Melanie Parks had it all. An amazing childhood best friend Lauren Porter, they're attending one of the best colleges in the country together, a great family, and a longtime boyfriend, Jamie Sanders, she loves and who loves her back.
Or so she thoug...
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I wake up groggy after a bad dream rattles me enough that I decide not to try to fall back asleep, but the slight headache has me wanting to curl up in bed for the rest of the morning.
That's when the failed attempt at dragging more of my bedding over has memories of yesterday flooding back to me. Memories of my boyfriend who ignored me on my birthday and Valentine's Day, only to show up hammered at my door in the middle of the night.
I slightly prop myself up and look to my left where I find Jamie passed out, face down, in my bed. My head hurts from drinking the bottle of wine last night, but my heart hurts looking down at the one person who shouldn't be causing me this much pain. Laying back down, I check my phone and realize it's later than I thought, so I need to get ready for my psychology class which is the last place I want to be right now.
A conversation with Jamie is inevitable, but putting it off? That's something I can do at the moment.
Carefully slipping out of bed so I don't disturb my hungover boyfriend, I grab my phone and make my way into my bathroom, closing both doors before turning the water on so it'll all but burn when I step in after using the toilet.
A quick shower later, I enter my bedroom, dressed for the day and notice that Jamie has woken up. "Oh, hey," I murmur. I threw on my ribbed alpine slouchy and cropped sweater with a mock neckline and slightly exaggerated sleeves and my graphite gray leggings.
He groans, rubbing his hands over his face, his hair a total disaster from his drunken sleep. His clothes are wrinkled from sleeping in them and I know somehow I'll get blamed for his messed up clothes when he needs something else to be mad at me for.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like a fuckin' train hit me."
"What happened?"
He pushes himself upright so he's propped against my headboard, legs stretched out in front of him. "Melly, I-"
"What did I do to make you angry at me?"
"I'm not angry with you."
"Then tell me why you ignored me all day yesterday? Why didn't you call me, or text me back? It was my birthday Jamie, not to mention Valentine's Day."
"There was just so much going on. The day got away from me."
"I know your dad is putting pressure on you, but you're still in college and doing well. So explain to me what the hell could have been going on that had you away from your phone all day, drinking all night to show up here, at fucking 3:00 a.m. to pound on my door."
"I don't know, okay?!"
"No! Not okay, Jamie! You hurt me! I spent the day with Lauren, acting like nothing was wrong when I hadn't heard from my boyfriend of four years."'
"Great, so another thing she's going to hate me for."
"Maybe she has a reason too," I mutter under my breath.
