Page 107 of The Young & the Sinner

He let out a tired sigh, and I walked over to him, rubbing his shoulder soothingly. He looked like he needed comfort then.

“At least one of you was thinking.”

Max’s eyes met mine and I gave him a toothy smile. His expression softened. I knew he couldn’t stay mad at me for long. “Go to bed,” he said, this time softer. “Well discuss this in the morning.”

“Okay. Night, Max”

“Night, kiddo.” He kissed my forehead. I turned and found Mason staring at me, with some unnamed emotions warring in his blue eyes. I looked down so I wouldn’t lose it and cry. And even as drunk as I was, I knew I couldn’t let Max know the real reason I went to that party. Hell, I couldn’t even let Mason know, if I wanted my pride and dignity to stay intact.

But by the look in his eyes, he probably already knew. I grabbed Lizzie’s hand, and we slowly made our way to my bedroom. I brushed past Mason on the way, and he grabbed a hold of my hand, giving it a quick squeeze.

I ignored him and pulled away, stumbling slightly. Lizzie caught me and shot Mason a suspicious look. I guess we both weren’t Mason’s biggest fans right now.

* * *

I wokeup in the middle of the night to an empty room and a pounding headache.

I knew Lizzie slept over, but she was no longer lying next to me. Usually, we would take out an air mattress for her, because Lizzie was a kicker in her sleep, and I got three too many bruised ribs from our sleepovers before we decided it would be best for her to sleep in a different bed.

She swore she didn’t kick in her sleep anymore, but I couldn’t take her word for it, because how would she know? It wasn’t like she was even aware that she had kicked me before. Not until I woke her up in the middle of the night, pissed off.

But since we didn’t plan on her staying over, we didn’t have time to prepare the air mattress. The last thing I remembered before falling asleep was Lizzie climbing into bed with me. The space where she had been was warm.

And I could hear hushed whispers outside my door. I got up and moved closer to the crack. Lizzie and Max were standing there. His arms were crossed, and he looked serious. I moved back behind the door so they wouldn’t see me.

“Tell me the truth, Lizzie. How is she coping?”

She sighed. “I don’t know. She seems fine most of the time. But she’s so close-lipped about everything, I’m not really sure. I think she doesn’t want us to worry, so she’s not saying anything.”

“How can we not be worry about her? And tonight? Getting drunk for the first time?”

“How would you know this is the first time she got drunk?” There was a long silence, then Lizzie gave in and said, “Fine, it was her first time getting drunk.”

“Why? Is she still trying to cope with the incident?”

“You don’t need to worry. Tonight has nothing to do with what happened over the summer.”

Max sucked in a sharp breath. “How do you know? Did she say something to you?”

“She would probably kill me if she knew I was telling you this, but you need to stop worrying about what happened tonight. She… likes someone. And things aren’t going great right now between them. But it’s nothing you have to worry about. I’m positive everything will work out between them.”

Lizzie was right. I was going to kill her.

This was not what I wanted Max to know. In the back of my mind, I knew Lizzie was only telling Max to ease his worry, but still, how could this help? Me liking someone was what started this whole thing. It was the reason why I was broken, and why Max was hurting.

I moved a little closer when I heard Max let out a sigh. I wasn’t sure if that sigh was a good thing or not. “She likes someone?”

“Yeah.”

“Is he… is he good to her? How does he treat her?”

I wanted to cry over the heartbreak I heard in his voice. Lizzie’s voice softened when she answered him. “He’s pretty good to her. And I think he likes her, too.”

“Then what’s the problem? He’s damn lucky someone as sweet as Olivia likes him.”

There was a smile in her voice when she said, “It’s complicated, Max. Just let thing work themselves out, okay?”

“Okay? She’s getting drunk because of him. Maybe he’s not so good for her after all.”

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