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Even though it hurt like hell, I couldn’t disagree. “I think you’re right. Do you need anything from me?”
Tori shook her head. “Not anything that you can give me. Go get some rest. I’ll see you in the morning. Oh, and Rosemary, Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas to you too, Tori.”
I turned around and made a beeline up to my room, my head spinning from what had just happened. How did Tori and I just have one of the biggest conversations of our lives without saying anything at all?
Chapter 9
December 27, 2022
“We should play a drinking game,” Lisa suggested as soon as my in-laws left with Emery and Bella, leaving me, Tori, Lisa, and Abigail as the last ones left at Willow’s party once again.
“All right. Let’s do it.” Normally, playing a drinking game was the last thing I wanted to do, but I wasn’t nearly as drunk as I wanted to be, and a drinking game would help me get there more quickly.
“Whoa.” Lisa put her hand on my forehead as if she was checking to see if I had a fever. “Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?”
“It was a very long holiday season and I need to be much more drunk than I am.”
“Oh shit. There goes my idea to play Never Have I Ever. God knows compared to the rest of us, you won’t be drinking anything if we play that.” Lisa’s face lit up. “We can play beer pong instead, but we’ll change the rules a bit. Every time you miss a shot, you have to take a shot.”
I choked on the drink I had just taken a sip of. “I said I wanted to get drunk, not that I wanted to wake up in a pile of my own vomit and remember nothing about the night before.”
“Fine. Every time you miss a shot, you have to take a big sip of your drink. No shots.” Lisa pointed between me and Tori. “You two versus us.”
“Let’s do this.” Tori put her hand up to give me a high five, and I realized that was the most physical contact we had made since our “talk” on Christmas.
As Tori and Lisa set up a table, I poured myself a new drink and drank it as quickly as possible, as if the alcohol was somehow going to wash Tori out of my system. As if it would stop the current that was running through my body from one stupid high five.
A few minutes later, when everything was set up, I stood at one end of the beer pong table, doing my best to put as much distance between me and Tori as possible, which was a hard task when playing beer pong.
After five rounds, everyone had made at least one shot except for me. Luckily, it looked like the game hopefully wouldn’t last very long since Tori had made all of her shots so far.
After Lisa had to jump out of the way because of how much I overthrew my ball, Tori held hers out toward me. “Here, let me show you.”
Before I could comprehend what was happening, Tori was standing behind me with her body pressed up against mine and her hand wrapped around my hand that was holding the ball. As she directed my hand back to show me the best way to throw the ball, I could barely even remember my name. I loved the feeling but also hated it, because I couldn’t deny it anymore. This feeling could only mean one thing. I had a crush on Willow’s best friend. A crush was the perfect way to describe it since it was sure to wreck me.
I refused to look anywhere other than straight ahead, so I watched the path of the ball as it traveled from my hands and into one of the remaining cups.
“Holy shit,” Tori said in a breathless whisper that made me wonder whether it was actually in response to the ball going in. She suddenly jumped away from me and held up her hand for a high five. “Awesome job.”
Okay. Maybe it was in response to the shot.
Lisa pointed to the drink I was holding. “That was cheating. You need to take another drink.”
“Hey!” Tori said, clearly ready to jump to my defense, but I put a hand up to stop her.
“She’s right. I definitely didn’t earn that one.” Plus, I need this. I finished what was in my glass then poured myself another mixed drink.
Tori leaned over to whisper in my ear as Lisa and Abigail took their turns. “Are you okay? You’ve had a lot to drink tonight.”
“I’m doing awesome!” I answered much too enthusiastically. At the same time, the floor felt like it started to move beneath my feet and I wobbled into Tori, giggling as her strong arms grabbed ahold of me and kept me from falling to the ground. “On second thought, maybe I have had enough.”
“I hate to cut this game short, but I think I need to get this one home.” Tori nodded her head toward me, then focused back on Lisa and Abigail. “Are you two okay to get home? You’re taking a rideshare, right? I know I already said it, but you’re welcome to stay at our place if you want. There’s plenty of room since the girls are staying with Mama and Papa Stone tonight.”
A big shit-eating grin came on to Lisa’s face as she waved off Tori’s offer. “No. We’re good. We both have to work tomorrow. Plus, we wouldn’t want to intrude at your place.”
By the way she said the words, I could tell she was making fun of the fact that Tori called it our place. But that’s exactly what it was. Tori hadn’t mentioned leaving, and I honestly didn’t want her to. Although, the reason why was getting more obvious to me, and that reason currently had me on the edge of throwing up.
