relationship in years. Even knowing it’s all going to come to an end, I still wish I had more time with Merric.
As much as I love spending time catching up with family, I’m ready to head back to Wilmington. I arrange for my roommate, Claudia, to meet me at the rental car service to give me a lift back to our dorm. She works only a few blocks away, so I make sure to arrive in town close to the end of her shift.
Shoving my suitcase on the floor near my footboard, I collapse back against my bed, ready to shower and binge-watch more Supermarket Sweep. I still have the next week off school, so I pick up as many shifts as possible at Whiskey Barrel, wanting to pocket any extra cash I can. New Year’s Eve is going to be a big night, and A Rebels Havoc is supposed to be playing, so I know it will likely bring in a lot of people. Last year, I came home with almost seven hundred dollars in tips, so I have high hopes of another big weekend.
“Why are you acting so… I don’t know… mopey?” Claudia eyes me, her brows furrowing in confusion.
“What do you mean? I’m not acting like anything.” I roll over, huffing as I tuck my pillow under my head.
“Well, you’re certainly not acting like Oaklyn. Normally, you’d bound in here, ready to tell me all about your week in Virginia. You’d drone on and on about your dysfunctional family like a normal person would, but nothing. You’re so quiet… too quiet for you. It’s weird. What’s happening?”
She’s right, honestly. I hardly said two words the entire way home. In fact, that’s probably all I said, considering I thanked her and that was it.
“Spill the beans. Tell me about your trip. I need to hear about how fucked up your family is to feel better about myself.” She falls back on her bed, pushing herself so her back is leaning against the wall, her legs spread out in front of her.
How exactly am I going to break this to her? She wants excitement, so I guess I’ll give it to her.
“Well, I ended up fucking my stepbrother.”
I want to laugh at the way it sounds, even passing my lips, especially when I watch the emotions change from confused, to surprised, to suspicious.
Her face falls, and she rolls her eyes. “Yeah, and I gave Santa a blow job. If you’re trying to make up something you think I wouldn’t believe, you may want to try again with something not so backwoods—” She narrows her eyes at me, pausing. “Are you messing with me?”
I push myself up, resting my head on my hand, staring at her, and subtly shake my head.
She waits for a second, expecting I’m going to laugh or blurt out, “Gotcha!”
“Oaklyn Sanders, are you kidding me? Isn’t this the asshole you told me about before when you had to go back home for your stepdad’s funeral?”
I nod. I never did tell her about the kiss we shared. I think there’s a part of me still trying to convince myself there’s nothing to tell. I pushed it out of my mind and pretended it never happened. After a while, I almost believed it didn’t.
Until I saw him again.
Claudia has been my roommate since my freshman year. We’ve managed to stay in the same dorm together for all four years. We almost got moved around last year until Claudia made up a story about her having some seizure disorder. She was frantic until they agreed to let us continue to stay together.
“You need to spill all the details to me right now. I need to see a picture of him, too.”
I reach into my back pocket, forgetting I had shoved my phone there when I hauled my suitcase up the flight of stairs. I pull up Facebook and search for Merric’s page. He rarely posts on there, but I notice he had been tagged in a few pictures from Penelope’s wedding.
I click on the photo that had made my heart stop when I saw it scrolling through my feed, and I hand her my phone. My stomach twists in knots when I see her mouth fall open, her eyes bouncing between me and looking back down at my phone.
“You’re kidding? He looks like he just stepped out of GQ magazine. Look at his shoulders and those arms, holy shit. I think I just had an orgasm.”
I laugh, reaching to