Chapter Two - Thalia
A KNOCK ON the front door has me rolling reluctantly out of bed. Movie night, pizza, and my childhood best friend, whom I haven’t seen in person in a year and a half, are all good reasons to answer the door.
Would Vera mind if I took a nap during our movie night? It’s not like I’m leaving again anytime soon, so we’ll have plenty of time to catch up.
“Vera, I’m—” I freeze, taken aback by the three people standing in my doorway.
“Thalia!” Vera says, jumping forward to throw her arms around me before I can ask what’s going on. “I missed you so much!”
I thought it was only Vera coming over? Owen didn’t mention Stacey and Jeremy, but I guess he did say I could have friends over. Maybe this was a planned surprise?
“I missed you too.” I squeeze her back, getting over my initial surprise. “I don’t know if Owen gave me enough money to get pizza for all of us,” I joke, smiling at my friends. I’m glad to see them; I just wasn’t expecting them to be standing there.
“No worries. I brought beer for my liquid diet.” Jeremy grins widely, and now I’m confused.
“Ignore him.” Stacey rolls her eyes at her boyfriend, stepping forward to hug me briefly. “I’m glad you’re back.”
“Me too.” I laugh shortly, my cheeks flushing as I look down at the sweatpants and crop top I’m wearing. It seemed like a good idea to wear after my shower, but now I’m wishing I’d picked something different. “So are you ready for a movie night? If you drink enough of your beer, you might actually enjoy a rom-com, Jeremy,” I tease, letting them into the apartment.
“I had something a little different in mind for tonight,” Vera says, bumping me with her hip.
“What?” I ask, laughing nervously.
“Vera promised there’d be a legendary rager tonight. I already spread the word to the swim and basketball teams. Landon said everyone will be here in about an hour. The group chats are blowing up,” he says, pulling his phone out of his pocket to show me. Vera? She promised Jeremy there would be a party?
No, this isn’t a good idea. Owen and Bash are going to kill me. “Guys, I’m not sure—” I start to say, but Stacey slides onto one of the bar stools, interrupting me.
“A bunch of my friends at the sorority house are coming. I’ll tell them to bring booze,” she says, and my heart stops in my chest. I know that the version of myself before I went to Paris would be all about this, but it’s my first day back. I’m jet lagged, and this isn’t what I was expecting.
I look to Vera for help, but she is leaning against the counter. Her long midnight hair is almost to her waist, much longer than the last time I saw her. My hair hangs to the middle of my back, and I thought it was long. I couldn’t imagine having as much hair as Vera. “I couldn’t believe it when Owen told me that you were going to live with him and Sebastian,” she says, shaking her head in disbelief.
“Yeah,” I agree quietly, trying to wrap my head around the last five minutes. “Owen failed to mention that Sebastian also lived here so that was fun to find out at the airport.”
Stacey tilts her head to the side. “You didn’t know they lived together?”
I realize how stupid it sounds now. I never put the pieces together that living with Owen meant living with Sebastian. “Obviously I know they live together, but I didn’t connect the dots before today that living with my brother would also include living with Bash. In my defense, moving from one continent to another is hard.”
“Will you finally tell us what that fight at your party before you left was about? Bash clammed up anytime someone mentioned you, and not knowing is killing me and Owen.”
Well, I guess that answers my question earlier; Sebastian never told Owen what happened.
I shrug noncommittally. It’s none of their business. “It was just a fight.”
“Thalia, don’t be lame,” Vera says, crossing her arms over her chest. Her dark eyes are trained on me, clearly expecting me to give in.
“It’s not a big deal. Don’t worry about it,” I persist, resisting the urge to rub my temples. At this point, I think it’s too late to undo the damage that’s already been done. Everyone already thinks there’s something going on here tonight, and if I tell them to cancel whatever they planned, the odds are high that everyone will still show up.
Jeremy distracts me as he cracks a can of beer, and it just now processes in my brain who he said he invited.“Wait, Jeremy, did you say you invited the swim team?” Please say no.
He nods slowly. “Yeah?”
Fuck.
Owen was dating this girl, Amelia, for over two years before she cheated on him last spring with Miles, our friend on the swim team. He’s obviously not our friend anymore, but Miles really cannot come tonight.
“Text whoever, and tell them that Miles isn’t welcome here.”
“Oh shit, I forgot,” he winces, quickly sending another message.
“Are you going to change?” Stacey asks, motioning to my outfit.
“I guess I will.”
I don’t want to change. This wasn’t my idea.
“I’ll help you find something.” Vera smiles, and I push a matching one on my face.
I wait until my bedroom door is closed behind us before I start asking questions. “Vera, Owen and Bash are going to kill me. It’s my first night back.”
“Exactly.” She rests her hands on my shoulders. “It’s one party on your first night back. They’ll get over it. No one throws a better party than you, remember? It’d be a tragedy if you didn’t have a welcome home party.”
Maybe no one will show up. I really hope no one shows up.
“Okay,” I relent slowly, but I have a bad feeling about this. After tonight, never again. “After this, I’m retired from throwing parties.”
“Relax, everything will be fine.”
~
“Responsible? Thalia told you she could be responsible, and you believed her?” I hear a deep voice over the sound of music, and the smile on Vera’s face fades from where we’re dancing in the living room. Everything is so not fine.
In my defense, it really wasn’t my idea to have a party. I had every intention of having a movie night with Vera.
I didn’t think returning from my year abroad would be such a big deal, but I apparently left quite the impression after my first year at Duke.
“Oh shit, I think you’re in trouble,” Vera giggles, pushing me in the direction of two very unhappy football players. The look on Owen’s face sobers me quickly.
“Everyone out!” Bash yells over the music, and it shuts off immediately. His presence is commanding, but I guess that comes from being the big man on campus.
Several friends and even some strangers pat me on the back on their way out the door. I wish I could go with them since I’m confident I’m a dead woman walking.The apartment is a good size, but I have no idea how all these people fit in here.
My head starts spinning as I gather the red plastic cups to clean up the party. At least it was a good way to go out—death by party. Penelope would be proud of me.
“Vera, you don’t need to stay. Thalia got herself into this mess, and she can clean it up herself,” Sebastian says firmly, but she ignores him and continues to help me.
“You’re not the boss of me,” she slurs, and I hear a sigh. It’s probably coming from Owen.
“Low-key movie night?”
Yeah, that was Owen sighing.
I set the cups on the coffee table, turning around to face them. “I know there’s really no excuse, but I didn’t think it would get this crazy. I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry? Well, that doesn’t do us a whole lot of good at this point. The place is a disaster.” Sebastian scoffs, motioning to the mess that’s been made.
I cross my arms and do my best to think clearly, but the shots I’ve taken are messing with my head. “I’ll clean it up. You don’t have to be a jerk about it.”
“You’re right, you will clean it up.” His large frame steps closer, and I feel small as Sebastian stares angrily at me. Part of me wonders if he’s angry about tonight, or if this is still about the last conversation we had. “Is this what it’s going to be like all the time with you living here?”
“It’s the first night! I just got back and didn’t plan on throwing a party, nor will I be throwing another one. But you know what? It’s my apartment too. If I want to throw a party, then I’ll throw a party.” I’m being a brat, but he’s so frustrating.
“Bash, chill. Cleaning up won’t take too long, so lay off her,” Owen interrupts, starting to help me clean up. I can tell by Owen’s demeanor that he’s not happy with me, either, but at least he’s not yelling at me.
“I told you having her here was a bad idea, Owen.” Sebastian glares at me and storms off without another word.
I pull my hair up off my neck and into a bun. “God, he’s still an uptight asshole.”
“I can’t really blame him, Lia. You did a great job proving me wrong and Sebastian right. We just finished a three-hour-long practice and another hour of film review. We weren’t prepared to walk in on you throwing a rager.”
“I said I was sorry. I didn’t exactly plan to throw a rager,” I retort, grabbing more empty cups to throw away. I really didn’t, but they’re not going to listen to me right now.
“What did you expect to happen? Your return wasn’t going to be a small thing,” Vera says matter of factly.
I know I messed up, but I didn’t plan this. I don’t even really know how it happened, but I know it’s no one’s fault but my own. I should have told everyone no.
I thought I’d have a low-key night with Vera, like I told Owen.
I didn’t mean to piss off Sebastian on my first night here. I should have expected it would happen. Anything I do makes him mad.
Actions speak louder than words, and now I need to get back into Bash and Owen’s good graces. I’ll do better tomorrow if Sebastian doesn’t smother me with a pillow in my sleep.