AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I push away from the wall and stalk off. Before I can continue my series of stupid decisions. Like punch out my teammate for talking about my enemy.
The rest of the night is a blur of more beer and loud music, and when I wake up in one of Josh’s guest rooms the following morning, it’s to a blaring headache. It feels like a hammer is pounding against my temple.
Thankfully, I’m alone. I’m not sure how I feel about Maeve right now, but I know having sex with someone else would haunt me. It’s bad enough I kissed Natalie.
I stumble out of the bedroom into the hallway. The house is a total wreck. Red plastic cups, empty beer bottles, and random articles of clothing dot the pathway to the kitchen. Josh is standing at the stove frying eggs when I walk inside. Caroline’s perched on the island, drinking from a mug.
“You look like shit,” she greets, appraising me over the rim of the ceramic.
“I feel like it,” I say, slumping down on one of the island’s stools. “There coffee?”
Caroline nods to the fridge, and I see a coffeemaker tucked in the corner. Thankfully, the glass pot is filled with dark brown liquid. I heave myself up and look through three cabinets before I finally locate the mugs. I pour myself some steaming coffee and sit back down.
“You were quite the party animal last night, Cole,” Josh informs me as he flips the eggs.
I groan. After Maeve left, most of the evening is spotty. Mainly because her appearance sobered me up, and I overcompensated on the alcohol after she left as a result.
“How so?”
“Hmmm, where to begin?” Josh says, obviously enjoying this way too much.
“Don’t fuck with me,” I warn. “I’m not in the mood.”
“Oh, I know. You were in quite the mood yesterday, too. Long before you started drinking. Want to explain on what that was about?”
“Just having a bad day,” I reply, taking a sip of coffee. It does nothing to ease my headache, but the jolt of caffeine helps some. “So? What did I do last night?”
“Lots of drinking. Gave a five-minute speech about how much you hate the rain. Little bit of dancing.”
“Any girls?”
“Not that I saw. Aside from the kiss with Natalie, but that was before you got really wasted, so I’m guessing you remember that.”
Chris stumbles into the kitchen then, his dark hair looking like a bird spent the night in it. “Morning.” He yawns.
“Perfect timing, Fields. Was just filling Cole in on his drunken shenanigans.”
“Wouldn’t miss this,” Chris says as he fills his own mug of coffee. “You break the rain poem to him yet?”
“I’m calling bullshit on that,” I interject.
“How come? You’re a total English nerd. Remember when you won that essay award sophomore year?”
I roll my eyes. “That wasn’t poetry.”
“All right, fine. It wasn’t a poem. If I wasn’t so hungover myself, I could have come up with a better story. You don’t usually drink until you have amnesia.” Chris gives me a questioning look.
I shrug. “Bad day.”
Chris takes a seat on the stool beside me. “So, you and Natalie are just friends?” He raises his eyebrows.
“I was drunk.”
“Yes, we’ve been over that, Cole. Doesn’t change the fact you adamantly said there was nothing to your adorable ice cream outing, and then made out with her last night in front of half the team, according to the rumors I heard. You didn’t do that even when you guyswerea thing.”
“Sure would be nice if people could mind their own business,” I mutter into my mug.
“Which brings me to the second bit of buzz I heard I missed while I was playing Flip Cup. Maeve Stevens came here and called you a, and I quote, ‘fucking coward’, and then stormed off?”
