of college life and loving every second of it.
I rolled my eyes at her. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
Lavender grinned. “Okay, Kale and your brothers are downstairs.”
I shot upright and quickly reached for my head when the room spun slightly. I closed my eyes, counted to ten and when I was sure I wasn’t going to vomit or pass out, I opened my eyes and narrowed them to slits.
“You lie!” I rumbled.
Lavender held up both of her hands in front of her chest. “I’m not – they’re downstairs eating. They didn’t know you would be home this weekend either.”
This couldn’t be happening.
“I can’t deal with my brothers when I’m hung over, and I can’t see Kale, knowing what I did last night with some stranger.”
Lavender raised a brow. “Why? I thought you didn’t care about him like that anymore.”
I gritted my teeth. “I don’t.”
“Come downstairs and prove it then,” she challenged.
I hated her.
“Fine,” I bit out, and shoved my duvet covers from my body.
Lavender made a show of covering her eyes. “I’m your best friend and room-mate, but I don’t need to see that bloody much of you.”
I looked down and saw that my bedtime crop top revealed one of my boobs, and my underwear had given me a wedgie. I adjusted my top and underwear, then laughed as I got to my feet. I got clean underwear from my chest of drawers, a pair of comfortable trousers and a plain bra and black tank top. I went into the bathroom and had a quick cloth wash before putting the fresh clothes on.
I washed my face clear of last night’s make-up, tied my hair up in a loose bun on top of my head and put my glasses on. I walked downstairs, letting Lavender lead the way.
“Did you wake her, Lavender?” Layton’s voice called out as she walked into the kitchen.
“Barely,” Lavender snorted. “I think she’s still drunk.”
“Great,” Lochlan grumbled, making me grin.
I walked into the kitchen and cleared my throat.
“There she is,” Kale announced, beaming as he stood up from his chair.
I groaned and placed a hand on my head.
“Not so loud,” I moaned.
He grinned as he approached me.
“Sorry,” he whispered before folding his arms around me, pulling me tightly against his warm body.
I missed hugging him, and I hated that.
“’S’okay,” I murmured.
Kale released me and returned to his seat while my mother gave me her usual morning hug and kiss on the cheek. She did this often when I was younger, but now that I was away at college, she made sure to do it every time I was home and came down for breakfast.
“I heard you getting sick this morning,” she said, frowning. “How much did you drink last night?”
Uh.
“Yeah, little sister,” Lochlan asked, “how much did you drink last night?”
I looked over at his grinning face and glared before I turned back to our mother.
“Not much. I just did too much dancing, I guess, and it made me sick.”
Lavender snorted, and my palm itched to smack her.
“What time did you get in?” my mother asked as I moved to the kitchen table and sat on the only seat available, between Lavender and Kale. “I didn’t look at the clock when I heard you in the bathroom.”
I blinked when I drew a blank at her question, then looked to Lavender, who laughed.
“I dropped her out of the taxi at half seven,” she said, shaking her head.
That late? I cringed.
No wonder I had such a headache. I was nursing a hangover as well as running on next-to-zero sleep.
“Your brothers never came in that late,” my mother commented.
I rolled my eyes. “My brothers were never as cool as me.”
Said brothers snorted.
I grimaced as my mother set a plate of food in front of me. I touched my stomach and decided to wait a few minutes before I tried to eat anything; I didn’t trust that I wouldn’t get sick again.
“What did you do last night?” Kale asked, happily eating the breakfast that my mother made.
“Who did she do last night is more like it,” Lavender mumbled as she reached for her orange juice.
It was loud enough for Kale and my bloody brothers to hear. Naturally, all three of their heads snapped in my direction, a scowl perfectly in place on all of their faces, which caused me to laugh.
“She’s joking,” I said, and kicked Lavender under the table.
Three pairs of eyes landed on Lavender, who winced in pain from my kick but forced an innocent, and convincing, smile.