Broken and Screwed

I was about to tell her that it was nothing, but Angie rushed out, “Nathan asked her out.”

Marissa gasped. She clapped her hands to her cheeks and squealed in her seat. “Oh, my god. That’s so exciting. Alex, say something. Aren’t you happy about that?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess.”

“You’re not excited about that?” She watched me closely and frowned. “Are you waiting for…?”

I saw that she was hesitant to say his name so I rushed forward with my own question. “Have you talked to him recently?”

She froze.

“What are you girls talking about?” Cord frowned. He had lounged back with his arm thrown over Marissa’s chair. He pulled his tuxedo collar out now and exchanged a look with Ben.

“Nothing,” Marissa said quickly.

Angie frowned at her.

“So have you talked to him recently?”

“Why would she have talked to him? He’s your—”

“Yes.” She shoved back her chair and stood up. Her hands held onto the table. “I called him after he left. I have no excuse for that.”

I shoved my chair back as well. My heart was starting to pick up its pace and my cheeks were warm. “What did you promise him? What were you after? Were you going to drive there if he said yes?”

Angie’s eyes had widened and she was white in the face. She stood with us, but held onto her drink with a death grip.

“Alex, I’m sorry—”

“Sorry for what? What’d you do?” I needed her to say it. I needed to hear the words.

“For…” she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “For—what do you want me to say?”

“The truth.” It ripped out of me.

She gulped. The blood drained from her face. As she started to sway on her feet, Cord jumped up and caught her elbow. “Hey, whoa. Hey. You okay?” He frowned at us and then shook his head. “I think maybe we should call it a night. There’s stuff going on between you three, but I don’t think it’s worth Marissa getting sick.”

Angie snorted. Her hand found her hip and she stuck it out.

Marissa swayed more unsteadily on her feet. She was still holding onto the table and her knuckles had grown white.

“Okay.” Cord shot us another dark look, but drew her against him. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and then draped his coat around her shoulders. “Let’s head home, huh?”

She nodded, but clung to him.

Angie glared after them. She threw back the rest of her punch and then ground up her cup into pieces. When they fell from her hand, she growled in disgust. “I can’t believe her. Really, I can’t believe her. She knew about you and him. Hell, she knew before when she was trying to go at him. Is she mentally screwed up or what? Is it her ego? Does she really have to conquer every guy out there?”

Justin came up to the table at that moment. He took one look at Angie and spun around on his heel.

She snorted after him. “That’s probably for the best. I’d unleash my anger on him and that’s all sorts of wrong.” She sighed and looked at me. “Are you okay?”

My shoulders bounced up in a careless shrug. “Whatever. I’ll deal.” But that wasn’t the truth. The truth was that it stung, a lot. Tears threatened to fall, and I swallowed a lump down my throat. I couldn’t dwell on it. That would make me think of what she’d done and inevitably that would make me think of Jesse. I was really trying to stop thinking about him.

“Hey.” Eric approached with a frown and two glasses in his hands. He handed one to me. “Justin said something was wrong.”

Angie gave him a ‘duh’ look. “And I bet he warned you to stay away.”

Eric stiffened. His eyes skirted from her to me and he gave us a sheepish look. “Uh, yeah, but I didn’t. Was that not the right thing to do?”

“No.” Angie’s hands found her hips and she turned to scan the room. “You’re doing the right thing. Where’s my boyfriend? I’ve got something different to unleash on him.”

I couldn’t hold back a grin as she winked at me when she headed out. Those two would be long gone within minutes, so I glanced at Ben.

His eyes looked ready to pop out as he was still in his chair. Beads of sweat had formed on his forehead. He lifted a handkerchief to wipe them away. I knew he’d been sweating since we got into the gym. With all the hot bodies and dancing, it was on the verge of a sauna.

“Did you have fun?”

He nodded, still speechless.

I chuckled. My hand slipped into Eric’s. “I think it’s time we call it a night.”

Eric grasped my hand. A smile lit up his face.

Ben jerked his head in a nod. His second chin wobbled from the movement and then he struggled to his feet. “I’ll see you guys. See you at work tomorrow morning.”

We watched him go. His shoulders drooped. No one said goodbye to him and he collected his coat in silence.

My heart swelled for him. In some ways, I felt like my life was similar to Ben’s, but in others I knew I was lucky to still have Angie as my friend.

Eric watched beside me. “He’s a nice guy. Junior, right?”

“He’s a senior with us.”

“He is? I don’t remember him in any of our classes.”

That was Ben’s problem. He was always there, but in the background. And before I started getting sad again, I whirled around with a bright smile. I slipped both of my arms around Eric’s waist underneath his tuxedo coat. “Are you hungry?”