by R. S Burnett
I groan at that “How did I get here?”
“You asked me for a room of your own so you wouldn’t have to watch a live porno. We looked for your friends; well I did carrying you. We could only find the one that was with Mel and you didn’t want to say goodbye to him, so I got a taxi back to the hotel with you and got one of the barmaids to get you to your room. I left you in reception.”
“I’m so sorry and embarrassed. Really, I’m sorry.”
“It’s not a problem, I had fun. Next time your in town give me a call. I’d definitely do it again, I haven’t laughed so much in ages,” he chuckles.
“Will do,” I grumble and hang up.
“Well?” Kate prompts
“He put me in a taxi, left me in reception and I got a new room, one of the barmaids brought me here.”
Her whole body visibly relaxes.
“How mad are they?” I ask nodding towards the room that I’m sure now holds all my friends.
“Pretty mad. Luke and I have been looking for you since nine this morning; Sophie started this morning at four when Tucker woke her, and Matt’s up because you weren’t in your room or answering your phone. It’s now three.”
“Oh god, lets get this over with.” I sigh and stand up.
Kate opens the door and I follow her out not looking at anyone, as soon as the shouting starts, I throw my hands over my ears.
“Where the hell have you been?” Matt.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Tucker.
“Don’t you answer your phone?” Luke.
“I’ve been so worried!” Sophie.
“Please don’t shout,” I beg pathetically.
“Damn right were going to shout,” Tucker shouts.
“Well you know what. Screw you, it’s all of your faults that I’m in this position anyway!” I scream back at them.
“Oh really?” Tucker asks folding his arms over his chest and raising an eyebrow.
“You,” I point to Sophie “Were begging me to have sex with him!”
“But…”
“You!” I point at Tucker “you ran off after lunch and ignored me for the whole night; you have a problem with something, fucking speak up and tell me.”
“And you two!” I turn my glare on Matt and Luke. “If you two were man enough to get your girlfriends yourselves, instead of shoving me in front of some random guy, then I wouldn’t have had to do it and be in this position now, would I?”
I turn to face all of them. “Now if you’ve all finished shouting, I’m going home and if any of you even think about lecturing or shouting at me once more, I will get a train home alone.”
“No. I’ll drive you with Sophie; the boys can go in Matt’s car,” Kate says from behind me.
“Fine.” I nod and walk back to my original room to collect my things, wisely no one follows me and I meet them in the hotel lobby.
“We’ll follow you,” Katie tells Luke and we all head into the separate cars.
“Can we stop for coffee please?” I ask from my seat in the back.
“Of course,” Kate smiles at me.
The car journey home is made in complete silence; Sophie falls asleep about ten minutes in and I relieve Kate of driving duties after half hour when I noticed she was struggling to keep her eyes open. This pretty much left me with just my thoughts to keep me company.
An hour into the drive my phone starts ringing so I pull over to answer it without checking who’s calling; the boys pull over ahead of me when they notice that I’ve stopped.
“Hello?”
“Hi Brooke, just wanted to check to see how you are today; it’s Will.”
“Oh hi, I’m feeling quite bad actually; sorry I heard I was a bit drunk last night.” I wince imagining all the things that I could have done.
“Yeah just a little, but you were fine. From what I heard, you actually handled it quite well.” He’s laughing much to my relief. “Will you be coming down again?”
“I’m not sure. I guess I will at some point, but I have exams and things coming up so it may not be for a while. I’ll definitely let you know though.”
“Yeah, I’d like that.” He sounds genuinely happy. “Are you back home yet?”
The boys are making their way towards me now.
“No, on the drive home; about an hour and half left.”
“I’ll let you get back to it then; drive safe and say hey to your dad the next time you visit him, okay?”
“Sure, bye Will.”
“Why did you stop?” Matt asks opening my door.
“Phone.” I hold my phone up and rest my head on the steering wheel.
“How long have they been out?” Luke asks gesturing to the girls.
“Soph went out about ten minutes in and Kate couldn’t keep her eyes open twenty minutes later.”
“Brooke, you can’t drive. You’re probably still drunk.”
“Trust me. I would not be feeling this bad if I was drunk,” I grumble, not bothering to lift my head.
“I’d like to drive with Soph” Matt says from behind Luke.
“I was going to say I wanted to sit with Kate,” Luke sighs and the three boys just stare at each other.
“Well you two stay with your girls, I’ll drive Brooke back,” Tucker grumbles, obviously not happy with the situation.
“Fine,” I give in and climb out of the car.
“Want me to drive so you can sleep?” I ask wearily, knowing he can’t have had any sleep either.
“No. I said I’d drive you back so that’s what I’m going to do,” he practically spits the words at me.
“Fine,” I grumble back and settle into the passenger seat.
This journey home is just as silent as the one I just left. Things between us are awkward; when I think to how we woke up yesterday morning and how we are now, it’s like a whole world has changed. I have no idea what exactly happened, but if I could take it all back and cancel it out, I would.
“How’s Andrew?” Tucker asks breaking the silence after about forty minutes; I look over at him but he’s still staring ahead.
“How’s Mel?” I counter to which he just nods his head once and the silence descends on us once again.
We pull up in front of the dorms and I let out the breath I feel like I’ve been holding for the last twenty minutes. I reach for the door handle but Tucker clears his throat; I turn to look at him but again, he isn’t facing me.
“I slept with her,” he says flatly.
I close my eyes and sit there for a moment. When I re-open them he’s still staring straight ahead; shaking my head I get out of the car without a word.
“Sorry I fell asleep on you,” Sophie says climbing out of Luke car.
“It’s fine, it’s my fault you were up so early,” I shrug and grab my bag from the trunk.
“We’re going to JD’s, are you coming?” Luke calls to me from the driver side door of his car.
“Nope,” I grab my keys and head to my car. “I have somewhere to be.” I don’t look back and settle into my car heading towards the graveyard to tell my dad about the trip.
When I get back to the dorm that night, Sophie’s sat at the kitchen table with her laptop; she looks up at my entrance.
“Hey, there’s food here for you; I saved you some just in case you didn’t get a chance to eat.”
“Thanks, but I’m going to grab something in a little.”
I smile at her while pouring myself a coffee from the fresh pot she’s made. “Want one?”
“Thanks.” I take the mug from her and then sit at the table opposite her.
“Was this weekend weird for you?”
“A little,” I admit. “It was strange as in there were some things I could remember clearly. Others like Andrew, for instance I remembered bits, which is how I recognized him. But then some things like Mel; I couldn’t remember her at all or Will for that matter.”
“I’m sure it will come back, but you’ve spent so long making sure you don’t re
member them that you’ve buried them deep.”
“I know, thanks for going with me though.”
“No problem,” she smiles but then frowns. “It was weird between you and Tucker as well, what was that about?”
“I don’t know. I guess you and everyone else were right when you warned me about him.” I sigh rubbing my face with the palms of my hands.
“I’m sorry Brooke. Matt said that you took five shots when you found out about him and Mel and I saw you look away when they did their body shots. You told him didn’t you?”
“Yeah,” I nod resting my head in my hands.
“What did he say?”
“Not much,” I rub my eyes, forcing the memory back. “We acknowledged that we’re both attracted to each other and for a minute there, it was nice. Then it just all went downhill. I kind of wish I could turn back time and not tell him.”
“Will you be okay?”
“I’m just sorry that we won’t be friends anymore,” I admit looking up at her.
“You will,” she looks determined but something in my expression makes her change her mind. “Won’t you?”
“I don’t think so,” I smile sadly at her.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. Everyone was surprised it lasted this long, it had to end sooner or later, right?” I smile at her.
Sophie goes to bed shortly after but I stay up for the first time ever; really trying to remember my childhood, something I have never allowed myself to do before.
“Shit! Brooke!”
I snap my eyes open and lift my head up, Sophie’s shaking me.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” I ask looking around for danger.
“Are you okay?” she asks searching my eyes.
“I’m fine, why?
“You were screaming and hitting the table,” she says slowly.
“Sorry for waking you,” I grumble standing up and stretching.
“It’s fine, I thought you were going to hurt yourself”
“I’m going out for a bit to get some fresh air, if I don’t see you in the morning, I’ll see you at lunch okay?”
“Sure,” she says before I close the door after me.
Once I’m in my car I take a deep breath and rest my head on the steering wheel. I don’t remember the nightmare, but I know it was a bad one because I’m still shaking. I know from experience that there are only two things that will enable me to get back to sleep, one is having Tucker stay with me and the other is to get so drunk that I pass out. Tucker isn’t an option, so I start my car and head to the all night bar that isn’t far from here.
Twelve
“Hey Luke” I say into the phone as soon as he answers.
“Whoa! Why are you shouting?” he asks me.
I didn’t realize I was. “I’m not!”
“Where are you?” he asks me quietly.
“Why are you whispering?” I whisper back giggling slightly.
“Oh my god,” I hear him groan and then I can hear voices in the background.
“Are you with Sophie? Let me talk to her!” I demand.
“Sophiiieeee” I sing into the phone.
“Brooke?”
“Yeap,” I hiccup “Come party?”
“Who are you with?” she asks, laughing.
“The band. Dave found me last night…this morning…at the bar and brought me to Jack’s house party. Are you coming?”
“I’ll see you all tomorrow,” I hear her say away from the phone and then hear keys jangling about. “I’m on my way,” she laughs and hangs up.
“Sophie’s here!” I scream and run up to give her a hug, but I’m stopped by someone lifting me up in the air and spinning me around.
“It’s your turn!” Dave shouts carrying me back to the table, Sophie follows us laughing.
“What are we doing?” She asks taking the seat next to me at the table.
“We are playing Liar! You have to say something about yourself, it can be true or false but if someone catches you out on a lie then you have to take a shot. If anyone says you’re lying when you’re telling the truth, they have to take a shot,” I explain handing her a shot.
“I can do the splits,” I announce and grin when no one at the table calls me on it.
“Liar!” Sophie declares looking smug.
“Fuck,” I mutter and throw my shot back.
“I’ve had a boob job,” she smirks.
“Liar!” both Dave and Jack shout at the same time and she takes her shot.
The game continues and Sophie looses badly, not able to call anyone out on a lie except me, and she gets caught in all her own.
“How are we getting home?” I ask Sophie, hiccupping.
“I have no idea. Ring Matt.” She laughs, dancing on the coffee table as Dave sings one of the band’s songs.
I squint at the phone and dial Matt.
“Hello?”
I frown at the phone to make sure I dialed the right number. “Uh….is Matt there please?” I ask, but laugh because my s’s sound more like sh’s and Sophie starts cheering when Jack joins her on the table.
“Brooke?” Tucker asks.
“Can I speak to Matt,” I ask again slowly this time.
“I thought you were calling Matt? Who has his phone?” Sophie shouts over to me.
“Oooh lover boy’s playing away. Want us to kick his ass?” Jack says loud enough to be heard on the phone.
“Who’s that?” I hear in my ear.
“Jesus,” I rub my forehead trying to work out who to answer first.
“Brooke, have you got my boxers?” Dave calls out from the kitchen, I can’t help but laughing at that.
“Yeah, she’s wearing them,” Sophie calls back laughing after checking my outfit.
“I won them fair and square buddy!” I shout.
“Brooke!” Tucker’s shouting at me now.
“What?” I snap into the phone, not happy with him shouting at me.
“Where the hell are you?”
“Can I speak to Matt, please? We need to be picked up.”
“Hello?” Matt is finally on the phone.
“At last! Sophie asked me to ask you if you could pick us up please? We can’t drive.”
“Sure. Where are you? What about your cars?” he asks.
“Umm, hold on,” I say into the phone. “What about our cars Soph, mines still over at the bar?” I call across the room.
“I’ll give you a lift to yours tomorrow Brooke and then you can drive Soph to hers,” Jack says and Sophie cheers and hi-fives him.
“We got it covered,” I say into the phone.
“Who is that?” Matt demands.
“Why don’t you both stay here and then Sophie can drive you to your car?” Dave calls from the kitchen.
“Where the fuck are you Brooke?” Matt shouts through the phone.
“Umm…Jack’s house, I’ll text you the address now,” I say, and then hang up before he can shout at me anymore. I send him the address then give Sophie her phone back.
“You’re in trouble,” I sing tauntingly at her.
“Who cares?” she rolls her eyes then pulls me up on the coffee table to dance with her.
The guys all surround us and start spraying us with champagne, so we start singing a drunken version of ‘It’s Raining Men’.
When the doorbell rings, we all fall silent and freeze. One of the guys opens the door and Matt and Tucker take a step forward. They too freeze as they take in the scene in front of them.
There’s bottles and glasses on every surface, furniture has been moved around and rearranged randomly, four guys are stood around the coffee table holding empty champagne bottles and me and Sophie are stood on that coffee table with our hands still above our heads, soaking wet.
Sophie has someone’s top on over her dress and I’ve lost my top. Now I’m wearing a tea towel as a boob tube which Sophie fastened at the back with a safety pin, and a pair of yellow boxers over my own underwear, pulle
d up over my belly button.
“Looks like we missed one hell of a party,” Tucker notes quietly but it’s so silent we all hear him. His voice seems to bring us all back to the moment and everyone starts moving away as the party starts back up as if it was never interrupted.
Matt and Tucker help us down from the table and grabbing our arms, they drag us out to Matt’s car. He puts a towel down on the back seat and sits us both in there. We spend the whole car journey home giggling and singing; the boys don’t say anything to us but are talking quietly to each other. They drop us off in our dorm and leave just before we both collapse and pass out on Sophie’s bed.
“Broke, your phone,” Sophie says from somewhere in the room.
“Make it stop,” I all but cry.
“Answer it,” she calls back.
I lift my head off the pillow to see her sat at the kitchen table with Matt.
“Hello,” I say weakly into the phone that I swear I’m going to throw in the bin.
“Feeling like death Brooke?” Someone laughs into the phone.
“Do I know you?” I ask the voice
“Yeah. We met yesterday, you were a little drunk but we got to know each other quite well actually, if you know what I mean.”
I shoot up of the bed. “What?” I screech into the phone, horrified.
“Brooke, we had sex yesterday,” the voice says calmly to me.
“No…no…no…” I hang up the phone and throw it onto my bed where it starts ringing again.
“What was that about?” Sophie asks looking no better than I feel.
“I have no idea who that was. He didn’t even tell me his name but he said I had sex with him yesterday.” I walk over to join them at the table.
“Aren’t you going to answer it?” Matt asks when my phone starts ringing loudly again.
“No, make it go away,” I wince at the sound of my voice. “Uh…Soph, what are you wearing?” I frown at the top she’s wearing that has ‘tits, pussy, ass…who cares as long as it’s in my mouth’ written across her chest.
“Trust me, yours is no better,” Matt says dryly averting his eyes. I look down and I have a tea towel across my chest that isn’t quite covering what it should be and a pair of yellow sponge bob boxers on.
“Oh my god,” I whisper and Sophie just nods at me removing her top so I can put it on. Thankfully she still has her dress her underneath it. “Please can you answer it?” I beg Matt, rolling his eyes he gets my phone from the bed and answers it.