Three hours later and many more drinks, Lunar and I are at the dining table, one bourbon bottle down and a tequila bottle open. Our manic laughter has died down, and our epic headpounding has begun as we both sit quietly, our forearms on the table and our heads firmly planted on them.
“Do you think Danger still thinks I’m pretty?” Lunar slurs.
I glance up at her, her head still on her arm, and I scoff at her like she’s being ridiculous. A small trail of drool falls from my mouth, but I wipe it away with a little more gusto than necessary. “Fuck, are you kidding me? You’re stunning, Lunar.”
She dramatically looks up, her eyes rolling around her head. “But Zaria issooopretty, he’s gonna fall for her for sure.”
My head snaps back in shock. “What? No? Really? No, he loves you.”
“He loved Ella-schmella, too. And he fucking cheated on her before she cheated on him.”
“Pfft… they were long-distance when he did that, and he was a totally different guy with Ella than he is with you. He loves youwaaaymore than that bitch.”
She groans, flopping her head back down on her arm. “We’re doomed.”
“You and Danger?”
“You and Zaria, me and Danger… maybe we should be polygamous and live as one big happy frouple?”
“Danger couldn’t handle all this,” I say with a chuckle, running my hands up and down my chest as she looks up and bursts out laughing.
The front door opens, and Danger walks in.
“Hey, there you are… I’ve been trying to call you.”
“Ha, I haven’t heard it.” Lunar pulls out her cell and checks. “Twenty-four missed calls and seven text messages.” She bursts out laughing, causing Danger to raise his eyebrow as he looks from her to the bottles on the table. “Oh, fuck! It’s on silent, sorry, babe. Oh shit! I didn’t tell you to tell Zaria about Nate.”
I look to Danger.
“It’s okay. She knows you left together. Matt saw you both go. But sheisworried, Nate. Gotta say,I’ma little worried.”
Lunar scoffs. “We’re great…” She hiccups. “Drinking… having our own party, right, Nate?”
Suddenly, I feel exhausted but also weird, looking at the guy who was basically dry-humping my girlfriend all afternoon. “I’m gonna go,” I say, probably a little louder than I meant it to sound.
Danger looks at me as I stand and stumble to the side, nearly falling over as my world spins.
“No offense, Nate, but you’re not going anywhere. You can’t drive like that. No way.”
I curl my lip up and blow out a puff of air. “I’m fine,” I say, stepping forward to walk off, but everything spins, and I face plant the floor next to Lunar. She squeals with laughter while I lie face-first, wishing it was anyone but Danger watching the mess I’m in right now.
“Yeah, you’re going straight upstairs to the spare room, Nate. No arguments.”
“Yeah, Nate…” Lunar slurs. “Even I know you can’t drive. We’ve drunk too much.”
Danger is standing above me as I roll over onto my back and nod, conceding defeat. “Okay,” I say, taking a deep breath.
He places his hand out for me to grab, so I take it, and he helps me up. Faltering on my feet, he exhales. “Lunar, stay here. I’ll help you in a minute. Let me get Nate to bed first.”
“I like it when you’re all bossy and dictatorial,” she replies with a salute, making Danger chuckle and me groan.
He throws his arm around my waist and helps me up the stairs. It’s a slow process, but we’ll get there. Leading me to Ryan’s old bedroom and over to the bed, he throws me down on it. I bounce up and down on the mattress a few times, chucklingwith the movement as Danger battles with my shoes. He finally gets them off and then sits on the edge of the bed.
“Nate, you probably won’t remember this in the morning, but… I’m sorry.”
I look up at him and squint. Well, I think I do. I’m not really sure. “Sorry?”
“I know watching me with Zaria was hard on you and Lunar. I can’t even imagine what that must have been like for you guys. Obviously, today was dreadful. But I’m glad it’s done and dusted, and neither of you has to see any of that again.”
