“Are you working tomorrow?”
“Yep,” she sighed. Luckily, her shift didn’t start until noon, so she wouldn’t have to wake too early. A good thing if Peter was going to keep buying her drinks.
“You know, we never really talked about that date I asked you on.” Peter’s coarse hand fell to her knee, and she eyed the touch warily. “No Thai food, right?”
“You know, Peter, I don’t really have time to date.” She looped her fingers around his wrist and removed his hand before it wandered somewhere else. “I think we should just be friends.”
“Oh.” He blinked; cleared his throat; scratched the back of his neck. “Right. Sure.”
Bryce almost apologized, but then decided against it. What did she have to be sorry for? She had never led Peter on or done anything to make him assume they could be an item. She was being honest. She didn’t owe him any more than that.
“So do you maybe want to hang out another time… as friends?” he continued.
“Maybe.” Noncommittal, she just shrugged, then checked her phone again. Still nothing. Though she knew Liv would probably be telling her friends how clingy and annoying her big sister was, she began to type out another message. Her fingers were clumsy, and it ended up as a distorted version of “Are you okay?” riddled with typos and random emojis.
Pressure began to build on her bladder, a result of too many cocktails downed too quickly, and she groaned as she slid off the barstool.
“I’m going to head to the bathroom,” she shouted above the music, which had transitioned from Halloween party to dance and electronica. “I’ll see you later, Peter.”
“Well, let me help you.” Peter rose with her and placed his hands at the small of her back as she stumbled her way through the crowd.
“I don’t think you’re allowed in the ladies’ room.” She paused when a familiar head of straightened red-gold hair caught her attention. Thea was leaning across the edge of the bar, laughing, with a pretty bartender who Bryce had only met once. Heidi.
Her usual filter corroded by the alcohol, Bryce scoffed out her disgust. She didn’t quite know what she was disgusted at, only that each time Thea turned into a gooey, starry-eyed mess in front of a pretty woman, it left something achingly heavy in her gut. Second-hand embarrassment, maybe.
Definitely not jealousy, anyway.
“You okay?” Peter raised a brow, still bracing his hands on her hips to steady her, though she wasn’tthatdrunk. Just dizzy. Just swaying. Just a little bit nauseous and a little bit regretful over that third Franken-lime.
“Uh-huh,” nodded Bryce, pushing Peter’s hands away and brushing past Thea without a word. “Peachy. See you later, Peter.”
She walked quickly into the disinfectant-laced hallway, the pulse of the music ebbing when the door fell shut. Peter was left on the other side, and she hoped it stayed that way. She pushed through to the ladies’ room before he could follow.
Someone was washing their hands at the sinks, and Bryce struggled to recognize her through her alcohol-induced haze.
“Hey,” she finally muttered, leaning lazily against the wall. “You’re Mikey’s Hannah.”
Hannah frowned, eyes lifting in the mirror to meet Bryce’s as she shook the excess water from her hands. “Who?”
“Mikey. My friend.”
“You mean that guy with the,” her finger traced a halo around the crown of her head, “hair?”
“Yeah. He wore combat boots for you.” With that, Bryce sauntered into the stall, checking her phone as she relieved herself. No texts. Panic began to build in her, fueled slightly by the booze. When she was done, she wandered back out into an empty bathroom to wash her hands and then dialled her sister’s number.
It rang. No answer.
Bryce texted her again.
‘Ppck up thw pkone pls!!!’ she wrote in a haphazard clicking of letters, and then added a few thumbs up emojis for good measure.
Ugh. Bryce’s stomach was churning, and not just from the Franken-limes. Her sister was home alone, Thea had abandoned her for a prettier, nicer woman, and she was too drunk.AndPeter was probably still waiting for her at the door.
She whirled around as the door was thrown open, the handle denting the plaster of the wall from the force.
“Peter’s waiting for you outside the door.” Thea entered scowling, her dress stained red. Her cheeks were much the same shade, too.
“What happened toyou?”