Before You | 18+ | ✓

11: marley

"There was another flower left on your windshield." Bria says, walking in through the front door.

I look up from where I'm making cookies in the kitchen, "I hope you threw it away."

"It's kinda pretty." She says, twirling it in her hands as she flops onto the couch.

I roll my eyes. "Keep it if you want. I don't want anything of Trent's."

"Understandably so, but is his roommate included in that?" Bria asks and I pour more chocolate chips into the dough.

"He lied to me."

She gives me a knowing look. "Marley, what exactly was he supposed to do? Tell you the first time he sees you in two years that your boyfriend was cheating on you?"

"Yes." I say matter of factly. "You know how I feel about liars."

"I do but I also think he deserves another chance because he technically wasn't lying to you."

I start spooning the dough into globs on the cookie sheet I have sitting next to me on the counter. "Bria, I don't want to talk about him."

"Well I just thought you should know that JJ wants to talk to you." She says nonchalantly and my hand slips, knocking the tray of cookies onto the tile floor with a clang.

"Goddammit!" I swear, crouching down immediately to pick everything up.

"Five second rule, I bet they're fine. Plus they still gotta go in the oven so wouldn't that cook all the bacteria off?" Bria asks, sounding much closer than before.

"They're ruined." Just like my trust in JJ. He should have told me.

"They're not ruined; the cookies can be fixed and if not, start over." There's a gleam in her eyes that tell me we're not talking about cookies.

"Bria."

She gives me the same look I'm giving her. "Marley."

"There's nothing to say. I want nothing to do with any of them. They lied to me and it's not fair of you to ask me to get over it that quickly." I say, balling up the ruined globs of dough to throw in the trashcan before starting over.

"I'm not asking you to get over it, I'm informing you that JJ wants to talk to you. What you do with that knowledge is up to you." She says simply and it's not that simple.

I was upset about Trent, but it wasn't what broke my heart. JJ broke my heart—for the second time if I might add.

"And how do you even know that?"

"Because I talked to him."

My head snaps up to look at Bria where she sits on a barstool with her track shirt on and shorts. "When would you have talked to him?"

She takes a drink from her water bottle. "I thought you didn't care?" She muses.

My nostrils flare with the anger brimming under my skin. Bria seriously needs to take a step back or I might explode. "I don't." I say, my voice deathly calm.

"Okay, well you might want to tell that to the squashed cookie dough in your hand." Bria says, leaning over to stick her finger in the bowl.

I release my hand and try to reform it, but I'm in no mood to make cookies anymore. I hate this. I don't get angry and I certainly shouldn't be jealous of Bria for talking to JJ when I won't.

I struggle to find where all of our plastic tupperwear is hidden which only aggravates my temper that normally doesn't peek through.

"Up and over," Bria chimes in and I resist the urge to bang my head on the counter.