Unbreakable(42)

“Hmm. Well, if you need to talk, I’m here,” she says finally.

I give Violet a huge hug. She’s one of the sweetest people in the world, and I wish others could know her the way I do.

For the past two years, she’s had a huge crush on my brother but hasn’t done anything about it.

Sully’s the complete opposite of Vi. He’s outgoing, loud, and wild, where Vi is quiet and can usually be found holding up the walls at any party. He doesn’t see her as anything but a friend, and he never will, until she makes him see her.

Unfortunately, another problem is that Sully’s a total player. I hate saying that about my brother, but it’s just a fact. He doesn’t take anything seriously except for hockey. Girls are just another way for him to blow off steam and have fun.

However, the few girls he’s dated for more than a second have usually resembled Violet—blonde, curvy, and attractive. So she’s definitely his type, at least physically. But he gravitates toward girls who dress sexy and flirt hard, and that’s just not Vi. So unless she does something drastic, he’s not going to notice her. Which totally sucks, because she’s worth noticing.

“I really missed you, Vi,” I say, kissing her cheek. “It will be so nice to have some girl time with you and Peyton.”

“Not Lilly, though, eh?” She cocks an eyebrow and gives me a knowing look.

Vi knows me way too well. Things between Lilly and I have been rocky since high school. I haven’t fully trusted her since I caught her making out with my boyfriend behind my back at a party. He was drunk, and I was breaking up with him that night anyway, but she didn’t know that. She was stone-cold sober and just didn’t care. She wanted him, and nothing was going to stop her.

I shrug. “Lilly is Lilly. It’s fine.”

But it won’t be fine if I have to watch her suction herself to Will for the rest of this vacation.

I think sometimes, when you grow up with someone, it's hard to let go of the person they used to be. We'd been close for so long, but Lilly's changed, and not for the better. I know it's only a matter of time before she's not a part of our group at all. But old habits die hard, and for some reason, we keep including her in our plans.

I’ve noticed that Peyton and Violet have started pulling away from Lilly a lot over the past year. She’s pissed them both off a few times.

It doesn’t help that Lilly has a nasty habit of gossiping about people behind their back and then being nice to their face. It pisses me off. One of the last texts she sent me was how she was worried that Violet was gaining weight, and how she should be careful because she already needs to lose thirty pounds.

It took me all of two seconds to put Lilly back in her place, and it made me wonder what kind of crap she says behind my back when I’m not around. But I won’t tolerate her talking shit about my best friend. Violet’s tall and curvy, and she could really rock those curves—she just chooses not to. I always tease that if she’d put on a pair of cute booty shorts, guys would come running just for the chance to stare at her awesome ass. But Violet would rather bungee jump off a cliff than wear something that sexy.

I mean that literally, too. She’s a secret adrenaline-rush junkie. She was able to jump out of a plane last year because she wanted to try skydiving, yet she can’t muster up the courage to talk to my brother. For some reason, when it comes to Sully, Violet just shuts down.

After the girls drop off their stuff and change into pajamas, we go back downstairs to the kitchen. All of us are there except for Lilly, who later saunters casually into the den and squeezes in next to Will on the sectional sofa. She’s wearing tiny blue shorts and a matching camisole that clings to her curves. It reminds me of the outfit I had on the first night I slept in Will’s bed—the one he told me he thought was sexy.

Lilly’s very attractive, and she’s flaunting it big time right now. I can’t blame her, because he obviously thought she was hot enough to sleep with before. To my relief, Will’s got a game controller in his hands and doesn’t pay her the slightest bit of attention when she sits down.

I microwave a bag of popcorn and take a seat at the island next to Violet and Peyton. We drink wine coolers and spend the next hour or so catching up.

“So, how did your summer class go?” Violet asks me.

I take a deep swig of my wine cooler. “I passed, but please, guys, talk about something else. I don’t want to go there right now.”

They exchange a worried glance, and I wave my hand dismissively. “I just had a blow out with my dad over the class today, and I’d rather talk about anything else. Tell me what’s going on with you guys.”

“We text you all the time,” Peyton says, smirking. “You should know.”

“I mean what’s new.” I toss a piece of popcorn at her.

There’s not much to tell,” Violet says. “We’ve just been working at the pizza shop.”

Violet and Peyton both recently started working at Pizza Delicious, a small, family-run business on Danforth Avenue. The area is technically considered Greektown, but there’s a handful of pizza shops in the area, and Pizza Delicious is one of the more popular ones.

Peyton sighs. “Yep. Now they have me making subs every day. Violet runs the cash register, and sometimes she helps make gnocchi or meatballs in the prep room when they’re short-staffed. But once the fall semester starts, we’ll probably just work on the weekends.”