Page 12 of Fall Hard

We looked at each other, awkward chuckles spilling out of our mouths as I gestured for her to go first.

“I tried to say no to Jamie, I was going to stay with Kit and the boys, but she insisted and well…”

“There’s not really any saying no to her once she’s set her mind to something.” I smiled and shrugged. “It’s fine. You’re tidier than Jamie, at least.”

Bryn laughed. “And you leave the seat down, so really this is a win-win.”

“Exactly.” The room was starting to feel warm and a little fuzzy and when I looked at the bottle of tequila I realized why. “Holy crap, maybe we should chill out a little with that. Or,” I said, re-considering, “maybe we should keep drinking and eat a pizza.”

“Sounds like a plan. Want me to order?”

I nodded and she pulled out her phone, reminding me that mine had apparently been turned off for a while. “I’ll be right back.” I’d left it on my nightstand and it still had the majority of its battery when I powered it back on. No missed calls. A half-dozen messages from Kat, and Jamie had sent me a first recording of one of the new songs she was working on with Max, the record producer she’d signed with. Winters had sent me the details for an online lecture taster session that I decided to look at later, and that was it.

I locked it again and slumped back onto the sofa with Bryn as she finished setting up our delivery. Another perk of being in the center of things was that food tended to reach us pretty fast.

“Anything?” Bryn asked, nodding toward my phone, and I shook my head.

“Maybe he called me by mistake.”

“Maybe,” she murmured. “It’s their loss either way.”

“I guess.” I swirled the golden tequila around the bottom of the bottle idly. “What about your parents? Were they… okay? With you?”

“My parents have always known, I wasn’t exactly a shy kid. But yeah, they were fine with me and Kit.”

“That’s nice,” I murmured and she smiled.

“It is. Kit’s only a little younger than me, so having someone who genuinely understood was helpful too.”

“I’m an only child.”

“Well, you can borrow Kit whenever you like. Him and Leo seem better, so he’s less moody now.”

I chuckled. “Are they a thing?”

Bryn rolled her eyes. “No. But they should be. I think they’re worried about ruining their friendship or something.”

Well, that hit a little close to home. “I get that.”

“Jamie, huh.”

My mouth popped open and then shut again. “I’m that obvious?”

Bryn pulled a face. “Well, it was a slight giveaway when you kissed me but said her name.”

Crap. I’d managed to block that out. “Um, right. Sorry.”

A light knock on the door had my stomach grumbling, like it could sense that food was here, and Bryn stood to grab it. The two boxes were still hot and I made grabby hands for the one that was mine, lifting the lids to check and realizing we had virtually the same order except—

“Ugh. Why would you ruin a perfectly good pizza with peppers?”

Bryn sat back down with her pizza and happily bit into a pepper-heavy slice, groaning loudly. “You don’t know what you’re missing.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Keep telling yourself that.”

We finished the tequila bottle between us and I wheezed as Bryn finished telling me a story about the first time she’d made out with a girl and her mom had walked in on them and decided to lecture them on safe sex. They were fourteen.

“Well, better to get the talk than never have it all.” I winced, not having meant for that to come out quite as acidic. “I mean—”

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