The Silver Spooners

One

1

Heartbreak Hotel

GREY

GREY DONOHOUGH brushed her dark brown bangs out of her eyes and bit down harder on the pencil in her mouth. Spread out across the island in the middle of her kitchen was all of her homework for the weekend. She narrowed her eyes at the Trigonometry problem in front of her, as if that would make the question easier to understand.

Her parents and siblings had gone out to dinner at Blue Hill, one of Grey's favorites, much to her dismay. The local pop radio station streamed at a medium decibel through the intercom system of the house. She crossed her legs Indian style on top of the barstool she was perched upon. Empty boxes of Chinese take-out were strewn across the kitchen counter and the muted Food Network was running on the TV. The hum of the dishwasher made Grey want to curl up into a ball and sleep for years.

The thought of her family eating at her favorite restaurant without her made her even more unmotivated to do the homework spread out in front of her. She looked over her shoulder to locate where her phone had been for the last hour and a half, charging in the butler's pantry off the kitchen. Grey had set her phone far away when she started her homework, knowing that it would distract her. But now, an hour and a half in, and also three-fourths of the way done, she decided she needed a little break.

She practically sprinted towards her iPhone X, which she'd just begged her parents for last week, promising them A's in return. She powered up her phone to see multiple texts and Twitter alerts clogging her lock screen. Of course, at least thirty-one messages from Klaudia, Maddox, and Austen alone. She responded back to the girls before her finger hovered over a name that had been in her inbox for months, she hadn't been able to delete the messages.

She stared at the name on her screen until her vision blurred. Brant Cavanna, it read, as in her ex-boyfriend, Brant Cavanna. They'd been dating for two years, three months, and twenty-two days. Brant had been her everything. He cheated on her two months ago while he was out of town for his sister's wedding. She'd broken up with him after she found out.

According to Brant, Karlie started it first by kissing him. The mysterious Karlie, who was apparently wearing a distracting, bright orange dress, was nowhere to be found in any photos from Caterina's wedding; which frustrated Grey, because she didn't even know what she was up against! Why did Caterina have to invite such slutty friends? Brant apparently "missed her" and was "lonely" therefore he kissed back. He had only been away from her for two weeks. That gave him no excuse to make out with Karlie so heavily that they ended up taking it into the men's bathroom, and were perfectly ready to make it official before they were interrupted by Brant's little brother, Leo.

Tears stung the back of her eyes as she shut down her phone, the messages etched into her mind. There were too many "I'm sorry" and "I miss you, Grey. Please forgive me. I love you" texts saved for Grey to even bear. It took everything in her not to take him back. She stood her ground for her own self-esteem and the better of herself. She hadn't been simply Grey for a really long time, and maybe that's what she needed. Or at least that's what she tried to tell herself every time she opened Brant's daily messages and fought not to reply.

After the wedding, Brant had waited a week to tell Grey what happened. The only reason he told her at all was because Leo had seen two sets of feet in the stall instead of one, and he threatened to tell her if Brant didn't himself.

It had been almost two months without him and she still hadn't gotten rid of his stuff. The pictures of them had yet to be deleted off her phone. His hoodies were still in her closet. The pictures were still framed. Every note was still in a box next to her vanity. Even the flowers he'd sent two weeks ago were still in a vase in the kitchen.