fuckboy

chapter vii

Y/N's P.O.V.

Are you ready for the trip?

Grinning, I picked up the phone to shoot back an answer to Brie. I was beyond excited for the retreat she had invited me to: spend four days on the mountains with a few of our friends in common.

With the weather slowly getting warmer, it seemed like the perfect time to do something like this. And I had another reason to be more than excited about the prospect of getting to stay in a secluded cabin in the middle of nowhere:

Chris would be there too.

I hadn't heard from him for the last week or so, and he hadn't been using the app where we usually chatted since the last time we had spoken on it. I figured he was probably busy, perhaps going over some scripts now that no party was scheduled to happen any time soon.

I missed talking to him. He had the most peculiar sense of humor and I kicked myself mentally for not getting his number when I had the chance to, but that was alright. Because I would be spending the next four days by his side.

"Hey!" By the time I got there, almost everyone seemed to have already arrived. Mackie and Liz had been invited, as were Tessa and Tom, who was my ride. Brie was walking around the patio of the main cabin, phone pressed between her face and her shoulder as she tried to mix some sort of drink with both hands.

"Hey!" I greeted back, excited to see my friends and meet those I didn't know yet. "Drop your bag in cabin number four, Chris will be staying in cabin number 3!" Liz explained, already getting up to walk me to where I would be staying.

We chatted the whole way there and I noticed a new car had pulled up to the main area when we got back, and sure enough, there he was. Only, there was a girl with him. "Uh, hey, Y/N! I didn't know you were coming."

Frowning, I accepted his awkward one-armed hug. "Yeah, Brie, invited me." He seemed to have forgotten that the host was actually the person who introduced us but the second that I mentioned her, his eyes widened in realization and I was sure he almost slapped his own forehead.

"Right, of course. You guys are pretty close." I nodded with a tight-lipped smile, still very confused about his entire behavior when I turned to the stranger. "Oh, right. You haven't met Julie yet. Y/N, this is my girlfriend."

My blood ran cold, heartbeat suddenly accelerated when I realized I could have very well been an accomplice to an affair. "Oh, hi!" I was quick to greet the girl, taking notice of how pretty she was. "It's nice to meet you."

If I'd been scared that Julie knew something had happened between Chris and I and would therefore treat me horribly, that fear was overcome within the first hour of conversation. She seemed nice - and she was nothing but nice to me.

So although I couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed at the fact that my fantasies for this trip would remain fantasies, I knew I'd have a great time with the gang and get to experience some of the winter activities we could partake in from our retreat - lighting a bonfire was one of them.

I filed away the need to make sure I hadn't actually aided Chris to cheat on the girl for some other time, when I had the opportunity to speak to him alone, but figured that wouldn't happen any time soon - if ever, now that he was with someone. I'd probably have to learn how to live with that anxiety.

"Do you want more marshmallows, dear?" Tom leaned closer to me, perhaps too close considering he was right next to me, but I was so drunk on this experience and the little bit of wine I'd shared with Liz that all I could do was giggle, welcoming the heat of his body as it helped me battle the cold wind that hounded us.