Pregame(8)

"Oh, stop it, Wes. Don't give the poor girl a heart attack. He's joking  around with you, Brookelyn. You didn't proposition him." I sighed a long  breathe of relief and glared at Wes over the top of my mug. He still  wore an amused expression. "You did take turns doing body shots off of  each other, though."





"Yeah, you enjoyed it, too." Because this morning wasn't humiliating  enough, Luke strolled out of the other bedroom wearing dark green  athletic shorts, stretching his arms above his head fighting off a yawn.  He walked over to Jade and kissed her on the cheek. "Morning, baby."





My mind flashed back to yesterday in the parking lot when Luke had  called over to Wes mentioning something about a girl named Jade being  upset with him if he was late. It clicked, then, and I scolded myself  for not putting two and two together. How many other Jade's could there  be?





"Body shots?!" Luke let out an amused hoot at my hysterics and Jade  grabbed her phone from the counter, unlocked the screen and handed it  over.





My mouth gaped open as I saw the pictures Jade had taken. In the first  one Wes was lying on his back on a picnic table, a lime between his lips  and an amused smile playing behind it. His eyes were shifted downwards  at me, with my tongue out, licking salt from his chest and gazing back  up at him. People were crowded around the table watching us, as well as  two other couples who were doing the same. I flipped to the second  picture, which wasn't any better. I was clearly bending down to take the  lime from Wes' lips but my hair was like a veil over our faces. If  someone didn't know we had been taking body shots than it would just  look like we were making out. I groaned again, and skipped to the next  picture where I was now sitting at the table with a shot glass propped  between my breasts with Wes's face moving towards it, a seductive grin  playing on his lips. I took a moment to admire his smile and his perfect  teeth that appeared even white against his sun-kissed skin. The fourth  and last picture of the two of us consisted of me, gripping to the edges  of the keg, and Wes holding up my legs with his head thrown back in  laughter while people seemed to be cheering around us.                       
       
           



       





"This. Is. So. Bad." I wiped my hands across my face processing what I  had just seen. There was proof. They weren't just kidding around with  me, I had really been doing body shots with Wes, looking happy as ever,  and even doing a keg stand, two things that I had never before done in  my life.





"Don't worry, everyone was having a good time getting to know the new  chick." Jade winked at me before adding, "I'll send you these in case  you ever feel like reminiscing."





Before I could respond that I can't reminisce what I don't actually  remember, my phone vibrated on the counter beside me. I looked down,  hoping to see Elle's name lit up so that I could scold her but  unfortunately it was Gabe's name that flashed across the screen. I  pressed ignore, laying my head in my hands.





"Uh oh, trouble in paradise? Don't worry, I wont tell your boyfriend you  slept in my bed last night." I looked up at Wes who was smirking behind  his coffee mug.





"He's not my boyfriend, anyways, so you can wipe that smirk off of your  face." I rolled my eyes, my stomach grumbling at the smell of the eggs  and bacon Luke was preparing at the stove, grateful that I wasn't  nauseous from last night.





"He know that?"





"I've made it perfectly clear, and so did he when he kept calling me  your girlfriend's name last night before his roommate had to take his  ass home." The disdain in my tone was apparent. Jade turned away from  where she had her arms wrapped around Colin's waist and peered over at  me questioningly.





"What do you mean he kept calling you Wes' girlfriend's name? Wes  doesn't have a girlfriend." Before I could respond I saw a flash of  recognition flash in Jade's eyes before she turned to Wes, anger  emanating from her now narrowed eyes.





Wes held his hands up in surrender, "I'm not dating her, Jade. Fuck, chill out."

"You know what she did, Wes. The fact you can even stand to hook up with her knowing that is disgusting!"





"Baby!" Luke called out as Jade stormed off to the other bedroom and  slammed the door shut behind her. I looked to Wes, confused but he was  busy having a stare down with Luke. Turning his back to Wes, Luke shut  the flames off of the stove and pushed the pans away from the burners  and followed after Jade.





Wes stood and grabbed two plates and two forks and piled food onto the  plates. Luke had made enough food to feed an army, and in that moment I  was extremely grateful. Hopefully some of the grease would soak up any  alcohol still in my system. Wes handed me a plate and came to sit back  over beside me. I thanked him and the two of us ate in an uncomfortable  silence.





I no longer cared about my hatred of Wes from the night before after  what Gabe had told me. I couldn't hate Wes when he made sure I got home  safely and gave me his bed to sleep in while he took the couch. It was  considerate, something I hadn't expected from him considering how he  manipulated Emmy into cheating on Gabe with him. The more I thought  about it, and after Jade's meltdown, I started to wonder if there was  more to the story.





"So what'd Harris tell you about me to make you hate me?" he paused and  smirked, "ya know, before you were drunk enough to not care?"





The mention of Gabe made me realize that what I had been considering a  nice gesture was just Wes's way of screwing with Gabe again. Ignoring  his question, I turned to him, annoyance clear in my gaze.





"Is that really why you brought me here? Not because you had actually  cared that I was drunk, with no way to get home, but really you just  wanted to hurt Gabe, again, right?"





Wes didn't answer me, but I noticed his jaw clench and his eyes tighten  as he searched my face. Irritated by his silence I repeated myself.  "Right, Wes?"





In a flash, he pushed his plate from in front of him, dropping his fork  onto the plate with a loud clang and turned his body so that he was  facing me directly. I fought the urge to roam his naked chest and the  tattoos that swirled around his body. I wanted to know what the scrawl  on his left forearm read but damnit I would not give him that  satisfaction.





He leaned towards me, and the anger that filled his gaze made me look  away. He reached out and touched my chin, firmly but not roughly forcing  me to look back at him.





"I don't give a fuck about Gabe. I brought you back here because you had  no where else to go, you were Jade's friend, and when you're not being a  stuck up bitch, you're actually fun to be around."                       
       
           



       





I flinched, feeling like I'd been slapped across the face by his words. I  opened my mouth to respond but closed it, not knowing if I wanted to  apologize for my assumption or yell at him for calling me a stuck up  bitch. Still watching me, Wes just shook his head, disgust replaced the  anger that I had seen just moments ago.





"Since you think so poorly of me, why don't you get the fuck out of my  apartment?" his words were gentler this time but I could still hear the  irritation behind them. He seemed more hurt than annoyed, which only  made me feel worse. I decided I was in the wrong and should apologize  but before I could speak, he looked back at me and raised his eyebrows  like he was wondering why I was still sitting there when he's just  kicked me out.





Jade and Luke were still gone so I silently made my way from the kitchen  and back to Wes's room to grab my purse and shoes and wordlessly walked  out of the apartment. I refused to look over at Wes on my way out but I  could feel his gaze on my back as I walked past.





When I got outside I made it to the bottom of the walkway stairs before  realizing I needed to find a ride. I sat on the last step and grabbed my  cell phone from my purse and dialed Elle's number silently praying for  her to pick up. As I got her voicemail I sighed knowing that she and  Colin wouldn't be up this early after going out the night before. I  called Savanna but the call went straight to voicemail. I had two  options: I could call Gabe or I could call Jade. They were the only  other people that I knew well enough from the campus to give me a ride.  Unfortunately, Jade was here, and I didn't want to even speak to Gabe  just yet, never mind ask him to pick me up at Wes's apartment of all  places.