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“Just ... we can’t end like this,” she said, her voice strained. He frowned.
“Paige, it’s going to end, does it really matter if it's now or later?” he replied with a sigh. She nodded vigorously. They were only a block away from Trent's house.
“It does, it really does. Please, please don’t leave me yet,” she begged. He turned his head to look at her and she finally looked back. Really looked at him.
This is how I’m going to remember him.
His hair was unruly, he'd slept on it after his shower. He was wearing his pink hoodie and she knew she would miss it. His face was stern, his hazel eyes looking more greenish. She tried to remember what she'd thought the first time she'd seen him, but she couldn’t. All she could picture was him laughing at her in Oklahoma, playing with her in Texas, holding her hand in Las Vegas.
“Please,” she whispered again, but then cleared her throat. “I'm ... I know I'm messed up,I know. I know I don't have a right to ask you to wait. But just maybe ... just stay through the party, I already promised we'd be there.One more night.Give me one more night, help me figure this out. I need ... I need help. I needyourhelp.”
Paige held her breath. She'd never felt so exposed, had never laid herself out like that before – maybe it was small for some people, just asking for help, but it was huge for her.
And now Parker wasn't saying anything.
I'm going to be sick. I ruined everything, and now I'm about to ruin his upholstery.
But then he heaved a sigh and finally nodded.
“Okay, Paige. Okay.”
*
FUCKING FIGURES.
Parker wasn’t sure who he was more mad at, Paige or himself. Of course “we’ll just stay for a couple hours” had turned into an all night fucking affair.
“Needed my help”, such a fucking lie, I knew it.
Trent had fawned all over Paige, showing her off to his friends, pressing drinks into her hands. She had laughed and grinned at him, the tension from their car ride falling away with each sip. She had an easiness with Trent that made Parker nervous. If Paige chose to stay behind with Trent, Parker might actually kill someone.
He knew he should’ve just left her there. After the first couple hours, he'd figured she would want to leave. But then she lingered longer, and he could barely get close to her what with Trent popping up whenever Parker got near.
He kept introducing random chicks to Parker, encouraging them to talk in dark corners and empty rooms. Being a polite person by nature, Parker felt bad just walking away from the girls, so he found himself in pointless conversation after pointless conversation.
At first he'd thought all of Trent’s friends were incredibly stupid, but then he realized most of them were high. On what, he couldn’t tell, but by two in the morning some, of them started looking like zombies. It made him even more nervous.
But Paige looked happy, laughing away on a couch with a girl that Trent had introduced as his girlfriend. Parker watched from the hallway, now trying to avoid Trent and get close to Paige, but also without Trent seeing. He finally snuck up behind where she was sitting on the couch and tapped her on the shoulder.
“Paige, it’s late,” he said. She looked up at him with glassy eyes.
“Oh, just a little longer, then we’ll go, I promise,” she said in a slurred voice. He went to argue when Trent appeared, his arm slung around a short girl.
You guys can’t go! I’m gonna make pancakes in the morning! Park, have you met Shandy, yet?”
Goddammit.
Parker didn’t know how he managed it, but he stuck it out through the whole night. Not all Trent’s friends were dicks, and Parker got into a conversation about cars around a fire pit out back. Turned out a guy there had a Cutlass of his own, and soon most of the guys at the party were out by the garage, comparing engines. One by one, though, they all trickled away.
Parker wandered back into the house. Most of the party goers had left, except a few hard core people who kept locking themselves in the bathrooms. He didn’t want to know. He poked his head into the living room, and Paige was saying goodbye to Trent’s supposed girlfriend. Thank god. Promising himself he would force her to leave if he had to, he stopped in the bathroom.
When he came back out, he was walking past a closed door when he heard a noise. He stopped and leaned closer. He could hear two hushed voices, one sounded a lot like Trent. The other was a girl. He couldn’t make out words, but Trent sounded kind of angry. Then there was a rustling sound and some more muffled noises, and the door flew open.
Parker jumped back as a girl ran out of the room and straight into him. He put his hands on her arms to steady her and she looked up. It was the Shandy girl from hours ago. She was topless, only wearing a bra, and clutching her shirt to her chest. She'd obviously been crying, and lipstick was smeared down to her chin.
“Are you okay?” he asked, lowering himself to look her in the eye. She shoved away.
“I’m fine!” she cried, letting out a sob as she headed out the back door. Parker looked up and into the room she'd just fled. Trent was chuckling, walking forward while he buckled his belt.
