Page 61 of More For Me

Bodhi

When I wake up on Saturday morning, I’m pretty sure I’m dying. My head has never hurt this bad in my life, not even the time Everly, River and I got wasted on absinthe in Vegas and—

I sit up so fast the room spins at the thought of her name. Everything that happened last night comes rushing back in. Everly showing up at my parents’. The horrible, endless dinner. Her seeing the photo album of Ari. Our fight in the car.

But then…then after we came home, after we both got drunk in separate corners of the house, we’d ended up here in the sunroom, together. She fell asleep on my shoulder. I whispered all my secrets to her in the dark. She kissed me.

Everly kissed me last night.

I look around the room, feeling panicked. She’s not here. The blanket I’d pulled around us last night has been tucked neatly around my legs—did she do that? Where in the hell did she go?

Jesus. I lean back against the side of the couch and immediately regret moving too quickly as my head gives a horrendous throb. I feel sick to my stomach, and I’m not entirely sure if it’s because of the whiskey or the fact that I just woke up alone.

Why did she leave?

Okay, I was a total asshole in the car on the way back. Then we came home and I don’t think I said a word to her until Rose came in to get me, saying that Everly was upset and needed me. And shewasupset. So upset by the shitty things I said to her in the car that she’d proceeded to get drunk. Not just drunk—sad drunk. Usually a tipsy Everly is the best time in the world. Alcohol tends to bring out all that silly sweetness I love so much. Seeing her defeated like that, knowing it was my fault…

But we talked about,I remind myself. We talked about it and she said she understood. She kissed me, for fuck’s sake.

“Bodhi?” a groggy voice calls from the hallway. Leo. “You still breathing, man?”

“Barely,” I call back, the sound making me wince. God, how much did I drink last night? I’d thought the sight of Everly drunk and sad on the floor had sobered me up, but apparently the alcohol had already done its damage by then.

“I’m gonna make coffee.”

I make a non-committal grunt and try to sit as still as possible so my head will stop throbbing for one damn second. Once it does, I realize that Leo just said he’s making coffee, and there’s literally nothing in the world that sounds better than that right now.

I somehow manage to make my way to the kitchen. It takes a while, since every step makes me want to puke. I’m clinging to the wall for support by the time I get there, but at least the coffee’s finished.

“Such a drama queen,” Leo says when he sees me slumped in the entryway.

“What the hell did you do to me last night?”

He shrugs. “You said you wanted to be drunk. I supplied the whiskey and company. You did the rest.” He points at the kitchen table. “Sit down before you puke on the floor.”

I slide into one of the chairs, my head immediately going down to rest on the cool wooden tabletop. “I think I’m dying.”

“You’re not dying. You’re just hungover.”

If this was any other morning after, Everly would be here trying to fill me up with pancakes, which she insists are the perfect cure for any hangover. Just thinking about that makes my stomach lurch, and I whimper into the table.

“Dear God, drink this and quit whining,” Leo says, placing a mug of coffee in front of me. “We have work to do.”

The only work I plan to do today is the work of making my way up the stairs to my bed, where I can freak the fuck out about that kiss in peace, but I don’t have the energy to ask him what the hell he’s talking about. I barely have the energy to lift my mug to my mouth.

“Coffee,” River groans, stumbling into the room. “Thank fuck.” He glares at me. “I feel like I’m going to die and it’s all your fault.”

“Hey, you chose to join me on that downward spiral,” I mutter into my mug.

“Yeah, right.” He collapses into a chair, rubbing his forehead. “You were all pathetic with those puppy dog eyes and your crying. Were we supposed to just leave you alone with the bottle?”

“Pretty sure I left the party early.” I try not to think about Everly sitting on the floor in the middle of the dancing, looking so sad. “If you kept drinking after that, it’s on you.”

“Well you made me so fucking depressed with all that whining it was hard not to want to keep drinking. Jesus, Bodhi, you were acting like your dog just died.”

I cast a panicked glance toward Leo. I have very few memories of what happened after we started drinking but I have a really bad feeling right now.

“What was I whining about?” I ask cautiously.