Her eyes fill with tears, and she tries to blink them away. I let my head fall back against the headboard. This girl still has no idea how far I’ll go for her.
I lift my head away from the headboard and look her hard in the eyes. “To the ends of the earth, Maggie,” I sign, repeating our phrase to her.
She forces a sad smile. “And back.”
Chapter Sixteen
Sydney
Someone is removing my clothes. Who in the hell is removing my clothes?
I begin slapping away the hand that’s pulling my shorts down past my knees. I try to remember where I am, why I’m here, and how I got here.
Party.
Cake.
Pine-Sol.
Spilling Pine-Sol on my dress.
Changing.
Drinking more Pine-Sol.
Lots of Pine-Sol.
Watching Ridge love Maggie.
God, he loves her so much. I saw it in the way he watches her from across the room. I saw it in the way he touches her. In the way he communicates with her.
I can still smell the alcohol. I can still taste it as I slide my tongue over my lips.
I danced . . .
I drank more Pine-Sol . . .
Oh! The drinking game. I invented my own solitary drinking game, where every time I saw how much Ridge loved Maggie, I downed a shot. Unfortunately, that made for a hell of a lot of shots.
Who in the hell is pulling off my shorts?
I try to open my eyes, but I can’t tell if it’s working. They feel open, but it’s still dark inside my head.
Oh, my God. I’m drunk, and someone is undressing me.
I’m about to be raped!
I start kicking at the hands that are yanking the shorts from my feet.
“Sydney!” a girl yells. “Stop!” She’s laughing. I focus for a few seconds and can tell the voice belongs to Maggie.
“Maggie?”
She comes closer, and a soft hand brushes back my hair as the bed dips down next to me. I squeeze my eyes shut, then force them wide open several times, until I finally begin to adjust to the dark. She puts her hands on my shirt and attempts to unbutton it.
Why in the hell is she still taking off my clothes?
Oh, my God! Maggie wants to rape me!
I slap at her hand, and she grips my wrist. “Sydney!” She laughs. “You’re covered in puke. I’m trying to help you.”
Puke? Covered in it?
That explains the massive headache. But . . . it doesn’t explain why I’m laughing. Why am I laughing? Am I still drunk? “What time is it?” I ask her.
“I don’t know. Tonight, I think. Like, midnight?”
“That’s it?”
She nods, then starts laughing with me. “You threw up on Brennan.”
Brennan? I met Brennan?
It looks as if her eyes are trying hard to focus on my face. “Can I tell you a secret?” she says.
I nod. “Okay, but I probably won’t remember it, because I think I’m still drunk.”
She smiles and leans forward. She’s so pretty. Maggie is really, really pretty. “I can’t stand Bridgette,” she says quietly.
I laugh.
Maggie starts laughing again, too, and tries to pull my shirt off, but she’s laughing too hard and keeps having to pause for deep breaths.
“Are you drunk, too?” I ask her.
She inhales again, attempting to pause her laughter, and then she exhales. “So drunk. I thought I took your shirt off already, but your shirt keeps coming back on, and I don’t know how many shirts you have, but”—she lifts the edge of my shirt sleeve, which is still on my arm, and looks at it in confusion—“oh, my God, I really thought I took it off already, and here it is again.”
I lift myself up on the bed, then help her pull my shirt off. “Why am I already in bed if it’s only midnight?”
She shrugs. “I have no idea what you just said.”
She’s funny. I reach to the nightstand and turn on the lamp. Maggie scoots off the bed and lowers herself to the floor. She lies flat on her stomach with a sigh and begins moving her arms, making snow angels against the carpet.
“I don’t want to go to bed yet,” I tell her.
She flips over onto her back and looks up at me. “Then don’t. I told Ridge to let you stay up and play because we were having so much fun, but you threw up in Brennan’s lap, so he made you go to bed.” She sits up. “Let’s go play some more. I want more cake.” She pushes up on her hands and stands, then reaches for my hands and pulls me off the bed.
I look down at myself. “But you took off my clothes,” I say, pouting.
She looks at my bra and underwear. “Where’d you get that bra? It’s so cute.”
“JCPenney.”
“Oh. Ridge likes the kind that clasp in the front, but yours is really cute. I want one.”
“You should get one,” I say, smiling. “We could be bra twins.”
She pulls me toward the door. “Let’s go see if Ridge likes it. I want him to buy me one.”
I smile. I hope he likes it. “Okay.”
Maggie opens the door to my room and pulls me behind her into the living room. “Ridge!” she yells. I laugh, because I don’t know why she’s yelling for him. He can’t hear her.
“Hey, Warren,” I say, grinning when I see him on the couch. “Happy Birthday.” Bridgette is seated next to him, glaring at me. She’s looking me up and down, probably jealous because my bra really is cute.
Warren shakes his head and laughs. “That’s only the fiftieth time you’ve said that tonight, although it’s a little more fitting now that you’re practically in your birthday suit.”
Ridge is sitting on the other side of Bridgette. He’s shaking his head like Warren. “Maggie wants to know if you like my bra,” I say to Ridge. I pull on Maggie’s hand so she’ll turn around and sign to him.
“It’s a very nice bra,” Ridge says, staring at it with a cocked eyebrow.