Page 48

Brooke

I pull back from Grant like he's burned me, and his wide eyes match mine as we turn toward the top of the stairs where Cami is standing, her face furious.

"Fuck," he breathes out as I shift back to put some distance between us, not sure what to do.

"Fuck is right, Anders." She storms down the steps, her face full of anger. "As in, what the fuck are you doing? Get away from her."

"Cami," I stand, trying to get her attention so her anger isn't just being directed at Grant.

"No, B, he needs to be told this isn't okay." Grant stands to face her head on as she reaches us. "You're his friend, not a notch on his bedpost."

"That's not what this is." He sounds angrier than I've ever heard him.

"Sure, just like all the other girls at all the other parties," she scoffs, rolling her eyes, and I look behind her, noticing Bear, Adam, and Gunnar are heading down the steps towards us.

"I said that's not what this is," Grant raises his voice louder.

"Grant," Gunnar warns him with not only his voice but his stance as he steps forward, ready to move between them.

"She's accusing me of using Brooke like she means nothing." He runs his hands through his hair, and I bite into my lower lip, still not knowing what to say. "I'm sick of being made out to be something I'm not."

"Maybe find a nice girl to stick with, one you see a future with," Cami sneers at him. "Instead of sleeping around all the time and trying to sleep with my best friend."

"I found a nice girl," he mocks her, "but she didn't want to tell you because this is how you would react, and she's my best friend, too."

"Grant," I gasp, grabbing his arm and pulling him back. Cami had no idea that this wasn't just a kiss. I could have salvaged some kind of conversation to explain it all properly, but I turned to look at her. All I see is shock and hurt. We don't hide things and we don't lie.

Well, until now.

"B?" she questions, her voice cracking slightly, cocking her head to the side, confused.

"It was nothing," I rush out as she takes a step back, and I feel Grant flinch next to me. "I didn't want to tell you because it was just fun, and I knew what you thought of him sleeping around."

"So, every time I talked about going on dates." She laughs coldly, crossing her arms defensively. "You were lying when you said you weren't ready?"

"It wasn't like that." I was tearing up because I know no matter how I try to tell this story, it sounds bad. "I wasn't ready, but I was just having fun with Grant. " I look at him, but he's not looking at me, he's looking at the ground. "I don't know," I whisper.

"How long?"

"Cami…"

"How long?"

"Since the beginning of October," Grant looks up, finally filling in the most damning part, and I turn to glare at him.

"You know what screw you, B," Cami throws at me. "I gave you a room when Josh screwed up. I held you while you cried, supported and helped you with The Drop, and you've just been lying to me this whole time?" She turns, storming up the stairs with the boys quick on her heels.

I take a minute to feel hurt at her throwing all of that back in my face and making me feel weak, just like I did when I first got here in September. "It's not like you even filled that room," I shout up the stairs after her.

"And why's that, huh?" She stops at the top to shout back. "You don't think I knew this would happen?"

"What does that mean?" I walk up the steps to face her on the divide, and Grant rushes up behind to hold me back while Gunnar grabs Cami as we are face to face now.

"You think I didn't know he would do that? He was an asshole! He was always going to hurt you, but I knew you were happy, so I listened to you cry and justify his actions. GOD, I even justified your mom's, and we both know what a bitch she is."

"You could have been honest," I yell at her. "Maybe I wouldn't have stayed with him; maybe I would have stood up to my mom. Why not just be honest with me?"

"Because you are my best friend, and I knew you needed someone in your corner who wasn't just telling you what to do.

So, I kept the room free. I told myself it would be until winter break, and wow, it didn't even take him that long till they hurt you.

" Her voice is harsh and mean as she's mocking something that hurts me.

"So, you were just waiting for me to call you crying," I huff. I'm not struggling against Grant anymore, I'm just leaning against him.

"It's all about you, right?" she scoffs, putting her hand on her hip and smirking. "You want to know a secret I hid from you? I knew Josh was proposing because he asked my dad."

I look at her, shocked, and she ploughs on.

"So, I knew there was an engagement party, but they didn't invite me or my family.

You never thought about that, huh? I'm your best friend, and they didn't even invite me to the engagement party.” She laughs, wiping her eyes as she starts to cry.

"I had to make out I was super excited for a college party so that when you rang to tell me, you would think I already had plans, so you weren't upset they hadn't invited me. " She sobs.

I'm staring at her frozen; I hadn't even thought about why Cami and her family weren't there at the engagement party.

No matter what we’ve been through, Cami and I have never been on opposite sides of an argument, and now I'm the reason that we are.

"You didn't even care, B. You never asked. I love you, but you suck as a friend when guys are involved," she says. "So, excuse me, that I'm not ecstatic about this 'non-serious' thing." She airs quotes around non-serious, moving her head from side to side as she says it.

"Come on, Cam," Gunnar pulls her away, and she lets him; she's done with me.

"Cami," I whimper. We've never fought like this before, and I'm scared we won't be able to fix it if we walk away from each other.

"I can't talk to you right now, B," she whispers as Gunnar puts his arm around her and walks her toward the boy's apartment.

He nods back to Grant, not me.

I run a hand through my hair and turn around to face Grant, but he is looking away down the steps.

"Why did you say that?" I turn my anger on him.

If he hadn't said when we started this, I could have pulled Cami back; I'm sure of it.

Now, she knows I lied for months and was sneaking around; she will never forgive me.

"She would have found out, eventually." He turns his head to me. His face is emotionless, making me pause for a beat.

"No, she wouldn't," I shout, frustrated, and move to storm back into my apartment, which is still full of people who either need to leave or that I need to kick out because Cami isn't here to do it for me.

He grabs my arm lightly. "So, we would never have told her?" he questions me, and my mouth falls open because I don't know what to say.

I hadn't thought about that. I had thought we might just start seeing each other and tell no one, or leave it for a while, then tell everyone when we could laugh about it.

"I thought we were going to sit down and finally accept what this was between you and me, but you just wanted to keep hiding it?" He looks so hurt, and I reach my hand out to grab his as he turns away from me.

"Grant, wait." I pull on his arm. "It's not like that; I just didn't want everyone to know we had been sneaking around like that."

"Because I'm me? Because I'm not a serious enough guy?" his face is so angry I've never seen him look this way at me, and I shrink a little because we've always been so easy-going.

"No! I just didn't want to tell anyone just yet!"

"Really? Because I was ready to announce it to everyone, Brooke." He steps away from me, putting his arms out wide before letting them fall. "I thought if it's anyone, it's you. The girl who knew more about me than anyone else. All of it and still chose me, but that's not the case, is it?"

"Grant, just hold on, please," I plead with him. I can't think properly, and the words aren't coming out, stepping towards him and his apartment.

"No, you've made yourself pretty clear to me, Brooke. I'm just the fun guy, not the guy you tell your friends about, right?"

I shake my head with tears forming in my eyes, but he looks past me.

"Round everyone up and move them over to our place." I turn to see half the hockey team have come out to listen to us argue, but they rush off to do as he says, and soon enough, people are walking past with their drinks and partners for the night.

"I'm going to go enjoy my night since it's nothing serious, I'll have some fun. " He shrugs like he's never cared about me, walks into the guy's apartment, and slams the door.

I turn and walk into the empty apartment where the music's still blaring and sit on the sofa surrounded by solo cups and streamers and burst into tears.

I would give anything to rewind before midnight.