Spring Semester

by Tyler, Q. B.

  “That is so not the point!” Peyton argues. She itches her nose ring and runs a hand through her blonde hair before pulling it up into a bun. “Why was he in bed with her?”

  “Hello!” I point at Peyton. “Thank you?” I look at Skyler as if to say, ‘argue that point, please.’

  Skyler blows a light brown hair from her eyes and rubs her lips. “Maybe he was just so drunk, he needed a place to pass out?”

  “Naked?” Peyton rolls her eyes. “That can’t be your only argument.”

  Skyler opens the pint of ice cream and hands it to me with a spoon. “I’m not being naive! I’m just…” she looks around the room, as I assume she’s trying to find the right words. “Everett is so crazy about you.” She looks at me, and I stare down into the cup of mint chocolate chip. “He loves you so much. He always has! Have you seen the way he looks at you when he thinks no one is looking? Have you seen the way you look at him while everyone is looking? You two belong together.”

  “Maybe, but the right guy at the wrong time is still the wrong guy,” Peyton argues.

  My heart sinks hearing Peyton’s words. What does that mean? I have to wait even longer to be with him?

  Do I even want to be with him now?

  “I agree that maybe you need some space to process this. But if you’re still unsure in a few days, I think there’s a reason for that. Be honest with him, Leighton. You guys might be dishonest with everyone else in your life,” Skyler says with a pointed look, “but you’ve always been open with each other.”

  I nod as I take a bite of the minty dessert, and for a second, I pray it heals the pain in my chest. “Am I being silly? I mean, do I have the right to be mad if he slept with her?”

  “Uh, yes?” Peyton interjects. “Sky said he almost took the door off the hinges when he was leaving yesterday because he thought you were sleeping with Alan!”

  “Adam,” I correct.

  “Irrelevant! I literally met the guy twice. Couldn’t even pick him out of a lineup,” Peyton says as she picks at her nail beds.

  “He’s in our statistics class!”

  Peyton grabs the ice cream from me and takes a bite. “So?”

  “Oh my God, off topic. I’ve never slept with Adam.” I tell them.

  “And he said he never slept with Alli. You also said that he was just trying to make you jealous,” Skyler says. “So, what reason would he have for sleeping with her now?”

  “What reason do fuckboys have for doing anything? The reasoning is in their name! They’re fuckboys!” Peyton retorts.

  “Everett is not a fuckboy!” Skyler furrows her brow, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was related to him with the way she’s defending him. “He’s kind and caring and considerate and worships the ground Leigh walks on! Literally. I think if she asked him to, he’d kiss the ground beneath her feet.”

  Peyton takes another sip of wine, and her hazel eyes roll in a full circle. “Look Leigh, you know whatever you choose to do, I’ve got your back one hundred and ten percent. This is a judgment free zone…I just…I don’t want to see you getting hurt, and I know it’s easy to get tunnel vision when you’re in love.”

  “I know.” I take a sip of the rosé and let the bubbles trickle down my throat. I know Skyler and Peyton are just trying to help, and I’m grateful that they are arguing both sides. If they were both for or against working things out with Everett, I don’t know how I’d be able to remain objective. Skyler is Team Everett and Peyton is certainly not, but first and foremost I know they are both Team Leighton, which is all I could ask for in my best friends. Best friends I want to get drunk with and forget about this horrible day. Like now.

  I take a long swig from the bottle, swallowing the rest of the alcohol. “Can we get something stronger than this?”

  A billow of smoke surrounds me under the low lighting of our living room. The sun is just starting to set, on what is quite possibly the worst day I’ve had in years, creating a yellowish glow on the walls through the window. Pat’s been seated next to me for the past ten hours since I got back from Leighton’s this morning trying to snap me out of the trance I’m in, but nothing has worked.

  “You sure you don’t want a hit?” He holds the bong in front of me and for a moment I consider taking a hit and sending my future as starting attacker and lacrosse captain next year up in flames alongside my future with Leighton.

  I sigh. “No.”

  He reaches forward and grabs a slice of the pizza we ordered earlier that he all but shoved down my throat knowing that on top of everything I was battling a massive hangover. “You really don’t remember?” he asks for what feels like the millionth time, and my head snaps to his.

  “No, Pat, I don’t,” I growl.

  “Shit. You must have been really trashed.”

  “I don’t know what would have possessed me to get that fucking drunk, knowing Leigh was waiting for me to come back later.” I lean my head against the back of the couch and let out a groan. “She’s so fucking pissed at me.”

  “She’ll come around, dude. She knows how you feel about her.”

  “That’s what makes this so much fucking worse. If this were a week ago, she’d be annoyed, but she wouldn’t hate me. She wouldn’t be rethinking us. I’m going to lose her, man.” The words make the dull throb in my chest flicker to life again. My heart begins to pound faster, and I feel a wave of nausea roll through me.

  She has to forgive me.

  “You’re not going to lose her. You two are…” he takes another hit of the bong, “I don’t know, man; I’m pretty high but…like the real deal or whatever.” He takes a long swig of his beer. “You wanna go out?” His shaggy brown hair falls forward and he sends his hand through it to push it back.

  “Do you think I’m in any mood to be around a bunch of fucking people?” I pull the hood of my CGU lacrosse sweatshirt up over my head and cross my arms, fully prepared to sulk for the rest of the evening when Pat puts his phone up in front of my face.

  “You sure about that?” I stare at Skyler Mitchell’s latest Instagram upload. It’s a picture of Skyler, Leighton, and Peyton at one of our mutual friends, Seth’s apartment. He’d mentioned having a pregame before possibly going to bars later, but I ruled that out the second I left Leighton this morning.

  She’s going out?

  In the picture, Leighton is downing a shot while Peyton appears to be cheering her on as Skyler cheeses for the camera. Their personalities in a nutshell. It seems like a candid photo but the fact that Skyler posted it, tagged Leigh, and where they are means they wanted me to see this. I know how to read subtweets, and even more importantly, I speak fluent Leighton Mills.

  Leighton wants me to know where she is. She wants me to come for her.

  “I’ll be ready in thirty.”

  “Alright! Let’s go get your girl! I’m going to text Peyton to make sure they stay there.” Pat downs the glass of water sitting in front of him.

  “That the only reason?” I raise an eyebrow at him.

  “Okay, and maybe because I’m trying to shoot my shot.” He glares at me. Pat has been trying to get with Peyton for quite some time, and despite the fact that Peyton’s standards seem lower than low, she’s managed to keep Pat out of her pants.

  “For the millionth time.”

  “Hey, you want to suck my left nut? You’re not in any position to be giving out advice on women right now, douche.”

  Dave, who isn’t privy to the events of the night, comes walking through our door just as I grab a beer from our refrigerator. He’s been at the library all day and I can tell he’s ready to cut loose after staring at biology bullshit all day. I, on the other hand, don’t want to be hammered when I see Leigh, not to mention the room has just stopped spinning about twenty minutes ago, so I’m not in any rush to get drunk again, but I know I need something to take the edge off.

  “We going to Seth’s?” Dave steps into the kitchen and grabs a piece of pizza from earlier and a beer from
the fridge. “Give me ten minutes to get ready.”

  “Yeah, we’re going so E can get his girl back,” Pat tells him.

  “Which girl?” he asks as he pops the can of a Natural Light beer.

  “The only one he claims,” Pat answers.

  “What’s up with Leigh?” He looks back and forth between me and Pat.

  “Long story,” I tell him.

  “Cliff notes.” Dave bites into his pizza as Pat looks at me.

  “Leigh thinks he fucked Alli.”

  “Last night? Did you?” Dave narrows his gaze at me and I’m sure he’s recalling our conversation from just yesterday where I told him I’d never had sex with her.

  “He doesn’t know,” Pat answers and I shoot him a glare.

  “What do you mean you don’t know? Like you don’t remember?” Dave pulls his glasses from his face that he uses while he’s staring at a computer for long periods of time. He shakes his head. “Shit, I knew she’d be a boring lay.”

  “No, I just…I was fucked up, and I don’t remember anything. I woke up this morning and we were naked in bed together.”

  “Fuck, dude. And you told Leigh?” He asks it in a way that reads more like why the fuck did you tell Leigh?

  “If I didn’t, Alli would have.”

  “And this is after you guys told each other you loved each other and all that shit?” Dave asks and I nod as he pieces everything together.

  “You see why she’s pissed?” I ask him.

  “Shit, well, I saw Skyler’s post, and I’m always down to see her, so I’m in.” Dave downs the rest of his beer and crushes the empty can on the counter.

  “Don’t take all fucking day,” I growl at him as I make my way up the stairs to shower. Although, I’m somewhat grateful that they’re coming with me; they’ll distract Skyler and Peyton and maybe give me a chance to be alone with Leighton.

  Here’s hoping.

  I briefly wonder if I’m making a huge mistake by showing up to this pregame when Leighton said she wanted space. But then why would she go to our mutual friend’s house? Knowing there was a chance I’d show up? And let Skyler post a photo?

  She wants me to come for her. She wants me to fight for her.

  I nod at my reflection in the mirror before I pull off my clothes and step into the scalding hot water for the second time today.

  I’m coming for you, baby.

  By the time we get to Seth’s house, it’s almost eleven PM, and the party is no longer pregame status so I doubt we’re going to bars because this has become a full-on house party. The second I walk in, Dave and Pat are on their respective missions, and I’m left searching for my girl. I’m grateful that I’ve always kept Alli from mingling with my friends too often, so I’m not worried about running into her. Alli is heavy into Greek life and, for the most part, my friends aren’t.

  I make my way through the crowded foyer and into the kitchen where there’s a line for the keg, and my eyes immediately find bare skin that’s practically glowing. It’s barely April, and Leighton’s entire back is out. The white silk top she’s wearing reveals her smooth, toned back with two strings tied together in a neat bow behind her neck. Her long, thick hair is pulled into a top knot, exposing so much skin I want to gouge the eyes out of every guy here just so they can’t feast their eyes on her. I rake my own eyes down her body to find tight black jeans tucked into ankle boots, and all I can picture is every piece of clothing she’s wearing scattered all over my bedroom floor.

  I watch as the guy fills her cup to the brim, his eyes unashamedly perving all over her, and I flex my fist. I watch as he whispers something in her ear and she giggles, and under normal circumstances I would breathe a sigh of relief by her fake as hell smile and her even faker giggle, but all I can see is red as his hand finds her back and runs his fingers down her skin.

  I will literally break your shit off, dick.

  I’m through the line before I can think and pulling her into my arms. “Everett?”

  “I know you know better than that,” I growl at Seth’s roommate.

  “E!” He smiles, like he hadn’t just blatantly been feeling up Leighton. Like he hadn’t been breaking the only bro code I adhere to. Do not fuck with someone else’s girl. “Seth said you weren’t coming!”

  “So, you decided to make a pass at Leigh?”

  “Everett, stop it. You’re being a dick.” She pulls out of my grasp and shoves at my chest before she storms away. I’m immediately following behind her into a corner, ignoring the douche at the keg, and I say a silent prayer as I plan to enter my own circle of hell.

  “Peyton, Sky.” I nod at them and Peyton glares at me before taking a long sip of her drink. Her red lips form a straight line and she scrunches her nose at me.

  “Cartwright,” she bites out and my eyes immediately float to Skyler, someone I’m praying will be my alliance in all of this.

  Help. I try and tell her with my eyes.

  She blinks her eyelashes several times and tucks a strand behind her ear. “Come on, Peyton let’s go dance.” I hear the implication. I’m trying. But you gotta work for it.

  “And leave her with him?” Peyton points at me before she looks at Leighton. “Is that what you want?”

  Leighton’s eyes dart up to mine. “What are you doing here?”

  “I…I wanted to see you. I love you,” I blurt out, and I watch as Skyler’s eyes almost bug out of her skull making me wish that all I had to do was win Skyler over. I’ve only met Aidan a few times when we’d all been at Leighton and Skyler’s, but it seems like he’s turned Skyler into a true romantic.

  Thank God. I’d be dead if all she had was cynical ass Peyton.

  Although, I watch as Peyton’s eyes soften slightly before looking at Leighton. “I’m going to go take a shot. You want, Leigh?”

  Leighton shakes her head. Before I can blink they’ve left us alone, and for the first time maybe ever things feel awkward between me and Leigh. I clear my throat before I lean in closer and whisper, “Do you want to go somewhere quieter?”

  She visibly shivers and I watch as the goosebumps pop up all over. I smile to myself as I watch the effect I have on her. “Don’t get cocky. Just because my body responds to you doesn’t mean my mind and heart are on the same page.” She takes a step back. “Don’t touch me,” she whispers.

  I swallow and nod. I don’t know how I’m going to respect her wishes, but I follow behind her as we make our way up the stairs and into Seth’s bedroom. I peek my head in the connecting bathroom just to make sure no one is around before I let out a sigh of relief.

  Alone, thank God.

  “Talk.” Her words slice through the quiet and the mounting tension between us and I turn to look at her. She’s standing against the door, her arms crossed over her chest, a look of anger, pain, and worry across her face.

  “I made a mistake,” I whisper. “But it’s over. Alli and I are over.”

  She snorts and rolls her eyes. “Great.”

  “Leigh…”

  “What happened? How…how could you sleep with her?”

  “I don’t know…and I still don’t remember any of it.” I hate to keep using that as an excuse, but I have spent the majority of the day trying to jar my memory and I’ve come up empty every time. Maybe we tried? But based on how hard I blacked out, there was no way I could have stayed hard long enough to fuck her.

  “That’s not an excuse! What does that matter? What would you do if I slept with some other guy? What would you think if I told you I slept with Adam? Or woke up in bed naked with him? God, you flew off the handle when Rob touched me just now KNOWING that I wouldn’t touch him with a ten-foot pole.” She stamps her foot. “You’d be losing your mind if you knew I’d slept with someone else. And I’m supposed to accept that you fucked Alli or whatever because you tell me you love me and you ended it with her?” She scoffs and begins to pace the floor angrily. “That was certainly one hell of a parting gift.”

  “It wasn’t like
that, Leigh. I don’t know what possessed me to go back to her place after we went out. I broke up with her before we even went out, and—”

  She stops in her tracks and glares at me and immediately I know this isn’t going to end well. “WHAT? Wait…” She puts her hand up. “You broke up with her and then still went out with her to some sorostitute shit? How desperate can she be? How dumb can you be?”

  “I…I don’t know. I’m sorry…I just thought I owed—“

  “Owed? You didn’t owe her shit. You guys spent three months making out and holding hands. Jesus Christ, Everett. Sometimes, I really resent this nice guy bullshit. Grow a pair, seriously.”

  I let out a breath, steeling myself for bitchy Leigh to make her presence.

  Don’t fight back. Just take it. She’s just angry. And Leigh only knows how to fight one way. Dirty. As. Fuck.

  My jaw ticks as I remember this fight isn’t going to lead to makeup sex.

  “You have something you want to say?” She stares at me, daring me to challenge her. Her black eyes narrow and her lips purse into a scowl.

  “No,” I tell her. “Leigh, I’m sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am for fucking things up between us.” I sit on Seth’s bed and stare up into her angry eyes. “But…are you ever going to be able to forgive me? You’re…my best friend and…fuck, like the best person I know. You’ve been the most important person to me since we were what…fucking nine? If you’re going to tell me this is it, then I need to know now so I can…I don’t know…try to figure out what the new normalcy is,” I gulp, “without you.”

  The words come out harsher than I intended. I know full well that Leigh probably needs time. Time I’ll give her if she asks for it. I hadn’t intended for it to sound like it’s now or never. But she doesn’t bite back. Her lip trembles and then it’s between her teeth. “If I’m your best friend, and the best person you know how…how could you do this? You made me feel like I’m not enough.” She fidgets with her hands and stares at the ground, one of the signs that she’s embarrassed and I’m off the bed in an instant to try and combat her humiliation.