Hold the Forevers

It was another hour of drinking and dancing before I realized that I might have started the night off a little too strong.

“Lila, are you all right?” Ash asked.

He steadied me against him, and I giggled all over again.

“I’m fine,” I said, my speech slurred. I was also seeing two of him, which made me laugh louder. I reached my hand out to touch the second part of him. “Oh my God, what a trick. There’s two of you.”

His eyebrows rose. “Jesus, you’re trashed.”

“Shh,” I said, putting my hand on his mouth. I missed the first time but managed it the second. “I’m fine, Ash. Fine.”

He took my hand off of his lips and held up his fingers. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Three.” I counted them with my hand, missing one and starting over again. “Maybe four.”

“Okay, I should get you home.”

“Nooo,” I cried. “Party pooper.”

Ash ignored me and turned to Channing. “Hey, I’m going to get Lila home. She’s plastered. Do you and Mary Elizabeth need a ride?”

“No, we’re good. I don’t think we had as much as her. We’re going to stay until bar close.”

“Cool,” Ash said. Then he slid an arm around my waist and directed me toward the stairs.

“I don’t want to leave.”

“I know,” he said as he maneuvered me up the short flight of stairs. After two unsuccessful attempts, he slipped an arm under my legs and hoisted me into his arms. He carried me up the steps and then set me back down.

“That was gentlemanly.”

“Not the first time I’ve had to carry your drunk ass.”

“Hey!”

Ash chuckled, and we shared a moment of easy reminiscence. “I suppose that time was my fault.”

“You stole a bottle of bourbon from your dad’s wet bar, and we played strip Truth or Dare until I threw up in the bushes.”

He laughed again. “Yeah, okay, but it was totally worth it.”

“Ass.”

He was still grinning about the memory as he called us a cab. Shockingly one showed up quickly. Must have been because we were leaving before bar close. I gave the guy my address, and we pulled away.

I tipped my head back against the seat. “You didn’t have to come with me.”

“Yes, I did.”

I touched his hand. “Thanks.”

“Anytime, Lila.”

A few minutes later, the cab pulled over in front of my apartment. After I nearly fell out of the car, Ash got an arm around me and steadied me for the walk up a flight of stairs to my door. I rummaged through my small purse for my keys and failed twice to insert it. The keys fell out of my hand and I cursed violently.

“God, you’re a mess.”

He picked up the keys I’d dropped on the ground and got the door unlocked, pushing it open so I could stumble inside first. I didn’t think anything about the lights being on. I must have left them on this morning when Channing and I hurried out for College GameDay.

“Lila,” Ash said softly. He nodded his head into the apartment.

I whirled around, nearly falling again. I reached out for the stair banister to keep me upright. And then I saw what Ash had been gesturing at.

Cole was here.

My stomach hit my feet, and I sobered up in the same split second. I righted myself against the banister. The moment stretched into infinity. Me and Cole and Ash. All in the same place. All together.

“What exactly is going on here?” Cole asked. His voice was tight and controlled. Anger. Very barely suppressed anger.

I knew immediately how this looked. I’d told him that Ash was staying here with his girlfriend. And now, we were here sans girlfriend and I was drunk to boot. It wasn’t how it appeared, but it sure looked bad.

My face flushed red. “Uh, Cole, this is Ash.” I gestured behind me. “Ash, Cole.”

Neither moved. I didn’t know why I’d ever envisioned them coming to a place where they could look at the other as an equal. There was no truce here. No stepping forward and accepting the other’s presence.

“Where’s his girlfriend?”

I bit the inside of my cheek. This was going to hurt.

“We broke up,” Ash said levelly. He arched an eyebrow in challenge and shut the door behind him. Bold. And pathological.

“He’s not staying,” I assured Cole. “And he didn’t stay last night either. He was just making sure I got home okay.”

“I’m sure he was.” He looked like he wanted to put a fist through the wall. Or maybe through Ash’s face.

I needed to wrestle back control of this situation. “What are you doing here?”

A muscle in Cole’s jaw flexed. Apparently, that was the wrong question to ask.

“I thought you were with Jess.”

Ash shifted behind me. I glared at him for a minute, but he just smirked. I hadn’t mentioned what was happening with Cole and his ex-girlfriend. But he’d assumed something was up, and he’d been right.