Chapter 3

“Nate, if you shove me, it will be one more reason I kill you in your sleep!” I scream at my brother behind me, eyeing the hill below.

“One more, huh?”

“Yeah, you jackass! Why didn’t you tell me Bryce broke up with Holli? Or the fact they were never engaged? Why did you all let me think he was going to marry her? Surely, Mom and Dad knew they weren’t engaged, but you all let me believe they were together. ”

“Would it have mattered? For a while, I wasn’t sure how their relationship would go. She used the baby to manipulate him. Then once everything happened, you had finally moved on. You were cheering, dating… Everything was good with you.”

“You could have shared.”

“I didn’t want you caught up in their drama. It went on for a long time. Even though we all knew they weren’t engaged and her feelings were one-sided, he kept helping her. I personally wanted to keep you as far away from that as possible.”

His words sink in, and I realize he was looking out for me. “I’ll forgive you, but only because you were concerned. Now, let’s see who can get to cocktail hour fastest!” I push off and get a great wind, speeding down as Nate fumbles with his snowboard.

When I get to the bottom before him, I make a mad dash to the condo. Even though a drink sounds great, I’m desperate to talk to Quinn.

She answers on the first ring, and I scoot to the edge of the patio to watch for anyone coming in.

“How much time do you have?” I ask quickly.

“As long as you need.”

“Good, you’re gonna need it.” I replay everything that’s happened in the last twenty-four hours.

“So what happened when you got to the condo?”

“Everyone was awake and waiting for us. We ordered room service and watched TV. I pretended to be exhausted and went to bed then stayed up all night trying to make sense of everything.”

“What happened this morning?”

“I stayed hidden until Nate finally knocked on my door. The Randolphs had an early morning ski class. Bryce probably didn’t need the refresher, but I was glad not to face him. My parents had breakfast for us, and we successfully dodged the ‘Devon and Bryce’ conversation. Then I went skiing with Nate. Now, I ran off to call you while the condo is empty.”

“Do we have the proper amount of time to truly break this down?”

“No.”

“So how real can I be without you freaking out? More so, without you sneaking away to get on a plane and making a fool out of yourself?”

“Quinn! I’m not a flight risk, not anymore. As much as I want to run, it would kill my parents. Besides, I’ve matured. Packing up and running out of here would show glaring signs of immaturity.”

“How many times have you thought about leaving? Be honest.”

“Three.” I sigh into the phone. “But I really did change my mind. It was just panic at being in the same house with him for so long. It’s your job to help me figure out a way to get through this.”

“I think you need to go with the flow. See how things happen.”

“That is your advice? Surely, you have something better than that.”

“Nope, that’s it.”

“You saw me, Quinn. You lived with me. You know how badly he hurt me.”

“Devon, I hate to tell you this, but being the awesome BFF that I am, it’s time you wake up to a dose of reality. I was there, too, when Holli made her announcement. I watched the devastation and dread fill Bryce’s eyes. It was obvious to me he cared a lot more for you than he’d ever let on. But because of the situation and impending breakdown, it was my decision to never bring it up again. Months later, when you were starting to recover, it was obvious you had changed. Sure, you still tell goofy jokes and have a quirky sense of humor, but now you’re guarded.

“You’ve never given any other guy a chance. And to be honest, I was surprised at your reaction when Holli miscarried. You sent a fucking card. You didn’t call. You didn’t go home. You never even really acknowledged the loss and how it may have affected Bryce. You were a different Devon.”

“I was hurting still and trying to protect myself.”

“From what? You had to know that if things progressed you couldn’t hide from their relationship forever.”

“I wasn’t hiding!”

“Yes, you were. But that’s okay. I’ve supported you forever. I’ll continue to support you until we’re old spinsters rockin’ the nursing home. But if you want my advice, let it go. Be kind, be funny, be yourself. Lose the tension, because believe me, I’m sure everyone around you feels it. Be his friend, Devon, just like you were. Remember the whole maturity thing? This is the time to show it. You have to let go of the past, it’s done.”

Tears overflow onto my cheeks, and I let a small sob escape. “Quinn, I’ll try. But sometimes I still lie in bed at night with a racing heart and feel the pain crushing me. It makes me so mad, because it’s ridiculous how obsessed I was with him. Almost creepy.”

“No, it’s called young love. First love. Some say it’s the most intense of your lifetime. I, for one, believe that theory having watched you.”

“How’d you get so philosophically smart?”

“I read every smut book that comes out. I’m finding them to be extremely educating about love and sex. Maybe when we’re in Miami, I can test the sex part out.”

“You better not. Remember, we’re splitting a room. No more hairy ass wake up calls for me.”

“That was one time!”

“Still have nightmares about the poodle I was sure he sat on.” I double over laughing at my own joke. If I’m blessed to live to one-hundred, I’ll never forget walking into my kitchen one morning and seeing Quinn wrapped up on the couch with her date from the night before. Before I could stop myself, I screamed because his ass was bare, and I swear the way his balls were hanging made it look like he had a toupee down there. He jumped up quickly, which put his whole package on display. He was just a hairy guy.

“Fucking Devon, it wasn’t that bad!”

I’m laughing too hard to respond. The tears running down my cheeks are now happy tears. Quinn starts giggling with me, and soon, we are both gasping, trying to catch our breaths.

“Okay, smartass. Since you started it, let’s play the game.”

“No way!”

“Oh yeah, bitch. It’s only fair.”

“You know what? You’re right. I’ll give you four. That’s it.”

“Four will do because I’m picking my favorites.”

“If you have favorites, that means you already know the problem. Why do you love this game?”

“Because it’s fucking hilarious. How do we both continue to pick up the weirdest guys on a campus of twenty-four thousand?”

“Don’t know, but go. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be alone.”

“Mmmm, where should I start? Let’s go with Mandel.”

“That’s easy. It was the curry. He smelled like curry. It oozed out of his body like he bathed in the shit. When he tried to kiss me, I almost threw up in his mouth. It took me a week to get the smell off me.”

“I love that! Tell me about Bobby again?”

“He humped my back! Don’t you remember? We were lying on the couch, and he started moving weird. He thought I was asleep, which is creepy in itself, but then he finished, reached over me for a Kleenex, and then tried to snuggle.

“Then there’s Eli, who had awesome lips. Sad that he didn’t know how to use them. At all.”

Roars come through the phone as Quinn continues to laugh.

“Want to hear about Philip again?”

Her snort is my answer.

“When he slid his hand down my pants, he went for the wrong spot. I had to redirect his fingers, which still didn’t help his cause.”

“Stop! Stop! I remember that chump. God, he was good to look at but no skills. I thought guys learned that when they went through puberty.”

“I’m not going back for seconds.”

“Oh my God, Devon, I have a great idea. Let’s create a manual on the female anatomy as a coffee table book.”

“That’s disgusting but brilliant. We can start on that when we get back from Miami. We can even put instructional slides. I can see it now. If you want to date me and get past second base, please read this manual first.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” An angry growl comes from the patio door, and I whip around. Bryce is standing in the doorway with his arms crossed looking extremely pissed.

“Danger, Will Robinson! I must go. We are no longer alone,” I say quietly into the phone.

“Okay, be careful. Remember what I said. Talk to you tomorrow. Love you.”

“Love you, too.” I hang up and turn back to Bryce. Quinn’s words ring through my head, and I smile at him.

“Hi, Bryce, what are you doing back here?”

“Looking for you. Actually, everyone is looking for you. Nate said you were supposed to meet at the bar after your last run.”

“I needed to call Quinn. But we can go now.”

“You going to tell me what you needed to talk to her about?” he rumbles.

“Nope, just know that I talk to Quinn all the time and about everything. Now, let’s go meet everyone.” I try to walk past him, but he reaches around and pulls my back to his front, wrapping his arms around me.

“Devon, I’m not going to let you ignore me. Make this easy on yourself.”

“See, Bryce, that’s where you should be thanking Quinn. I’m not ignoring you anymore. What’s done is done. It’s time to move on. You asked for my forgiveness, you have it. You want to be friends again, we are. This is me not ignoring you.”

He kisses my cheek gently and lets me go but not without linking our hands together and tugging me behind him through the condo.

Oh boy, nine more days of this is going to be the biggest test of my life.

“Daylight Savings Time!” I scream, and the other ladies cheer. The three of us dance around and high-five. We’ve been playing Pictionary for an hour and beat the guys every round. Groans surround us as the group of sore losers lay back on the sofa.

“I think it was a terrible idea to have men against women,” Nate complains.

“Hey! There are four of you. It was your idea,” I remind him.

“Yeah, but I forgot Dad draws like a preschooler.”

“Don’t be a sour puss. Get me some wine.” I thrust my empty glass in his face. He rolls his eyes, but the losing team has to wait on the winners.

“Dev, I think my body needs a break from skiing tomorrow. The last three days have made me sore. You want to go shopping with us?” my mom asks, pointing between her and Sheila.

“Yes.”

“Okay, this old man is going to bed,” my dad announces and kisses my head before slapping Nate on the back.

I sip my wine and watch all the parents go to their beds. After I listened to Quinn’s advice and decided to move on, this vacation has been perfect. It’s almost exactly like old times. Nate, Bryce, and I have spent the days running the courses.

I’m not dumb. I know my mom wants to shop tomorrow to get me alone and ask me about Bryce. She’s been eyeing me with a knowing look since walking in the door the first night. Even my dad winks at me when we make eye contact. Sheila and Dave have been especially sweet and loving. When I went into my self-imposed exile from home, I forced myself to think of them taking sides with Holli, but now that I know the truth about their feelings of obligation to the baby and not her, I feel bad for not contacting them when moving to Virginia.

“You wanna watch a movie?” Nate asks Bryce and me. I nod, but Bryce’s phone rings and he leaves the room to answer. My ears immediately perk up, but it’s none of my business.

“Finally, I have you alone for a few minutes.” My brother scoots closer.

“You had me alone the first day here.”

“Yeah, but after you ditched me on the slope and Bryce found you back here, there’s always been someone around.”

“Well, what’s up?”

“Are you okay? I mean, with Bryce being here and being around him for the first time in so long, are you holding up?”

“Absolutely. I finally let it all go. The emotions of a young girl took over, and I allowed them to guide my decisions for far too long. It’s fine. I’m fine. Promise.”

“I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you about the break-up. We all thought it was best that you didn’t know at first. Then, I decided to see what Bryce was going to do. It was his life.”

“What do you mean, we all thought it was best?”

“Dev, you may have thought it was slick to up and change your college and life plans in the blink of an eye, but it was also transparent. It took me a little longer to catch on, and then I wanted to fucking kill him, but he had enough shit to deal with. I gave Mom and Dad updates in case they wanted to share how bad it was with you, but they didn’t. You finally started showing signs of letting him go and moving on. Mom said she felt like she was betraying you, but she didn’t want to bring false hope until Bryce cut all ties.

“When he came back to campus after last summer, he was a changed man: determined, driven. He told me exactly what his revelation was about you, and he apologized. Then he told me how he felt. That’s why I encouraged you to talk to him but otherwise stayed out of it. He knew he fucked up. Even though he’s my best friend and I knew he was going crazy trying to talk to you, my loyalties were with you. He asked me numerous times to intervene, but I refused. This whole trip with his family was his idea. I tried to discourage it, not knowing your reaction, but Mom told me to leave it alone. It was time to see how things would go.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, wow. Mom is a romantic at heart and wants hearts and flowers everywhere. I’m pretty sure the world isn’t filled with unicorns and rainbows, but she still believes. The last few days, a piece of the old Devon returned, but it’s new and improved.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’ve grown, but yet, you’re still young at heart and goofy.”

He stops talking when Bryce walks back in, and they decide on a movie. The couch is a huge sectional, so each guy takes an end and stretches out while I lie in the middle. Several times, I’m startled and jump, kicking Bryce in the ribs. After the third time, he grabs my ankles and puts my feet in his lap. It doesn’t take long before I fall asleep.

“Babe, wake up. I have to move.”

“Hmmm.”

“Devon, seriously, your dad will be up soon. I need to go to my room.”

I snuggle further into the warm arms that are wrapped around me and sigh. Then I go stiff. What is that poking into my hip?

“Yeah, babe, that’s one of the reasons I need to go to my own room. If your dad sees us and then sees my hard-on, he’ll kill me.”

I move away slowly and look up to see Bryce’s face only inches from mine. There’s no time to react before he leans in and brushes his lips against mine then jumps up and disappears.

I roll back over and wonder if it was a dream.