“Allison, I’m Liam. I’m in a rough spot tonight, and can’t promise much, but if you wanna get drunk with me, I’d love the company. I’m buying.”
“Who am I to turnthatoffer down?” With our plan in place, we move down the bar where two stools just opened up, and the bartender places our shots in front of us.
Neither of us is looking to die tonight, so we stop at three shots apiece and consume them over the course of an hour and a half. Of course, that’s on top of the four I’ve already had, so I’m definitely drunk.
I realize I didn’t think this through when, after paying, I slide off my stool, offering to walk Allison back to her room, condo, house, or wherever she’s staying, and the bar spins like crazy.
I’m talkingTilt-A-Whirllevel spinning. The colors are all blending together, and everyone is just a fuzzy blob of bodies.
“Shiiit.” I laugh, gripping Allison’s arm to steady myself. “Think I might’ve overdone it.”
She laughs back, but seems less drunk than me. I don’t know how that can be, though. I have to weigh at least one hundred pounds more than this girl.
“Come on, let’s take the resort bus. I’m pretty sure it can get us both where we need to go.” She’s laughing just as hard as I am, and I follow her out, reveling in how nice it feels to meet newpeople and know strangers can still have decent interactions with one another.
During our shot-fest, I’d admitted to Allison that I’m feeling betrayed by Damon, and I was nervous about what our conversation would reveal. She admitted she and her boyfriend were going through a ‘rough patch’and taking a break, and although they’d agreed they could see other people during the break, she realized tonight that she wasn’t ready to follow through.
It was the most wholesome interaction I’ve ever had with someone outside of Damon.
Which is why her words are ringing through my ears as I try to get the numbers on the keypad right to get in the damn door.
‘Is there any chance he kept it from you because he knew it would cause you pain, and he wanted to avoid that as long as possible?’
I mean, yes…probably.
But it still doesn’t eradicate the sting of betrayal. Nonetheless, I’m way too drunk now to think it through or have any helpful interaction. I just want to get to bed and sleep this off. I already know I’m going to have the hangover from hell in the morning.
After my fifth failed attempt, I pound my fist on the door.
Damon sleeps like the dead, but I’llbedead if I have to stay out here all night.
I raise my fist to pound again when the porch lights flicker on, and I hear the deadbolt get thrown.
When Damon rips the door open, he looks as rough as I feel. His eyes are red and swollen, his skin is blotchy, and he’s wearing…
“Iss tha my shirt?” I slur, causing him to look down.
“Um, yeah,” he confirms, not bothering to take it off or offer an explanation as to why he’s wearing it. In my drunken state, though, it makes me feel tingly.
Or maybe that’s the shots.
“Okay,” I say, swaying as I make my way into the cabin. My foot catches on the lip of the doorframe, though, and I crash into Damon, who cannot support my body weight, and we topple to the floor with a thud.
I lie there for a minute, dazed, and too drunk to get up.
“Li, are you okay?” Damon asks from beneath me.
I manage to grunt, but that’s it. The floor is actually pretty nice. It somehow molded to my body, and I’m pretty comfortable. Think I’ll just sleep right here.
“Li, you’ve gotta move. As much as I love being under you like this, you’re fucking heavy when you’re dead weight.”
There’s something in that sentence my brain wants to hold on to, something tickling the edges of my awareness, but my current drunken state can’t latch on to it. When I feel Damon’s hands on my chest, I roll to the side.
This part of the floor is much harder.
“Come on, Li. Let’s get you to bed.”
I’m pretty sure Damon’s voice could pull me out of a coma. With my eyes still closed and my movements totally uncoordinated, I manage to get vertical with his help.
