My Favorite Mistake(28)

“Ditto,” Sean said as we left.

I took each of their arms.

“Shall we? To the bar!” I said, raising a fist.

We all walked in unison, Hunter trailing behind.

“You got a third arm for me?” he said.

“No, sorry. You can have my purse.” I tossed my black clutch at him, and he caught it.

“Well done. You may fetch my drinks this evening.”

“And what are they going to do?” he asked.

“Fan me and make sure I’m comfortable. Right?”

“My fanning skills are at your service,” Dev said, squeezing my arm.

“I guess that means I’m on comfortable duty,” Sean said.

“Man, are you always this easy?” I said to them.

“That’s what she said,” Hunter mumbled behind me.

“I heard that,” I said over my shoulder.

“You walked right into it, what was I supposed to do?”

“Control yourself, purse man.”

The slight chill in the air made my skin pimple, and I wished I’d brought a jacket.

“You cold?” Sean said.

“I’m fine. We’re almost there.”

Blue Lagoon was hopping again. It seemed that everyone had been bitten by the fall bug, or maybe it was a hold-out from summer. There was already a girl puking her guts out next to a car in the parking lot.

“It is your job tonight, all of you, to make sure I don’t turn out like that,” I said, pointing to the girl, whose hair was being held by an equally drunk girl who could barely stand.

“Hold on a second,” Hunter said.

“What’s he doing?” Dev said.

We all watched as he went over to the girl, who was making sure she steered clear of the vomit stream coming from her friend’s mouth.

“I have no idea,” I said.

He talked to the girl who wasn’t vomiting. She shook her head, and he motioned to me.

“You got your phone? My battery died. I’m going to call them a cab. They don’t live on campus.”

“Of course,” I said, fishing out my phone and searching for the number for one of the local cab companies that frequented the campus.

“I don’t know where my purse went,” the non-vomiting one said. “Purse” came out “pursh.” The other girl was slumped on the pavement, moaning.

“It’s okay, you’ll find it tomorrow. We’re gonna call you a cab, okay? Do you know where you live?” he said.

She gave him the address, and I relayed that to the cab company in case they forgot.

Dev and Sean got in on the action, helping vomit girl up and running inside to get a wet paper towel and a cup of water so she could try to clean herself up.

The cab came a few minutes later, and we got them both in. The cabbie assured us he would get them home safe and refused payment when Hunter pulled out some cash.

“No need. One good turn deserves another,” he said, waving to us and taking the drunken girls home. They probably weren’t going to remember the kindness Hunter showed them, but I would.

“Everyone ready to go in?” I really wanted to get away from the vomit smell, and my teeth were starting to chatter.

“What is it with girls and not having coats?” Hunter said.

“Well, I didn’t plan for this random moment of good Samaritan-ship.”

“You never do,” he said, walking to the door.

We saw a different bouncer this time, but he also knew Hunter. He was certainly a popular fellow. My fake ID was barely scrutinized before I was let in.

“One girl, three men. Damn,” he said.

“These are my toys,” I said, feeling bold. God, I hadn’t even had a drink yet.

“Need one more?”

“Maybe. I’ll let you know,” I said with a wink as I sashayed away.

“Are you sure you’re not drunk already?” Hunter said, his face a little stunned by my sassiness.

“Drunk on life, Hunter. Drunk on life.”





*****





An hour later I was a drink and a half in, and having a good time with the guys. We’d seated ourselves at one end of the bar and were busy watching the mayhem around us. Hunter was next to me, and it wasn’t my imagination that his hand kept finding itself somewhere on my body. My back, my shoulder, my waist. I was too blissed out on rum and cokes to bother slapping it away. Besides, I was feeling nice since he had been so concerned about those drunken girls.

He’d been a jerk today, but he’d also been sweet and adorable with Harper. They were like two peas in a pod. She was an odd little girl, but he got her.

“Do you want to dance?” he said in my ear.

I knew my face was red from the alcohol, but it got redder and hotter with him standing behind me.

“Sure.”

I was a tiny bit unsteady when I got down from my stool, but I could walk fine. Dev and Sean were busy chatting up two girls who had spotted them from across the room and were on the prowl. I didn’t think they’d be going back to their own apartments tonight.

“I’m going to get you drunk more often. You’re very compliant tonight,” Hunter said.

“I’m not that drunk, Hunter.” I really wasn’t. Just pleasantly buzzed. I’d never really been drunk before. It didn’t seem like a thing I’d want to do.

“Not yet. I just need to get a few more drinks in you and then you’ll be swooning in my arms.”

“Whatever.”

I took his hand and led him to the dance floor, which, big surprise, was crowded. I shoved and pushed until I found a little bit of room. Hunter came with me, making his own room. I started to groove, but Hunter stopped me.

“Oh no, I didn’t bring you here to dance like that, as much as I love watching you do that thing with your hips.” He yanked me close, wrapping his hands around my waist, and creeping down my back to my ass. Watch it, Mister.

“I want to dance,” he said, starting to move, “like this. I want to dance like we’re the same person.”

“I thought you didn’t like me.”

“I don’t,” he mouthed, and then closed his eyes for a moment. Before opening them and meeting my eyes.

“Dance with me. Just dance with me.”

So I did.

We danced for what seemed like hours. Hunter left for a moment and returned with another drink that I somehow balanced while we danced. My body felt liquid, heavy and smooth. Hunter had another drink and he seemed to be lost. Like that moment in his room when we’d been the only two people on a planet that was standing still.

His hands were on me, mine were on him, we were both sweating and breathing heavily, and the music hurt my head and pounded in my skull and it was all too much and not enough.

Eventually I got too hot and I started to walk away to take a break. Hunter followed me, and it was like the dance bubble we’d been in had burst.

“Do you want another drink?”

“Some water would be good,” I said, fanning myself.

Dev and Sean had come to find us earlier to say that they were headed to a house party with the two lovely ladies whose names I couldn’t remember at the moment. Abandoned in my time of need, I was.

Hunter came back with a glass of water for me, complete with a lime wedge and another beer for himself.

“How you feeling?”

“Fine,” I said.

“You gonna be ready to go soon?” It was still relatively early.

“Why, do you want to go?”

He shrugged. Yup, the dance moment was broken. We each sipped our drinks in silence.

“I still don’t like you,” he said suddenly. “Despite, all of that.” He waved his hand. I supposed he was indicating the vertical expression of the horizontal desire we’d been doing only minutes before. We were back to walking that fine line between roommates and… whatever else.

Hunter drank his beer, and I sipped my water. We were sitting at the same bar, but it was like we were sitting across from each other with the Grand Canyon between us.

Hunter finished his beer and got another. He was on his fifth or sixth, I couldn’t remember. I’d never seen him drink so freely. I sat and fiddled with my phone, and sipped my water and watched the other dancers. Hunter wouldn’t talk to me, even though I tried a few times.

After he finished his most recent drink, I said I was ready to go. It hadn’t turned out to be the fun night I’d expected. The memories of Hunter and I dancing sizzled in my mind, setting me on fire.

We walked back to our place slowly, trying to avoid tripping on unsteady feet. He was just as bad as I was.

When we got back to our room, Hunter crashed onto the couch. I sat down in the recliner, pulling my feet up and resting my chin on my knees.

“Are you mad at me?”

“What?” It was like he’d just remembered I was there. Like he’d been in a trance.

“Are you mad at me? You’ve barely talked to me all night.”

“Not everything is about you, Taylor,” he snapped.

“I know that, you jerk. Why won’t you just talk to me? Something is obviously bothering you. I have some idea that it has to do with your secret meeting with the mysterious Joe. Am I getting warmer?”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said, his eyes cold as steel.

“Then enlighten me. You don’t have to keep everything to yourself.”

“Maybe I do. I’ve told you that you don’t want to know the truth, so I’m not going to tell you.”