third time's a charm

"blown away"

chapter twenty-eight: blown away

quick update !!!!

Sunday, December 31. 10:46 pm.

About twenty minutes later, the six of us were making our way through my front door. Claire had made a comment about wanting to change out of the skirt she was wearing into leggings, and I told her she was welcome to go change in my room. Rowan needed something from upstairs, so they both went together. Will and Vales took Jamie into the kitchen, so I decided to follow in suit, after seeing the slight hesitance on Jamie's face.

He was slowly easing into the idea that him, Vales, and Will could genuinely be friends, but I had a feeling that it had been a long time since he made new friends. Seeing him so nervous all night somehow made me fall for him even deeper.

Vales had snatched a bottle of rum from the party and the three boys were thinking of different drinks to make. I hopped up onto the counter and listened to them as they discussed. Jamie stood in front of me and eventually backed himself in between my legs, leaning against the counter as I wrapped my arms around him.

Vales pulled out all the nonalcoholic beverages that we had in the fridge and Jamie started to blurt out drink suggestions. I was surprised at his vast knowledge, but tried to laugh off my shock.

"We can make our own drink," Jamie said after a while of brainstorming existing cocktails. "I mean, we could easily make a hard lemonade, rum punch... or we could just really go for it and make up something new."

"You boys can do what you want, but I want something that's actually going to taste good," I said which caused the three of them to laugh. "I honestly might just sneak some of mom's wine... she knows I drink it occasionally."

"It pisses me off that you can get away with that," Will said which caused my eyes to roll. "I'm serious, Elle. If I just took a beer from the fridge for an evening treat, Mom would flip out."

"That is not true," I argued, but Will didn't seem to agree with me. "She just doesn't buy beer as frequently... it has nothing to do with trusting me more than you."

"You're her favorite."

"Don't even say that, Will. That's a fucking lie and you know it." I hadn't meant to come off so hatefully, but I was sick and tired of having Will act like our mom didn't favor him most of the time. He knew how I felt about the entire situation of never having a parent give all their attention to me, so I found it insensitive of him to even joke about it.

"Whatever, Ellie." Will's eyes rolled and I took my arms away from Jamie before crossing them over my chest. Jamie turned around to face me, but I didn't look up at him. He hesitantly placed his hand on my knee and traced circles on my jean-covered skin, to comfort me. I appreciated it and wanted him to know that without verbally telling him, so I took my arms away from my chest and placed my hand on top of his before looking up and meeting his eyes with my own.

"There you all are," Rowan said as she walked into the kitchen with Claire. "I thought you all had abandoned us." Claire immediately made her way over to Will and wrapped her arms around his torso. Will quietly laughed before wrapping his arm around her and rubbing her back.

It was almost strange to see Will with a girl; he had plenty of past girlfriends, but I rarely ever saw them together. I also never liked any of them, so Claire was a nice change. He also genuinely seemed happier in her presence than he had with girls in the past. Although I wanted to stay mad at Will, I couldn't help but feel happy for him as I looked over at their behavior. I glanced over at Rowan to see her looking at me—from the look on her face, I could tell she knew I was feeling conflicted. She furrowed her brows questioningly, but I simply rolled my eyes to tell her it wasn't a big deal.