4. Madelyn
I stand frozen at the head of the beer pong table, staring into the icy depths of Miles’ eyes.
I know nothing about him, but the feeling I had when we ran into each other the other morning is something I should definitely try to avoid.
He’s still staring at me as Kaitlin grabs my hand and drags me over to the loser's side of the table, racking up the cups and filling them with fresh beer.
Is that even sanitary?
“I don’t know Kaitlin, I really don’t think I should be your partner. Can we find someone else to play with you?”
“What’s wrong, Maddie? Afraid you’re going to lose?” Miles taunts with a smirk. “It’s just a little beer, but we can switch it out for something a little fruitier if you’d prefer that.”
His partner laughs, straightening up their cups into a triangle as Kaitlin does the same with ours. I have no idea how to play this game, and I definitely don’t like the taste of beer, but I have the sudden urge to make this guy eat his words.
“It’s Madelyn, actually. Only my friends call me Maddie. And beer is fine.”
There's a crowd forming around the table now, all of them oohing at my smart remark, which only makes Miles smirk even more.
Kaitlin finishes filling each cup with beer and eyes us suspiciously. “Do y’all know each other?”
I begin to say no, but Miles answers before I even get the chance to say anything at all.
“Oh, we know each other. And c’mon Maddie, you won’t even consider us friends after everything that happened the other day? I sort of thought we had something there.” His friend is laughing and Miles is just smiling at me as my face flushes with embarrassment.
Why is he acting like this? It’s nothing like how he was acting the other day. And it’s not like I purposely ran into him. I mean, sure, I wasn’t exactly paying attention when I rushed out of the bathroom, but I didn’t try to trample the guy. And we definitely didn’t do anything he’s insinuating.
“Hey, what is he talking about? Are you alright?” Kaitlin asks me in a whisper.
“It’s nothing. I just ran into him the other day. If he’s desperate enough to think that’s ‘something,’ then that’s his deal. Let’s just get this over with.”
Kaitlin explains briefly how to play the game as Miles watches with a devilishly handsome grin. I wish I could slap it right off his stupid, totally not attractive, face.
“Ladies first,” he says, and Kaitlin tosses her first beer pong ball. It bounces off the rim of a cup and lands in another.
“YES!” She cheers, giving me a double high five.
Miles’ partner, who I overheard him calling Chase, drinks the beer and sets the cup off to the side of the table. It’s my turn now. I toss the ball and it flies past the cups, hitting Miles in the leg.
“The cups are over here, gorgeous. I know you like to hit me, but you’re not gonna win the game that way.”
I sneer at him, wishing I had made that damn cup so I could have watched him drink. And of course, he’s still smiling at me. It’s like he’s getting off on my embarrassment. I hate to admit how hot he looks right now.
Miles tosses his ball, never breaking eye contact as it flies, landing into one of our cups.
Holy shit. We’re fucked.
“That means you drink, Princess. Now be a good girl and make sure not to leave a single drop.”
Fuck me. My body is on fire. The way it instantly reacts to his words scares the shit out of me. I clench my thighs together in an effort to relieve the ache I feel between them and drink the contents of the cup, purposely leaving the tiniest amount of liquid at the bottom.
Thankfully the beer is cold, however, it tastes like shit, and I try to keep a straight face as the liquid slides down my throat. The last thing I need is for Miles to see me struggle to swallow some beer.
Chase goes to take his shot. The ball bounces off the table and lands in a cup. “WOO! That’s two, baby!”
Excuse the fuck out of me? Two cups? Just because he bounced the ball off the table? What kind of stupid game is this?
Kaitlin and I drink a cup of beer each and the game continues.
We go back and forth until eventually the two of us are down to two cups, and Miles and Chase have four on their side.
I still haven’t made a single cup yet, and I’m starting to feel a little buzzed.
Kaitlin and I both have to make a cup just to be even with them, and that’s with the hope that they don’t make any of their shots.
Kaitlin goes first. She takes aim and tosses her ball.
It misses. I’m panicking on the inside while trying to not seem stressed on the outside.
I don’t know why I want to win so badly.
Maybe it's pride, but the idea of beating Miles at his own game just so I can rub it in his smug face sounds so sweet.
I take a deep breath, aiming my ball at the cup in the middle. I exhale, closing my eyes as I toss it to bounce off the table and I feel Kaitlin hit my arm. She yells and starts jumping up and down. I made the damn cup!
“Well, I’ll be damned. Look at you making your first shot of the game. Keep doing that and maybe you’ll have a chance, thanks to your friend here.”
“I just might have to do that. Maybe it’ll get you to shut your damn mouth for once.” I smile back at him with a lifted brow.
That liquid courage I was trying to find earlier has finally hit and I’m starting to feel like some kind of badass.
He downs the contents of his cup and says, “Oh, so you do have some bite. Let’s see how hard that bite is after you lose.” Miles bounces his ball off the table and makes it into one of our last two cups.
Shit.
That’s it, we lost.
“Redemption! We can still win if we make this cup. It’ll cancel out his last shot. You can do it, Maddie. You gotta bounce it off the table to count as two cups.”
I hold the ball out and take a deep breath. I look past Miles and my breath catches.
Wait—is that? No, it can’t be. Is that Austin? There’s no way he could be here right now. But that’s definitely him, I would recognise him anywhere. But how? I left Alabama without telling a soul. How the hell did he find me?
“Maddie! Take the damn shot!”
I’m frozen in place, the ping pong ball still clenched between my fingers, as panic begins to take over.
Sweat coats my neck, and for a second, I forget to breathe.
Surely, I must have been drugged, right?
Someone definitely laced these cups with something and I’m just hallucinating.
I think I’d prefer that, actually. Because, if I’m really seeing Austin right now, he must be here to confront me.
Because he knows what I did. And after how I left things with him…
“Maddie, come on, you’ve got this. Don’t let us lose to these assholes,” Kaitlin laughs, grabbing my arm.
The shock of her cold hands against the heat of my skin has my neck snapping in her direction. I must look crazed, because she drops her hand and steps back.
Not even caring how I must be acting right now, I turn from Kaitlin and scan the crowd again for Austin.
What the hell?
He disappeared.
People around the table are yelling for me to toss the ball, meanwhile Miles is staring at me harshly like he’s trying to figure out what the fuck is wrong with me.
I don’t know what to do so I just throw it, not even bothered to care if I actually make it or not.
The ball lands in the grass and the crowd erupts into cheers for our opponents, only Miles isn’t smiling.
He’s looking at me concerned, the gears clearly turning in his brain.
I can’t think right now. I practically run back into the house looking for Austin, bumping into multiple people as I rush through the space, but he’s not here. I know I saw him standing there watching me.
The feeling of a fist closing around my arm has my heart dropping to my stomach, my eyes closing on instinct before I turn around to face my best friend.
“Au—” I swallow my words the moment my eyes land on a set of blue ones that cause my heart to race.
Miles grabs me by both arms. “Hey, it’s just me. You alright? You look like you just saw a ghost or something.”
And maybe I had, I don’t know. I can’t shake that chilling sensation I felt when I looked at him, though. It had to be him.
“I just—I thought I saw someone I knew. From back home.”
Maybe I drank too much or got hot boxed by everyone smoking. I’m definitely starting to feel drunk now that the room is slowly tilting and there seems to be two of everyone. Everyone but Miles. There could only be one of him.
“And where is home?”
Miles is looking at me, his hand still on my arm, thumb rubbing small circles as if to calm me down. Heat courses through me again from his touch. I don’t want to tell him anything from my past. I’m afraid he’ll find things out that he shouldn’t about me, but I tell him anyway.
“Alabama. It was just a small little town, you probably never heard of it. I only moved here a few months ago, and I was staying with my aunt in San Francisco until I moved into the dorms.” I realize I just said a lot more than I intended to, seeming way too eager to tell him about myself, but he doesn’t seem to mind.
“Alabama, huh? Seems like you’re a little far from home, Princess.” He lets go of my arms, but instead of backing away from me, his hands drift down my arms until his fingers are gently grazing my own. I can feel my heart beating faster with every gentle caress of his fingers.
“Why do you keep calling me Princess?”
He doesn’t answer my question, he just stays silent as he looks into my eyes, one corner of his lips curling as he grins at me.
When he looks at me as intently as he is, I wonder if he can see directly into my soul.
If he can see the small shadows of darkness that linger there beneath the light.
What would he think if he knew I killed my father?
Would he still be calling me Princess?
Probably not.
He’d probably run for the hills, and I wouldn’t blame him if he did. If the roles were reversed, I’d probably do the same.
Miles looks at me with a serious expression and asks, “Do you want to find someplace quiet, Maddie? To talk.”
I’ve seen enough movies and tv shows to know what that means, and yet I find myself nodding like an idiot. There’s that liquid courage again.
He interlaces our fingers and leads me toward the flight of stairs on our right.
I glance back toward the party to see Kaitlin walking back inside.
She looks up at us, eyeing Miles and me as we make our way up the stairs, a concerned look on her face.
I smile at her so she knows that I’m okay, until she and the rest of the crowd disappear.