“Ellie just leave the bathroom sweetheart its fine. Jeff and I always have a cleaning company come in and clean up the house the day after a party….it’s fine just go to sleep. Please.” Gunner said as he followed me into the bathroom.

“Whatever….fine……I’m exhausted anyway. Goodnight and thank you again for letting us use your room. I really do appreciate it.” I leaned up and gave Gunner a kiss on the cheek. He smiled from ear to ear which made my heart skip a beat.

I didn’t even bother saying goodnight to Jefferson. I walked back into Gunner’s room. I just wanted to get out of these clothes and go to sleep. My head was killing me from all of the beer I drank. God I just wanted to get this night over with. I remembered seeing a tee shirt in the bathroom when I was in there earlier. I walked in and saw it lying over the tub. I took my skirt and shirt off and pulled the tee shirt over my head.

Oh holy hells bells….it smelled like Gunner. Hmmmm…..I took a big sniff and buried my face in the shirt. Yep…I should sleep well tonight!

I crawled into bed next to Ari. She was snoring away. Man oh man…she was going to feel it tomorrow when she woke up. Maybe she won’t even remember Jefferson sleeping with that bitch Rebecca! Oh, I could only hope.

Good lord….everything around me smelled like Gunner…..his pillow, the blankets…..hmmmm…..I could sleep like this every damn day. Wrapped up in his smell……the last thing I remembered before I fell asleep was dancing with Gunner as he sang in my ear. He really had such a beautiful voice.

It seemed like I had just closed my eyes when I heard Ari talking on the phone. I opened my eyes and sat up yawning. From what I could tell Ari was talking to her parents. She was fine, yes the party was super fun, yes it was just us two and Jefferson and Gunner……we slept in Gunner’s room. After a few more seconds she finally said goodbye and hung up.

“Hey there! Morning sunshine! Did you sleep well?” Ari said as she jumped up out of bed. Oh HELL no….she has to be feeling something for f**ks sake. I was and I didn’t even drink as much as she did!

Just then all the memories of last night came flooding back to me. Jefferson and what he said about her virginity and him sleeping with that Rebecca chick.

“Good morning Ari….you sure are just a little to chipper this morning. How do you feel?” I asked as I watched her go into Gunner’s bathroom. I heard the faucet start and heard her laugh. I got up to walk in and see what she found so funny.

“What’s so funny?” I asked her as I looked around on the counter.

“This…this shit is funny” Ari pointed down to my skirt and shirt that was lying on the bathroom floor. ”I never thought I would see your clothes laying on the floor of a f**king hot guys bathroom….OR you dressed in said hot guys tee shirt. HOT Ells….very hot!” Ari said as she pushed my shoulder with her hand.

I let out a small laugh and reached down to pick up my clothes. “I thought I picked them up last night! Gosh I was exhausted. Um, Ari honey are you okay? I mean do you want to talk about anything?” I asked as I watched her put her hair up in a pony.

She stopped putting her hair up and looked at me. For one brief second I saw the hurt in her eyes, but it was gone so fast I wondered if it was even there in the first place. She flashed that signature smile at me and shrugged her shoulders.

“There’s nothing to talk about Ells. What’s done is done. I had a silly crush on a guy who happened to turn out to be a real dick head; sorry I know he is your brother! If he wants to go around and f**k every girl on the UT campus….I could care less.” Ari said as she turned and walked out of the bathroom.

Ooookay…..that was not what I was expecting from her but I’ll go with it.

“So, you mean to tell me Arianna that you are totally fine with everything that happened last night. You’re not the least bit bothered that Jefferson slept with another girl.” I said as I started to take Gunner’s tee shirt off and put my own clothes back on.

“Nope….I’m not the least bit bothered by it Ellie. Matter of fact, Josh gave me his number and asked me out last night. I turned him down but……. now that I think about it, I’m going to give him a call today.”

She turned and gave me a wink and headed towards the bedroom door. I saw her square up her shoulders and take a deep breath as she opened the door and headed out towards the living room. I could hear Gunner and Jefferson talking as soon as she opened the door.

Bullshit….she was totally putting up a front.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

Gunner…..

I ended up sleeping on the sofa last night after Jeff finally passed out around 2:30 am. Once I sat on the sofa I could still smell Ellie on the sofa pillows. I probably looked like a stupid f**k with the way I was cuddling a goddamn throw pillow last night.

Jeff was up at six am dressed and ready for a run. Not sure how the f**k he managed that but he did. I got up and went for a quick run before I came back to make up some of my grams’ blueberry muffins.

I never got a chance to give Ellie her graduation gift last night so I was hoping to do it this morning. I was pretty sure I heard Ari on the phone and then heard Ellie and Ari talking. Jeff had been gone for almost two hours. I started to wonder if he was staying away to avoid the girls.

Stupid bastard.

Just then the front door opened and Jeff walked in. Looking like he just had the shit beat out of him.

“What the f**k happened to you dude?”

“I went a few rounds with bubba up at the gym. I need to work all the f**king alcohol out of my system.” Jeff said as he grabbed a water out of the fridge.

“Are the girls up yet?”

Jeff sat down at one of the bar stools and started to down his water. Man he looked like shit.

“Dude, I think you worked out too hard, you look like shit.” I said as took the muffins out of the oven.

“Fuck you dude…..I’m not the one acting like Betty Fucking Crocker!”

“Seriously Jeff, you feeling okay today, you get enough sleep?” I asked as I took a good look at him. He looked tired and his eyes were like a dead green sea.

“Yeah I feel alright. I can’t believe I drank that much last night. I fuckin’ never drink like that.” Jeff said as he reached over and grabbed the bottle of Advil that was sitting on the kitchen counter.

“Do you um, you remember everything that happened last night?” Shit…I hated to do it but I had to ask.

Jeff looked up at me and I swear his eyes glossed over with tears. “Yeah dude, I remember everything that happened last night. Believe me…I woke up wishing I had been drunk enough not to have remembered it.”

Just then the door to my bedroom opened up and Ari came walking out. Damn….she looked just as good this morning as she did when she walked in yesterday evening. I could see Jeff sit up straighter.

“Good morning!” Ari announced as she came buzzing into the kitchen. What the hell? I looked over at Jeff who was just watching her every move.

“Did you make blueberry muffins Gunner? My god! No wonder Ellie has the hots for you!” Ari said with a laugh.

“ARIANNA!” The sound of Ellie’s sweet voice caused my stomach to do a few flips. I looked up and my breath caught in my throat. She looked beautiful. I wonder if she woke up every morning looking this f**king good. She gave me a shy smile….there was that blush…..fuck I just wanted to take her in my arms and kiss the shit out of her.

“Good morning sweetheart. Did you sleep okay?” I asked as I poured her a glass of orange juice. She sat down in the bar stool next to Jefferson who was still watching Ari’s every move.

Ellie looked over at Jeff and her smile faded just a little. When she looked back over at me she gave me that smile that would make me promise her anything in the world.

“I slept okay, thank you so much for giving up your room last night for us.”

Jefferson shut his eyes for a second. Was he even planning on saying he was sorry to Ari and Ellie?

“Look Ellie….Gunner made blueberry muffins. Isn’t that so sweet? Some guys are just like that…..caring….they know how the little things just makes a woman so happy.” Ari said as she leaned against the counter and stared Jeff down. She had been sending someone a text message right before.

I did not like where this was going.

“Ari, can I speak with you in private please?” Jeff asked as he stood up.

“Um, no….” Ari said as she picked up a muffin and started to put butter on it.

Jeff was running his hands down his face clearly getting frustrated. He let out a loud sigh. “Please….I really need to talk to you……….please.”

Ari looked up at Jeff and I swear if looks could kill Jeff would have been on the floor. “Whatever you have to say to me you can say it in front of my friends. You know what those are, don’t you Jeff? Oh…wait…the type of friends that you have……you f**k them in your room during your sister’s graduation party.”

“Ari that is enough, he just wants to talk to you.” Ellie said as she looked back and forth between Ari and Jeff.

Fuck me….this was not going to go well at all.

“No this is fine Ellie. If this is how Ari wants to have this go down then that is fine by me. I was going to apologize for my comment last night that embarrassed you. It was very insensitive of me to bring up the fact that you are still a virgin and that your f**king dry humping every guy at the party might give them the wrong impression you were ready to give it up.” Jeff said as he slammed his bottle water down.

This was like a f**king train wreck that I couldn’t stop watching.

“JEFFERSON! Oh my god! How could you say that to her right now after what you did to her last night?” Ellie said as she stood up and walked up to Jeff.

“What…what did I do to her Ellie? I was trying to apologize and she is being a bitch about it.” Jeff said as he turned to look at Ari.

She was just standing there with a blank expression on her face. “You SLEPT with that girl Jefferson. You knew that was going to hurt Ari…you knew it would.” Ellie said with a crack in her voice.

“Is that what it is Ari? Are you upset because I slept with another girl because the last time I checked sweetheart….I didn’t have a f**king girlfriend.” Jeff shouted at Ari.

“Do not call me sweetheart you son of a bitch.” Ari said as a tear started to roll down her face.

“Jeff, let’s just back off here for a minute. Dude I see where you are going with this and dude I get it but…..”

“What?” Ellie said as she turned and gave me a shitty look.

Oh fuck…..

“So Gunner…..you think what Jefferson did to Ari was okay because they’re not dating? You and I both know they have feelings for each other.” Ellie said as she put her hands on her hips.

Shit she was cute when she was mad.

“Now wait a minute Ellie; don’t turn this around on me now. That is not what I was going to say. I was just saying that it is true….Ari and Jeff are not dating and really he could see or date anyone he wants. I’m not excusing what he did it’s just….it’s just….” Oh why the f**k did I think I just stuck my foot in my damn mouth. Stop talking Gunner….