She thinks about it for a second before looking down and giggling. I know exactly what she’s about to say.
“During our freshman year, I got a little too drunk in the residence and threw my bra out of the window of my dorm.Unfortunatelythat bra landed on one of the RA’s standing outside and he walked all the way up to my room to give it back.” She slaps a hand over her face while the boys kill themselves with laughter.
“The worst part is her name was sewn into the band cause her mom wanted to make sure none of her clothes got mixed up, he looked down and read her name while asking if it was hers” I say, rolling around on the floor as Steph kicks me.
Steph leans her head on the back of the couch, hitting August's arm. He moves it down and slowly rubs her shoulder, consoling my poor embarrassed friend while she tries to hide her face. To my surprise, he doesn’t move when we continue the game.
He better make a move soon, he doesn't know what he’s missing out on.
We go in circles, dishes out dares and questions when Lucas finally turns to me and ropes me into this mess. Something tells me that I’m not going to like whatever dare he has to offer, so I quickly pick truth.
“How many boyfriends have you had?” he asks, leaning in as if I’m about to give him the secrets to life itself.
“Two, one in the tenth grade and then another at the beginning of senior year. Both were only a couple of months.”
“Only two?” Blair gasps.
“What?” I genuinely don’t get what the big deal is.
Everyone is looking at me like I have two heads, except for Steph, but she knows this shit already.
“Well first of all, you’re hot as fuck Claire bear” Davis winks, “I’m surprised you don’t have half the campus jumping all over you. Second, the fact you haven’t had a boyfriend in almostfour yearsis crazy.”
“Why’d you guys break up?” Lucas asks.
“Nope, that’s another question. Take a shot if you want the answer.” I point my finger at the vodka bottle sitting on the table as he weighs his options, but in the end he takes the shot anyway.
I was really hoping he would let this one go. Both of those relationships are the reason I don’t date anymore, it always ties back to my brother.
In the first relationship I thought he actually liked me, I mean he was dropping hints for months before finally asking me out, and for the first while it was really good.
By that time, Chris was already away at college, so he wasn’t home all that often. Then around thanksgiving the guy thought Chris would be coming home and he started asking all these questions. My brother wasn’t in the pros yet, but he had definitely made a name for himself in college hockey. Unfortunately though, Chris couldn’t come home because they had a game scheduled for that weekend.
When Christmas came around, everything changed. All this guy could talk about was my brother and how awesome it would be to meet him. Then when he actually met Chris, I was ignored by my so-called boyfriend. I heard him talking with his friends two weeks later, how he just wanted to meet Chris and be connected to him via me.
I dumped him that day.
The second boyfriend was less discrete with his intentions. At this point Chris was playing professional hockey and it really hit me that I had a famous brother. About three weeks into the relationship I knew he was only dating me because of Chris, but I didn’t want to believe it. I needed something to distract me from everything else going on.
We used each other.
We broke up, I dove into my skating and distanced myself from everyone at school. I didn’t talk to anyone, didn’t eat lunch with anyone, and didn’t have any friends… then I graduated.
“Um, I realized they weren’t with me for the right reasons,” I answer carefully.
Before anyone has the chance to ask me any more questions, I turn to August and force him to take his turn. He chooses dare and I know exactly what I’m going to ask him.
“I dare you to kiss Steph.”
He looks to her, waiting for her to look him in the eyes, but she keeps her gaze locked on her hands. He bites the inside of his cheeks before looking away. “I’ll take the shot,” he mumbles.
I don’t think the others pick up on how upset he sounds, but I definitely hear his heart cracking in half. He throws the liquor back and we all go silent, sitting awkwardly as we try to figure out what to say next.
“I think we should head to bed, we have practice in the morning” Lucas finally says.
Steph heads to my room while I wait back to talk to August, “I’m sorry” I whisper to him. “I thought she would take the chance. She really likes you, but she doesn’t do well with her own feelings.”
“I just wish she would have looked at me.” He walks away with his head hung, closing his door quietly behind him.
