Parker bumped her shoulder against mine. “That party in our freshman year is how these two met.”
“Oh, that’s sweet. So New Year’s is your anniversary?” It was starting to make sense why they went all out.
“Not exactly,” Addi said. “That’s when we met, but we didn’t become official until several months later.”
“Not from lack of trying on my part,” Trevor said.
She smacked his chest with the back of her hand. “Shut up.”
He chuckled and moved in to kiss her.
We spent the next hour laughing and talking. Addison had slipped away to the restroom, and Lance and Trevor were up doing something, so I turned to Parker.
“What was up with Trevor and Addison? Why did she keep telling him to shut up when he was talking about how they met?”
Parker grinned and looked around. “OK, but if I tell you, you have to keep it quiet.”
“Of course,” I agreed.
“So, Trevor was camping at the lake house for the party. He wasn’t high enough up the hierarchy to get a room back then. He went to the party with one girl whom he planned on scoring with, but she got drunk and ended up getting sick. She bunked with one of her friends, leaving him high and dry. So, he got shitfaced drunk and went to his tent alone that night.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “Addison and I went to the party with a group of girlfriends. We all pitched in to pay for a single room. There were way too many girls in the room, but it took all of us to afford it. We’d heard about how epic this party is, and didn’t want to miss it. So anyway, we all partied and got shit face, had a blast. We all wandered into the room at different times that night—everyone but Addison. Turns out, she was so hammered, she couldn’t find the room, so she just picked a tent at random. That tent was Trevor’s. She swears up and downthat they didn’t do anything, and Trevor would never disagree with her. However, he continued to look for her for months afterward. You can’t tell me nothing happened for a guy to look that long for a single girl.”
I smiled. “Wait. So was she gone before he woke up or something?”
Parker nodded. “Yep, and he was so hammered that he didn’t know who she was. All he knew was what color her hair was and the memory of her perfume.”
I laughed at the mental image of Trevor running around, sniffing every girl like a bloodhound. “Wow, that is some story. Why doesn’t Addison want him to talk about it?”
“She says that she doesn’t want people to know that she was so drunk that she crawled into a tent with a guy she didn’t know, but that’s another reason I think something more happened.” She shrugged. “I’ll guess we’ll never know.”
“Never know what?” Addison asked, dropping back into the booth.
I looked at Parker, and she looked at me. Even though I was stumbling for an excuse, she let one fall from her lips with ease. “When Lance will finally ask Sasha out.”
My mouth fell open. I knew that Lance had been trying to worm his way in, but I didn’t realize that it was some well-known secret amongst the group.
Addison sprang forward. “Okay, so we’re finally talking about this?” she asked, voice full of excitement. “I hate to be childish and all, but what do you think? Do you like him in that way?” She arched her brows as her eyes widened on me.
Parker smiled and picked up her glass, taking a sip. Obviously happy that she managed to keep Addison from knowing what we were really talking about, but I think, deep down, she was glad the subject was finally being addressed.
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
I went to pick up my glass but stopped midway. It was empty, and so was the pitcher.
“What do you mean you don’t know? How do you not know if you like someone?” Parker asked.
“I just haven’t really thought about it. Obviously, I like him as a friend. I just don’t know if I could like him as anything more. Not only that, but it would really complicate our friendship. I mean, what if we dated and broke up? We wouldn’t be able to hang out in a group like this, and I love hanging out with you guys.” I gave them both a smile, and my charm worked. They both melted into a puddle of ooey-gooey girl-ness. I grabbed the pitcher. “Next round is on me.”
I took off before they could stop me.
I stopped at the bar and checked my watch. I still had plenty of time to hang out for a few drinks and get home before curfew, but suddenly I didn’t know if I wanted to hang out. I didn’t want to lead Lance on any more than I already had. It was never my intention to do so, even though I noticed how cute Lance was the first time we met. I may have even been a little interested then, but I had been carrying around so much baggage that I never let myself really think about going there. I friend-zoned him without even really meaning to.
I agreed to the no-dating rule because I wasn’t really interested in dating anyway, but things had been changing with Roman. I didn’t understand them. The things I felt for him didn’t make sense, and I had no idea how to bring them up or address how I was feeling. All I knew was that whatever was changing might not have been easy to figure out or explain, but it wasn’t hard to feel at all. The shift between us was sudden, but for some reason, it wasn’t jarring. I didn’t want to fight against it or deny that it was there. If anything, I wanted to give in to it. I didn’t know what that said about me, though.
Whatever it said, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t good.
As I waited for the bartender to refill our pitcher of beer, I was punched in the stomach by guilt.
What kind of sister was I?
