Chapter Twenty-five Rowan
Chapter Twenty-five
Rowan
“I should text her again,” I say, eyes only half-open. I pat my pockets and search the couch around me, but my phone is nowhere to be found.
“Disco, have you seen my phone?” I ask, forcing my eyes open wider. He’s blurry, but he’s there, shaking his head.
“Vaughn took it.”
“What the hell?” I whip my head around to my other side. The motion is too fast for my current state, and my head spins. “Whoa. There are two of you,” I say to Vaughn and his scowly twin.
“You’re drunk as fuck,” he says. “You can have your phone back when you’ve sobered up.”
“I’m not that drunk,” I say, tipping back the bottle of Jack. Only I miss my mouth and whiskey trickles down the front of my shirt.
“Give me that.” Lacey reaches over from the other side of the Vaughns and takes my alcohol.
“Not cool,” I say to her but then rest my head back against the leather.
“Here’s water.” That’s Claire’s voice now. Did I know she was here too?
“Thanks,” Austin says to her, then he nudges me. “Drink this.”
“My mouth doesn’t work right now.”
“Seems to be working fine,” Vaughn replies.
I flip him off as I pry open my eyes again. The room spins. I concede that I may have drinken too much. Drunken. Dranken. Whatever. Too much Jack. Too little time.
“I think it’s time to get you home,” Vaughn says, using his authoritative captain voice.
“No. My bed smells like her.” I went home after the game, stepped inside my room, and walked right back out. I texted her a few drinks in, finally brave enough to hear what she might have to say. She hasn’t responded. Or at least she hadn’t when the guys took my phone away.
“I’m staying.”
“Then you can come to my house,” Austin offers. I do like his house. His mom makes the best pancakes.
“Tempting, but I’m not moving until I talk to Summer.” I can still see the look on her face when Coach Bradley pulled her from the game. She worked so hard. I know how much soccer and proving herself to that FLU coach meant to her. And I fucked it all up. Bile burns in my stomach.
“She’s not here, man. And I don’t think she’s coming.”
“That’s why you should let me text her again,” I grumble. My head is clearing a little, and through the haze my anger and frustration are back. Not at them. I know my friends are trying to help, but I just need to talk to Summer.
“I will text her,” Claire says. “From my phone.”
I give her what I hope is a grateful smile and then watch as she taps around on her phone.
“What’d you say?” I ask. “Is she typing back?”
“She literally just hit Send,” Austin says.
“Same questions.”
“Hey.” The soft, feminine voice comes from my right side.
Hope blooms in my chest, and when I look up and find Summer standing in front of me, I have to blink a few times to make sure she’s real.
“You came.” I aim a dopey smile at her. “I didn’t think you would.”
She’s in jeans and a sweatshirt and her hair is pulled back in a low ponytail.
“You’re beautiful.”
Vaughn clears his throat beside me. “He’s not in the best shape to talk.”
“I can see that,” she says, walking forward.
I fight to keep my eyes open so I can keep staring at her.
“Let’s go…do something else for a minute,” Lacey says, standing and then pulling Vaughn to his feet. Claire and Austin follow.
“Maybe don’t give him any more alcohol,” Claire says over her shoulder.
“Some friend you are,” I call after her, mostly teasing.
Summer takes a seat a few feet away on the couch.
“How drunk are you?” she asks, sniffing me and then grimacing.
I let out a small laugh. “Not drunk enough.” If I were, I wouldn’t still feel so awful.
“Why?”
“I didn’t know what else to do, and I couldn’t do nothing,” I admit. “I’m sorry about the game and your brother.”
“You didn’t stick around after the game.”
“I wasn’t sure if you wanted to see me.”
Her brows pinch together. “Whatever it is you think I’m feeling, you’re wrong. I don’t blame you for any of it. Silas is the one who showed up unannounced, made a scene, and said all those awful things.”
Her voice quiets. “And I’m the one who made the choices that put me in a position to have my teammates hate me again.”
“I’m going to fix it. I’ll fix everything. I never should have dragged you into my shit with Amanda.”
She lets out a soft chuckle. “I don’t think you’re doing any of that tonight.”
She stands. “Come on. Let me take you home.”
I try to get up, but the couch seems to have attached to me. Summer laughs and pulls harder. She manages to get me upright, but then standing is a challenge.
Vaughn appears out of thin air and gets on my other side.
“Where’d you come from?” I ask him.
“Just standing by in case you tried to do something dumb like walk.”
“Some Houdini shit there, Cap.”
As we’re walking out of the party, someone yells, “Go back to Oakley!”
It’s followed by snickers.
Summer’s face flushes before I’ve fully processed what’s happening.
“Shut the fuck up,” Vaughn shoots back at them.
“Want me to kick their asses?” I offer Summer.
“Maybe tomorrow,” Vaughn suggests. “I’ll make a list for you.”
“Good man.”
* * *
When I open my eyes, Summer is lying next to me on my bed.
“Are you really here?” I ask, almost afraid to reach out and realize I’m dreaming.
“Hey.” Her voice is soft and husky.
My head is pounding, but I’m pretty sure she’s real.
“How did you get here?”
“I brought you home,” she says. “You don’t remember?”
Do I? I think back, running a hand over my hair. “Fuck.”
I glance around my room. I’m fully dressed, but my shoes are off.
“You texted me from Boone’s, and when I got there you were pretty gone.”
“What time is it?” It’s dark out my bedroom window, but I don’t know if it’s late at night or early in the morning. Or even which day it is. Fuck, I haven’t drunk like that in a long time.
“Around two. You’ve only been asleep a couple hours.” Her grin lifts higher on one side. “It was not easy to get you upstairs.”
“Damn. I’m sorry.”
“Your parents saw you though.”
Well, that’s going to be an unpleasant conversation tomorrow.
“Are you going to get in trouble for being here?”
“Silas is covering for me.”
My brows shoot up in surprise. “Does that mean you two made up?”
I’ve never had a sibling, so I don’t know how that all works, but it seems like a quick turnaround. Especially considering what a dick he was to her.
“No, but I have enough dirt on him that he won’t tell Mom and Dad.”
“Just show up here and take out my kneecaps?” I joke, but actually…I wouldn’t put it past him.
She gives me a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry about him. And about what I said. It was before I really knew you.”
She means the thing she apparently said to Silas at some point—that I was an asshole or a prick, maybe both.
And that I’m a joke. It stings she ever thought it, let alone commiserated with her brother about me, but I don’t hold it against her.
Things have changed since we started this. A lot of things.
“What a fucking day.” I run both hands down my face. “My parents show up during our sleepover, then your brother surprises you at your game.”
“At least your parents didn’t yell at me,” she says.
“No, they just tossed an internship in my lap without asking.” I grit my teeth at the reminder.
“They did what?” Summer asks.
“They want me to work at the dealership after the soccer season so I can better decide what I want to major in at college.” I flash her a “Can you believe them?” look, or I try. My head is still killing me.
“Did you tell them you don’t want to work there?”
I shake my head. “You were waiting for me in the truck, but we’re going to talk about it later. Not that they’ll listen to me.”
“You have to try.”
My skin pricks with unease at the slightly annoyed tone in her voice.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Your parents just want what’s best for you, but they can’t read your mind.”
“Why do you sound pissed right now?” I ask, genuine confusion marring my brow.
“I’m not pissed,” she says but she still sounds annoyed, at the very least. “You never say what you want.”
“Sure I do.”
“No, you don’t,” she’s adamant. “How do you think we got into this mess? You couldn’t tell Amanda that you wanted her back, and so we faked an entire relationship. And now your parents are planning out your future, and you can’t just speak up and say you don’t want it.”
I’m stunned speechless. I’ll take the blame for Amanda and the fallout there, but she doesn’t get what it’s like with my parents.
When she speaks again, her voice is softer. “I don’t want to be another thing that you fall into because you can’t ask for what you really want.”
“Where would you get that idea?”
She shrugs. “Would you have ever gone out with me if it weren’t for Amanda?”
“That isn’t fair. You thought I was an asshole. A joke.”
“You’re right. Maybe we jumped into this without really getting to know each other.”
“That isn’t what I said.”
“I know.” She sighs. “It’s late, and it’s been a long day.”
I nod, thinking we’ll sleep and talk later, but Summer stands.
“You’re leaving?”
“I need to get home.”
“Okay. Can we hang out tomorrow?”
“I have practice, and then my parents want to have dinner before Silas goes back on Sunday.”
“Maybe after dinner?”
She frowns, and I can feel her pulling away emotionally from me. “Amanda is single. She knows how you feel. It’s what you wanted.”
“Wanted. Past tense,” I clarify.
She shrugs. “Are you sure you’re really over her?”
“Yes,” I say immediately. Then it occurs to me that maybe the reason she’s so hell-bent on me wanting Amanda has more to do with her feelings and less about mine. “Is this your way of saying you don’t want to keep doing this?”
I guess I can’t blame her after everything that went down today.
“Do you?” she asks.
My mind is spinning, and there’s a throb behind my eyes. “You’re talking in circles.”
“And you can’t even answer the question.” She throws one hand up and walks toward the door.
I manage to get to my feet, albeit wobbly. “Wait. Fuck. Don’t go.”
She lets out a long breath and looks at me, some unnamed expression on her face that makes panic course through me.
“We jumped into things so fast,” she says. “One second, we were faking it and the next we weren’t. I wouldn’t blame you if you were confused or if you still wanted to try to fix things with Amanda. I want you to be sure.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “You want me to be sure or you’re not sure?”
“Both, I guess.”
She speaks quietly, but her words hit me like a truck. This day just officially became the worst of my life.
“Then I suppose that’s that.” My stomach churns with a mixture of anger and hurt. I did not see this coming. Not from Summer.
She hesitates like maybe she’s torn about going. “Rowan, I…” Her voice breaks.
“It’s fine. No big deal. It isn’t like we were a real couple or anything.” Every word feels like chewing glass.
“Right.” Her hand rests on the doorknob. “I left some Advil and water on the nightstand.”
“Thanks.” My voice sounds cold and bitter even to my own ears.
“I’ll see you around,” she says, and then she’s gone.