Page 37 of The Casualty of Us
Thomas from last night stares angrily at our table as he strolls through the mess hall with a bruise around one of his eyes that definitely wasn’t there the night before. What surprises me the most, though, is that where I expect his anger to be directed at me, it’s not. Instead, his eyes seem to be drilling holes in the back of Hayes’s head. I look back down to Hayes curiously before double-checking that I’m tracking right, but he catches on. He quickly turns to look at what’s caught my attention, and I watch the two make eye contact before Hayes scoffs a laugh and winks at him.
Fucking winks at him.
Making the pieces slot together in my head as he turns back around with a happy grin.
“You know…” I drag out, purposefully stopping to take a bite of pizza and hold him in suspense before chiding. “I don’t condone physical violence.”
He lifts a brow at me. “I have no idea what you mean.”
“Of course you don’t.”
“Eat your pizza, Freckles.” His dimples twitch before he can hide it. “It’s going to get cold.”
I follow my instincts then and go for the gold, sighing back, “Yes, sir.”
His eyes flare wide, lips parting in surprise even as Ollie gags.
“Goddammit, I’m going to be sick again.”
Thanksgiving passesin the blink of a couple of phone calls with lame excuses to our parents and a day of stuffing ourselves in the guys’ dorm before passing out in between Ollie and Hayes on the couch.Elfon in the background, and me the most comfortable Ican ever remember being until waking up to Ollie smacking the back of Hayes’s head for daring to cuddle me.
From there it’s a rush of exams.
The last two weeks before winter break consist of nothing but cramming and testing and barely getting time to breathe. Marley’s and my French final gets rescheduled to the last possible slot on the morning we’re supposed to leave after our teacher comes down with the flu, and I try to make it to the guys’ dorm in time to catch them all afterward…or that’s what I tell myself at least. But I must not manage to hide the disappointment from showing on my face when only Ollie and Holden are there to greet me.
“You just missed him, O.” Ollie sighs, worried lines etching their way onto his face as he holds out a box to me. “He wanted me to give you this.”
He holds out a small, prettily wrapped box that’s all black wrapping paper with a shiny white bow, and I take it from him carefully. Immediately reading the little tag hanging off it with clear instructions in a messy scrawl to not open until December twenty-fifth. Signed to me from Hayes.
“All I got was a hug,” Holden mutters.
“Same,” Ollie grumbles back.
I try to hide the grin on my lips when looking back up at them, but Ollie only rolls his eyes before throwing his bag over his shoulder.
“Ready to head home?”
“Yeah.” I nod quickly, holding the box in my hands like it’s something precious. “Yeah, let’s head home.”
Not knowing then that everything will be different when we finally make it back.
The bottom falling out from underneath me and making me doubt myself all over again.
Chapter Ten
OPHELIA & HAYES - DECEMBER 2012
My mom plays it cleverly.
From the minute she opens the red door of our two-story stone house with the black shutters in the Spring Valley area of DC, she’s nothing but warm hugs and admonishments to relax. She practically smothers Ollie with kisses all over his face every morning with musical laughter that has me grinning as he makes little noises of disgust afterward. He can’t fool either of us, though. We both know he loves the attention.
She has my favorite crepes catered the first morning for me as well. Balking with horror when I tell her that the school only has pancakes and proceeding to have them delivered for me every day thereafter. She insists we go on not one or two, but three different Christmas light tours, all bundled up in our winter wear while my dad and she get all sappy since their anniversary is right around the corner. Leaving Ollie and me rolling our eyes back and forth with each other as they embarrass us, and we try to ignore the way security trails discreetly behind us in a way they never have before.
But all in all…it’s a good start to Christmas break.
As normal and relaxed as I could possibly imagine really.
The calm takes us all the way to Christmas Eve, when I’m wrapping the last presents in my old room with its buttery yellow walls that somehow feel too young now. As if in the span of a single semester I’ve outgrown the place that’s always been mine and am left a little adrift anytime its pretty floral accents catch my eye. All the books and knickknacks that are most important to me are tucked away in a dark green room a few hours away.
