"Dax…I'm worried about it."
"Why? I told you it doesn't have anything to do with you."
"Because I heard what you said, and I'm in love with you."
Shit."Saige…"
"I'm so fucking in love with you. You know I am."
"Dax!" Camryn shouts from the other side of the room. Part of me wants to ignore her, but the other part of me is fucking grateful for the interruption—grateful for the chance to look anywhere other than Saige's sad brown eyes, welling with tears.
"Yeah?"
"Come on—it's my turn for beer pong, and I can't find my partner! I need you!"
"I'll be right there!" I turn back to Saige, looking somewhere over her shoulder. "Um, you should go find Kira and your other friends, okay? We'll talk later. Just, uh, don't let her talk too much shit about me." I fake a laugh before putting my mask back on.
"Dax…"
"Get over here, loser!" Josiah shouts. "Afraid to get your ass beat?"
"By who, exactly? Because I know you don't mean you!" I shout back, leaving Saige alone on the couch without another word, feeling her watch me walk away.
Something in the back of my head screams that I've fucked up, but I rationalize it away. I didn't do anything; it's not a big deal if I want to hang out with my friends. I'll find her later—tell her I just needed a little space, and that I don't think we should talk about things like that while we're drinking.
That actually sounds pretty good.
And if it doesn't work, Nolan will fix it for me. He's better at that kind of thing than I am.
But this round of beer pong seems to last fucking forever. And the more time that passes, the worse I feel. I look behind me, but Saige isn't there anymore. She's not with Kira, either. I scan the entire first floor, but she's fucking nowhere.
Jesus. Where the fuck is Nolan?
"We win!" Camryn shouts. "Haha, drink up, assholes."
I try my best to shake it off. "Yeah, who's the fucking losers now?"
"Time will tell, Dax," Brayden says.
"Who's next?" Camryn asks.
Two girls begin setting up at the other end of the table. "Hey, Cam. I think I'm going to sit this one out—I'm going to go talk to a few people."
"What? No way! We're the fucking champions—we have to play again."
"Dax is afraid of losing to two girls," one girl mocks before sticking her tongue out at me. Clearly, she knows me from when I used to be cool, but I can't quite place her face.
"Bullshit. I'll have you know I love losing to girls. If they want to punish me afterward, then that's even better."
"Be careful what you wish for," she says back.
"Never. I said what I said."
But I feel fucking weird about what I said. I get this twisted feeling in my gut like I've done something wrong. It's entirely unfamiliar, and I don't like it at all.
Maybe I just need another drink.
"So, you're playing, right?" Camryn asks.
