Chapter 41: A Millionaire, His Suit And Poor Me Chapter 41

For the first time since practically Louis moved into our small apartment, I woke up wrapped in Jace's arms, my head undhis chin and my legs intertwined. He sored slightly while I hugged him for an indefinite time, until the door opened andLouis’ head came out.

He offered me an affectionate smile as he observed our intertwined bodies, then completely entered my room. “Hello Hewhispered.

I looked at him expressionlessly. “Hello.”

“Now I'm going to wake Jace up because I have a plan, and, no offense, you look dead.”

“OK. You are right”

Louis got up from the foot of the bed, curled up next to Jace and whispered “wake up, wake up, wake up” until Jace openea blue eye. He looked sleepily at my scowling face and Louis's bright one before opening the other eye.

"Hours?" He croaked.

“Almost noon,” Louis encourages, “and now it's up to both of you to get up. I have a foolproof plan to break, if you're willito listen.’

Jace slowly sat down against the panel, taking me with him and the blankets. “Of course, Lou, let's listen."

“OKLouis clapped his hands together and cleared his throat. “Today is a sad day. We can only have one sad day becausewe are adults and we have to work, and that is the case today. Tomorrow you will miss work and it will be a bad day. Youcan scream and hit things.”

He looked down, waiting for my approval before continuing. “Then on Tuesday, if everything goes according to plan, we'llget drunk in a shitty bar. And then you will have other sad days, but not like, sad days, and we will be there for you all thetime."l looked at Louis, blinking, and he frowned, “Do you understand? You will cry and scream, and we will be thereregardless.

“Well,” I mumbled. “I wouldn't say that Henris and I really broke up... rather that I am very embarrassed and that it isdefinitely over between us. But I think Id rather burn his jacket lying around in my wardrobe than have a sad day."

“Oh, lovely. Jace can start making breakfast and I'll get the lighter!”

With that, Louis jumped out of bed, leaving Jace and I to wake up slowly. We both had our feet on the floor when Louisentered again, triumphantly holding a lighter in one hand with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. I nodded and walked oveto the wardrobe, and pulled out my jacket.

We left my room in a tired line and went out onto the balcony, the lighter in Louis’ hand, Jace's hands in each of ours, ancthe black Versace jacket, still smelling of Henris, in my free hand. Louis slid open the glass door and we met the cold NevYork air, on the terrace.

lifted up my jacket to inspect it. “Where do you think it is the most flammable?”

“Probably somewhere inside,” Louis said. “It's going to be great”

“Definitely. A lighter, please.”

He passed it to me with a determined look, then wrapped his arms around Jace's shoulders. They stood side by side, intheir pajamas, on the balcony, watching me light the lighter once or twice before the wind put it out.

“Noras!"jace blurted out. “Before burning it, what happened? You were a little drunk last night for a decent explanation. Slike, what happened?

I sent him a bad look. “Believe me, it's over. Now, shut up and let me burn it."

“Good.”

“Good,” I announced. “I'm going to burn this jacket. His stupid, stupid, Versace jacket that is so cute and probably veryexpensive The lighter went out. I threw it off the balcony. “Oh my God, it's such a beautiful jacket. 1, I can't do that.”

Jace was by my side in a second, he surrounded my waist with his arms and kissed my hair several times while I clung tohis white sweater and breathed heavily. The noise of taxis and people walking down the street is what finally gave me bathe ability to walk to the apartment.

We collapsed on the crumpled leather sofa, my legs on Louis's and my head on Jace’s. “It's like,” I turned up my nose, “Iwant to burn this fucking jacket, but it's also very beautiful, a lot and it fits Henris very well.”

Jace ran his hands through my hair. “It was a very nice jacket. Coffee?”

“Yes, pleaseLouis disappeared from the sofa and headed for the kitchen. The sound of ground coffee filled the silentapartment. He reappeared a few minutes later with three steaming cups, and handed me one.

I took a small sip and looked at the wall, and the boys looked at me. They looked at me as if I was going to collapse anymoment, or maybe burst into tears again. After less than a minute, I gave up trying to ignore the two pairs of attentive bleyes.

“What do you think I'm going to do? Crying? No. I won't do itl blew.

Louis looked at me from the rim of his coffee cup with curious blue eyes. “Why not?”

“Because Henris Steve doesn't deserve me to cry over him. And we didn't even, like, break up. It's not a breakup,” toldthem. They both looked at me expressionlessly. “We weren't together. Technically, it's not a breakup. So don't act like it isThe two guys nodded slowly and exchanged glances that made me want to punch them in the face, but then I realized th:my anger was directed at the wrong people and that, in fact, I wanted to punch Henris in the face. I swallowed the rest ofmy coffee with a grunt.

“Where's my phone?"l unpacked everything.

Jace walked away from me awkwardly. “Uh, are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Yes. He probably didn't even call me. He didn't seem to care, so why would he care?”

Both boys seemed uncomfortable under my cold gaze, so with another groan of frustration, I slammed the cup on the tatand got up. Neither of them said anything as I left the living room to go back to my room, looking for my phone.

I searched my bed from top to bottom, removing the blankets and pillows, until I came to the conclusion that he was notthere. After that, I searched the pockets of all the clothes I had worn the day before, then my bag, then the realizationopened my eyes.

I rushed into the living room with a cry of frustration. “Henris Steve has my phone. He insisted on keeping it for me lastnight."

Louis turned pale. “Well, it's embarrassing.”

“Yes, Lou, just a little."l whistled. “I need my phone."

“ll go and get it"Jace interposed. “And maybe I'll punch him while I'm there, because you know, I have to be protective aeverything."

“Just - no. Give me your phone and I'll call him.”

Jace squealed and hid next to Louis. Absolutely not. You shouldn't call her. It's only been a day since you broke up."

“We haven't broken up! Give me your phone now growled.

He got closer to Louis, as if the latter was the best protection in the whole world. I held out my hand and waited for him tplace it in my palm. After thirty seconds of confrontation, I let out a cry of frustration and pushed my roommate back onthe couch.

“Give it to me!"l screamed, grabbing the silver iPhone in his hands. “No - ow, shit - give it to me, Jace! Louis help me!"“You can't call him!"

“I need my phone!”

Jace snatched the phone out of my hand. “You can have it on one condition!”

I fell on the couch with an undone frown and crossed my arms over my chest. “Good. Speak up.”

“He won't bring you the phone. I'll go get it’

“I don't care, it's okay."l unpacked everything. “Now give it to me.”

My roommate handed me the phone with an attentive look. As soon as I got it, I jumped off the couch and ran to thebathroom, knowing that it was the only room with a lock, and slammed the door behind me.

I stared at the phone for a good ten minutes before giving up and opening the door, revealing Jace and Louis sittingoutside with an expression of guilt on their faces. “Well,” I hissed. “I'm going to ignore the fact that you're listening at thedoors if I can get some wine.”

Jace pouted. “Absolutely not. Stop wasting time.”

“Ym not wasting any time, really, I just want to have breakfast. Can we have some breakfast?”

“Good."He mumbled, rubbing his head with his hands. “I'm going to go make some eggs.”

As he was heading to the kitchen, Louis and I collapsed on the sofa where we had been a few moments before. The TV wascreaming in the background, his fingers were in my hair and my head under his chin.

“So Noras," he said softly. “What happened last night?"

“I decided that I hate Henris Steve, that's what I decided.”

He played pulling my hair. “Ok, but really, what happened? It's just that you... you haven't said anything about what reallyhappened between you, you know?".

I bit my lower lip as a sign of concentration. “Did 1, like, tell her that I loved her?”

“Is this a question or an affirmation?”Louis laughed.

“Um, well, I told her to go fuck herself, and then I told her that I loved her. Don't tell Jace."

Louis sighed into my hair. “Well, he can go fuck himself. I still want to burn his jacket, really. Why can't I tell Jace?”“Because it's embarrassing.”

We remained huddled on the sofa until Jace entered in his bright pink CEO apron, with three steaming plates of food in hhands. He collapsed on the couch between us, handing us our respective plates with a smile.

I devoured the pile of eggs on my plate, trying to ignore the anxiety that grew in me every time I thought about hearingHenri’ voice on the phone, not to mention seeing him after my drunken confession at the exit of the club.

The food staggered in my stomach at the thought. Without a word, I jumped off the couch and ran to the bathroom, whervomited the entire contents of my stomach, while Jace held my hair and whispered sweet words in my ear.

When the nausea stopped, I pressed my forehead against the edge of the porcelain cabinet. “It's the hangover. croaked.“You know, super drunk and all”

Jace tied my hair into a ponytail. “Definitely. I'll go get you some water.”

is comfortable hands left my shoulders and I found myself alone in the bathroom with the image of Henris Steve's stupface when I shouted those three little words at him. It was enough to make me tip my head into the toilet and vomit agaiWith another elegant spit in the cup, I leaned against the wall. “Damn it”"l shouted into the empty room. “Damn, damn,damnt”

Silence answered for a minute, then there were strange movements in the kitchen, where Jace and Louis were probablydeciding what was the best way to handle their screaming best friend who hadn't even had a real breakup.

I wanted to burn Versace's jacket, then hit Henris, and finally break all the valuables he owned. But, more than anything,wanted to scream at him that I loved him, over and over again, until he shouted it back at me.

It wasn't until Jace slid up against the wall, sitting down next to me, that I realized I was crying. With a few awkward sobs,accepted the glass of water he handed me and took sips while he wiped away my tears.

“You don't have to, like,” I turned up my nose. “Take care of me."

He smiled at me. “Would you rather I called your mother?”

I wince at the thought of my mother, with her long brown hair and her fluttering hippie skirts, entering our modernapartment, not to mention entering the haughty city that is New York. “That's not what I want, definitely."

“So, what do you want?”

I've been thinking about Henris. I said, “I want to listen to Beyoncé really, really hard, and try not to cry, and then punchHenris in the face for being so stubborn.’

Jace turned a small smile towards me. “Or you can call him now."

“Phone, please.”

He handed me his phone and approached me on the cold tiles. I scrolled through the contacts before stopping on thename of Henris Steve. Even in the address book, his name seemed big and important, as if no one else was relevant.

My thumb hovered over the call button for a good minute as I tried to suppress the anger that threatened to rise, and Itapped the screen with trembling hands, then 1 brought it to my ear. The ringing seemed to be slow, and the more itsounded, the faster my heartbeats accelerated.

There was a little click. “Noras?”

The sound of her voice was enough to make me blush with embarrassment. “I don't.”

“Noras."

“There are, uh, well actually, you have... my phone."l took a deep breath before continuing. “You have my phone.”

“Yes, he is here. I'll bring it to you..."

“Noll shouted, interrupting him. “Jace is coming for him"

“I said 1 would bring it to you. Don't argue with me, Noras."

It took me a few seconds to recover from the shock. He was always giving me orders. “Me. I said Jace would come for him.Soon.”

He took a deep breath. “I'm already at your building, Noras. I'll be with you in a second.’

“Don't try to set foot in my apartment.’l whistled. I was angry and annoyed, and I didn't want him to see me sitting on thebathroom floor, smelling of wine vomit. “Don't even think about it, Henris."

“Noras, you can't avoid me like this."

I turned my nose up into the receiver. “Oh really? Because that's exactly what I'm doing. Put the phone in our mailbox,please.”

“Don't be childish! The annoyance in the tone of his voice was obvious; every word was tense and pointed, as if he wastrying to hide his tone, but failing terribly. He was probably running his hands through his hair in frustration.

And he probably felt good doing it. I hit the locker in front of me as hard as I could at this simple idea. “Holy shit! Ow, holshitt”

“Noras"? Are you all right? What happened? what happened?”

I looked at my hand and I saw blood where one of my silver rings had cut the skin. “I just, uh, you know. Fallen. Put thephone in the box He breathed slowly as I tried to get the pain out of my hand. Next to me, Jace was shouting at Louis tobring frozen vegetables and a bottle of wine. “Henris, do it, please.”

“It seemed to me that you had hurt yourself”

I clenched my teeth and looked at my swollen hand. “No, damn it, put my phone in the box and leave."

“You can't avoid me. You can't say things like that and then walk away."

“Yes, I can. Goodbye, Henris."

“Noras -"

I ended the call before he could continue, threw the phone across the bathroom and screamed. “My fucking hand hurts!”Louis bursts into the bathroom with a pack of frozen peas and the half-bottle of wine from the day before. He and Jacewere trying to stifle their laughter when I pressed the package on my swollen fingers, which had turned red from the smacut and were slowly turning purple.

Alittle hiss escaped my mouth when the cold touched it. “Maybe I shouldn't have hit the toilet.”

“It wasn't your best idea.’Jace agreed with a small smile. “What did he say?’

“Well, he said I was childish, and the phone is in the mailbox. I would count that as a win."l groaned when Jace moved thefrozen bundle to take a look at my joints. “Is it that bad? Did I break any rings?”

“Hm, yes, the one with the green stone is broken."He mumbled. “Louis told me what happened.”

“Damn it, Louis. When?”

“When you were screaming “F**k’ on the floor”

“It's embarrassing, isn't it?"I grumbled. “Like, I can’t look him in the face right now. Or forever, probably."

“How do you know he wasn't also about to tell you?”

A growl came out of my mouth. I don't know, maybe because he didn't do it? Why is he stuck there? He doesn't even wantreal relationship, and I ruined everything. I'm catching on. No need to talk to him or anything, because I hate him and Iruined everything and I love him."

“Noras.’

“Jace,” I mimicked him, finally getting up off the bathroom floor as he continued to stare at me. “I need more coffee.Definitely, no more coffee. This hangover is terrible.”