22. Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Two
Margot
By the time the four of us arrive, the party is in full swing. Ryan picked us up a few hours after I got home from the meeting with Alex, those hours spent prepping and pampering for this second-ish date.
I felt bad lying to Alex about why I needed to get home earlier, and it turned out it didn’t matter anyway since I let the cat out the bag that Ryan had asked to come to the party with us–with me–while we were on our date. Alex would’ve seen us together there anyway but for some reason, I felt guilty about the situation. No reason I can truly understand, but the feeling is there nonetheless.
But that girl. Gia? He kissed that girl right in front of me. Like it was nothing. Like I wasn’t even there. I had no idea who she was, but she seemed very familiar with Alex and him with her. I know for a fact she’s not his girlfriend, frat boy royalty made it clear he doesn’t do relationships. But who is she then? Hook up? Friend with benefits? Whoever she is to him, she’s completely beautiful. I wouldn’t stand a chance. Not that there’s a competition for his affections. Not that I would want to win that competition either way.
My thoughts are still spiraling as we enter the house and walk into the frat party chaos. One thing I’ve learned the past few years at TU is that fraternity parties start early and end late. Seeing as it’s about nine by the time we walk in, I’d say the party’s been in full swing for more than a few hours by now. A fact made all the more clear when Danika drags us to the kitchen where a cooler that was previously filled with beer stands empty in the middle of the room.
“Devon, what the fuck!” Danika shouts at Alex’s housemate as he enters the room. She gestures toward the empty cooler in disbelief.
“Don’t worry, gorgeous. There’s a full cooler in the backyard. Come on, I’ll show you guys.” Devon leads the way toward the back door and we all follow. The first thing I see is the fire pit that Alex and I sat at and made the deal that started this crazy ride.
“We should sit there later,” Ryan says in my ear, motioning his head toward the fire pit as he snakes his arm around my waist. Looking up at him over my shoulder, I give him a smile.
Devon grabs a few beers from the outside cooler and hands us each one. Just as I open my mouth to say thank you, a loud cheer sounds from the corner of the yard and all our attention is turned toward a highly active game of beer pong.
That’s when I notice Alex, a bottle of beer raised to his smiling lips, the fire shining against his face. God, he really is beautiful. He rests his head on that girl’s shoulder before turning his attention our way.
“Sunshine!” He calls, and I can tell he’s not himself. His words are slurred and his eyes are glassy. He can barely manage to stay upright, resting his body on Gia’s shoulders, but it doesn’t seem like she minds. “Sun, come play! Bring your–” he hiccups loudly “–friends. Come, come here.” He is insistent and while I have no interest in playing beer pong, I feel like I should do what he says before he comes over and drags me to the table.
Ryan’s hand is still on my back as I sigh and walk toward Alex.
“Hey, frat boy,” I say with a grin, and Alex’s brilliant smile smacks me in the face.
“I love it when you call me that,” he says and I cock my head in amused confusion.
Gia pulls Alex back toward their side of the table. “We playing or what?” It almost seems like she made the move to ensure he didn’t say anything else he might regret in his inebriated state, but I might be overthinking it.
“Sun, RyRy, you guys are up,” Alex says, motioning with his half empty drink at the other side of the table.
Ryan speaks into my ear. “We don’t have to play if you don’t want to.”
When I look up at him, his eyes are tight, as if playing beer pong is the very last thing he’d like to be doing right now. But if I know Alex, and I’m really starting to know him well, he isn’t going to let me walk away from this table.
“No, it’s fine. I want to play,” I reply to Ryan, giving him the most genuine smile I can muster before walking over to the table. Ryan lets his hand drop from my back as he follows me over. Sydney and Danika take up spots on the audience line, the former a nervous wreck and the latter excited as hell.
For a few rounds, we take turns throwing the balls into the little cups full of beer. It turns out I’m spectacularly bad at this game. Luckily, Ryan is actually good and pretty much carries the team. We split the cups we have to drink, but Alex is so drunk that he doesn’t even seem to be aiming for the cups so our drinking is limited.
After Ryan wins us the game rather quickly, I’m relieved and ready to head inside and do anything else.
“Good game, guys,” Alex says, sauntering up to us. Well, he probably means to be sauntering, but he’s really stumbling drunkenly. He ended up drinking a lot of the cups that Ryan sunk and still held onto his own bottle to sip in between throws.
Ryan nods to Alex and then puts his hand on my back to guide me back inside.
“Hey, bud. Let’s keep our hands to ourselves, yeah?” Alex says, stepping closer to Ryan and me. Immediately, I hold my breath, waiting for a blow out. Gia walks up to our tight circle and puts her hand on Alex’s arm to pull him back a bit. The motion causes him to drop his bottle, which hits the concrete floor and shatters.
We all step back from the spray, but Alex reaches down to clean up the mess.
“Alex, wait, don’t—”
“Fuck,” he cries, lifting his hand and letting the steady line of blood drip off his finger tips. I bend down to examine his cut and the second my skin touches his, his eyes shoot to mine.
“Do you have a first aid kit?”
Alex nods, his gaze not leaving mine. “Upstairs.”
I nod, too, before standing back up and looking over at the girl he’s been spending the entire evening with.
She holds her hands up. “I don’t do blood,” she says with a shrug before going inside the house. If she is his girlfriend, she’s an awful one.
I look back down at Alex, his eyes now glued to his bleeding hand, and I just hope he doesn’t need stitches. I go to help him up, but Ryan pulls me back a bit.
“Margot, let him fix his own messes. Look at him, he’s drunk.”
I narrow my eyes. “I’m not going to just leave him like this. Just let me get him cleaned up and then I’ll meet you back inside, okay?”
Ryan looks back and forth between my eyes a few times before sighing. “Fine, let me help you.”
He goes to grab Alex by the shoulders, but he jerks himself away. “Fuck you, I don’t need your help.” He says before storming into the house and I can’t tell if he meant it for Ryan or for me. Regardless, I’m not going to let him stammer around a packed house of drunken idiots. Without a thought, I follow after him, hurriedly.
I see him standing in the kitchen, looking in the fridge for another drink. Without a word, I grab him by the shirt and pull him away from the fridge, out of the kitchen and up the stairs to his room.
Before I close the door behind us, I search the bathroom across the hall for the first aid kit and a towel. Then I walk into Alex’s room to find him sitting on the bed, blood still dripping from his hand. Wrapping the towel around his hand, I try to soak up some of the carnage before I can get to work on cleaning him up.
Kneeling before him as he sits on the bed, I grip the towel wrapped around his hand and I look up at him.
“Well, this is a nice sight,” Alex smirks and I reach up and punch him in his good arm. Hard. “Ouch! What the fuck!” Alex yells.
“What is wrong with you? Why did you almost start something with Ryan out there and why are you so drunk?” There’s no point in beating around the bush. I want answers and I’m just hoping he’s not too drunk to give them to me.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He tries to pull his hand from my grasp, but I hold it tighter, causing him to wince in pain.
“Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going take this towel off, clean up your hand and assess the damage. While I do that, you’re going to tell me what the hell is going on. Got it?” I keep holding the towel tightly.
Alex sighs. “Fine.”
Slowly, I unwrap the towel and put it underneath his arm just in case more blood starts to drip out. Taking an antibacterial wipe from the first aid kit, I clean up the excess blood on his hand, paying close attention to the cut itself and trying to go slowly.
“How’d you get so good at cleaning wounds?”
“My brother and dad both work in a factory. Came home with more than a few cuts that never really got tended too while they were on the clock.” Once it’s all clean and I can tell he doesn’t need stitches, I pull out the antibiotic ointment and apply a healthy portion to the cut before adding a clean, large bandage on top to seal it all in. “Good as new,” I say, moving to stand up from my kneeling position. I’m still waiting for Alex to speak on the events of tonight but he hasn’t. Instead, when I look down at him, I see his eyes are drooping, about to close.
“I’m tired, sunshine…” He falls backward onto the bed, letting his wounded hand dangle off the bed. I sigh, standing over him. What am I going to do with this boy? I move toward the end of the bed. “No, don’t leave,” he says in his sleepy state and I can’t tell if he’s said it on purpose or if he’s talking in his sleep. “Everything is better when you’re here.”
I don’t have the mental capacity to unpack that statement right now. Pulling off his shoes, I place them on the floor one at a time before grabbing a blanket from the closet. Looking down at this sleeping form, I can’t help but remember what it is about him that makes me care about him. As a friend.
“Sleep, you idiot,” I say with a smile, placing the blanket down on top of him.
Alex smiles too. “Sunshine…” he sighs before the snoring starts. I giggle quietly as I head for the door. I know he said he wanted me to stay, but he was probably confusing me with the girl from downstairs. Either way, I couldn’t stay up here with him even if I wanted to. I’ve got my friends waiting downstairs. And Ryan. I think of Ryan as I close Alex’s door gently behind me. Ryan is a nice guy who wants to be more than just my friend. Shouldn’t that mean I should give him a real chance?
Alex doesn’t come downstairs for the rest of the night. Not that I expected him to, he was out cold when I left him all tucked into bed. We stay for a couple more hours, watching Danika flirt with the poor defenseless freshmen. A few times Ryan wandered off to say hi to friends, but he mostly stuck by my side, whispering jokes and comments in my ear every now and then.
It’s different, having a boy show genuine interest in me. I’m not used to it, but I’m trying to adapt. It helps that every time Danika looks our way, the heart eyes emoji flashes across her face.
By the time we’re ready to leave, Sydney is linked with Danika who is singing her famous rendition of Don’t Stop Believin’ while Ryan and I trail a few steps behind them.
“You know you don’t have to walk us home, it’s the complete opposite direction of your house.”
“And miss the show?” Ryan gestures toward Danika who just completely butchered the high note at the end. She and Sydney collapse in a fit of giggles as we continue the walk.
“Fair enough,” I reply with a smile. As we walk, Ryan tentatively slips his hand in mine and when I open my palm to invite him in, he latches on, interlacing our fingers tightly. We walk like this for another block before my apartment comes into view.
Danika grabbed onto Sydney’s hand and took off running toward the building.
“See you inside, Margot and thanks for walking with us, Ryan!” Sydney yells as she’s being pulled away, knowing exactly what Danika is doing. Even while drunk, Danika still has her motives.
I laugh and roll my eyes at their antics. “I would invite you in, but I’m not sure what exactly you’d be walking into.”
Ryan laughs. “Nah, that’s okay. It’s late, I should be getting back anyway.”
I nod, going to pull my hand from his, but he only holds it tighter. When I look up to meet his eyes, they’re boring into mine with an intensity I wasn’t expecting. I know without a shadow of a doubt that he is going to kiss me. Where the doubt comes in is if I want him to or not.
Ryan leans in and his breath hits my face. It’s not minty like Alex’s. Why am I noticing that? Why am I thinking about Alex right now? Instead of doing that, I close my eyes, leaning closer into him.
Everything’s better when you’re here.
I blink my eyes open and pull back. “Thanks for the walk. I’ll call you, okay?”
Ryan steps back, letting my hand drop softly. He gives me a tight smile, and I turn away toward the door. “Is there something going on with you and Prescott? Something more than just this weird friendship you have?”
He has every right to ask, he is the one who’s been giving me the attention that Alex hasn’t. But still, I don’t know if he deserves to know the full truth about us. I don’t even know the full truth about us.
“No, Ryan. He’s just my friend. That’s it.”
“Because I like you, Margot. I really like you and if I can avoid a painful situation down the line, I’d prefer to take that option now rather than later.”
When I left Alex’s room, I had vowed to myself to give it my best shot with Ryan. Alex and I are nothing more than friends and it’s time I proved that to myself. And to him. Even if it’s not so clear to me which him I’m referring to.
“I like you, too,” I tell him, closing the distance again. I should let myself have this. Danika is always telling me to let myself live, well…no one else is trying to live with me more than Ryan is.
Reaching up on my toes, I place a light, gentle kiss to his lips that clearly takes him by surprise. He seems to buffer for a few seconds before snapping out of his trance and wrapping his arms around my waist, pulling me tighter. His neck cranes down so I don’t have to stretch and his lips move against mine again, more hurried than before, more urgent.
The kiss is simple, easy. Like a walk through the park on a spring morning. With a gentle caress, his hands move down my body like he’s trying to make sure every inch of my back is touched. There are no tongues, the softness of his lips is enough for now. After a few seconds, I pull back and Ryan smiles.
“Goodnight, Margot.”
“Goodnight,” I reply, grinning widely before turning around and finally entering the building. I press my fingers to my lips to hold in the feeling of Ryan against my skin. It really was a nice kiss.
Is that what you want? Someone nice?
I shake my head furiously, getting Alex’s words out of my head. I need to go to sleep, but I know Dani and Syd are waiting impatiently on the other side of the door, so I put on my best face and gear up to tell them the bedtime story they’re waiting for.