Until Harry(58)

She dead-panned, “Your reply makes you sound like a slut.”

I devilishly grinned. “I’ve slept with ten different lads over the last year and a half. I think that does make me a slut.”

“Hardly,” Lavender scoffed. “We both know you only get drunk and lost in the closest body because you feel rejected and hurt over Kale . . . still.”

My chest ached and my stomach lurched at the mention of his name.

“Not now, Lav,” I groaned, lying back down. “I’m too hung over for this conversation.”

“Tough,” my so-called friend chirped as she whacked both of my feet with her hands. “I’m getting fed up saying this to you, but here I go again. No matter how many people you have sex with, it will never erase your night with Kale. You can’t replace the person you want for life with the person you want for a night.”

I growled at Lavender.

“I’m nineteen and in university,” I argued. “Wasn’t it you who told me to play the field?”

“Play the field? Yes,” Lavender agreed, then narrowed her eyes. “Fuck every man in sight? No.”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Give over. It’s not funny and you know it’s not,” she grumbled. “You don’t want to be that girl, do you? The woman who degrades herself with meaningless hook-ups and loses herself because she is sad?”

I hated when she got deep like this, especially when I felt like shit.

I blinked. “I’m not sad.”

“Babe,” – she frowned – “yeah, you are.”

I looked up at my ceiling and grunted, “I knew I shouldn’t have come home this weekend.”

Lavender snorted. “We go to the same university and share an apartment. You can’t escape me.”

That was the sickening truth.

We both attended the University of York and lived in a student apartment close to campus. I studied English, and Lavender studied English in Education. After I got my Bachelor of Arts degree, I wanted to be a literary editor, and Lavender wanted to teach children. Her term was like mine, three years long, and she needed a Bachelor of Education degree to take the first step towards her dream job, and I was happy to take my steps right alongside her. We were in our first year 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.