Friends Without Benefits

Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen           

                I woke up the next morning after hearing a ruffling noise. I opened my eyes and saw Trey was looking through clothes. I sat up in the bed I was in, realizing that I was in his bedroom.

                “I’m sorry I took over your bed. Where did you sleep?”

                He turned, holding a t-shirt in his hands. He already changed into jeans at some point, though his chest was bare at the moment. “On the floor,” he replied, gesturing to where I slept the night before.

                “Sorry,” I repeated.

                Trey shrugged before taking a few steps closer to me. His expression turned more serious as he looked at me. “What happened last night?”

                My eyes immediately focused on my hands, which were nervously playing with the blanket I was sitting on. “Nothing.”

                “Something happened, Darcy. Elaine wouldn’t tell me anything other than that you were upset.”

                I shrugged, trying to seem indifferent on the subject. “I just quit my plan.”

                “What?”

                “I quit my plan. I don’t want to try to get Julian to like me.”

                Trey paused for a minute before speaking. “So you finally got some sense into you.”

                I narrowed my eyes at him. “I had plenty of sense before.”

                He raised an eyebrow, suggesting otherwise. “What caused you to realize you were wasting your time on Julian?”

                I ignored his question, suddenly feeling a wave of anger come over me. I stepped off the bed and walked right up to Trey. “If you thought I was wasting my time, why did you agree to help me out?”

                He shrugged nonchalantly. “I like to help the needy,” he smirked.

                My eyes burned with anger as I sent him the meanest glare I could make. “Well you’ll have to find some charity to donate to now. I’m done with my plan which means I’m done with you. Consider this conversation as the end of our relationship,” I snapped. I pushed past him after that, leaving to go to my own room. I barely refrained from slamming my door when I reached my room. As if I didn’t need anything else to be upset over, here I was, frustrated with Trey about our breakup. I thought he would’ve jumped on the chance to be single again! Instead, he acted like the jerk I knew he always was.

                Trying to forget about my worries, I took a shower and got dressed for the day. I still had to make it through Elaine’s barbeque, knowing that Trey and Julian would still be here. Perhaps this was my chance to talk to Matt instead.

                As I expected, not long after waking up I was helping Elaine with the food for the barbeque. After people started to wake up around noon, they went out back by the lake and had fun out there. Luckily most people were nursing their hangovers by refraining from drinking more alcohol. They did have to go home later, after all.

                Since I wasn’t hungry, I went back into the house and started cleaning up. We were supposed to leave that night, so I didn’t want to save the mess to clean up until the last minute. As I was putting empty cups and bottles into the trash, my former best friend caught my eye. He was leaning against the kitchen counter, drinking a glass of water. From all the years I knew him, I immediately knew he wasn’t happy, just from glancing at his current expression. That’s why I went over to him.