Chapter 5 Tate
five
Tate
This is not a couples costume,” I argue, resting against the fridge as Brinley’s eyes shoot from me to Fletcher, who’s across the room.
“You’re a Stanley Cup, Tatum. I don’t know a more obvious couples costume.”
“Then I guess I’m in a couples costume with a lot of guys tonight, including the one that you brought.” Brinley’s eyes leave mine and find Alex across the room. Fletcher grabbed him from Brinley a little bit ago and told her that he was taking Alex to mingle.
The poor guy looks like a deer in the headlights. Every time Fletcher drags him to talk to someone new, his eyes widen at Brinley as if he’s pleading for help.
She thinks it’s funny… obviously. It’s Brinley. I also think she’s trying to ensure he fits in with our crowd.
There’s one person, though, who would argue that Alex doesn’t fit in with our crowd, and that’s Jaxon.
After he briefly met Alex, he disappeared. I see him on occasion, but it’s like he’s trying to avoid her.
Not that Brinley has any interest in seeing him right now.
“Do you think he’s getting along with everyone?
” Brinley’s eyes follow him around the room.
Fletcher finally settles down in the corner of the living room where Jere is.
Alex seems to loosen up once they start talking to him, but that makes sense.
Jere is the only person I know who can instantly make someone comfortable, regardless of the situation.
“I think he’s doing great. You know who also seems to be doing great?” I begin, looking around at the party. “Your brother and Ember. I haven’t seen them all night.”
“I haven’t seen them since Ember and I got here.” Brinley takes a sip of her drink. “My brother’s such a loser; he was waiting for us to get here. He can argue all he wants that he wasn’t, but I saw him before we even reached the front door.”
“Ember doesn’t seem to mind then because wherever she is, I’m assuming it’s with him.”
“Ew. I don’t need to think about my brother having sex with one of my best friends; that’s an awful image to put in my head.”
“I’m pretty sure you jumped to that conclusion all on your own.” I sip my drink and take in my surroundings. “I’m surprised Zeke got all of these people here. He literally had twenty-four hours to spread the word.”
“It helps that Zeke has a lot of… lady friends who could help him with that.”
“Speaking of Zeke, where is he?”
Brinley points across the room near the beer pong table. My eyes search for a moment, and then I find Zeke standing against the wall with a couple of girls boxing him in.
“I’m surprised he hasn’t gone up to his room with one of them yet,” I pause, stifling a laugh, “or both.”
“He’s wearing Cam’s jersey,” Brinley responds.
“And?”
“According to Ember, her brother hasn’t been with anyone since Maia.”
“So, he can’t.”
“He can’t.”
I don’t remember whose idea it was to start the Halloween costume tradition, but it has certainly led to a lot of laughs.
“Somehow, that makes tonight even better.” I finish off my drink and nod toward the kitchen to let Brinley know I’m going to go grab another one.
She stops me before I can.
“You don’t need one.” She polishes off her own drink. “We’re playing beer pong.”
“Brin—”
“No arguments.” She grabs my cup from my hand, stacks it in her own, and tosses both of them. “Alex! Fletcher!”
A couple of heads turn in our direction, including the two people Brinley is trying to get the attention of.
“We’re playing beer pong.”
She doesn’t give them a choice, and it seems that Alex already knows better than to argue with her.
“Girls against boys?”
“No way.” Fletcher shakes his head. “The two of you together is nowhere near a fair competition. Tate’s on my team.”
“It’s not our fault you suck at beer pong.” Brinley sets up the cups.
“It’s not me who sucks. It was Jax who held us back last game.” Fletcher crosses his arms.
“So, you should have no problem beating us with a different teammate, right?” I begin, and he rolls his eyes. “Fine, I’ll be on your team. Just so you have a chance.”
“You’ve played beer pong before, right, Alex?” Brinley turns toward him, and he shrugs.
“I don’t go to a lot of parties.”
“Great,” she mumbles.
“Oh, we’ve got this in the bag.” Fletcher and I high-five, and then I point at Brinley. “You two can start.”
What the hell just happened?” My eyes, as well as Fletcher’s, Brinley’s, and Alex’s, are all on the now-empty staircase because some girl just kissed Zeke and then dragged him upstairs.
No words were spoken between the two of them. As if they had some weird understanding between them.
“Exactly what happens at every party. Zeke’s going to get laid.” Fletcher turns back to the game and easily sinks a ball into one of their cups. Alex polishes off the contents.
“He’s wearing Cam’s jersey, though. Cam doesn’t just sleep around,” Brinley argues.
“We don’t know what he does in his spare time,” Fletcher replies.
“According to Ember—”
“My family doesn’t know about my sex life; I doubt he’s sharing any details of his with her.” Fletcher cuts Brinley off as I sink my ball into another one of their cups. Brinley drinks this one.
“Maybe not.” She uses her sleeve to wipe the little bit of beer off her face. “That was weird, though, right? He was talking to two other girls, and she just walked up and kissed him. That takes balls.”
“Did she look familiar to anyone else?” Fletcher taps his chin. “I swear I’ve seen her before.”
“This is a college party, Fletch; you’ve probably seen her on campus.” Brinley perfectly sinks a ball into one of our cups, but it doesn’t matter because Alex misses.
“I know it’s a college party, Tatum.” He rolls his eyes, grabs a ping pong ball, and finishes up the game. “But I swear I’ve seen her around before.”
“She was wearing a mask. And we saw her for like five seconds.” Brinley laughs, pulling on Alex’s arm to get him to follow her. “We’re gonna head out.”
“Brinley Sanderson, I can’t let you drive home. Not when you’ve been drinking.” I step in front of them.
“I’m not driving. Alex is. He’s barely had anything.”
“And we’re parked down the road, so a walk in this cold will sober us right up.” Alex rocks back on his heels. “I’ll get her home safe. I promise.”
“Fine. I’m holding you to that. Brin, text me once you get home.”
“I will, Mom.” She gives me a quick kiss on the cheek and then waves to us as she heads toward the front door.
I follow Fletcher into the kitchen, where he grabs a piece of pizza, and I grab a handful of chips and a bottle of water.
“I’d say Zeke’s party has been a success,” he says through a full mouth of pizza.
“The night’s still young.” I chuckle.
Fletcher’s eyes leave mine and find someone behind me, “When’d you get here, sunshine?”
I turn around to find Jaxon digging into the pizza box.
“What do you mean? I’ve been here all night. You saw me earlier,” he argues.
“Kind of disappeared after Brinley got here with Alex.” I cross my arms, resting against the kitchen island.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Jax, we’re not stupid. You’re avoiding Brinley.” Fletcher places a hand on Jax’s shoulder, but he shrugs it off.
“I’m not avoiding Brinley. I’m avoiding Alex. She’s the one avoiding me,” he argues. “She hasn’t responded to a single text I’ve sent her in weeks.”
“And why do you think that is?”
“Because she met Alex.”
I roll my eyes.
Is this boy really that dense? He doesn’t think it has anything to do with him getting his flirt on right in front of her. Or him constantly stringing her along, whether he means to or not?
“You’re ridiculous.” I push off the counter and head toward the living room, but Jaxon grabs my arm to stop me.
“She said something to you?”
“She didn’t need to, Jax. She feels like this friendship is one-sided. She decided to distance herself for her own good. Who knows, maybe Alex will be a good thing for you guys.”
“How so?”
How do I tell him that she needs to get over her feelings for him before they can return to the way they were?
If they can even get there.
“She needs time to find herself without you. Does that make sense?”
“Not really.” His face twists with confusion.
“Just give it time.”
“So, I should just leave her alone and wait for her to come to me?”
“I think you need to stop being such an idiot and avoiding her because you think she’s avoiding you.” I pat his shoulder. “You guys just need to act like everything is fine and be normal around each other. The more you tiptoe around her because you’re jealous of Alex—”
“I am not jealous of Alex.”
“Sure.”
“I’m not.”
“Just leave it alone, dude. Maybe one day you’ll understand the female brain, but today is not that day.” Fletcher grins at Jaxon as we leave him standing in the kitchen and find a spot on the couch amongst the crowd.