Chapter 32 #2
“C’mon, Tiff,” I call out to her over the music, holding out the near-empty bottle of vodka to her.
I am wasted at this point. I can barely even remain upright, and I almost topple straight off the countertop.
I’ve been engaging in conversation with everyone in the kitchen, and we have all been laughing hysterically, with everyone being at least tipsy.
Except for Tiffani. Her expression is thunderous as she glares sharply across the kitchen at me, her blue eyes like cool, cool ice.
She struts over and snatches the bottle of vodka straight out of my hand, holding it as far away from me as possible.
She presses her other hand to my chest and holds me upright.
“You’re embarrassing us,” she whispers as she leans in close to me, glaring from beneath her fake eyelashes. “Stop it.”
“Ohhh. Who cares?” I laugh and stretch forward, grabbing back the bottle from her, and I am just about to tilt it against my lips to take another swig when she steals it back again.
We fight over it for a few seconds before I reluctantly let go, and she is quick to pass it off to whoever is closest to us.
“ Tyler ,” she hisses, pressing her body against my legs, her hands on my thighs. “You look like an idiot. Please. Stop drinking. Or at least slow down.” Has she even had a drink? Why is she being a buzzkill? Everyone in this kitchen right now is having a good time. She’s ruining it.
“Baaaby,” I murmur, pursing my lips innocently at her.
I can’t hide my smile though. I am so drunk, and luckily, I am the good kind of drunk tonight.
Sometimes I swing the other way. I cup Tiffani’s face with both hands and I lean down to kiss her, pressing my mouth to hers, but she immediately pulls away and shoves me back.
The indignant look she gives me is almost laughable. Do I taste like one too many beers?
“Rejectiooon!” someone from the other side of the kitchen calls out, and everyone cracks into more laughter, even me.
Tiffani shakes her head and spins around, storming straight out of the kitchen with her arms folded across her chest. Whatever.
Now that she’s gone, I can continue to drink even more, and that is exactly what I do.
More beers, more vodka, more tequila, more rum.
I drink until I can no longer open my eyes, until I am no longer in control of my senses.
And in danger of losing control of my bladder.
Awkwardly, I slide down from the countertop, landing on the floor, and when I get up, I have to fumble my way across the kitchen.
My eyes are half-closed, my feet are moving on their own.
I am grabbing people and furniture to guide me.
I’ve been in Rachael’s house many times before, but I don’t know where the bathroom is.
I am stumbling my way across the house, until suddenly I collapse down onto my hands and knees, disorientated.
I don’t know where I am. The music is pounding in my ears and voices are muffled, yet somehow, I am still able to hear it.
My name. Quiet and gentle. Husky.
My head feels too heavy to lift, but I fight hard to look up.
The room is fuzzy. She is fuzzy. I try to peel open my eyes wider, but Eden is blurring in front of me.
I try to bring her into focus, to see her glistening hazel eyes and plump lips, but I just can’t do it.
She is staring down at me, and I so wish I could read her expression right now.
“Baby,” Tiffani’s voice echoes around me.
Everything sounds distorted, like I’m under water.
My eyes close again, and I can feel Tiffani’s hands around my body as she uses all her might to haul me up from the floor.
I try to stand, but my legs are like jelly, and I simply fall straight back over, smacking my face into the wall.
I’m too drunk to feel it. “Tyler,” Tiffani says, but it doesn’t sound as nice as when Eden says my name.
I am being pulled somewhere, guided, and suddenly I am sitting at the foot of the stairs.
“Sober up,” Tiffani orders as she slaps her palm straight across my face.
I don’t feel the sting of it. “You’re a nightmare. ”
My head falls forward. It’s too heavy to hold up now, but Tiffani is grabbing my jaw, supporting me, and I hear her fuzzy, distant voice say, “Ella will kill him if he goes back over there like this.” Is Eden still here?
Is that who she’s talking to ? I try to ask, but my tongue won’t form words.
“I’ll take him home with me for the night. ”
Ohhh . I am passing out. I can feel this wave crashing over me, like a black shadow arriving, and my entire body is going numb.
I slump off the stairs, my eyes closed, my face pressed against into the floor.
I could sleep here, but Tiffani isn’t letting me.
She is by my side again, forcing me upright against the wall, and we are sitting on the floor together.
I am drunk and, therefore, I am feeling frisky.
I pull at her dress, at her hands, at her face.
She is pushing me away. My head is in her lap.
She is talking, but I can’t hear what she is saying.
Is Eden still here ?
···
The hangover I endure the following day is one of the worst I have ever suffered through. It’s why I spend the entire Sunday in Tiffani’s bed, sweating buckets, gulping down water, popping painkillers, and cursing at myself for being such a fucking moron.
It’s early evening and I am still wrapped up in Tiffani’s sheets, massaging my head and staring at the ceiling.
I’ve showered now, so I do feel slightly better.
More refreshed, at least. My head, however, is still pounding.
I don’t even feel sorry for myself. I’m angry.
I passed out at the party, which, honestly, is just embarrassing.
Tyler Bruce is supposed to be able to handle his alcohol, not pass out and get dragged home by his girlfriend.
“Are you hungry?” Tiffani asks as she walks into her room, a smile on her face.
She’s been checking in on me every half an hour, waltzing into her room in a pair of silk shorts and a tank top.
At 8:00 a.m., she woke me up to yell at me for embarrassing her last night, for getting too drunk, for acting like a loser.
At noon, she was being passive aggressive.
By 4:00 p.m., she was acting relatively normal. And now, she is being nice. Too nice.
“No,” I say. I think I’ll throw up if I eat.
“How are you feeling?” she asks with a sympathetic frown as she joins me on her bed. She sits down next to me on her knees and reaches forward, placing her cool palm to my forehead. Her frown deepens. “Are you feeling better?”
“Not really,” I admit. Her cool skin feels nice against my face, so I press my forehead harder into her hand. I’m burning up.
“I bet I could make you feel better,” she murmurs, and she drops her hand to my chest as she leans in closer to me, pressing her lips to the corner of my jaw.
She kisses the corner of my mouth too. Then my neck.
Her lips trail along my skin, planting a row of soft, light kisses.
She even climbs on top of me, sitting on my stomach with her legs cradling my hips and her hands pressed to my bare chest. She is kissing my collarbone now, and shit, it feels nice.
“Your…your mom, Tiffani,” I mumble, my eyes closed, my hands on her waist. I throw my head back into the pillows, enjoying the sensation of her mouth exploring my body. There are not many things I love about Tiffani, but this is an exception. She always knows exactly where to kiss me.
“She just left,” Tiffani says, and she moves her lips to mine.
I wrap one of my hands into her hair, holding her closer to me, and I kiss her deeply and fast, biting her lower lip.
Tiffani and I never do slow or gentle. We are always fast, always rough, probably because we don’t actually care about one another.
It’s exhilarating though. We are fighting for dominance, and as I am kissing her, she is grinding against my hips.
She tears away from me for only a brief second to pull off her tank top, then her mouth is immediately back on mine.
She is kissing me faster now, her fingers intertwining through my hair.
My hands are roaming down her body, her breasts, her waist, her hips, her ass.
She kisses a path down my chest, all the way down to the waistband of my boxers.
She glances up at me and runs her tongue along her lower lip. But then I remember something.
Yesterday was a blackout. I can’t remember anything from the party, apart from making Kyle Harrison sick, but I remember everything that came before it.
I remember Eden. I remember arguing with her in the house. I remember admitting that I rely on distractions. I remember her lips against mine.
“Tiffani,” I say abruptly, snapping back into the current moment. I grab her wrists, firmly holding them away from my body. I am breathing heavily, and my eyes are wide with panic. “I can’t do this right now.”
“Are you kidding me?” Tiffani says in disbelief, parting her lips.
She aggressively yanks her hands free from mine and climbs off me.
She is glaring at me with sharp, narrow eyes.
“We finally get a free house and you’re telling me not right now ?
Fuck you, Tyler. Go home.” She grits her teeth and slides off the bed, turning her back on me as she pulls her tank top back on.
She heads for the door, muttering something under her breath, probably calling me an asshole.
“Tiffani,” I say quietly, sitting up. I pull the sheets up to my waist and stare at her in silence as she turns around.
I am looking at my girlfriend, but I am not looking at a girl I even remotely like, let alone love.
When I kiss her, I don’t feel that same adrenaline rush that I felt last night when I kissed Eden.
“What is this? Us,” I clarify. “What is it?”
“What the hell, Tyler?” Tiffani says as her expression twists, full of confusion. She looks taken aback that I’ve even asked.
“Just tell me,” I plead desperately. It’s always been at the back of my mind, I guess. “What are we doing? Because I have no idea. We don’t even…” I inhale, shaking my head. We don’t even like each other . I can’t say it out loud though, because it sounds almost cruel. “Why are we together?”
I know why. We are together because it benefits us both, because I get the hot, popular girlfriend to make Tyler Bruce’s life look pretty nice, and she gets the guy who she knows will do anything she asks of him.
A guy whose every move she can control. She must know that deep down I’m weak.
That’s why it’s so easy for her. I’m just a prop in her life, the same way she is in mine.
But we are bad for each other. We shouldn’t be together.
“We’re not talking about this,” Tiffani states.
She is clenching her jaw, and I know I’m taking a huge risk here.
Tiffani doesn’t like it when I step out of line and do something that goes against her wishes.
She always retaliates. “Don’t bring it up again. ”
“Maybe we should…I don’t know.” I shrug. “You know as well as I do that this is stupid. Maybe we should just take a break or something.”
“How’s selling weed going?” she cuts in quickly, her voice seething. She folds her arms across her chest and raises an eyebrow at me, her eyes piercing straight into mine.
My heart stops for a second. “What?” I say, feigning surprise as though I have no idea what she’s talking about. How does she know ?
“You thought I wouldn’t find out? You think I’m that stupid?
” she says, rolling her eyes, but her tone is venomous, and she is becoming the Tiffani I really, really don’t like.
The one that is devious and controlling.
“Last night, while you were too drunk to function, Greg asked me if I knew where you were, because he was just dying for a smoke.” Slowly, she walks back over to the bed, a twisted smile on her face.
She knows she’s caught me. “Rumor has it, you can hook people up these days.”
“Tiffani…”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. You’re a liar.
” She sits down on the bed, crosses her legs, and then grins at me.
She is loving the power she has over me right now.
It’s almost sadistic. “So, new plan,” she says, her voice sickeningly sweet.
“We’re not discussing us again until graduation.
Or, you know, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to keep your secret.
” She gives me a small shrug and a frown, then she leans in close and presses her lips to mine again.
“I love you, Ty. And you love me too. Remember that.” I am paralyzed as I watch her leave the room, swinging her hips and humming.
I feel sick, but it’s not because of the amount of alcohol I consumed last night. No, it’s a reason much worse than that.
Tiffani is blackmailing me.