I wanted to tell him medicine wouldn’t help me, but that would just move into a conversation I didn’t have the guts to have with him. Not when I was constantly being reminded that he didn’t share my feelings.

Within three minutes, Eli’s head had tilted back and lips parted as he fell asleep. His hand flexed against my arm, and I smiled as I allowed myself this time with him. This time when I didn’t have to worry about whether or not he would say something that would crush me again. Breathing in his clean scent, I let my body relax into his, and prayed for this night to never end.

“Happy birthday, Eli,” I whispered, and placed my lips to his chest before falling into a peaceful sleep.

July 28, 2013

Eli

MY EYES FLEW open when I heard the front door shut. Looking to my right confirmed Carrie was still in my bed. Trying not to wake her—but moving as quickly as I could—I got out of bed and grabbed my jeans off the floor. Pulling them on as I opened my bedroom door and crept down the hall, I strained to hear anything before glancing into the living room.

Whoever it was sounded like they were in the kitchen and weren’t trying to be quiet. I slowly rounded the corner, but relaxed and smiled when I saw Paisley’s purse lying on the floor.

“Morning,” I said as I walked past the wall blocking me from the kitchen.

Paisley jumped before a laugh bubbled up from her chest. “God, make a noise or something to warn me you’re coming next time.” Her brown eyes flashed down to my chest, and she quickly turned to go back to messing with whatever she’d brought over. “Don’t you have a shirt you can put on?”

Stepping up behind her, I rested my chin on top of her head and picked at the pastry she’d just pulled out of the bag. “I do, but you woke me up.”

“I woke you up? I’m late. And your head is heavy,” she grumbled.

I put more pressure on her head and she elbowed my stomach. “What’s this?” I asked, and pointed at the wrapped sandwich she’d just set down.

“There are two sausage English muffins for you.”

“Do they have—”

“Extra cheese? Yes, they do.”

I hugged her waist tightly. “You’re the best.” Grabbing one of the sandwiches, I unwrapped it and held it in front of her so she could have the first bite before taking my own. “I forgot it was Sunday,” I mumbled around the food.

She laughed and started to unwrap her own sandwich. “Good thing it was my week to get food or I’d be sitting at my apartment starv— Wait. If I woke you up, why are you in jeans?”

“I could’ve walked out here naked.”

Her body went stiff. “You don’t sleep naked.”

I pointed in the direction of my room with my sandwich. “Carrie’s here.”

“Who’s Carrie?”

“The girl from the bar a few weeks ago.”

“There are a lot of girls from O’Malley’s when it comes to you, Eli,” she countered.

“Ouch. The girl from the night of my birthday.”

“Oompa-Loompa?”

“Pay,” I growled in warning.

Paisley pushed against the island, trying to move me away. “Move, I need to leave.”

“No, you don’t.”

“You have a girl in your bed who is probably as naked as you were five minutes ago. I should not be here when she wakes up.”

“And you’re my best friend and it’s Sunday morning. This is our tradition and she’s not going to stop it because I forgot what today was.”

“Eli, let me go!” she hissed and jammed both her elbows into my stomach.

I bent forward as I took a step back. “Fuck, Pay!”

“Language! Let the Oompa-Loompa eat my breakfast, she’ll think you did something nice for her.” She took three steps away from me before I was able to grab her hand to stop her. Turning quickly, she stepped back up to me and tried to get in my face. All five feet of her. “Do you know how horrible you look when you do things like this to all these girls?” she seethed. “You’re twenty-five, Eli, grow up and stop being such a whore! Stop treating every girl you meet like all she is to you is your next lay. Stop letting them all be your next lay! Find someone who you actually want to spend your time with and—”

“Ohmigod. Are you, like, everywhere?”

Paisley whipped her head to the side to look at Carrie, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of Pay. Where was this coming from? She’d joked about all the girls I slept with, but she’d never flipped out on me like this.

“Did I interrupt something?” Carrie gasped and shrieked, “I knew it! You are fucking her!”

Paisley scoffed and met my gaze. “No, he’s not. That should be obvious since I’m still around and none of the other girls are.”

With that, she turned and quickly left the apartment. Leaving me still standing there, staring at where she’d been long after Carrie even got dressed and left.

Chapter Two

August 3, 2013

Paisley

FIDGETING WITH THE material Kristen had shoved at me a few minutes before, I turned to look at my backside in the full-length mirror and grimaced. There was no way this thing was a dress; it was way too short. Like someone-call-TMZ-my-vagina-was-one-chair-or-car-ride-away-from-saying-hello-to-the-world short.

“I need to wear jeans with this,” I grumbled.

“I’ll kill you if you mess with my creation. And hurry up, it’s weird that there’s a party in your apartment, and you’re hiding out in here.”

I wasn’t hiding. I was waiting for Kristen to leave so I could change. Glancing at the four-inch stilettos I was in, my grimace turned into a look of horror when I realized I looked like every girl Eli normally hooked up with. “I look like I’m trying too hard.”

“No, you look like you’re about to make Eli Jenkins regret that he didn’t snatch you up a long time ago.”

I looked through the mirror at where she was kicking her feet in the air while hanging off my bed. “Exactly. Like I’m trying too hard.” Looking back down at the shirt that deceptively made my boobs look massive, I suppressed a sigh. “And it’s all gonna be for nothing.”

“You don’t know that,” Kristen challenged in a singsong voice.

“Eli uses me to pick up and ward off women. He’s not about to care if you and Jason are trying to set me up with some guy.”

“I beg to differ.” Her voice hadn’t lost the musical lilt. When I just raised an eyebrow, she groaned and rolled over so she was lying on her stomach. “He beat the shit out of homeboy who you gave your V-card to in college.”

“Eli beat him up because he posted a naked picture of me with the words ‘Deflowered by Johnny G’ in blood red all over our dorm, which he’d taken of me while I was sleeping.”

Kristen propped herself up on her elbows and held her hands out, palms up. “If that’s the way you want to see it. I choose to see it like this: Even though he deserved to get his ass beat regardless because of the picture and disgusting way that frat bragged about their conquests, that was how Eli found out you lost your virginity. Eli was jealous, and it’s not like Johnny tried to hide he was the one behind it all. Therefore, Eli took his anger out on the bastard.”