Out of Breath (Breathing, #3)(15)

I smiled. Or maybe I hadn’t stopped.

‘Hi,’ he said, throwing his arm along the couch above my head. ‘I’m Aiden.’

‘Hey, Aiden,’ I greeted loudly. ‘I’m Emma.’

‘Emma, you shouldn’t be sitting here all by yourself. You need to come to a party with me and my friends.’

‘I do?’ I laughed.

‘Yes, you do,’ he confirmed with a charming smile.

‘I’m waiting for my friend,’ I explained. ‘I don’t know where she is.’ I couldn’t remember where Serena had disappeared to. The fog in my head was too thick to recall her words. ‘But then we’ll go … with you … to the party.’ I smiled again – or I continued to.

‘You’re cute,’ he said, scooting in a little closer.

‘You’re not so bad yourself,’ my mouth said. He leaned over and thanked my mouth with a kiss, and I let him. I realized again that I couldn’t feel his lips. Or maybe it was my lips I couldn’t feel. I really needed to figure that out. I realized I was drunk. And I was okay with that too.

‘Emma!’

Aiden pulled back. I was confused by his retreat, and when I opened my eyes, Serena was standing in front of me. She looked mad. Why was she mad?

‘Serena!’ I yelled enthusiastically. ‘There you are! This is Aiden. We’re going to a party with him.’

‘Hi,’ he said.

‘Uh, no we’re not,’ she snipped. Wow. She was really mad. ‘Get lost, Aiden.’

Aiden pushed up from the couch. ‘See you later, Emma.’ And then he disappeared.

‘Where’s he going?’ I asked in confusion.

‘Who cares,’ Serena muttered. ‘Let’s go home, Emma.’

‘Are you mad at me, Serena?’ I asked, my smile lost.

‘No, Em,’ she sighed. ‘I just screwed up and fed you too many shots. You’re drunk, and you need to go to bed.’

‘Yeah, I’m tired.’

I felt dizzy on the ride home, so I kept my eyes shut, but everything kept spinning. I pressed my head against the window, begging for it to stop. And then we did.

‘Em, we’re home,’ Serena announced.

‘Huh?’ I tried to lift my head, but it was so heavy. I blinked my eyes open as Serena appeared next to me by the open door. I stumbled to the front porch, leaning into her. My feet were clumsy, almost as bad as my head.

‘Help me,’ Serena said.

‘I’m trying,’ I muttered.

‘How did this happen?’ Meg asked. Her arm slid around me.

‘My fault,’ Serena said. I followed the stairs up to my room, but I wasn’t sure if my legs were moving.

‘There you go, Em,’ Meg said as I felt the pillow cradle my head.

‘I fell off the stage,’ I told Meg, my tongue lazy and uncooperative.

‘You did what?’

‘She did a backwards stage dive,’ Serena clarified.

My eyes wouldn’t stay open, so I couldn’t see Meg’s reaction. There was a tornado in my brain that kept the room spinning beneath my lids. I groaned and flopped my arm over my eyes to try to keep myself pinned down.

‘Just get some sleep,’ Meg said, pulling a blanket over me.

When I woke the next day, my head was trying to split itself in half. Serena was overly apologetic, claiming she’d been so nervous about my stage dive that she thought she was helping take the edge off with the shots. I couldn’t connect the logic of how getting me drunk helped her nerves, but the knife plunged into my head distracted me from arguing the point. I vowed to never drink again … again.





5


Not Boring


I FELT A PRESENCE HOVERING ABOVE ME AS I bent over my Anatomy book with music blasting in my ears. I raised my head to find Cole standing across the communal table. I eyed him curiously, not expecting to see him standing across from me after I’d ditched him … twice.

I removed my earbuds without a word and looked at him in expectation.

‘How’s the list of new things coming along?’ he whispered. ‘That was an impressive stage dive at The Grove a couple of weeks ago.’

‘You were there?’ I wasn’t certain I liked that he’d witnessed the next thing on my list. The list that hadn’t existed before I’d met him. ‘I didn’t figure you for the type to like that kind of music.’

‘I’m pretty open to anything,’ he answered casually. ‘Can’t always judge by appearances.’

It was true. I had judged him the moment I saw him. ‘I’m surprised you’re talking to me.’

‘Me too,’ he replied. ‘I didn’t call you for a reason after Peyton gave me your number. A guy can only get blown off so many times before taking a hint.’

‘So, why are you talking to me now?’

‘Maybe a part of me is convinced you’re not a total bitch,’ he answered, his eyes crinkling wryly.

‘Just most of me.’ My mouth quirked slightly.

‘Well, I’ll let you get back to studying. I think my time’s about up.’ He adjusted the strap of his backpack on his shoulder and turned to leave.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’