“Excuse me?” I take a step back. What the fuck does that mean?
“This is why! This is literally why I was blowing you off, Cari! I can’t handle this shit right now! It’s always drama with you. You know what this was between us and I don’t know why you’re acting like I’m not allowed to be with anyone else! I’m not your fucking girlfriend,” Max yells.
It’s the first time she’s ever yelled at me and I feel like she’s stabbed me in the heart. I’m frozen as I realize everyone else has gone quiet and is staring at us. I even catch a look of pity from Gus, and it’s a slap in the face. I knew Max wasn’t mine, but I thought we had something special. The tears start to well in my eyes, and I beg myself not to let them fall.
“This…” Max points between us. “Is over,” she adds before walking away, shaking her head.
My stomach feels like it’s going to come out of my throat if I try to speak. I can’t move. You know in movies when peopleare frozen, but everything around them starts moving at hyper speed? That’s what the next few minutes feel like for me.
When I finally manage to hide out in the kitchen,the tears threaten to fall again. Instead of letting them, I grab another drink and chug it down.
I’d usually hit my weed pen or grab a gummy, but I didn’t love being cross-faded. I knew I’d be drinking tonight so I didn’t bother bringing it. What a stupid idea that was.
“Hey, are you okay?” River finds me sitting on the floor in her kitchen, sipping on my fifth or sixth drink.
“Super,” I lie with a smile.
“Can you tell me what happened? Aspen and I heard you and Max got into a fight,” River explains.
“No biggie.” I gulp down the rest of my drink and try to stand. River grabs my arm as I stumble a bit when I stand. Shit, everything is blurry and the room is spinning, but I regain my balance quickly.
“Cari, talk to me,” River pleads.
“It’s a party, Riv. Let’s party.” I wink, or I try to wink, but in reality, I think I just blinked.
I head into the next room, planning to grab the face of the next person I see and kiss them. But instead, I see Gus and Emily dancing across the room. It’s an upbeat Sabrina Carpenter song, but they’re slow dancing, Emily’s head on Gus’s chest, and my heart breaks again. How the hell did I manage to fuck up so bad with two people? Gus won’t even look at me, and Max wants nothing to do with me.
Wanting to feel anything but this, I start dancing, but my balance is completely off. So, as I try to grab the edge of the table, I accidentally pull the tablecloth off, and all the snacks, drinks, and decorations go crashing to the floor with me.
My ass thuds on the floor, and I’m in a fit of laughter as I look at the mess on and around me. So much for notbringing anymore attention to myself. I’m laughing so hard that my stomach starts to hurt, and I have to get up and run to the bathroom. I barely make it, throwing up all over River and Aspen’s rug in the bathroom and all down the front of my costume.
The last thing I remember is puking into the toilet while crying and trying to hold my head up. The room was spinning, and all I wanted to do was forget.
Chapter Eight
MAX
Aspen shows up at my front door the day after the Halloween party. She’s holding a hot Americano and a breakfast sandwich up as a peace offering, and I groan, letting her in. I know what she’s here about.
I left right after making a scene last night, and I figured I’d have to apologize at some point.
“Come on in.” I hold the door open and she follows me to my room so we can talk in private.
Aspen takes a seat on the edge of my bed, and I sit in my desk chair. I break open the sandwich wrapper. I am starving.
Last night after I ditched the party, I went to the closest bar, and I am fighting the world’s worst hangover. I drank way too much vodka and hit on all the hot women at the bar.
My Superman costume, albeit low effort, was a crowd-pleaser. Although, come to think of it, I don’t know where my glasses ended up. I took them off at one point when I was making out with someone in the bar bathroom, but I thought I got them back after that. To be honest, it’s the most I’ve drunk in a long time. I’d forgotten hangovers aren’t as easy as they were when I was nineteen.
“Look, I’m sorry about last night.” I sigh.
“I’m not here to yell at you, if that’s what you think. But I do appreciate the apology.” Aspen offers a half smile as she sips her iced coffee.
“Oh, then, what’s going on?” I raise an eyebrow.
“I wanted to talk about what happened last night. Maybe you can explain it to me? Because River and I have gotten a million different versions of it.”
“You can’t ask Cari?” I grit my teeth.
