“Where are your housemates?” Flynn asks.
“In their rooms.”
I heat the milk, careful not to let it boil. “Do you still love him?”
Flynn stiffens. “Billy?”
I nod.
He looks away, chin trembling, which gives me the answer he can’t—or won’t—say out loud.
“What happened?” It’s none of my business. I shouldn’t be asking, but I want to know.
“Hasn’t Billy already told you?”
“Mum said the two of you fell out of love. Billy said—” I shut my mouth, not wanting to add insult to injury.
“What did Billy say?”
I take a breath. “That you wanted to be a farm boy more than you wanted to be with him.”
Flynn flinches.
“I’d like to hear your side of the story.”
“Why?”
I blink. “What do you mean?”
“You hate me.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I get why you think that.” And, to be fair, Iwantedto hate him. I acted like I did.
“Am I wrong?”
I shrug and stare at the milk. It’s ready. Part of me still wants to hate him, which is pathetic. I shouldnever have made my jealousy his problem. I pour half the milk into one mug and give it to Flynn before adding cocoa powder to the remaining milk.
He blows over the top of his warm milk. “Me wanting to work on farms didn’t help, but it’s not the only thing that went wrong.” He sips the drink, his lashes flickering as he savours it.
Me? I need the added sweetness of the chocolate. I never got how he could drink warm milk without it. I pour my hot chocolate into my mug and stir in some cold milk until it’s drinkable.
“Want to talk about it?” I ask.
“No.” His reply is swift and blunt. He sips more milk. “This is nice, thank you.”
“Not too hot?” I didn’t add cold to his.
He shakes his head and sips some more. “This is awkward.”
“You only have to stay long enough to calm down, which isn’t me telling you to get lost, by the way. You can stay as long as you want.”
“You’re confusing.”
I laugh. “Should I take that as a compliment?”
“I thought you hated me, but you’re being nice to me. And I get it. I came between you and Billy by falling for him. I changed the dynamic of our friendship and fucked everything up.”
“Flynn—”
