Chapter 41 TJ
TJ
Iregain consciousness, and beside me in my bed lies a girl asleep—and, for the very first time in months, it’s someone I didn’t have sex with the night before.
After West’s party, I brought Weberly home, but all we did was drink and talk.
Well, she mostly talked, and I listened, nodding sporadically.
I didn’t want to have sex with anyone, but I also didn’t want to be alone with my thoughts, so this arrangement worked out fine.
Besides, she didn’t seem to want anything more, either.
Eventually, we moved from the living room to my bed, where we both fell asleep.
I step out of my room, being extra careful not to wake her—not exactly out of consideration, but more because I don’t want West to see her here. Before she leaves, I need to make sure the coast is clear. If West sees her, regardless of the fact that nothing happened, I’ll never hear the end of it.
I reach the living area, and Laurie and West are both at the kitchen table. Fantastic. Now there’s probably no way to avoid Weberly being seen by at least one of them.
West is sitting at the table, his head cradled in his hands, looking severely hungover.
Instead of being here, he should be in bed sleeping, but he can never sleep in—it’s like he has an internal alarm clock.
I used to be jealous of that in boarding school, but now I’m just glad I’m not him. He looks absolutely miserable.
Laurie seems like he just arrived, as he is unpacking a takeout paper bag.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” I ask Laurie, approaching them.
“I thought you two would be hungover, so I brought food and coffee,” he responds casually, as if it’s something he does all the time. Sometimes he does when he has nothing better to do—but this time, it feels… weird.
I see the takeout coffee cups on the table and immediately reach for one, sitting down. I didn’t drink much at the party, but when I brought Weberly here, between the two of us, we finished an entire bottle of bourbon. It was mostly her, but I’m still feeling a little hungover.
As Laurie takes bagels out of the bag, and I wake up more, I notice his black shirt is wrinkled. We didn’t talk much at West’s masquerade, but I’m pretty sure he’s wearing yesterday’s clothes.
“Are you doing the walk of shame?” I ask him, and he immediately tenses.
West growls, lifting his head slightly to look at us. “So I wasn’t hallucinating. Please tell me it wasn’t my sister.”
“Of course it was your sister; who else would it be?” Weberly says as she exits the hallway where the bedrooms are and walks towards us. All eyes immediately turn to me. “Oh, bagels! I’m starving,” she adds, grabbing one and sitting down.
Laurie’s eyes narrow, and he glances between Weberly and me. “Seriously, TJ?”
“Nothing happened,” I answer quickly, almost on autopilot, not even considering Weberly is within earshot.
“I’d try not to take it as an insult,” Weberly says nonchalantly. I doubt anyone could ever say something that would actually hurt her.
“Are you sure?” Laurie counters, his tone dripping with scepticism.
“Trust me, if something had happened, he’d remember.” She smirks, glancing briefly towards West, who seems to be muttering something. He finally lifts his head completely from his hands.
“I feel like we’ve teleported to an alternate reality, and I’m not sure I’m liking it,” he says, his expression betraying how much the room must be spinning for him. “I need to lie down horizontally for a bit.” He pushes himself up from his chair and staggers to the bedrooms.