“You’re at a party.” His green eyes studied my face intently and explored my body for the third time. In any other situation, I might have felt something different. Right now, all I felt was rage as it continued to build inside me.
“Yep. It appears that I am,” I said evenly.
My tone earned a look from him that I wasn’t expecting. Hurt? Confusion? Was he fucking kidding me right now? I needed to move before I threw up or caused a scene within five minutes of arriving. Thankfully, Marissa was one step ahead of me.
“Let’s go.” She turned around and grabbed my hand. “Hey, Lach. You and Mandy should probably get a room. Fondling each other in public is a little tacky.”
My gaze was focused on Marissa when she spoke and started moving. Behind us, I heard him shout, “What the fuck?” as if he was shocked about it or something. I rolled my eyes.Whatever.Marissa moved faster through the crowd, and we managed to get lost in it. That was how crowded this place was right now. In any other situation, I would have laughed and made a joke about feeling like a school of fish, but the void in the pit of my stomach didn’t allow me to find humor in anything. I reminded myself repeatedly that I had no right to feel this way, but the pain in my chest wouldn’t quit. Why did it hurt this much? Marissa took a deep breath in the kitchen and shook her head as she let it out. She didn’t say anything; she just pulled the unopened tequila toward us. I’d bet money she’d requested one bottle to be left sealed. I’d always been adamant about things like that.
“Did you see his face?” she asked, shaking her head as she opened the bottle.
“No.”I couldn’t look at him any longer out of fear that I’d vomit.
Her hands paused on the bottle. “You’re upset.”
“I’m not.”
“Lyla James Marichal.” She angled her body toward mine.
“What?”
“Oh, my God. You actually like him,” she said. I groaned, which earned me a sympathetic look from her. “He likes you a lot. You know that, right?”
I laughed.Yeah, he likes me so much that he was with another girl at a party and didn’t even bother hiding from me. Not that it would make a difference if he had. It might have been worse.“Just pour the fucking shots.”
She did as I asked, pouring two shots each. “He looked horrified and pushed Mandy off so fast. She nearly fell on the floor.”
“Yeah, well, he’s still a fucking asshole for letting her be all over him in the first place,” I said, my voice sounding foreign in my ears. We clinked our tiny plastic cups and downed the shot first, our faces cringing slightly, then reached for the second.
“I doubt he even notices shit like that anymore. Women flock to him constantly at parties and try to get his attention.” She lifted her cup, and we downed another shot.
“Can you not?” I muttered. “Why are we talking about this?”
“Because you like him, and you don’t go out enough to know anything about him. I want to give you details before you shut this down.”
“Mar.” I shot her a look. “You literally just told me that he has a million women all over him at parties. How is that supposed to make me feel any better?”
“I’m telling you that he doesn’t pay attention to them, Lyles. He hasn’t for a while now. He doesn’t even take girls home anymore.” She arched an eyebrow. “Andhe’s different with you.”
“To play devil’s advocate, let’s say you’re right, and he pushed her off or whatever. All he said to me was, ‘You’re at a party,’” I said, mimicking his deep voice. “What the fuck?”
“Dude, you rendered him speechless.” She opened her eyes wide, the way she did when she wanted to get a point across. “He looked like he was going to have a heart attack right there on that couch. He didn’t take his eyes off you.”
“It doesn't matter.” I shrugged. “What would have happened if he hadn’t seen me? Would he have hooked up with her?”
“No,” she said plainly. “I just told you, he hasn’t done that in a while. Look, I completely understand where you’re coming from, and you’re right to be upset, but I know for a fact that he really likes you, and that’s unheard of. Lach doesn't even like any of the girls he’s ever taken home.”
“Whatever, it doesn’t matter. There’s no point to this.” I looked out the window and saw some people playing beer pong before looking at her again. “We’ll be parting ways soon enough, and I don’t want to bring attention to him. I can’t.”
She sighed heavily and shook her head. I knew exactly what she wanted to tell me — that the point was for me to do something that broughtmehappiness for once — but I also knew that she wouldn’t go there. As it was, I hated myself for being this consumed by him. I replayed what just happened, and my stomach felt hollow again.
“Another shot?” Marissa asked.
“Fuck it, why not?”
She laughed. We took another shot.
“You know what the worst part about this is?” I asked. “I’ve never cared about shit like this. Ever.”
