vehement

2

• AMALIA •

I meet Edie, Oliver and one of Mia's sisters, Aoife, in the hallway. We're all visibly tired and hungover so none of us talk as we descend down the stairs and to the all you can eat breakfast.

I go straight over to the food, piling hash browns onto my plate and grabbing small bits of everything else. I make myself a cup of tea and go over to the long table everybody is sitting at, taking the spot beside Edie. She smiles at me.

"Morning. How'd you sleep?" She asks, sipping some of her coffee.

     "Fine." I whisper. "You?"

     "Good." She replies, smiling again. She looks behind me, and I follow her gaze to where Archer stands. He glances at me nervously as he sits down in the only spot—the one right beside me.

I shuffle as close to Edie as I can. Hopefully he doesn't remember that I was in his bed, for whatever reason.

I begin eating, groaning in delight at the taste of the food. Recently, all I've been able to have is frozen food because I like to make sure Enzo has the best stuff to eat. Finances have been low, especially because business in my Florist hasn't been good so I haven't had a lot of expenses for the best food.

I'd ask my dad, but I want to be independent. I don't want to have to rely on anybody else, especially because I know he's already worried about me. When I moved out, he tried to convince me not to and said he'd take care of Enzo and I, but I assured him—and all my brothers, since they didn't want me to move out of our fathers home either—that I'd be okay.

     I guess I could be worse. I know they'd never make me feel bad about it, but if I moved back in with my dad or asked for help, I'd feel like I'm failing at being an adult and proving what everyone thinks but no one will say: I can't handle being alone or having more responsibility.

I shake my head, and with it those thoughts. I came to Mia's bachelorette party to get away from everything, not think about it even more. I'll have the rest of the day to relax and ignore the fact the business I've been working towards since I was nine is dramatically failing, and I'll deal with it when I get back.

I drink from my cup of tea, frowning when I realise it's all gone. I stand and walk back over to the counter, and I'm pouring the boiling water in when I sense someone come up behind me.

I don't have to look who it is, because the same scent of aftershave he was wearing last night wafts to my nose, and I immediately know that it's Archer.

"Amalia." He says softly. There's a hint of desperation there, like he's afraid I'll ignore him or walk back to the table without responding to my name, which sounds like a sad plea.

     I want to ignore him, but I can't. I turn around and look at him as the tea bag sets into the water.

     He looks surprised, like he expected me to throw the tea all over him and shout at him in front of everybody. I wouldn't do that. I don't want to argue with him, I don't really have a reason to. I just want him to leave me alone, because then I won't fall for him all over again, like I did when we were sixteen and oblivious.

"Yeah?" I whisper.

His shoulders drop a little at the sound of my voice, and he smiles at me, so softly that if it weren't for the gentle crinkle in his eyes then I wouldn't have realised he was smiling at all. The action reminds me of when he came to my house once to retrieve his little sisters costume—

"Ally." I say.

He furrows his eyebrows. "Hm?"

"How's Alexandra?" I ask quietly.