All four of us erupt in an “Ooohhhh!”
Fifteen minutes later, Kai and I only have two cups left. Owen and Paige have three.
I move my hand in a back-and-forth motion as I try to aim my ball into one of their cups. Before I can throw the ball, Owen waves his hands over the cups, distracting me. “What are you doing? That’s not fair.”
“It is fair. You’re allowed to distract the person throwing the ball when you’re at the last couple of cups,” Kai says.
I dart my eyes toward Owen and glare. I squint, thinking that will help with my aim. Flicking my wrist, I throw the ball. Owen pulls his hands away, and the ball lands in a cup. Squealing at my shot, I jump up and down, adrenaline running through my veins. I can’t believe how good I am at this.
Both Owen and Paige groan.
Owen grabs a ball and throws it with no intention of making it in. To my surprise, it makes it in. Kai grabs the cup and chugs the beer.
Kai takes the ball out of the cup with water in it that is setto the side to clean off the ball. I doubt that cleans it, anyway. He takes a couple of steps back, moves his hand back and forth, throws the ball, and it lands in the last cup.
Both of us squeal, “Oooohhh!”
“We won,” I say.
“Of course, we won. We’re a great team,” he says with a wink.
“Yeah, yeah. You two are annoying,” Paige says.
“Don’t hate,” Kai says. Both of us erupt in laughter as we watch Owen and Paige chug the last of their beer.
A few hours have passed, and Kai and I are playing pool in the living room in the apartment downstairs. My lips are feeling numb. Is that normal when you’re drinking? I’m not sure how many beers I’ve had.
“Your turn!” Kai says.
I grab my pool stick, lean over the pool table, and move my stick up and down before hitting the ball.
“Here.” Kai comes behind me and positions his body on top of mine. His chest is against my back. Our cheeks connect, radiating warmth between us. His mouth is close to mine. So close, I could kiss him. He grabs both of my hands and hits the ball, and it goes into a pocket. I was so distracted that I barely watched. Kai lifts himself off of me, and the coldness of the space by my cheek hits me.
It’s disappointing…having him so close only to feel him pull away.
I stand back up, scanning the area around me. The party is dying down. It’s not as crowded as it was. Where the hell is Paige? I haven’t seen her in a while. My phone reads four a.m.
Oh, shit.
I lost track of time. I should probably get home. As I walk over to Kai, I stumble a little and try to catch my balance.
“Whoa, are you okay?” Kai runs to my side and holds me up.
“Yeah.” I giggle, trying to play off that the room is spinning. Nausea rushes up my stomach.
Shit.
I can’t puke in front of Kia. He’s going to think I can’t hold my alcohol. I inhale and exhale, trying to push it back down. It helps a little, but then when I focus on the room, it spins and the nausea rushes back.
“You don’t look so good.”
Kai is right in front of me, or so I think; I can’t tell. There’s two of him.
I nod.
He wraps his arm around my waist and walks me to the bathroom.
The second I see the toilet, food and alcohol rush out of me. Kai holds my hair as I lean in, throwing up the tater tots I ate earlier.
