I slump my hands onto my lap, picking at my nails.
“Not exactly. That was just how it started.” Sophia raises her eyebrows as if urging me to go on, and I exhale slowly. “When I came back for the holidays, I thought we could at least be civil, which was harder than expected.” I mutter those last words under my breath, staring down at my plate. “Plus, I had just broken up with Oliver, Huxley was dating someone, and I was kind of seeing that DJ, but things still kind of … happened.”
Sophia chuckles, leaning back into her chair. “You guys are so messy.”
“We haven’t hooked up since I’ve been back,” I say quickly, hoping that will help my cause. “Anyway, things were getting kind of hot and heavy last week —”
Sophia grimaces. “Spare me.”
I sigh loudly. “Then out of nowhere, he said he couldn’t do it anymore and then told me, ‘I can’t do meaningless with you’.” I pause and watch Sophia’s expression gradually fallsomewhere close to concern. Her reaction has my heartbeat quickening, but I add one final thing before letting her speak, “He’s been ignoring me ever since.”
I break into a sweat under her careful appraisal.
“What do you mean byit?” she says slowly.
“It? Like what are we?” Sophia nods. “I don’t know,” I whine. “I thought we were just having fun — I literallyjustbroke up with Oliver.”
“Are you still hooking up with that DJ?”
I’m not sure where she’s going with this but I answer nonetheless. “I ghosted him after he showed up with flowers on my first day at the Remi.”
She smirks. “Classic.” She pops a piece of fried chicken in her mouth and licks her lips while dusting off her fingers. “And was that theonlyreason you ghosted him?”
I blink.
Oh.
“No,” I answer sheepishly. “I guess, Huxley was another reason. I didn’t want to flaunt someone else in front of him.”
“Because you …” She elongates her last word as if waiting for me to finish her sentence, one eyebrow lifting expectantly.
Miffed, I reply, “Because Iwhat?”
She crosses her arms. “Because you care about his feelings, dummy.”
I squirm in my chair, feeling pretty toxic when thinking back on how I’ve acted with Huxley since returning to Marsford Bay. The guilt makes me want to act out and reply as brattily as possible.
“Why does this have to be so serious? Obviously, Huxley has had casual flings before. How is this any different — he was literally fucking another girl just a month ago for god’s sake.”
A little harsh. But not too bad.
Sophia stays silent for a beat. “Connie.” The tone of her voice makes me look up, my heart dropping into my stomach.Her eyebrows furrow with worry. “Huxley went to prison when he was eighteen years old … how many flings do you think he’s had?”
I suddenly don’t want to have this conversation anymore. The reminder that Huxley spent his early twenties in prison has my nose starting to tingle as if threatening a deluge of tears.
I swallow hard.
God. I must be PMS’ing.
Sophia notices my inner turmoil, and her expression softens. She pushes her plate toward the middle and folds her arms on the table, leaning forward.
“You know, Huxley has always been the most sensitive out of all of us. He hates it. He fights it constantly, but it doesn’t change who he is deep down. And one thing wedohave in common is that we avoid talking about our feelings. So if he’s gone far enough to tell you that this isn’t meaningless to him, I suggest you listen.”
I don’t know what to say, so I say nothing, mulling over what she just divulged.
Then Sophia blinks, and her face switches from serious to something a lot more unhinged.
“Basically.” She grins and tilts her head as she stares me down. “Don’t fuck with my brother or I’ll kill you.” Then, as if she didn’t just threaten my life, she swivels her head around to look behind her. “Where’s our server? I need a refill.”
