Conversations branched off from there, each of the other girls giving input on Sofia and Silas, and Jessica and Silas, offering commentary onherlife. Jessica, meanwhile, was trapped inside her mind.
Abruptly, she stood, accidentally jostling the girl next to her and sloshing her drink all over her hand and onto the floor.
“I’m so sorry,” Jessica said as she picked her way through their circle, making a beeline for Silas.
Of course, Sofia was already there.
Jessica had no qualms about barging right between them, wrapping her hand around Silas’s wrist, and tugging him away.
She offered Sofia an apologetic smile and said, “Sorry. Need to borrow my boyfriend for a second.”
Jessica had never been the jealous type, had neverneededto be—or so she thought. But with Jack walking back into her life, and discovering the existence of Sofia, this woman in Silas’s life who took so much of his time and attention, well…the cracks in the veneer of their relationship were starting to show.
Silas tried to pull his wrist from her grip, but she held fast, towing him through the party and upstairs, not stopping until his bedroom door was shut and locked behind them.
Then she sat down hard on his bed and dropped her face into her hands, willing herself not to cry. They wouldn’t even be tears of sadness. They’d be ones of anger and frustration, and that was so much worse.
His warm palm landed on her shoulder a moment before he said, “Jess? What’s wrong?”
“Do you have feelings for Sofia?” she blurted, still not looking at him, afraid his face would tell her everything she didn’t want to know.
His hand slid from her shoulder to her cheek, and his feet appeared in her downcast vision. He knelt and tipped her face up to meet his eyes. “No.”
Jessica squinted, searching his eyes, his mouth, eyebrows, forehead, every single line of this face she knew so well for any hint of deception.
When she found none, she breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay.”
“What the hell brought this on?” he asked.
“Just…some weird conversations with the girls downstairs,” she said, waving a hand, desperate to make this conversation go away now that she’d gotten what she came for.
“I wish you wouldn’t listen to their nonsense,” he said. “They’re like those old ladies in town who go to the local bakery for coffee and scones every morning, gossiping about what everyone else is doing and ignoring their own problems.”
“I like them,” Jessica said defensively. Like her and Silas, a few of them had been with their boyfriends since freshman year, and it had been nice to have friends who understood what it was like dating a frat guy.
“I do, too,” Silas said. “I’m just saying, they can be…shit-stirrers.”
“Well, I didn’t let them stir any shit,” she said. “The moment they brought it up, I came right to you.”
“And I’m glad you did,” he said, dropping a kiss onto her forehead.
Then he straightened to his full height and raised his arms over his head, bending side to side and backward. His back cracked and popped with each movement, and he released a satisfied yawn.
“Well, now that we’re up here, I don’t really feel like going back down. What do you say we get ready for bed and turn on a movie?”
Jessica perked up. “My choice?”
Silas groaned playfully, then shot her a million dollar smile. “Of course.”
Jessica hopped from the bed and swiped her bag from the floor on her way to his attached bath. She made quick work of her nighttime routine: makeup remover, face wash, serums and lotions. Then she changed out of her party outfit and into a pair of sweatpants and a well-worn t-shirt. Finally, she applied her favorite lotion to her hands and arms before padding back out into the bedroom. Silas was already tucked under the covers, the opening credits ofSweet Home Alabamacued up on the screen.
“How did you know?” she asked as she slid in next to him.
Silas scoffed. “Please. This is your favorite movie.”
The boy wasn’t wrong.
She scooted over next to him, and he opened an arm so she could curl up next to him, her head resting on his chest, her hand under her head.
