AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Abillow of smoke surrounds me under the low lighting of our living room. The sun is just starting to set, on what is quite possibly the worst day I’ve had in years, creating a yellowish glow on the walls through the window. Pat’s been seated next to me for the past ten hours since I got back from Leighton’s this morning trying to snap me out of the trance I’m in, but nothing has worked.
“You sure you don’t want a hit?” He holds the bong in front of me and for a moment I consider taking a hit and sending my future as starting attacker and lacrosse captain next year up in flames alongside my future with Leighton.
I sigh. “No.”
He reaches forward and grabs a slice of the pizza we ordered earlier that he all but shoved down my throat knowing that on top of everything I was battling a massive hangover. “You really don’t remember?” he asks for what feels like the millionth time, and my head snaps to his.
“No, Pat, I don’t,” I growl.
“Shit. You must have been really trashed.”
“I don’t know what would have possessed me to get that fucking drunk, knowing Leigh was waiting for me to come back later.” I lean my head against the back of the couch and let out a groan. “She’s so fucking pissed at me.”
“She’ll come around, dude. She knows how you feel about her.”
“That’s what makes this so much fucking worse. If this were a week ago, she’d be annoyed, but she wouldn’t hate me. She wouldn’t be rethinking us. I’m going to lose her, man.” The words make the dull throb in my chest flicker to life again. My heart begins to pound faster, and I feel a wave of nausea roll through me.
She has to forgive me.
“You’re not going to lose her. You two are…” he takes another hit of the bong, “I don’t know, man; I’m pretty high but…like the real deal or whatever.” He takes a long swig of his beer. “You wanna go out?” His shaggy brown hair falls forward and he sends his hand through it to push it back.
“Do you think I’m in any mood to be around a bunch of fucking people?” I pull the hood of my CGU lacrosse sweatshirt up over my head and cross my arms, fully prepared to sulk for the rest of the evening when Pat puts his phone up in front of my face.
“You sure about that?” I stare at Skyler Mitchell’s latest Instagram upload. It’s a picture of Skyler, Leighton, and Peyton at one of our mutual friends, Seth’s apartment. He’d mentioned having a pregame before possibly going to bars later, but I ruled that out the second I left Leighton this morning.
She’s going out?
In the picture, Leighton is downing a shot while Peyton appears to be cheering her on as Skyler cheeses for the camera. Their personalities in a nutshell. It seems like a candid photo but the fact that Skyler posted it, tagged Leigh, and where they are means they wanted me to see this. I know how to read subtweets, and even more importantly, I speak fluent Leighton Mills.
Leighton wants me to know where she is. She wants me to come for her.
“I’ll be ready in thirty.”
“Alright! Let’s go get your girl! I’m going to text Peyton to make sure they stay there.” Pat downs the glass of water sitting in front of him.
“That the only reason?” I raise an eyebrow at him.
“Okay, and maybe because I’m trying to shoot my shot.” He glares at me. Pat has been trying to get with Peyton for quite some time, and despite the fact that Peyton’s standards seem lower than low, she’s managed to keep Pat out of her pants.
“For the millionth time.”
“Hey, you want to suck my left nut? You’re not in any position to be giving out advice on women right now, douche.”
Dave, who isn’t privy to the events of the night, comes walking through our door just as I grab a beer from our refrigerator. He’s been at the library all day and I can tell he’s ready to cut loose after staring at biology bullshit all day. I, on the other hand, don’t want to be hammered when I see Leigh, not to mention the room has just stopped spinning about twenty minutes ago, so I’m not in any rush to get drunk again, but I know I need something to take the edge off.
“We going to Seth’s?” Dave steps into the kitchen and grabs a piece of pizza from earlier and a beer from the fridge. “Give me ten minutes to get ready.”
“Yeah, we’re going so E can get his girl back,” Pat tells him.
“Which girl?” he asks as he pops the can of a Natural Light beer.
“The only one he claims,” Pat answers.
“What’s up with Leigh?” He looks back and forth between me and Pat.
“Long story,” I tell him.
“Cliff notes.” Dave bites into his pizza as Pat looks at me.
