My heart soars at the compliment and I want to tell it to calm the hell down. He's given me plenty of compliments before, but does he actually mean them? "Thanks." My stomach makes an embarrassing noise and I rest my other hand on my belly. "I shouldn't have drunk those beers."
"Are you going to be sick?" Now he sounds a little freaked out.
I shake my head and stop immediately because ow, that hurts. "No, I think I'll be okay." I keep my hand there, as if it'll somehow calm me down. "I told myself I wasn't going to drown my sorrows tonight in booze."
"Drown your sorrows? What sorrows?"
Ugh, that he would even say that sort of pisses me off.
"My Jordan Tuttle sorrows." Thank God my eyes are covered so I don't have to see him. I'm shocked and pissed at myself for saying those words out loud. "You never heard me say that."
He's silent for a moment, most likely considering what his reply should be. "But I did." His voice is even softer than before. I think I shocked him.
"Well, act like you didn't. Pretend the words don't matter, okay?" I can't look at him, can't face the humility of saying what I just did in front of him. He's the cause of my sorrows. I just told him that. What must he think? Does he pity me? Feel sorry for me? Though I know he's said some pretty messed up things too. Yet I refused to listen.
Maybe we're even.
"Amanda-"
I interrupt him. "I don't want to talk about it. Please. There's nothing left to say between us, don't you think?"
He's quiet again, and the silence is so unnerving I'm almost desperate to fill it with meaningless words. "Why would you say that?"
I'm scrambling to come up with a reason. A good one. A strong, valid reason to make him stay away once and for all. I drop my arm from my eyes, though I still keep them closed, and part my lips, ready to say something when the door crashes open and I hear Livvy's voice.
"There you are! I've been looking everywhere!"
Livvy rushes into the tiny room, filling it up with over-the-top, stressed-out vibes. I crack open my eyes and watch as she approaches the bed, dropping to her knees so she can be face level with me. Her eyes are wide and staring into mine as she reaches out and rests her hand on my forearm, her nails digging into my skin. She zeroes right in on my black eye, her face crinkling in horror just before she lifts her angry gaze to Jordan.
"You did this to her?" Oh, she sounds mad as hell.
Jordan stands and takes a step away, almost like he's afraid of her. "It was an accident."
"Oh, so your fist connecting with her eye was an accident? How gullible do you think I am, Tuttle?" Livvy turns to examine me once more, and her voice drops to the barest whisper. "Do you want me to take you to the emergency room? Call the cops? We can make a report. I'll help you. Whatever you want to do, I'm here for you, but know this. He needs to pay for hurting you, Amanda. He can't get away with hitting you. Your eye looks terrible. I can't believe he did this! Has he been abusing you all along?"
"Oh my God, Olivia. Seriously. You need to chill out." I grab hold of her hand and give it a tight squeeze. She looks borderline hysterical. "He hit me accidentally with his elbow. He didn't mean to do it. I promise."
The skeptical look she sends me says it all. "His elbow?"
"Check with everyone who just watched it go down. Half of them were recording it on their phones." I try not to think about that part because talk about humiliating. I'm sure my getting nailed with an elbow is already making its appearance on everyone's Snapchat stories.
I sink my head into the flat pillow and close my eyes. I'm exhausted. My head still hurts. My eye hurts. My tongue hurts, though it stopped bleeding a while ago so that's good. "I was the one beating up Jordan first," I explain to Livvy. "I got in between him and Cannon to try and stop their argument, and the next thing I know, I'm taking an elbow to the eye."
"Wait a minute. Are you saying Cannon and Tuttle were fighting over you?" I crack my eyes open to see her brows are so high they're practically in her hairline. She turns to look at Tuttle. "What's going on there?"
"Ask Amanda. I don't know what's up with them."
I roll my eyes, but that's painful too, so I stop. "He's into Em," I tell Livvy. "Cannon is, I mean. He doesn't like me like that. They weren't fighting over me, I swear."
"Cannon Whittaker likes Em? Really?" Livvy shakes her head with wonder. "Who knew?"
"He acts like he's into you. He was trying to stop us from talking," Jordan says, his voice tight as he stares right at me. "Like I'm a threat to you or whatever."