In Every Universe | Quinn Hughes

21 | Lily

IT WAS SOMETIME PAST MIDNIGHT WHEN I FINALLY OPENED my phone to check my socials. Maya had convinced me, after Quinn had gone out with clear intentions of finding himself a distraction, that we should go out for a girls night too. Sure, we were underage and using fake ID, and sure, we'd run into the boys a few times, which had forced me to witness Quinn with a petit blonde multiple times, but I wasn't letting that stop me from having fun.

Maya had tried to convince me to hook up with some brunette boy who'd been following me around like a lost puppy, but I didn't really want anything to do with any boy, maybe ever.

I opened my Instagram, immediately seeing Quinn's profile in the stories column, and I knew I shouldn't check what he'd posted, but my heart had to know.

There wasn't much to go off, a few videos of him doing shots with Tyler and Cole, a selfie with a girl dressed in white, but for all I knew, that girl would have been someone he already knew, a friend, even.

But Tyler had stories too, and his stories were ultimately my undoing that night, and the sole reason I decided that I didn't want anything to do with Quinn Hughes, or maybe any boy, ever again.

All it took was the click of a finger for me to be staring at Quinn kissing this girl, the same one he'd taken an innocent photo with, but this kiss looked far from innocent with the way she had her legs over his thighs and his hands searching everywhere he could find skin.

I watch the video again, then again, then again, as if my brain can't quite comprehend that it's real and that it happened five minutes ago. I almost don't want to believe that he'd do that, that he would actually go out and find another girl, but I was in no place to judge.

Still, my heart sinks dramatically, to the point where it actually aches, and tears fall down my eyes without them being able to stop.

I down the rest of my vodka raspberry, then yank of Maya's arm to get her attention, so I could go and get another. The second she sees my face she knows I've seen the story that maybe she'd seen too. He tilts her head to the left, scrunching her lips to the side at the sight of my tears.

"Maybe we should go home and drown in a bottle of wine in bed?"

I absolutely take her up on the offer, nodding a small nod to let her know that that's exactly what I needed, to be anywhere but here, the club I knew Quinn was on the other side of, kissing another girl.

"Yes please," I whisper, wiping my tears.

She drags me by my hand to the door, sending a harsh glare in Quinn's direction as he watches us go, but I don't look at Quinn, in fact, I keep my eyes focused strictly on the floor, not daring to look up.

Though, he could tell I was crying, and the way he tries to push the blonde girl from his lap to her to me told me all I needed to know.

"Lily," he shouts, trying to get my attention. Part of him surprised I was even out in the first place. "Lily!"

Alex comes to my aid without asking, grabbing Quinn by the shoulder and pulling him back. "You're both drunk and upset, bro, you are the last thing she needs right now."

Maya doesn't stop to look back, and instead pulls me into an Uber and hold's my hand the entire drive home.

The minute we walk in the front door, my shoes now gripped in one hand and my eyes stained with tears, I'm confronted by the other Hughes brother who somehow had this ridiculous hold on me. He's wearing sweats and a hoodie, and he looks like he's been upset himself, but as our eyes meet, my chest constricts, and I keep walking right by him, and so does he.

Maya puts on a movie, a comedy, to try to take my mind off Quinn, and though I'm thankful for the minute of distraction, and the two bottles of wine we have between us, it takes less than thirty minutes before she falls asleep.