Fifty-Three
Reece
“Um, the bartender just told me I can’t order another drink,” Miles slurs, stumbling back up to our high-top table and catching himself on a stool. “Can you believe that?”
“Somehow, I can,” Grant mutters from his spot next to me, IPA at his lips.
I snort against my own beer as Miles gapes at the insult.
“Maybe it’s time for a water?” Dominic suggests, his own words running together slightly as Miles hoists himself back into his seat.
Miles just sticks his tongue out at the defenseman before letting his forehead fall to the wooden table with a thud. I shake my head, chuckling at my dumbass best friend before turning my attention back to the live band playing at Joey P’s.
Earlier today, Miles asked Drew and me if we wanted to come grab drinks with some of the hockey guys.
Usually, I don’t go out two nights in a row, but lately all of my typical rules have taken a backseat.
I’ll do anything for a few hours of peace, for a few minutes where my mind is quiet and I’m having fun with my friends .
I’m trying to give Stacy space. I’m doing my best to let her come back to me when she feels good and ready but my patience is wearing thin.
What else can I do? How long do I need to wait before I give up the cheesy journal charade and beg on my knees for her to be mine again?
It’s been hell to act so nonchalant around her.
All I want to do is wrap my arms around her.
I want to pull her into me and kiss the hell out of her, I want to fall asleep with her head tucked under my chin, I want to spend hours with her body wrapped around mine, hours inside of her and all over her, getting as close to her as humanly possible.
But she needs to heal. And I’m happy to oblige.
I just need my friends and some alcohol to distract me while I do so.
“Oh, shit, Chelsea’s here,” Dom says from the other side of the table, jerking his chin in the direction of the front door. He glances back at me, twirling a whiskey and Coke in his hands. “Taylor, weren’t you and Chels a thing for a while?”
Jesus. Chelsea feels like years ago. Everything in my life now feels like it’s divided up into two time periods; pre-Stacy and post-Stacy.
Women who occurred pre-Stacy, Chelsea and Tashia, for example, don’t even come up on my mental radar anymore.
Anyone who isn’t Stace hasn’t taken up residence in my mind since before last fall.
“Yeah.” I clear my throat without looking in the general direction of my old friend with benefits. “We used to hook up sometimes.”
Grant lets out a low whistle. “Not bad, Taylor. Not bad.”
I bristle a little bit at his comment. Chelsea’s a great girl. Smart, kind, driven. But I don’t like being lumped in with Chelsea at this point. No, I want people to think of me and automatically think of Stacy. I don’t want anyone to think of me with any woman other than my girl.
“It was a long time ago,” I finally reply.
The boys fall into nonsensical chatter as the band starts to sing John Denver and Drew leans into me. “Maybe that’s what you need,” he says over the music.
I turn to my friend, my eyebrows bunched together. “What?”
Drew tilts his head to where Chelsea’s standing at the bar with three other sorority girls. “I mean, you haven’t… been with anyone since Stacy, right?”
I huff out a breath through my nose. “No.”
It’s true. I haven’t slept with anyone else since Stacy but it’s like the desire is completely gone.
The thought of touching another girl, of kissing somebody else, makes my stomach churn.
I can’t fathom bringing another woman into my bed, into the bed that now feels sacred and reserved only for Stacy.
“Maybe it’s time,” Drew goes on, his hand finding my shoulder. “Maybe hooking up with—”
“Don’t finish that fucking sentence,” I snarl, my grip tightening on my beer bottle.
Drew holds up his hands in surrender. “I’m just saying, it might help you move on.”
“I don’t want to move on. I’m not going to move on.”
Drew regards me with pity in his dark eyes before dropping his voice. “It’s been two months, Reece.”
“I don’t give a shit if it takes two years.”
Drew sighs. “Would it be the worst thing ever if you took Chelsea home tonight? I’m not saying you have to give up on Stacy entirely but sleeping with her might help you remember that there are other possibilities out there, you know?”
I narrow my eyes at my friend. “Stop talking unless you want to talk outside,” I threaten, my blood boiling at his suggestion.
Drew gapes at me but says nothing, settling back into his seat to watch the band perform.
Maybe I should feel bad for being so aggressive with my friend.
Maybe he should also learn when to shut his mouth.
The band goes on and I try to lose myself in the music, in the beer and the company, until I hear Will shout from the other side of the table, “Mae fuckin’ Wilcox!”
I whip my head over my shoulder and, sure shit, a short, red-headed spit-fire is headed our way. She weaves through the thick crowd, and it’s hilarious how everyone seems to tower over her and yet they part the way for her. Mae just exudes “don’t fuck with me” energy.
Similar to her best friend, I suppose.
Her jaw is set, determination in her eyes as she strides up to our table. She doesn’t regard the hockey players, including the very drunk Miles calling her name over and over again, as she stops up short right in front of my stool.
“Hi?” I say.
“I need you.”
My brows shoot up. “Pardon?”
“I need you to come with me.”
“How’d you know where to find me?”
She throws a hand in the direction of Miles and Drew. “I texted Dumb when Dumber wouldn’t answer my calls.”
“I lost my phone,” Miles explains, his words slurring together as Drew gapes at the insult .
“I resent that,” he sniffs.
Mae shoots him a glare. “At least you’re not Dumber.”
I rub my temples, confusion creeping in. “Wait, what do you need me for?”
“Will you just come with me?”
“Mae, what’s going on?”
She holds out her hand. “Seriously, Taylor, do you want me to drag you by your ears out of this bar?”
I hesitate and stare at the five foot tall woman in front of me, fully certain that she would take me to my knees at a moment’s notice. “Can you tell me where we’re going?”
She huffs, rolling her eyes. “It’s a surprise and also an emergency, now follow me or I’m telling Propst that you fucked Stacy.”
“You did what ?” Grant shrieks from beside me.
Miles snorts. “You should hear what they did in your bathroom on Halloween.”
“Alright.” I toss a glare over my shoulder at my drunk friend. “That’s enough.”
Grant groans. “Does everyone have a story about hooking up somewhere in my house?”
“I know I do,” Miles goes on.
“Okay, we’re done here,” Mae snaps, taking me by the hand and hauling me off of my barstool. “Just come with me.”
I look back at Drew with a questioning glance and he just shrugs before turning his attention to Miles, propping him up as he starts to slide out of his barstool. My eyebrows knit together but I follow Mae anyway.
“Can I have a hint?” I ask as we make it to the busy sidewalk of downtown Wing Haven.
Mae stays quiet, a force to be reckoned with as she leads me to the crosswalk. She only tosses a glare over her shoulder, her red brows pushing down over her eyes as she shakes her head. I press my lips together and she whips her head back around.
We trudge across the street silently as she tugs me back towards campus. I’m very tempted to ask her the questions in my head regarding her and Miles just to distract myself but she seems like she’s in one of her Mae moods and I’d rather hang onto my balls for the night.
Lord knows I’m not Mae’s favorite person after Nashville.
“Is everything okay?” I finally break the silence again as Mae totes me past a few brick academic halls and across the quad of our campus.
She gives me a curt nod but says nothing else as we round the corner to make our way to the eastern corner of campus.
“Mae, I know I’m probably annoying you but can you please, please tell me what this is about?” I beg. We’re passing the academic building for science and technology that I spend the majority of my time in and I am at a loss as to what we might be doing over here.
Mae stops abruptly, letting out a sound between a sigh and a groan as she turns to face me, my wrist still clasped in her hand. “Do you want Stacy back or not?”
My mouth dries out at her question, all of my other comments flying from my brain. I stare at Mae’s stoic face and my mouth gapes open once, twice, a third time. I try to swallow but it feels like there’s sandpaper coating my throat.
This is about Stacy?
“More than anything,” I answer her question in a low voice.
Campus is still around us and I feel like speaking up might scare away the idea of Stacy coming back to me .
Mae’s face softens ever so slightly as she evaluates me. “Then can you trust me?”
I find myself bobbing my head, my legs moving without my consent as Mae leads me further into the corner of campus.
The revelation that Stacy could be on the other side of this quest makes the whole world move in slow motion, like I’m dreaming and trying to run through wet sand with cement blocks on my feet.
Nothing feels real as the breeze blows through the white oaks around me, the whistling of the wind in the blooming leaves the only sound to break the silence.
My out of body experience continues until we stop up short in front of a dark, round building. A figure stands on the front steps. This person is shrouded by shadows before taking a step forward, into the streetlight. My whole body seems to jolt and freeze as surprise settles in.
“Lily?” I ask.
She gives me a tight smile as my stomach drops. Mae lets go of my hand and Lily jerks her chin towards the entrance of the building behind her.
The planetarium.