“Her pancake, it’s shaped like a penis,” Jameson lies, trying to excuse my laughter, which only makes me giggle harder.
“Okay, so Zeus nearly knocked you over…” Abby talks over my laughter in an attempt to pry the rest of the story from her.
“Yeah, he’s huge right? Such a man’s dog.”
I glance at Zeus seated against the island and work to stifle another giggle.
“Yes. Very manly,” Kendall says, making me drop my face to silently chuckle again.
“The rest is history,” Erin finishes.
I look over at Kendall, still amused by thinking of Zeus being half bear and a man’s dog, to see Erin head to the fridge.
“Do you have any oranges, babe? My new cleanse only lets me eat oranges and cucumbers.”
“I don’t think so,” Max replies while glaring at me. I’m still trying to control my laughter, but his evident annoyance about my behavior makes me frown and tilt my head to the side, challenging him to object to the humor of the situation.
Abby looks from me to Max then spears a bite of her pancake. “I always pegged you to fight for what you want,” she says, looking at Max.
“I did. I have what I want,” Max clips, dousing me with a wave of reality and pain that mingles with embarrassment.
“Obviously,” Abby retorts. “I’m sorry, but I have to go.” She pushes her chair back and leaves while Kendall and I both list a dozen objections.
“Wow, you put peanut butter on your pancakes too?” Erin asks, stopping in front of Abby’s abandoned chair.
Abby shakes her head a few times and leaves. I turn too quickly and feel the room spin before gaining my footing and heading in the direction of the door.
“A—Harper,” Jameson calls, extending his hand with a pancake.
I ignore it and hurry to catch up to Abby. I find her sitting in her car, her hands covering her face.
“I can’t believe him!” she screams. Her hands fall from her face as I drop into the passenger seat. “I’m going to have Jesse come and punch some freaking sense into his thick head.”
Reaching across the console, I grip her hand within my own. “I want him to be happy.”
“Neither one of you are happy!” Abby yells, making me realize that a pregnancy side effect of hers is brutal and unfiltered honesty. “You ran away because you didn’t know how to fix things, and now you’re spending all your time trying to repair someone that you can’t fix. Fix this, Harper. Fix you and Max.”
“I am fixing me. In Delaware.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it.”
“It’s true. I’ve learned so much about myself in the last year. I mean, I won’t lie and tell you it’s all been sunshine and rainbows. There have been some really difficult and really lonely times, but I’ve also learned a lot about myself.”
“Are you done learning?”
“Not yet,” I answer quietly, watching her brush away a couple of tears.
“I really believed in you and Max.”
I smile at her, not wanting to confirm that I had too.
“I love you, Harper.”
“I love you too, Abs.” I squeeze her hand again. “Go Google about your bedroom issues. Just be careful of what links you click on,” I tease.
“This week is going to go by too fast,” she says, ignoring my joke.
“They say that time always does.” I drop her fingers and softly run my hand over her belly before climbing out of the car.
“Harper?”
I turn, ducking down to the gap of the open door.
“I still believe.”
“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.”
–Rabindranath Tagore
“Why do they hate us?” Kendall groans, crawling on the couch beside me.
“What is that?” My voice is barely audible from where I’ve buried my head beneath the covers.
“Max and Landon,” Kendall whines, burying her face so her cheek’s beside mine.
“I think I drank too much,” I admit.
“We did.”
Eventually the noise drowns out, and Kendall’s steady breathing comforts me into finding sleep again.
“I warned you guys to stop.” Jameson’s voice taunts, and I choose to ignore it, hoping that Kendall will tell him to shut up. When she doesn’t, I nestle further against the pillow, preparing to search for more comforting sleep until cold air slices across my skin as our blanket is whipped off with a harsh tug.
My entire body seems to feel the burn, causing my eyes to begrudgingly open to ensure I’m wearing something more than just underwear. I am, but barely—just a tiny pair of shorts and a tank top with a built in bra that presses against my chest in a particularly uncomfortable fashion.
“What am I wearing?”
“You guys decided to switch clothes. There was a lot of giggling, and I think Mindi has your shirt from last night,” Jameson answers, folding the blanket.
“You guys look like you hurt.” My eyes shift to see Wes sitting on the far side of the couch, looking at us in amusement.
“What are you guys doing?” Kendall grumbles quietly because I know, like me, her head is aching too badly to yell at them.
“I told you guys to take it easy last night, especially since you drank too much the night before.” Jameson looks to Kendall. “We have that dinner tonight for my work. You’ve got to rehydrate.”
Kendall groans in response, and Jameson sets down two mugs of coffee. The scent alone makes my stomach roll and I shake my head in protest.
“I don’t even remember coming home.”
“What can you remember?” Jameson asks me, his tone suspicious. I open my eyes to see Kendall staring at me, the look of pain in her eyes recedes, replaced with curiosity and thought as her eyebrows and forehead scrunch.
I lift my eyebrows, imploring her to tell me if she can recall us doing anything we’re going to regret. Her shoulders raise and her head gently shakes and then quickly stops as she winces.
Jameson laughs, and I’m pretty certain it’s filled with more relief than humor. “What happened?” I ask.
Jameson shakes his head, his eyebrows raised. “All kinds of shit.”
“Make him fess up,” I whine, looking to Kendall.
“Jameson.” Her one word is filled with enough of a threat that he looks a little nervous.
“Wait, how would you even know what happened? We went to the bachelorette party last night.” I glance at Kendall’s neck, noticing proof of our night when I see a beaded necklace covered in every unnatural shade of penis. I tug on one of them, and Kendall looks down and laughs painfully before removing it.
“Yeah, how would you know?” she fires.
“You guys called and invited us out,” Jameson answers.
“Who’s us?” I ask.
“What happened?” Kendall growls.
“Savannah danced on a bar,” Wes adds randomly.
“I remember that!” I cry, too loud for my own ears.
I recall glimpses of her wearing a small black dress that she was thrilled to be able to fit in again with a killer pair of heels that really had nearly killed her a couple of times in our travels the previous night. My visions of her cloud, and a curly blond-haired guy with eyes so dark they were almost creepy, appears. I was dancing with him. Flashes of Max shoving him and yelling at me, accusing me of being easy, and me in turn yelling at him for dating a whore fade as I cover my face with both hands and groan.
“What?” Kendall asks.
“I’m staying with Mindi.”
“Nah, you were drunk. It’s no big deal,” Wes assures me. I look at Jameson who doesn’t look nearly as convinced.
“Oh my, God! Nate!” Kendall gasps.
“Nate what?” I ask skeptically.
“Nate and Max,” she says, placing her hand on my arm. The gesture brings a new flash of memories of her pulling me back as I tried to stand between the two of them during a heated exchange.