“I’ll get you a glass.”
I checked my phone one more time as she got a ceramic mug. She poured it half-full from the spigot on the side of the wine box.
“Whoa,” I said, reaching for it. “Not so much.”
“You need to let loose.”
I lifted the mug in the air while she grabbed her more traditional wine glass, the only one we had in the house. We clinked them together then both took a drink.
“Ugh. Awful,” I said, scrunching up my face.
“Right?” she said, giggling. “To old times.”
She raised her glass again. Reluctantly, I did the same. Two drinks soon turned into four somehow. Before I knew it, midnight had come and gone.
“Shit,” I said, standing up. “I need to sleep.”
“Hey Brooke,” she said, getting serious for the first time all night, “I’m sorry I’ve been such a wreck lately. I shouldn’t have been so cold about Austin. I just want you to be careful, alright?”
I saw sincerity in her eyes for the first time in a while. I nodded before shutting the door behind me.
TWENTY-ONE
Brooke
I usually allowed myself to sleep until I woke naturally on Saturday mornings, but the morning after getting tipsy with Jocelyn, I woke up to her playing music in the kitchen.
I threw the covers back and got out of bed. Jocelyn sat at the kitchen table, staring at her own cup of coffee.
“Thanks for making coffee,” I said.
She lifted her head. “No problem. Thought it was the least I could do after getting you wasted last night. Dude my head is killing me.”
“Yeah well your music isn’t helping,” I said turning it down.
I walked back into my room and sent Austin a text message, apologizing for missing his call while I was drinking and asking if he minded me coming over. Almost immediate, he sent the address.
* * *
He answered the door wearing boxers and nothing else.
“You always walk around the house half-naked?” I teased.
“Come on in. I usually sleep in on Saturdays, but my phone woke me up.”
I stepped inside, closing the door behind me.
“Tell me about it.”
“Someone called and woke you up?”
“No, not exactly.” I glanced over at two guys on the couch yelling at each other. “Can we go to your room and talk?”
“Sure,” he said.
I followed him up a staircase.
“Is that Trey’s room?” I asked, nodding my head at a second door across the hall from the one he was opening.