First Down (Beyond the Play, #1)(7)

I down the rest of my warm beer and make my way through the dance floor. Someone stomps on my foot, which knocks me back into Laura. She giggles, gripping me in a tight hug. “Bex! Aren’t you having the best time!”

Barry presses another drink into my hands. “It’s cold!” he shouts unnecessarily.

This beer is blessedly less lukewarm, so I take a gulp. Laura kisses me on the cheek, her arms still wrapped around me, swaying us in a circle. I can smell her signature orange blossom perfume along with the beer on her breath.

“Hey,” I say. “I’m going to head out.”

Her lips, still somehow perfectly black with matte lipstick, curve into a pout. “What? No way! We’re just getting started!”

“Darryl’s here.”

“Darryl?” she says loudly. “Where?”

My stomach pinches in on itself. I pull her away from the dance floor, back into the shadows. “Stop, you’ll summon him.”

She roots her feet in place and refuses to go another step. Even though she’s tipsy, her eyes are clear as she looks at me. “Bex, it’s okay. Don’t tip-toe around him, show him you’re fine.”

My voice cracks as I respond. “But what if I’m not?”

The pain in my words must register to Laura because she throws Barry an apologetic look and drags me off. We go upstairs, past a few different couples in various states of hooking up, and stop in front of one of the doors. Laura pounds on it. Someone shouts at us to go away, but she just jiggles the handle until it swings open, revealing a shirtless dude pulling up his pants and a girl adjusting her braless, backless dress.

“What is your problem?” she shrieks.

“Out!” Laura says with such ferocity they don’t argue. She pulls me inside and makes me sit down on the edge of the tub, locking the door and leaning against it. She blows the hair out of her eyes and takes a deep breath.

“Do you want to get back together with him?” she says.

“No,” I say immediately.

“Do you still love him?”

“God no.”

“Good. Because he’s a jerk. Hooking up with random cleat chasing chicks.”

I grimace. Last spring, I stumbled upon all the sexting, and then the story of his side pieces unraveled, and that had been the last blow in a rapidly unwinding relationship. I met Darryl at a party like this my first semester at McKee, and the prospect of having a real boyfriend for the first time since high school was too tempting to resist. During the football season, it was easy to be with him; he was so busy that he didn’t mind me being busy as well, as long as I went to all the home games. But after the season imploded and the spring semester rolled around, he became clingy, overprotective, and downright annoying—while at the same time cheating on me with a couple of football groupies.

Despite me making it clear that I wanted to break up, he spent the summer texting and calling like he thought there was a chance I’d change my mind. Darryl Lemieux is not used to being told no, especially by women.

Now all the distance I built up over the summer, with him being home in Massachusetts and me still in New York, has vanished in one night, at one crummy party.

“I know,” I say. “I’m not… I’m just dreading it, you know? He’s going to try to rekindle things, and when he realizes I can’t do that, he’ll act like a baby. That’s what he did the entire time we were together. Someone doesn’t give him what he wants, he complains. It’s like he thinks that just because he can catch a stupid football, he’s some sort of god.”

Laura sits down next to me on the edge of the tub. She glances back and makes a face. “Ugh. Someone needs to clean this bathroom, it’s nasty. Nice showerhead though.”

I laugh weakly. “Not regretting living with me instead of here, are you?”

“Definitely not. Like I’d choose having to guard my hair iron from vultures instead of living with my bestie.”

I knock our shoulders together. “I’ll go home. Have fun with Barry.”

She frowns. “Are you sure you want to take a cab back alone? It’ll be expensive.”

“I’ll figure it out,” I say, even though inside I curse, because she’s right. An overpriced cab, even only going back to the dorms about fifteen minutes away, will pretty much negate what I made from my shift at The Purple Kettle. On the way here, I was fortunate enough to tag along in the rideshare Barry paid for.

“Okay,” she says, pulling me into a hug. “But call me once you get back to the suite. And maybe go around the back.”

I kiss her cheek and disentangle myself. Winding my way through the crowds, I head to the back room, where there’s an exit to the patio.

“Bex.”

Like an idiot, I turn—and almost smack right into Darryl.

“Hey,” he says, steadying me with his hands on my shoulders. He squeezes before stepping back. “Finally, I thought maybe you wouldn’t show. What’re you drinking, baby?”

I close my eyes briefly. The urge to flee is right there, pushing down on me, but I force myself to stay put. “I…”

“I know,” he says, snapping his fingers. “Vodka soda.”

That’s not even remotely right—if I’m drinking something other than beer or wine, it’s usually a rum and coke. I try to sidestep him, but he wraps his arm around my waist. He strokes the neckline of my dress, his fingers brushing my skin.