The Girl Who Wrote The Dating Manual

chapter fourteen

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            Dedicated to @xXPushingYourLuckXx for her help with this chapter, as well as being an avid Chance supporter. Mwah! x

 

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            There was exactly one single moment of deafening silence, before the other shoe dropped and all hell broke loose.

            “Chance!” Jamie called out after his best friend, half-falling off of the couch as he made a desperate grab for his shirt. Ava was staring open-mouthed at her brother as he almost fell over in his haste. He pulled on his shirt with one hand and pushed past the gathered girls, before disappearing through the doorway. For a moment, the only thing I could hear were Jamie’s footsteps and him calling for his friend, before silence once again settled over the room.

            “I think I’m just gonna go,” Rose murmured, hooking one thumb backwards and gesturing to the door. Her eyes darted around nervously, and she slowly inched towards the doorway.

            Ava barely spared her a glance, her green eyes trained dangerously on me. “Good idea.”

            Rose nodded farewell to me and then spun around, leaving me alone with my best friend. Normally, I didn’t mind; but this time, I really could’ve used backup—or at least a shield to save me from her burning gaze.

            “You have some serious explaining to do,” Ava said in a low, angry voice. It wasn’t like I couldn’t tell why; she had just walked in on her brother heatedly making out with her best friend, only a short half-hour after said best friend had claimed sick at her birthday party, and only a few short days after she had quasi broken up with another boy. The situation in itself was a spinout.

            “I know,” I muttered, pulling my dress down from where it rode up dangerously on my thigh. Ava glanced downward and grimaced with distaste at my disheveled appearance, making shame course through me and my cheeks to burn.

            “You have made one hell of a mess, Candice,” Ava informed me evenly, and I looked away from her accusatory gaze. Instead of meeting her green stare, I settled for glaring at the whiskey bottle that had started it all.

            “I know,” I repeated, knowing no measly excuse about alcohol would make the situation better.

            “What is going on with you lately, Candice?” Ava asked. “Because you’re sure as hell not the amazing best friend I met two years ago freshman year of college.”

            “I don’t know.”

            “What do you mean, ‘I don’t know’?” Ava snapped. As if to accentuate her anger, thunder crackled ominously outside, and rain pelted against the roof in falling sheets.