“I’ve been on academic and extracurricular probation,” I said, giving him a pained look.
“No shit? That blows big ass.”
“Tell me about it.” I grabbed a beer out of a cooler.
“I heard you’ve been shacking up with some tool from the science lab. What’s up with that?” he asked, grabbing three beers for himself. He twisted off the cap of one of the bottles and downed the contents before I could even answer his question.
I shrugged my shoulders, deciding not to comment. It didn’t take an Einstein to know who had told him about Trent and me. Cameo and Ted had been friends since freshman year. I downed my own beer and reached for another one, contemplating what I would do to Cameo if she were here.
“Damn, girl, I guess you’re here to party,” he said with admiration, grabbing the cooler. “Why don’t we go hang out on the deck? It feels stuffy in here.” He shouldered the cooler like it weighed nothing. I polished off my second beer before we even hit the deck, along with a couple Jell-O shots I had snagged off the kitchen counter on our way out. A nice buzz filled my head, camouflaging the hateful words Cameo and I had shared earlier. The deck out back was crowded, but Ted and I managed to snag a bench near the fire pit. Ted placed the cooler on the ground in front of us so we could prop our feet on it.
“I heard you kicked ass during the last game,” I said, accepting another beer. I was well on my way to getting completely toasted, which was exactly what I needed.
“I slaughtered the other team. Their quarterback spent more time flat on his back than he did on his feet, which is how I like my women,” he said, slinging an arm across my shoulder.
“You’re a pig,” I said, sliding his arm off my shoulder. I may be a lot of things, like Cameo pointed out, but I wasn’t a cheater.
“Whoa, what’s up? I thought maybe we could hook up.”
“Ted, you’ve been trying with me for years. Besides, I’m seeing someone.”
He looked intrigued. “You serious about this tool? Cam made it sound like it was some kind of guilt fling.”
“Cameo’s delusional about a few things.”
“Man, don’t tell me you two are still fighting.”
“Hey, are we playing Dr. Phil, or are we drinking?” I asked, holding up my beer for emphasis.
“Girl, we be drinking. Screw Dr. Phil.” He clinked his bottle with mine.
“Damn straight.”
• • •
Several hours later, my mind was fairly numb and I had enough liquor in my belly to float a battleship. Ted had abandoned me after the first hour. I circulated the crowd, catching up with people I hadn’t seen in months. Most of them claimed they’d thought I’d fallen off the face of the earth. They all said how much they missed my Instagram pictures. I think I gave vague answers on why I had given it all up, but honestly, I couldn’t recall everything I’d said. The entire evening was beginning to become fuzzy. I began to feel an odd sense of loneliness I’d never experienced before as I circulated the party. Everyone was nice enough, but after the first few minutes of the same general “Hey, what’s up, where you been?” bullshit was out of the way, I realized I had nothing more to say. Awkward silence followed me around like a dark cloud of gloom. I couldn’t understand why.
The truth hit me like a kick in the teeth. Cameo had been right. Somewhere along the way, I had lost me. I hardly recognized the person I was pretending to be. I stumbled from the party in a haze of shock. The liquor I had so greedily consumed like I had a thirst that had to be quenched was now threatening mutiny as I left the noisy crowd behind.
I knew I was in no condition to drive home. I made my way to my Jeep and pulled out my phone and called Trent.
He answered just as I thought I was about to get his voice mail.
“Hey,” he said, sounding distracted. Great, I was interrupting him. I should have called someone else, but then I remembered I had no one to call.
“Hey,” I said, trying to keep my words from slurring. I didn’t feel that smashed.
“You’re drunk,” he stated. I knew he was a smart guy.
“Thank you, Captain Obvenous—Obviless. Shit, you know what I mean,” I retorted.
I could hear him sigh over the phon
e. He was aggravated. I started giggling because the fact that he was the one who was aggravated was hilarious. I was the one who couldn’t remember who I was.
“I’ll come get you. Are you still at your apartment?”
“Nope.”