I’m pretty sure I never stopped loving him.
Fourteen: Audrey
A Drop in the Ocean - Ron Pope
Connor didn’t plan out his hospitality very well. He realized after the game that having three bedrooms means he is one bed short for all of us to stay with him. Noah drove home ahead of us, saying he’d get dinner started and clean up the bedroom he’d been staying in so that I could stay in it, while Connor played tour guide and drove us around town.
“I don’t want Noah to give up his bed,” I mumble.
“Okay, what if I take the couch, Auds takes my bed, Fiona and Selena take what was going to be Audrey's room and we go from there?” Connor offers as we drive back to his place.
Selena snickers. “Why doesn’tAuddiejust stay withNo. I assume they’d like to hug more?”
I shoot her daggers over my shoulder while Connor just chuckles from the front seat. “Go ahead. Also, Selena, on Noah’s behalf … never, ever call my sister that in front of him. That nickname belongs to the two of them.”
“Hm … territorial. That’s hot!” Selena eggs him on from the backseat.
“Shut up,” I warn her, fighting back a laugh, “or I’ll make Connor drive you to the airport right now.”
Selena leans forward with a wicked grin. “No chance I’m missing out on a single moment of this.”
Connor glances over his shoulder at Fiona. “I tell you this every time, but you married the female version of me.”
Fiona snorts. “Yeah, poor me.”
We all laugh before Connor gives me a long look.
“What?”
“Youaresingle now, you know …” he starts, tapping his fingers on his steering wheel.
“So?”
“So, I think it’s time I tell you that Paul was the worst and I’m mad that you two were together for so long.”
“I second that. I’m mad about it too,” Selena calls out.
“In that case, I’ll be mad too,” Fiona adds.
Add my parents to the list. When Connor told them what happened, my mom called me to let out years’ worth of disgust with Paul. And my dad all but offered to hire a hitman.
I was annoyed to learn how much they didn’t like him, but I also don’t think knowing the information would have convinced me to end it with him. They were only trying to be supportive because they thought I was happy.Part of me used Paul as a crutch, knowing that Noah and I couldn’t be together.
“Okay, I get it … I fucked up by staying with him. I fucked up by not fighting harder for what I actually wanted.”
“What do you mean?” Connor asks, confused.
I sulk in the passenger seat, not wanting to answer that.
“Oh man, Connor doesn’t know?” Selena gasps. “Dude, she got into the University of Texas … she wanted to go be with Noah.” I groan as she continues to talk, “He called her drunk, telling her not to follow him, not to be in love with him.”
I don’t need to be looking at Connor to feel his gears turning. “Graduation week, the night before he left abruptly?”
“Yeah …” I whisper, trying not to go back to that night.
His hands tighten on the steering wheel. “Shit, Auds. I’m so sorry.”
“Wait—why are you sorry?”
