Page 13 of The Amazing Alpha Tau Fratmas Experience
Like lie to your boyfriend, Scout?
“Shut up,” I muttered into my cup. I hadn’t lied to Trey. I just… hadn’t kept him updated when my plans had changed. And nobody would have been any the wiser if he hadn’t busted me packing for DC.
Because, okay, sad boy Christmas wasn’t Trey’s problem. It was a choice I’d made, and one that I would deal with myself, and that should have been the end of it. The last thing I wanted was to put Trey in the awkward position of having to invite me to impose on his family’s Christmas just because he felt bad. I wasn’t one of those needy, clingy boyfriends. I didn’t need Trey to sweep in and rescue me. I wasfine.
Footsteps creaked on the porch, and I looked up to discover we were having a visit from the neighbors. From Kappa Beta Rho specifically. It was Tanner, Charlie’s boyfriend. He was wearing jeans and a coat and had a sports bag slung over his shoulder.
“Hey, Scout,” he said.
“Hey. Here to pick Charlie up?”
He wrinkled his nose. “Uh, kind of? We were, um, gonna leave today, but I think it’s tomorrow now. But Kappa is locking up, so I’m staying over here.”
What was up with people changing their plans today? What were they all smoking, and why hadn’t they offered me any? I had the proper outfit and everything.
But before I could ask him, Tanner scuttled inside the house.
I finished my coffee, then pulled out my phone and texted Trey.
Where are you?
I stared at the screen for a minute then shoved the phone back in the pocket of my robe and pretended I wasn’t worried that there wasn’t a reply. And logically, I knew Trey wasn’t the kind of person who would leave someone on read just to avoid dealing with his feelings.
That was me.
I went back inside and found that somehow, while I’d been out front, even more people had filled the house. I tapped Eli, Archer’s boyfriend, on the shoulder as he walked past me carrying a six-pack. “Why areyouhere? Aren’t you and Archer meant to be staying at Carmichael?”
Eli fixed his gaze on a spot on the floor and said, “There were weird noises in the walls. Anyway, I gotta go. Arch needs me.” And then he bolted around me and disappeared in the direction of the main living room.
The sound of laughter floated through the air and set my nerves on edge. How was I meant to stay in the mood for sad boy Christmas if people were going to go around being festive and cheerful? I slipped past the living room and made it up the stairs without running into anyone else. I showered and dressed, and I was back in our room styling my hair when my phone buzzed with a message from Trey.
Hey. Want to meet for brunch?
Huh. Trey didn’t do brunch. He claimed it was ruining two perfectly good meals. But he knew that I loved it. So maybe he felt as bad as I did, and this was his prelude to us making up.
I fired back a reply.
As long as it’s not Waffle House.
I would never. I was thinking Cafe Meow in twenty minutes?
God. Cafe Meow was Hopewell’s answer to fine dining, if the question wasIs there a step up from eating from a trash can?I checked the time. Maybe if we took long enough, by the time I got back, all the strays Alpha Tau seemed to have collected would have left and I’d finally get some peace.
See you there.
I grabbed my keys and headed downstairs. I passed Squirrel on the landing and he panted happily at me. He was wearing a set of fake reindeer antlers and chewing on what looked like an actual antler of his own—which was seven differentInception-type levels of horrifying if you stopped to think about it.
When I got to the café, Trey was waiting inside at a table, and I slid into the seat opposite him and said, “You don’t like brunch.”
“No, but I’m choosing to think of it as late breakfast.” He slid the menu across to me.
I slid it back. “You know my order. Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon, sourdough, extra hollandaise on the side.” I glanced around at the full tables and wrinkled my nose. “It’s busy.”
Trey hummed. “Because it’s good.”
I raised an eyebrow at that. “No, it’s because it’s one step up from a Waffle House. Barely.”
Trey grinned. “Two steps. And one day I’ll force you inside a Waffle House and make you eat your words.”
