Page 28 of Blurred Lines

“Dude,” Wilder hisses, glowering at me. “What happened to bro code?”

“What bro code?”

“Pussy bro code!”

I just quirk a brow at him, having no idea what the fuck he’s talking about.

“Oh man,” Cam chuckles, shaking his head.

“Why is everyone acting like that’s such a bad thing?” Wilder gripes

“Because we all know Emilia,” Cam explains. “She’s a scholarship student. She’s not like us.” I see Wilder’s eyes darken as he scowls at Cam, who quickly tacks on, “and I don’t mean that in a bad way. I just mean, her priorities are different. You should have seen her the other day when we got our exam results. Being first in the year and going to Halston mean everything to her.” He shakes his head, giving Wilder an empathetic look. “I’m sorry man, but you never stood a chance. People like Emilia, they won’t let anyone or anything stand in the way of their future.”

Wilder looks positively glum by the time Cam’s finished talking, although it’s nothing that I wasn’t already telling him.

“I think he’s got a stick up his ass about the fact she’s spending the summer with Death on a Matchstick,” I state.

“Ahhh,” Cam grimaces. “Sorry, bro.”

“I had all these plans for us,” Wilder grumbles.

“You did? Like what?” I ask. That’s the first time he’s mentioned having actual plans.Damn, he must really like her.

He shrugs, looking reluctant to share. “Like I was going to take her to New York City, to see their library?”

Cam’s face scrunches, not looking impressed. “Why?”

“‘Cause she loves books,” Wilder states, looking at Cam like it’s obvious. The girl does love to study. I’m sure she would have really enjoyed that.

“How could she choose some stupid band over me?!” Wilder gripes. I’m actually starting to feel a little bad for him. He’s obviously upset over all of this.

“Well, did you tell her your plan?” Cam asks.

Wilder frowns. “I tried, but she didn’t wanna hear any of it. She got pissed that I would plan a whole trip without her.”

I can’t help it, I snort, causing Wilder to glower at me. “Sounds like Emilia.” Sighing, I lean forward. “Look, I’m sorry man. But she’s leaving, and she’s clearly not interested.”

Wilder only frowns, and I swear he grumbles something under his breath that sounds like, “But I liked being pussy brothers,” but I choose to ignore it. I’m absolutely not encouraging that shit.

We’ve all been talking about where we’re going to live after graduation, and we’re all thinking of heading back to our parents’ houses for the time being. Hadley has been dropping not so subtle hints that I should invite Wilder to come live with me—probably in Cam’s parents’ house—and watching the pity party he’s currently throwing for himself has me feeling bad enough that I can feel the offer on the tip of my tongue. Except I donotwant to end up living with him for the rest of the year. I just know, once he moves in, I’d never get rid of him. We’d end up living together for the next five years, or longer, and spending twenty-four seven with Wilder would drive me fucking insane. Just thinking about it gives me a headache.

The others join us on the sofa, and we fall into easy conversation, enjoying our final day before graduation. In another couple of days, we’ll have to be out of here, and who knows what the future has in store for us. Now that our parents are no longer breathing down our necks, we’re free to do whatever we want, and holy fuck, that’s a pretty amazing feeling.

***

“God you guys have so much stuff,” Hadley gripes on the morning of graduation. Our dorm is a mess of half-filled boxes as the guys all try to pack everything up. Of course, Hadley managed to pack up all her belongings in less than an hour. As handy as that might be, I hate that she has so little stuff. She refuses to spend any of the damn money in her bank account, so my plan over the summer is to subtly buy her more and more things. Trinkets, clothes, girly shit. Whatever she wants. If she so much as gives an item a lingering look, then I’ll get it for her. She deserves to have boxes full of crap, memories she can carry with her, and knick-knacks to make wherever she lives feel like home. “There’s no way you’re all going to be ready to move out on time.”

She plonks her ass down on the sofa, watching me as I unhook all of our gaming devices from the TV and box them up.

“So,” she begins after a moment. “Emilia is leaving tomorrow.”

“Oh,” I reply dismissively, focusing on wrapping a cable around my hand before tucking it into the box, along with the DVD player.

“Yup. It’s going to be weird not having her around.”

Grabbing the duct tape, I tape down the lid of the box. “You’ll still see her. You can fly out to meet her whenever you want, and you can always invite her back here.”

“I know.” She sighs. “It’ll just take some adjusting to. She was my first friend here, and I just can’t imagine not having her around.”

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