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I head to my room and look over my notecards for my interview while Amanda showers. I don’t know why I’m bothering. I know everything about Promise, and the rest is about me and my history. It’s not like I need notecards for that. Unless I want to give them to my interviewer so she can follow along.
Butterflies grow in my stomach, and now I’m glad I’m going to the party, so I’m not a ball of anxiety all night about the interview.
“What do you think? Are we late enough?” Amanda asks as we wander through the giant Sigma Chi house.
“I think so. I don’t see anyone—“ I blink my eyes closed at that statement. Why’d I jinx myself so early?
Aaron is at the bar with Miles. Miles is arguing with him and Aaron is clearly drunk. Miles is trying to cut him off. I look around but don’t see anyone else. I can hear Aaron slurring from across the room and my heart breaks. He never used to be like this. Tears well in my eyes watching him.
“You okay?” Amanda asks, rubbing my arm.
“I hate seeing him like that. You just met him, you’ve only seen this version of him. This dark, hurting version. But that’s not Aaron. He’s kind. He’s loving. He’d do anything to help people. He was a mentor to the younger guys on the team, the kind of person they all looked up to. Not only because he was good, but because he helped them and worked with them. He’s a protector. He’s not this. It hurts my heart watching him do this.”
“I’m sorry, honey.”
I sniffle back tears and glance back at him and Miles. Miles is trying to get Aaron to leave with little success. My eyes meet Amanda’s. “I’m gonna go deal with this.”
She grabs my arm. “He’s not your responsibility, Rae.”
“I know, but he’d do it for me. No questions asked.” I wave my hand in dismissal. “I don’t mean it as obligation. I mean… it hurts, but Iwantto do it.”
She nods and follows me over toward Miles, who just took his phone out. Probably to text me.
“Hey.”
He looks up and blinks. “Hi. I was about to—“
I nod at Aaron. “I know. I’ve got this.”
“You sure?”
“Yep. He’ll come with me.” I lean in and kiss his cheek. “Stay with Amanda,” I whisper.
He nods sincerely. We don’t leave anyone alone at a party anymore.
I slide up next to Aaron and grab the shot the guy tending bar just placed in front of him. I down it in one gulp.Tequila.To kill ya.I grimace, remembering my first college party. That was the first and so far last time being drunk. Because zero out of ten, do not recommend.
Aaron turns to look at me, wide-eyed.
“Hey, Ace,” I say in a sultry voice.
His eyes fill with surprise as he smiles a happy drunk smile. “Hi, Beautiful. Whatcha doin’ here?”
“Funny, I was gonna ask you the same thing. Actually, I was gonna…” I trail off and lean in close. “I was gonna ask you to come with me back to your room.”
I press down the ache in my heart at seeing him like this and give him my flirtiest look. He’s gonna be puking soon. A couple more shots and he’ll be on his way to blackout drunk. I’ve gotta get him back there.
He wraps his arm around me and growls in my ear. His fingers press into my side as we walk out of the house. As we make our way back to the dorm, he chatters away, telling me how he misses me. I know that’s not drunk-him talking. I know he misses me. I miss him too. He sloppily kisses my cheek and runs his fingers through my hair. At least until we get about halfway there. Then the puking starts. After doing the incredibly cliché thing of puking in a bush several times—I shouldn’t say that, I pretty much did the same thing the night I got drunk—we make it back to the dorm.
Once in his room, I grab a pillow, a blanket, and a Glade plug-in because I still can’t deal with the smell of vomit. I guide Aaron into the boys’ bathroom, thankful that suites have a private one. I sit down on the floor, put the pillow in my lap, and pull him down to the floor. He rests his head on my lap and I run my fingers through his hair, trying to soothe him. He almost falls asleep.
Then it happens.
Twenty minutes of exorcist-style puking. I hold the lemon-scented plug-in to my nose with one hand and rub his back with the other. Then I grab him water and aspirin. We settle back in the same position. Again, I run my fingers through his hair, playing with it and gently rubbing his scalp. He falls asleep quickly.
As I stare down at his sweet, sleepy face, my heart breaks a little more. I find myself whispering, “Why don’t you see how amazing you are, Ace? Why don’t you see what we do? When are you going to let us in? When are you going to stop this?”
I sigh and rest my head against the wall. My fingers continue to roll through his hair, more for me now than him. I let my eyes slip closed and eventually drift off to sleep.
