Chapter 9 For the Pancakes
NINE
FOR THE PANCAKES
CONNOR
I walked past the bathroom twice. Sarah was in there, and I needed to talk to her.
No matter how much I played our awkward encounters on repeat in my mind, I couldn’t deny the pull I had to her.
After spending the entire night fixated on each other, I was ready to break whatever standoff she’d established.
We were going to finally have it out.
On my third pass through the narrow hallway, Meg stopped me.
“Who’s at the bar?” I yelled over the music. Looking over her head, I couldn’t see it through the dense crowd.
“Jen. I came to grab you. It’s all hands on deck.”
Weird logic to leave Jen alone to drown in a sea of poor tippers, but sometimes I didn’t understand what Meg was doing. “Okay. Well, I was on my way back.” I started to move past her, but she snagged my wrist. I glanced down at her hold on me and raised an eyebrow.
“I wanted to ask you something.” She leaned into me, her hand landing on my chest.
“Uh, sure.” I inched back, trying to create some distance, but my back hit the wall.
Tilting her head, she went up on her toes to reach my ear. “Can you walk me home?”
Internally, I shouted a big, hell no. I wanted to find Sarah and see if we could squash whatever weird energy we had, hang out, and maybe get back to what we were doing the night we met before I left her high and dry.
I glanced at the ladies’ room door, and as if my thoughts conjured her, it swung open, and Sarah marched out like a woman on a mission.
That is, until she noticed us.
Within seconds, her proud posture curled in. Her expression became unsure and then disappointed, and before I could act, she was gone, lost in the loud mob.
“Well?”
Right. Meg. I’d forgotten about her, which I’m sure she didn’t appreciate.
“I guess?” I strained to catch a glimpse of Sarah.
Meg let go of me and took a step back. The loss of her touch drew my attention back to her. Little lines formed between her eyebrows, and her plum lips pursed. She was pissed.
“Don’t do me any favors, Connor.”
“That’s not what—”
She rolled her eyes and pushed past me. I didn’t chase after her. I didn’t want to give her the wrong idea. We were friends, but that’s where it ended. I was hung up on a girl so far out of my league that she knew it. I knew it. Hell, anyone who saw us together knew it.
Blowing out a breath, I ruffled my hair. I needed a drink. Too bad, I was only serving them. Muscling my way back to the bar and a prickly Meg, I smiled at Jen. “Where’s Sarah?”
Jen eyed me, then said, “She wasn’t feeling well, so she went home.”
Sure enough, Sarah and her friends were nowhere to be found. For the rest of my shift, all I could think about was how things had been different. Well, until she saw Meg all over me.
Fuck.
There was no way I could go back to her treating me like she did before, like I was invisible.
I hated it. I’d spent a lot of my life being invisible unless someone needed something, always put on the back burner because I was the one that no one had to worry about. Eventually, you competent yourself right out of existence.
“Last call!” Jen hollered, and we made a final push to serve the drunk masses.
As the last of the stragglers left, we cleaned up and got the bar stocked for the next day.
“Hey, Meg?”
“What?” She kept her attention on the glasses as she put them in the dishwasher.
“I can walk you home. Sorry if I made it sound like a problem.”
Closing the door, she sighed. “Thanks. That would be great.” She still hadn’t looked at me, which made me all kinds of anxious. Instead, she left me behind the bar to go ask John a question.
By the time we left work, I was a ball of nerves.
Meg faced forward as we walked down the block. “You know I like you, right?” she asked, jumping right to it.
I scratched the back of my neck. “I do.” Wow. Brilliant. There was no good way to handle this, but that sure as hell wasn’t it.
“And I assume you don’t like me.”
Time to be honest, which I had no problem with, but she probably wouldn’t appreciate what Mom called “my lack of tact”.
“Not in that way. I told you that weeks ago.”
“Yes, weeks ago, when you didn’t know me. Before we became friends.”
“Exactly, we became friends. You’re my friend.”
She shook her head. “I feel stupid.”
I stopped and gently caught her elbow. “Hey, can you look at me?” She let out a little puff of air, then tilted her chin and made eye contact with me for the first time since she had asked me to walk her home.
She was a beautiful girl, no doubt, but she didn’t tug at my soul like a certain blond who didn’t even want to talk to me.
“You’re not stupid. If anything, being this direct is great.
We got it out of the way, and now you know where I stand and can go out and find yourself another hunky bartender. ”
She laughed. “I never said you’re hunky, because who the hell says hunky anymore?”
“My mom.” I gave her a big smile. “So, friends?” I held out my hand.
Meg sighed and took it. “Friends.”
“Great! Let’s get you home.”
The rest of the trip was silent. Not awkward, but more like resigned. I knew this would be the last time she asked me to take her home, and I was relieved, because seriously, her house was on the other side of campus.
“Thanks for walking with me.”
I shoved my hands in my pockets and rocked on my heels. “Anytime.”
She ran up the porch stairs, throwing a good night over her shoulder.
Blowing out a breath, I tried to relax my shoulders. I checked my phone and found back-to-back missed calls from Jamie. Panic seized my chest, and I quickly dialed him back.
“Con?” Thumping music and yelling voices drowned him out.
I plugged my free ear, as if that would help me hear better. “Yeah? What’s up?”
“Can you—”
I didn’t catch anything he said after that.
“Go outside!” I yelled, glancing around the dark, residential street.
“Huh?”
“I said!” I’d made it to campus and felt a little better about shouting. “Go outside!”
“Imma go outside. I can’t hear you.”
I laughed as the noise died down on his side.
“Can you hear me now?” Jamie slurred.
“Yeah. What’s up?”
“I hate to ask after you just got off work, and I bet you’re in your bed, all cozy and—”
“Get to the point, Jamie.”
“Right. Sorry. I need you to come to the Gamma house on Elson. I’m very drunk and can’t go back to my dorm room.”
I passed a happy, tipsy couple sitting on a bench in the quad.
Ah. Young love.
“And why’s that?”
Jamie mumbled something, and then a feminine voice said something back. “Because my roommate’s a narc, man. He threatened to tell our SA if I came back drunk again. Who does that?”
“I don’t know. Did you do anything to warrant him being a dick?” I went past the turn I’d usually take from campus to walk home and went down an extra block.
“I might’ve brought someone back to the room. But in my defense, I didn’t realize he was there. So, the guy has it out for me, and I need to crash at your place, okay?”
As I mulled it over, Jamie sighed. “If I’m being honest, I’m not sure if I can make it to your place without getting stopped by the cops.”
“Fine. I’m on my way. You owe me.”
“Yes! You’re the best! See you in a few.” And then he hung up.
The closer I got to the party, the louder the music and shouting were. I walked into the light behind the houses, ready to go inside and find Jamie, when a loud, belligerent voice yelled down from the roof, “Hey, bartender man!”
“Hey!” I waved, pausing for a moment to see if they had anything else to say.
Nothing. Just a few hiccupped giggles and murmuring.
Shaking my head, I went into the house and immediately regretted my decision. The Wel crowd had migrated there, which was a pretty standard Thursday for the Greeks.
Without a bar between me and them, this size of crowd freaked me out. I didn’t enjoy gatherings this large unless we were outside at a bonfire, and I had some space.
Yet another reason why Greek life was one aspect of college I was okay missing out on.
Jamie had stressed that it was more than the parties, but for me, they were a pretty big drawback.
As if the crowd wasn’t bad enough, for some reason, a bunch of the guys were wearing masks. It added a weird vibe to the party that made me uneasy.
Why does Jamie like this shit?
I squeezed past a beer pong game in progress, some girls waiting for the bathroom, and finally made it to the front of the house, where people were dancing. I mean, I guess it was dancing.
My discomfort skyrocketed when I noticed a curtain of blond hair twirling through the air, her hands crossed at the wrists holding Jamie’s as they spun in a fast circle, shrieking like little kids.
Jealousy, hot and irrational, tore through me.
The sheer joy on both their faces was enough for me to walk out the door and let Jamie figure his shit out on his own.
As I contemplated my next move, Jamie saw me and let go of Sarah. She careened to the floor onto her round, perfect ass. Jamie, oblivious as always, pushed past everyone else and crushed me in a bear hug. “Connor!”
“Jamie!” I mimicked his silly tone.
“You’re here.”
Sarah limped over to us, rubbing her right ass cheek. Scowling, she shoved Jamie’s arm. “You made me fall.”
“I’m sorry. I saw my brother and needed to get to him before he ran away.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his side. “He’s a stick in the mud, kind of like you!”
She backhanded his stomach and frowned. “Hey!”
“It’s not a bad thing, my beautiful little stick.” He kissed the top of her head, and I wondered, for the millionth time, if he had real feelings for Sarah. If so, I would have to rethink everything.
Rolling her eyes, she finally turned to me, her body tensing. “Connor.”
I dipped my chin. “Sarah. I thought you were sick.”
Sarah frowned but didn’t answer.
Jamie’s head swiveled between us, his eyes finally narrowing at me. “What’s up with you two?”
“Nothing.” We both said at the same time.