“I need to remember that one,” Mace continues, still grinning.
I finally dare to look at Lex. His darkened gaze is on me, and it’s easy to guess he’s pissed. Well, today is going to suck.
“How much was the tab again?” Joseph signs.
“Hmm, I think it was $1998.75,” Oliver answers.
“Yeah, something like that. We were missing around thirty dollars when they stopped serving alcohol. That’s when Andy thought of ordering peanuts.”
Oh, that explains my bag. “I, hmm… Maybe I went a little too hard on the tequila shots,” I say, looking at the guys sheepishly.
“You certainly did,” Lex mutters. I offer him a warning glare.
He better not start right now. First, he was pissed at me for no reason last night. Second, he asked us to make Hugh pay up, so he can’t blame me for my alcohol intake. Third, he ignored my drunken, pathetic attempt at sexting.
“How’s your head?” he then asks, having the audacity to look like he actually cares.
Because I’m still a little drunk and feeling petty, and because of my obsession withRuPaul’s Drag Race, the first answer I come up with is, “Haven’t had any complaints.”
I regret the words the instant they come out of my mouth, but it’s too late. Mace spits his mouthful of tea back into his cup, trying his best to keep it from spilling out. “Girl, you didn’t!”
Lex takes barely longer to react, but when he understands what I meant, danger flashes in his gaze. Clearly, he doesn’t like to be made fun of. Before we can dwell on it, my unknowing saviors arrive. Steven and Brian sit with their trays, instantly becoming the table’s new concern. Brian’s wearing sunglasses, and Steven looks eerily anxious.
“Hey, guys. Everything alright?” Oliver asks.
“Peachy,” Brian says.
“What’s with the glasses?” Mace wonders.
The two of them look at each other for an instant, hesitating. “It’s a long story.”
“We have time,” Lex stoically replies.
“Well…” Brian starts, “yesterday, after the bar, Steven and I were the last ones to leave, and we kind of did something stupid.” He looks so sheepish and ashamed that I take pity on him without even knowing what it is.
Lex, on the other hand, doesn’t. “What did you do?”
“You know the grand staircase in the lobby? We, uh, raced each other to the bottom. Sliding down the railing.”
His hand slightly trembles as he removes his glasses, revealing a nasty black eye so swollen he probably can’t even see through that side. We all stare in shock at his injury, utterly silent.
“Did something happen to you as well?” Lex asks Steven, his tone ice cold.
“Yeth. I broke a tooth,” he says before offering a tentative smile to show us. He lost an upper front tooth and a chunk of the second one.
Oh, shit …
A surge of laughter bubbles in my chest, probably because I didn’t sleep enough and still have alcohol in my blood. My eyes meet Mason’s to my right, and I see he’s also fighting for his life. Trying my hardest not to laugh, I bury my face in his shoulder.
“The sliding was fine. It’s the landing that sucked,” Brian explains.
I explode at the same time Mace does, and our hysterical fit of laughter fills the otherwise quiet room. I can’t contain it. It’s just unstoppable. Through tears of hilarity, I glimpse at the odd pair, chuckles spilling out of my mouth. Shit, it isn’t funny. They actually got hurt. But every time I look at them, I envision them gliding down the railing, giggling like little kids.
I’m literally just calming down when Oliver amusedly asks, “Who won?”
“I won the first time,” Brian says.
“You did it more than once?!” Mason shrieks.
