Page 34 of Sleepless November (Sleepless November Saga 1)

n his mirror. They’re all of him and Bree. One is a strip from a photo booth. They’re your typical poses – one silly face, one nice one, one of her kissing his cheek, etc. They genuinely look happy, so I don’t understand what went wrong.

You. You’re what went wrong.

I try to rid myself of the negativity. This isn’t my fault. I tried to back off, and I tried to tell him no, but he wouldn’t listen. He went and broke up with her on his own. I had nothing to do with that, and now I’m the one who loses out.

“Everything okay?” Holden asks hesitantly, stepping closer and handing me a bottle of water.

I shake my head, not even bothering to thank him for the beverage. After I take a long sip, I close the bottle and put it on the desk.

“She knows.”

He furrows his brows. “Could you try adding some context to that? Maybe a noun, a verb, an adverb even.”

I roll my eyes. “You’re not dense, Holden. She. Knows. Brianna. As in your ex, my roommate. She knows about us.”

“Are you sure?”

Seriously, he makes me want to scream. “Yes! Unless I imagined her and Taylor screaming at me this morning when I walked in the door, I’m sure.”

Holden winces. “Fuck. Taylor! I forgot she was here last night.”

“Yeah, well. She saw us coming up here and made sure to tell Bree all about it.”

He looks at me and pouts in the way that always causes me to melt. “That sucks, babe. Do you want to go grab breakfast?”

What? Did he just-? “Do I want to grab breakfast?!”

“Yeah. What’s wrong with that?”

I glare at him as if he’s grown a second head. “Are you kidding me?! My entire world is falling apart because of you, and you just blow it off like it’s nothing?!”

He’s taken back by my words but then turns cold. “Because of me?! I’m sorry Bree found out, but this isn’t only because of me.”

“Yes, it is! I tried to back off. I tried to walk away!”

“But you came back! No one forced you to be here! No one made you hook up with me for weeks. You did that all on your own. We are both to blame for this, but don’t you dare put it all on me.” He spits.

I take off his sweatshirt and throw it down on the bed. “Fuck you. You started this. You kissed me, remember? You kept coming onto me.”

He laughs humorlessly. “Oh, and you were just so resistant. Face it, Kayleigh, you’re just as much at fault as I am. And besides, Bree and I aren’t even together anymore, so what the hell does she have to be upset about?!”

“Because I’m supposed to be her friend! Friends don’t fuck their friend’s boyfriend!”

“Ex-boyfriend.” He corrects me.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “That doesn’t matter.”

He leans against his desk and messing around with his phone. His passive attitude strikes a nerve.

“Really? You’re just going to sit on your phone while my entire freshman year falls apart? I don’t even know where I’m going to live, but you don’t seem to give a shit. As long as it doesn’t change anything for you, everything is fucking peachy.”

Holden looks up from his phone, his expression perplexed. “I don’t know what your deal is, but stop taking it out on me. I’m not the enemy here.”

A dry laugh leaves my mouth. “Could’ve fooled me. Coming here was a mistake.”

I push past him and out into the hallway, ignoring the calls of my name from behind me. I run down the stairs and straight to the door, almost ramming directly into Caleb on my way out.

“Woah, you okay? What are you doing here?” He asks.

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