Page 116 of Choosing Forever
“Do you have another sister I don’t know about?”
“You’re an asshole in the morning, B.”
“Yeah, I am. And you’re an asshole all the time lately. Including last night.”
I ignore that, too tired and hungover to dig into it. Instead, I force myself into a sitting position and hiss as my stomach rolls. “Why am I here?”
“You showed up at two in the morning. Drunk, might I add. Again.”
“I don’t remember that,” I admit.
“I doubt you remember much of anything with how drunk you were. Hell, you’re still probably drunk. It’s only eight.”
“In the morning?”
Bryce crouches in front of me and pushes out a breath that smacks me in the face. She shakes her head while pinching my hair between her fingers and tugging.
“You need a haircut. And to shave your face.”
“I’ll get right on that.”
“And cut it out with the sarcasm. It makes you sound like a prick.”
I swat her hand away and pull my knees up. “I didn’t come here to get chastised. Poppy would have done that for you if I’d gone home.”
“You’ve been avoiding her, and it’s making her upset,” she says, standing and disappearing into her kitchen.
The property she’s renting from her parents is big enough for her and maybe a cat. I’m only lying on the floor, and it feels likethe place has shrunk. I don’t know how long she plans to live here, but as long as she’s happy, what the fuck does what I think matter?
“All Poppy wants to do is ask me about her. If she’s so curious, she can text her herself,” I snap.
“You can say her name, D.”
“I’m good.”
“Alright. Or you could just cut this entire thing out and fly to Vancouver to get her back. This is downright pathetic.”
I whip out a cold laugh and struggle to my feet. The world tilts and spins as I swallow the throw up trying to find its way to Bryce’s floor.
“I’m not talking about this,” I manage to say on the way to her bathroom.
Bryce follows. “And what good is that doing? You’re not in Calgary at school, and instead, there’s a mould of your ass on a stool at Peakside. Everyone’s worried about you.”
“Let it go, Bryce. I said I didn’t want to talk.”
The bathroom is hardly big enough for me, let alone the both of us. That doesn’t stop Bryce from forcing her way in after me and leaning against the sink to watch me heave over the toilet.
“Is this what you want to do instead? You want to drink yourself to death every night and flunk out of school? A school that you worked hard to get into, by the way. You were almost at the top of your class, and now you’re close to flunking out. I know for a fact that Delaney wouldn’t want that for you. Nobody does. Not me, or your sister, or Brody either. You need to get yourself together before you do something you regret.”
I palm my knees and look up at her with a glare that would have anyone other than her running for the hills. The tightness in my throat garbles my words, but I don’t give a shit.
“When I want your input on my terrible life choices, I’ll ask for it. Until then, butt out.”
Her smile is dark and angry. “Alright, tough guy. If you want to ruin your life, you go ahead and do that. But my door isn’tgoing to be open for you to crash through when you’re too scared to go home and deal with the other people who care about you. You can find a park bench to sleep on.”
“Fucking fantastic,” I spit.
Bryce scoffs a single laugh before leaving, slamming the door behind her. The nausea gets worse following her exit, but when I finally lose the battle and have to heave into the toilet, it isn’t the alcohol’s fault.
