Pregame(7)

I turned to Elle with wide eyes, grabbed her arm and ushered her outside to the keg.




                       
       
           



       
"I cannot believe that. He called me Emmy twice!" Elle threw her head  back laughing. I had caught her up to speed on the whole Emmy and Wes  debacle when we were in line for the bathroom but apparently Colin had  already filled her in on the tension. Elle had seen Emmy around last  year with Gabe but had never met Wes before, and according to Colin, he  was supposed to be a senior but had to take last year off for unknown  reasons, setting him back a year as a junior.





"I would have smacked that boy right across his pretty little face. It's  not like he'd remember it, anyways. Here." She handed me a red solo cup  filled with horrible tasting beer and then filled her own cup. "Did you  check your phone? Savanna sent us a group text letting us know that she  left with that guy she was telling us about."





I reached into my pocket wondering why I didn't feel the vibration of a new text to find that my phone was dead, of course.





"I definitely wont ever forget this party." I groaned, to Elle's  amusement. We walked back to the house and I was thankful to pass by my  reflection on a nearby mirror to see that my makeup hadn't started to  smear and my hair was mostly as it had been when we got here aside from a  few strands tangled together from the wind.





There were two large beruit tables set up in the living room with people  gathered around cheering, girls trying to distract the guys who were  throwing by leaning over the table to show off their cleavage. I stood  back and watched from a distance sipping on my beer as Elle ran off to  find Colin to partner up with on the next game. A few minutes later they  returned and took over the second table facing off against a short  Asian guy and a big beefy football player. Elle was missing every shot  and getting drunker with each loss and I laughed as her most recent  attempt landed the ping-pong ball in the other team's cup forcing her to  drink yet again.





"We meet again." My head snapped to my right to see Wes glide up beside  me and take a long pull from his beer, his focus on the game in front of  us.





I grimaced, disgusted by what I knew of him now and started to walk away  when I felt a large, soft yet slightly calloused hand circle my arm,  preventing me from walking any further. His grip was loose and  nonthreatening and I knew I could easily shrug out of his hold and walk  away if I wanted to. Yet I turned back and leveled him with a glare that  I'm sure he's not used to getting from any female and waited for him to  speak.





"Ah, so Gabe is already putting bugs in your ears." He noted, my hostile  expression giving me away. Even in my disgust I couldn't help but take  in the way his jeans hung low on his hips perfectly and his navy blue  V-neck stretched across his chest, showing off his toned body. He wore a  white ball cap backwards on his head contrasting to the darkness of his  hair but complementing the depth of his blue eyes.





As if he could see my resolve wavering, he flashed me a crooked smile that only made me remember why I hated him.





"No bugs, just the truth. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd rather be talking  to just about anyone else at this party that isn't you." I spun on my  heels and marched off towards the bathroom, the alcohol catching up to  my bladder, and did a mental fist pump for not looking back at Wes.





FIVE


"Where the fuck am I?!" I shouted ignoring the throbbing pain in my skull as I shot up from the bed I was lying in.





I was still dressed in my clothes from the party, which was a good sign,  but I had no clue where I was or any recollection of getting here. I  looked around the bedroom that obviously belonged to a guy judging from  the poster of Jessica Alba on the back of the doorframe. I stood,  feeling around my pockets for my phone and was relieved to find it on  the nightstand beside the bed, plugged into a charger. I opened the lock  to find six text messages from Elle, the group message that Savanna had  sent out earlier in the night along with three missed calls and two new  voicemails. All of Elle's texts asked me where I was and I opened up my  voicemail screen to find one from Elle and another from Gabe sent at  six o'clock this morning. I looked at the clock to see it was only  seven-thirty, wondering why the hell I was awake so early but then  decided it was a good thing considering I had no idea where I was. I  clicked on Elle's message first which she had sent while she was still  at the party from the sound of the music and chatter in the background.  She slurred her words letting me know that she couldn't find me and she  was heading back to Colin's but to call if I couldn't get a ride home. I  was pissed that she had ditched me to fend for myself but judging by  the way she slurred her words and giggled on the message I figured she  was too drunk to think properly. I was tempted to erase Gabe's message  but found myself listening to it out of curiosity. He sounded distraught  but his only words were, "beautiful … fuck, call me." I deleted the  message and took a deep breath, bracing myself for whatever I might see  when I opened the bedroom door. For all I knew the door was locked from  the outside and I was being held hostage by a serial rapist/murderer. I  shuddered at the thought and sighed in relief when the knob turned under  my hand.                       
       
           



       





The first thing I noticed was the smell of coffee. Across from the door I  had exited was another door, slightly ajar, enough so that I could see  it was another bedroom. The kitchen was to my right and as I followed  the scent of coffee I was surprised to find a girl standing with her  back to me. She was wearing a light pink nightgown and bunny slippers,  her light brown hair thrown up in a messy bun. She was mixing her coffee  and humming softly to herself.





As if she could sense my presence, she turned around and my shock  continued when I found Jade, one of the few friends I had acquired in  any of my classes. We were assigned to work as partners on a Psychology  report and I genuinely liked her. We frequently grabbed coffee together  after class but that was about it.





"Good morning, girly! How'd ya sleep?" Jade filled a mug with coffee and  slid it over to me where I sat on one of the kitchen stools. She turned  to the cabinets and pulled out a bottle of Advil and slid that over too  along with sweetener and cream.





"I'm sure after last night you're gonna need at least three of those."  She nodded to the Advil, her eyes sparkling with amusement.





I groaned. "Please tell me where I am and how I got here."





Jade chuckled softly and I saw her look over my shoulder at something before turning back to me.





"You don't remember? I guess I'm not too surprised considering the body shots and that keg stand."





I choked on my coffee and wiped at it with the back of my hand as it  started to spill down my chin. Jade laughed again and handed me a paper  towel, which I accepted with an appreciative, if not completely  embarrassed, grin.





"What's the last thing you remember?"





I scrolled back through my memory trying to piece together the night.





"I went outside to refill my beer. I had been watching Elle and Colin  play beer-pong but then that asshole Wes came over and started talking  to me. That's the last thing I remember." I frowned as I watched Jade's  eyes widen and her eyebrows shoot up, her lips pressed together tightly  to stop herself from laughing. I heard someone clear his throat from  behind me and froze. At this point, Jade could no longer control herself  and laughter broke through her concealed lips.





I turned in my seat slowly and my mouth gaped open when I came face to  face with a very amused, very shirtless Wes who appeared to have just  woken up.





"Hmm, ‘that asshole Wes,' huh?" he slid onto the stool beside me and  mouthed a thank you to Jade who also handed him a cup of coffee. I  watched as he sipped on it without adding anything to it. "If I remember  correctly, which I do, ‘that asshole Wes' let your drunk ass sleep in  his bed when no one could reach Elle or Colin and you didn't have the  keys to your apartment."





I was embarrassed but too stubborn to apologize. "How did I even end up with you?"





"You kept following me around asking me to take you to bed. It was charming, really."





I choked on my coffee for the second time within the past ten minutes, which only caused Wes to snicker.