I grimaced. Maybe we could salvage something from the situation—as long as I could fight down my urge to throw the whole night away and crawl back into bed to watch bad TV.
It’s okay,I forced myself to type.I don’t mind seeing you after. We could meet at your place?
And we’d better have the best goddamn sex of my life to make up for me being so fucking understanding right now.The more I sat with it, the more pissed off I got. My heart leaped from my chest to my stomach to my hands and back again. I’dbeenunderstanding. For weeks. I’d understood this was whathappened for a band in the middle of leveling up.But cancelling on me last minute for some fucking paperwork?
I threw my phone at the wall in frustration. Well, I started to throw it at the wall then realized mid-throw how stupid that would be of me. I didn’t really want to deal with having a broken phone and unconfirmed plans with my boyfriend—so I corrected just enough to send the device bouncing onto my bed.
The screen lit up with a new message. Steeling myself, I forced myself to read what Grey had sent me.
I’ll keep you posted. I’m sorry.
It was all I could do not to scream. I settled for collapsing onto the floor and staring at the ceiling. Part of me knew I should respond to Grey, but at that moment, I couldn’t be bothered. He would figure out that I’d read the message. Or maybe he was so busy, he wouldn’t notice I didn’t respond.
I wondered if we had alcohol in the apartment. Suddenly, even getting up to check for that felt like a chore. I decided to just close my eyes. Maybe I could sleep until Grey was free. It should only take a few years. Maybe he could pencil me in sometime during spring 2032.
“Let me guess, he canceled?”
I opened one eye a fraction of an inch. Kellan stood in my open doorway. He was dressed in his typical going-out wardrobe—a collared shirt with tight jeans that even I had to admit made his ass look good.
“Going somewhere?” I asked rather than answer the hurtful question.
“We all are.” Josh walked into view, also dressed in his clubbing attire. “Unless you have other plans?” He gave me a doubtful look, one eyebrow raised in challenge.
I glanced at my phone on the off chance that I’d somehow missed Grey telling meJK! I can totally do date night now!
I hadn’t missed shit. It was all I could do not to let out a pained groan.
Still, I refused to go that easy. “I’m busy tonight.” It wasn’t convincing even to my own ears. Plus, I had just realized I was currently wearing an undershirt and no pants as I lay on the floor in a miserable puddle. I was pretty sure my friends could easily deduce that I didn’t exactly have an exciting night ahead of me.
“Right,” Josh said. “Is this the kind of ‘busy’ that would require professional intervention?”
“What he means is you look terrible,” Kellan chimed in helpfully.
“I gathered that much, thanks,” I said. “I don’t feel like socializing right now.”
“It’s cute that you think you had a choice in coming with us,” Kellan said. “Tits up, Ethan. We’re going to karaoke.”
This time, the groan escaped my lips.
“Nope, none of that.” Josh turned on his heel and left my doorway. Rustling came from the kitchen, and when he returned, he held a bottle of tequila and three shot glasses, which he promptly set down on my dresser and began to pour.
Kellan grabbed two glasses and stood over me, holding one out for me to take.
I shook my head. “I’d rather lie here and rot, if it’s all the same to you.”
“This is medicinal,” Kellan said. “I believe it’s the doctor-prescribed cure for sadness.”
“That doesn’t sound right.”
“It’s true,” Josh said. “I should know. I’m basically premed.”
With a roll of my eyes, I sat up and accepted my “medicine.” I would never admit that my friends were right, but the moment the tequila hit my tongue, anticipation for a night out twisted in my gut. “Fine. I’ll get ready.”
“That’s the spirit.”
Twenty minutesand two more shots later, we were walking to a nearby bar that did karaoke every Saturday—the Hula Lounge. While Josh and I went to order drinks, Kellan made a beeline for the line to request his song. He took performing very seriously.
“Do you want to talk about what happened tonight?” Josh asked while we waited for the bartender to make our drinks. “You were pretty excited about your plans, you know, before…”
