Page 104 of Rush

“Why do you have my cell?”

“I found it out here in the hall. Clearly, you were that fucking wasted that you didn’t even know you’d lost it.”

“I—”

He cuts me off with a slash of his hand. “I don’t want to fucking hear it, Ari.” He storms past me into my apartment.

I close the door and turn to face him, leaning on the door for support, feeling like crap. “I don’t understand. Why are you so angry?” I ask softly, my head pounding.

He lets out a bitter laugh. “Have you seen the state of yourself?” His eyes go down to the floor, and he spots the vomit there. Another acidic laugh. “Jesus Christ.” He shakes his head, like he’s seen this scene a million times before.

He has.

“I was sick last night,” I quietly tell him.

“Is that what the kids are calling it nowadays?”

“What?” I say, confused.

“You were wasted, Ari.”

“No.” I shake my head. “I swear, I didn’t drink. I had a Coke. That was it.”

“Don’t fucking lie to me!” he roars, making me jump. “You can’t fucking deny this, Ari! It’s all over the internet! Jesus!”

“What? I don’t understand.”

My cell still in his hand, he taps the screen. A moment later, he hands it to me. It’s a gossip news website; a video is on the screen, ready to watch.

“Press play.” His voice is arctic.

I press play, and the video comes to life. It’s dark and grainy. Like it was captured on a cell phone. But it’s me, stumbling down a hall and into the party. Bumping into some guy and almost falling over. Then, it cuts to a cab, me falling out of it. Staggering up the steps into my building, and then it ends.

I swipe the screen down to read the headline.

BAD GIRL GONE BADDER!

Looks like Arianna Petrelli—daughter of Giants coach, Eddie Petrelli, and current girlfriend of Giants quarterback, Ares Kincaid—has gone back to her partying ways. She was seen drunk and stumbling around a charity event she was attending on behalf of the team.

One partygoer said, “She was drinking all night. Making a real show of herself. Flirting up a storm with some guy who definitely wasn’t Ares Kincaid.”

A staff member who was working the bar and served Petrelli numerous times confirmed this, saying she ordered “at least five vodka and Cokes.”

A source from the Giants tells us that Kincaid will be furious with this news.

Let’s hope Petrelli can get herself back to rehab and finally leave her partying days behind her.

Check out the video for actual footage.

“I…” I stare up at Ares. “I don’t understand.”

“I do. It’s pretty fucking clear, isn’t it?”

“No…not to me, it’s not. I don’t know what happened.”

He lets out a humorless laugh. “You don’t know what happened? Right…” he says disbelievingly.

“I’m telling you that I don’t know.”