I’d kissed Cameron. I’d practically offered myself up to him and he hadn’t wanted me back. Rejection burned through me like acid until I felt nauseous.
About to tell him to go, to leave me alone, I felt the bed dip and he leaned over me, pressing a kiss to my head. “Goodnight, Hailee,” he whispered, and then he was gone.
I grabbed a pillow and buried my face into it, letting myself drown in my mortification until I finally drifted off to sleep.
Sometime later, on the periphery of my dreams, I felt the bed dip beside me. “Cameron?” I mumbled barely awake.
“No, it’s me.”
“Flick?” My eyes searched the darkness, ignoring the giant pit in my stomach.
“Go back to sleep, Hails; it’s late.”
“Are you okay?” She sounded kind of funny.
“I’m fine,” she sniffled, sliding underneath the covers. “Go to sleep.”
“Night, Flick.”
“Night, Hails.”
But as the tug of sleep pulled me under, I was almost certain I heard my best friend crying.
Cameron
After a restless night sleeping on Asher’s couch, I finally dragged myself up and went into the kitchen, where I found him cleaning up the mess.
“Did something happen between you and Felicity?” I came right out with it.
“Happen?” He glanced over his shoulder at me. “Like what?”
“Did you sleep with her?”
“No, I didn’t sleep with her. Why, did she say something?” H
e continued bagging up all the empty cups and bottles. Sometimes I wondered which he loved more; the party or the morning after, because I’d never seen a guy clean the way Ash did.
“No, but I saw her, and she looked upset.” She hadn’t wanted to talk about it, and I knew Asher had developed a weird interest in her. But from the deep frown etched across his face, maybe I’d jumped the gun.
“And you naturally think I had something to do with that?” His eyes widened with disbelief. “Cheers for the vote of confidence.”
I helped myself to a glass of water and leaned back against the counter. “I just thought... forget it.”
“Those girls have you all twisted up in knots. I saw you carrying Hailee up to your room, and I wasn’t the only one.” He gave me a pointed look. “I hope you know what you’re doing?”
“She was drunk, and they had no way of getting home. What was I supposed to do? Leave her to sleep outside?”
“Before all this shit with Thatcher, that’s exactly what you would have done. Hell, you probably would’ve have done a lot worse too.” Rubbing a hand over my head and down the back of my neck, I released a heavy sigh. But Asher wasn’t done. “You like her, don’t you?”
“I—”
“Advil.” Jase stalked into the room and I swallowed my words. “I need Advil.”
“Yeah sure, man. You know where they are.” Asher shot me a look that told me this conversation wasn’t over.
“Who’d you end up with last night?” he asked Jase, who knocked back two pills and chugged a glass of water before sinking into one of the stools.
“Kayla, or Kylie, or fuck if I can remember.”