a few days. Her place flooded and I said it would be fine for her to stay on the sofa here. That’s okay, right?”

I stared at her. It was her apartment, so really whatever Jamie wanted to do was her choice, but I still squinted at her dubiously for a second. Was this some kind of forced meet-cute?

“Are you high?”

Kit snorted and Jamie swatted at me. “Don’t be rude, Liv. I’ve barely had a one-pop today.”

I wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but she looked sober enough so I just shrugged and shoved down my panic. “Sure. Why not? It’ll be… fun.”

Ryan walked back into the hall, sans Bryn’s suitcase, and Kit dropped a box onto the cheap wood floor at his own feet as he eyed the red hallway walls, running a hand through his blue hair. “Somuch fun.” Kit smirked at me, his lip piercing flashing in the light, and I wanted to spontaneously perish on the spot. He knew. Of course he knew! Kit was Bryn’s brother, so why wouldn’t she tell him every excruciating detail of what had happened the other night?

“Well, I’d show you around but I know you’re already familiar with the layout.” Jamie waggled her dark brows at me behind Bryn’s back and I shook my head at her before looking away as Ryan pressed a kiss to her cheek.

The thing was, he was a good guy. So I couldn’t even hate the fact that she loved him otherwiseIwould be the asshole. I opted to walk away and felt more than saw Bryn following.

“No room at your brother’s place?” I asked nonchalantly and Kit glanced over at the sound of his name, strolling into the living room he’d helped us repaint a light pink not that long ago.

“I thought Bryn would be more comfortable in your bed—I mean, sofa.” He grinned and I shot Bryn a pointed look that she ignored.

“Oh!” Jamie blinked around at the room as she walked in. “You cleaned. Like. Everywhere. Is, um, everything okay?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” I said probably a shade too fast and refused to allow myself to even blink in Bryn’s direction again. “How long do you think you’ll be staying?” I said directionlessly as I tugged at a loose thread on my sleeve.Please just be a few nights. Please, please, please—

“Just a few weeks I think.” So close. “The flood was pretty bad. Apparently there was a leak that had been building for a long time and a lot of my stuff got wrecked when part of the ceiling finally collapsed.”

Oh. Crap. Now I felt bad that I’d been more worried about her being here than showing any empathy or concern for the fact her home had been ruined.“Wow. What did you manage to salvage?”

“Luckily I had my laptop on me because I was in class when it happened, but a ton of my books are just mush and I’m going to be paying a fortune in drycleaning bills.”

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