Chapter 3
Kelsie
I run as far and as fast as I can, not caring about the snow or the cold, or the fact that instead of wearing my brand new coat, I’m clutching it in my arms like a damn fool.
Nothing else matters right now except getting as far away from Hayes McIntyre as humanly possible.
The vibration in my pocket alerts me to the dozens of messages currently blowing up my phone. I’d bet a million dollars they are all from Lucy and Grace wondering what the fuck is going on right now.
I’d pay to know that too.
Why the hell was Hayes at our house party tonight?
Why isn’t he back in Colorado where he told me he lived?
God, I’m such a fool. It’s my fault I was so easily blinded by this guy. It was my idea not to share anything except the bare essentials with each other while we were together. I thought that would make it easier when we left Paris.
I assumed if I didn’t know much about him, I couldn’t get attached and then miss him when he left.
Stupid fucking idea.
My damn heart didn’t care whether I knew many personal details about Hayes. It fell anyway.
My mind retreats back to all the time we spent together during our semester abroad. We lived in the moment. Enjoyed each other’s company in the here and now, not allowing our lives back home to interfere with what we had going on together in Paris.
It was just supposed to be a fling that would fizzle out.
Only it didn’t.
Fuck, how did I fall so hopelessly in love with a guy I trusted so blindly and now I’m paying the price?
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
I kick off the snow from my boots against the steps of the house, shivering from the cold wind as I enter in my key code on the door pad.
Due to the fact that I lived abroad last semester, I didn’t have a place to come back to on campus since both my best friends are now shacking up with their SOs in the football house. So I was forced to find other accommodations with a short-term lease this semester. Luckily, I’d stayed in touch with my friend Parker Lange, one of my student partners from my entrepreneurship class last year, while I was in France. She’d told me that two rooms were available in the home her father owns and rents out and that I could sublease one.
I chose the only bedroom on the main floor in the back of the house that has its own bathroom. It’s perfect. I moved in and love the view from the small but cozy room that looks out over a nature preserve and the mountains to the west.
It’s not the luxurious flat I lived in that looked out over Montmartre in Paris, but I’ll manage and it will offer me the space I need to study.
Entering the second door into the house and then the front hallway, I toe off my wet boots to leave them by the door, where I see a few other pairs of shoes all lined up against the wall. Parker said there are five housemates, including herself, and I’ve only met one of them so far. Her name is Eleanor and she’s a graduate student.
I walk down the long hallway, past the stairs that lead up to the second and third floors, and unlock my bedroom door, swinging it open to find boxes still left to unpack.
At least my bed is made. Throwing myself across the comforter, I pluck out my phone, reading through the urgent texts that have come through since I raced out of the house.
Grace: KELSIE! Come back. Tell us what happened.
Lucy: What the heck just happened? Where are you? How do you know Mac?
Grace: Tell us where you are so we can talk.
Grace: SUGARSMACKS…we are going to hunt you down if you don’t call us ASAP!!!
Lucy: Holy shit…I just heard Mac tell Hendy he’s the same Hayes you met in Paris.
Lucy: OMG Kelsie…I can’t even! I don’t care that he’s the new kicker for the team, that guy is never ever being invited to our house EVER again.
Grace: Plz just tell us you’re okay. We’re coming over now.
I groan and set my phone on the bed before squishing my face into my pillow and punching the mattress a few times with my fist in pent-up frustration.
That’s not all I want to punch right now.
I wish I would’ve slapped Hayes harder in the face. Or, better yet, kicked him in the balls.
I’m not normally prone to violent outbursts. Although I am known for my fiery personality and quick-fuse temper, which I often turn into dramatic passive-aggressive storming off behavior. Yeah, I’m not proud of those traits, but that’s who I am. So coming face to face with the guy that ripped my heart to shreds and ghosted me certainly brought out the worst in me tonight.
I roll over to my side when I hear the buzzer on the front door. Almost simultaneously my phone lights up with a call.
I swipe to answer, seeing Grace’s face on the lock screen. “I’m coming. Hold on.”
Trudging down the hallway, I unlock the old Victorian style, floor-to-ceiling door and step out into the vestibule to open the second door.
The girls come rushing in, ready to be my support as they both wrap their arms around me in a tackle hug, talking a mile a minute.
“We’re here for you, babes,” Lucy says in a sweet whisper-soft murmur. “And we will rip his ball hairs off one by one if he tries to weasel his way back into your life.”
I snort-laugh at Lucy’s sweet-as-honey voice using such menacing words.
“Yeah,” Grace interjects. “And we can break his legs too. He can’t play ball here without them, right?”
“For fuck’s sake, who knew you two were such ball crushers? Jesus, remind me never to get on either one of your bad sides. You are pure evil hidden under angelic looks.”
They both laugh and then give each other concerned looks before taking off their coats and boots, hanging their outerwear on the hook rack in the vestibule. Once down to their stocking feet, they follow me into the main sitting room and common area where, thankfully, it’s completely quiet.
Because the semester doesn’t begin until January 15th, the house is fairly empty. Of the five bedrooms, Eleanor and I are the only ones here this week. Although, I think I heard someone moving in and then coming and going the last two days. I haven’t met them yet because I was busy in my room, but I’m sure we’ll run into each other soon.
I flop down on the worn-out brown leather couch and the girls flank me on either side, each grabbing onto my hands and wiggling their fingers through mine. I consider where to start.
“We might need booze for this,” I joke and clutch Lucy’s hand when she starts to get up to head to the kitchen. I pull her back down and she sits with a plop. “I’m kidding. I mean, we can drink afterwards, but I’m so upset right now I think if I got drunk, I’d do something stupid.”
Grace’s eyes light up deviously. “Like what? Put something on socials about his tiny dick?”
I sputter out a laugh and shake my head. “Sadly, that would be a complete lie. It’s true what they say about shoe size.”
Lucy’s mouth drops open and she coughs into her hand. “Hmm…same thing about their hands. Emmett has really big hands and long fingers.”
She sighs and we all collapse into each other in a fit of laughter as Grace joins in on our ridiculous interpretation of the old wives’ tales about penis size.
“If that’s the case, Killer is one big boned man!”
“He has a killer boner!”
We continue giggling and my initial anger and shock begins to dissipate now that my friends have shown up to remind me that I’m loved.
When we finally get all the jokes out of our systems, the tone returns to a more serious nature when I open up about my feelings toward Hayes.
“I’ve never felt so hurt and heartbroken over a guy before,” I say, my chin quivering as I try to keep back the sobs. “I’m sorry for not confiding in you about all of this before, but I wanted to forget about it because it hurt so much. When he left me in Paris, I felt so unwanted and alone. I was so embarrassed because he dumped me.”
Lucy wraps an arm around me and Grace squeezes my hand in hers. My friends surround me with their love and support, grounding me in a way nobody ever has since my brother and my aunt.
“Kelsie, you are never alone. We’ve got you, girl,” Lucy says, snuggling her face against my arm. “And everyone loves you because you’re our Kelsie.”
While I’d love to believe that’s true, I know it’s a lie. If it were true, then why did Hayes leave me like I meant nothing to him?
Grace adds in her two cents. “Listen, Kels, we’ve all been through it. God, it hurts so much. It’s why they call it heartbreak.”
I give a sad smile at Grace. She knows more than anyone how it feels to lose someone close. She’s gone through a lot with her own mother, just as I have with my brother and parents.
I straighten my shoulders and stand up, brushing off the sadness as I head into the kitchen to dig out the bottles I’d stashed when I moved in.
“Okay, it’s time to get drunk.”
I give both girls a look over my shoulder and make them a promise. “But this time, there will be no kissing games.”
And I silently vow to myself never to kiss Hayes McIntyre ever again.