With a laugh, Vaughn shook his head. “Some would think you hate us.”

“I do.”

“You do not,” Jensen said with a laugh.

She shrugged. “Maybe not you, but him, yes. He drives me insane, just like Wells.”

“Who, by the way, called earlier and is spending Christmas with Alex’s family, and they love him. He informed me this is good,” Vaughn said with a quick shrug. “I’ve never met parents like that, so I wouldn’t know.”

“Yeah, he seems excited, but I think it won’t last.”

Jensen looked to Wren. “Really?”

She nodded. “Yeah, he’s still head over heels for Matty. Alex is the rebound guy.”

Vaughn smiled. “It’s like our own soap opera we get to watch firsthand. Who will Wells end up with? The rebound guy, or the love of his life who won’t come out of the closet? Dun-dun-dunnnnn…”

Jensen scoffed as Wren smiled curtly. “Who knows? He’s so in love with being in love. It’s sickening. Love is whack, and guys are assholes.”

Vaughn held up his hand. “I second all of that.”

Jensen glared over at him before looking to Wren. “But not all guys are assholes, and love can be great if you want it to be.”

Wren shook her head as Vaughn’s head fell back while he groaned. “This conversation is boring!”

“Okay, two-year-old,” Wren called to him before looking over to Jensen. “Maybe so. But, for example, I was finally dating a guy…well, maybe not dating. I was fucking him more than once, and things were good. He was funny, hot, and we were having a great time. I considered moving forward with him. Something happened, and he dropped me like a bad habit. I thought this guy was cool, he could have been the one, and bam! He sucks. Relationships suck. Feelings suck. I hate people.”

Vaughn went to say something funny, but her eyes started to fill with tears, so his lips slammed shut as Jensen scooted forward in his chair. “What in the world? What happened? Who is he? I’ll kill him.”

Jeez, alert the media, Wren’s knight in shining armor had arrived.

Though, she had no clue.

Or didn’t notice.

It was so sad.

Shaking her head, she looked away. “It doesn’t matter. He’s a piece of junk, and like always, I’ll figure it out on my own.”

“You don’t have to be alone, though.”

“Yeah, I do. You know I do. No one wants to deal with all this,” she said, waving her hand around herself. Vaughn looked to Jensen, who was looking at her like a lost dog. This was Jensen’s chance, but Vaughn’s goofy best friend looked down at the ground. Loser.

Rolling his eyes, Vaughn added, “There is someone who does, Wrenny. He could be sitting in this room.”

Looking up at him with a crestfallen look, she shook her head as he felt Jensen glaring at him. “Don’t, Vaughn. I can’t right now.”

He wasn’t actually talking about himself, but whatever, the girl was basically a mixture of Sadness and Anger from Inside Out, and yes, Vaughn was not embarrassed he loved that movie. “Just saying, don’t give up. I know Mama and Papa wouldn’t like that at all.”

“Please do not tell my mother and father about this.” Covering her face, she ran her fingers through her dark hair as she itched her head. “They’re so mad I didn’t come home, but I couldn’t. I just want to be alone. Figure my life out.”

“What’s going on, Wren? Tell us. We can help you,” Jensen said, and when Vaughn looked up, he saw that Wren had tears running down her cheeks.

“Whoa, woman tears freak me out, and I thought you couldn’t cry.”

“Shut up, Vaughn,” she snapped, shaking her head before wiping her face. “Nothing, I’m fine. Just a lot going on, and I’m confused. But I’m fine. Don’t you guys gotta get to Gramps and Grams’s?”

“We went before we came here.”

She nodded. “How are they? Did you apologize that I couldn’t come? Did you give Amy and Phyllis a hug from me?”

She was changing the subject, and Vaughn could see that Jensen didn’t want to let her. But Jensen said nothing as he nodded. “Yeah, we did. They all said hi and that they miss you.”

“I’ll go visit after the new year. Hopefully by then, I won’t be the Grinch.”

Vaughn smiled as she flashed them a small smile. She really was a gorgeous woman. He had always thought so, with her long, dark as night hair and pale white skin. She reminded him of a thicker Snow White with her round face and beautiful green eyes. Wells looked exactly like her, just manly, but if he grew his hair out, they could pass for twins. Vaughn hated how sad her big green eyes were and how she looked a bit lost. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but that wouldn’t stop him from calling Wells to find out. Wells could get anything out of Wren, and then they all would swoop into action to help her.

When they were younger, some kid was making fun of her for being overweight. She was a little on the heavier side as a teen. Still beautiful, but she was bigger, and boy, did kids make fun of her for it. Especially when she decided to be a cheerleader, and to this day, Vaughn had no clue what had been going through that girl’s head. She wasn’t cheerful and she hated everyone in the school, but she was one hell of a tumbler, which was why she’d tried out. But during one pep rally, she was doing a tumbling pass when her skirt ripped down the side, falling off and leaving her in her bloomers. These kids made fun of her for weeks. She would never tell anyone about it. She just took the bullying, and the guys would find her crying all the time. Wells finally got out of her who did it, and the boys jumped into action by taping him to the flagpole outside.

Naked.

In the Colorado winter.

The guy never spoke another word to Wren, but Vaughn was pretty sure that darkened her soul a bit, molding her into the woman she was, sitting in front of them. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but Wren would figure it out. She always did. And if she couldn’t, then Wells would find out, tell them, and they would figure it out for her. Because even though she was a pain in the ass, she was their pain in the ass, and they loved her.

Clearing her throat, she looked up to Vaughn and smiled. “Saw you finally scored. Great tap in.”

He glared. “It was a wrister.”