Sour Sweet Love

Chapter Eight

                "LAST night was wild," Joey beamed, sounding just like her regularly cheerful self. 

"Yeah," I muttered. "Tell me about it."

Molly recoiled beside me. "Who would've thought he'd return?" she muttered. "Fucking Liam Andrews. I'll never forgive him on your behalf, Avery."

The three of us were seated in the cafeteria, discussing last night's events in detail. 

"And we still need to discuss your behavior," Molly continued. "What was it with you suddenly becoming touchy-feely with Declan? Completely inappropriate!"

"Shush it with the jealousy, Mols," Joey piped in. "We're discussing Avery's psychotic ex—not his slightly-more-tolerable brother."

I released a fleeting laugh. "Declan's not much better than his brother, honestly and objectively speaking. The Andrews are cursed."

"He's wise," Joey noted wistfully.

I shrugged. "So was Liam, once upon a blue moon."

"You know," Joey began, softening her glance. "Liam is a true bastard. What he did to you was really inappropriate. Who he did it with was even more inappropriate, and I cannot—"

"You know who he did it with?" Molly interjected, her eyes widening.

"No," Joey replied bluntly. Then she eyed Molly suspiciously: "Why?"

"So I could break her face, naturally," Molly replied curtly. "He destroyed Avery, didn't he?"

I swallowed.

He had. He had destroyed me in ways I had once believed unfathomable. Imagine a fourteen year old girl, one who believed in the picturesque fantasies of an epic true love, finding her boyfriend with another girl. Imagine the heartbreak that ensued, the chaos and the resentment, and the bizarre loss of self-esteem. It had been difficult, at times seemingly impossible, to continue about meeting other boys after Liam. I had been exposed to heartache a several years too early. Because here I was now, at sixteen, distrustful of everyone I met.

"When you left us last night, Avery," Joey began, "Liam told us something."

I looked between Joey and Molly expectantly, and Molly looked away. 

"It's about him—this program transfer thing. He said he's going to be moving into our campus."

"And then I accused him of just antagonizing us," Molly said, "but he wasn't."

"Declan confirmed it," Joey added.

"And," Molly continued quietly, a frown materializing on her face. "I might have seen him dispatching his luggage from a car this morning."

I lowered my gaze in both disappointment and anger. "Well, shit."

For a moment, silence ensued.

"We all need a break," Molly muttered, releasing a lingering sigh. "We need to have a girls night out. First Declan and now Liam. It's getting suffocating, all of this excess drama. So we need a break. A spa day. A day out in the mall. An escape. Shopping!"

"Sounds necessary," Joey mumbled.

I caved in because I was too exhausted not to. "Yeah, that doesn't seem so bad right now," I told her, lifting my visage. "Thanks Mol."

She nodded slowly. "Of course. What are friends for?"