Page 67 of Our Ruined Beginnings

Madden

I watch Harper make her way across the room and let my arm drop from around Sylvie’s shoulders. No use putting up the pretense if the intended audience isn’t here.

“Where are you going?” she asks, her eyes flicking over to the cheerleaders.

“I’m gonna check on Harper.” She didn’t look happy, and she also didn’t look sober. Like … at all. We only had an inch or two of beer in the bottom of our cups, but they must’ve had something stronger. I could see the way she started to sway toward the end, her eyes taking on a glassy stare.

“I’ll go,” she says quickly, following the direction of her retreating back before I can argue. I go to follow her, pretty sure Harper doesn’t actually know Sylvie, but Caleb calls me back, involving me in some stupid bet he’s made with one of the soccer players. I only half listen, my main focus on the direction Harper left in and Evan making his way down the hall.

I don’t hear a single thing Caleb or the other guy say to me or each other, and it’s only a few minutes before I give up the pretense and find the bathroom myself.

Evan is coming out as I enter, his eyes glassy and wild, although he recognizes me easily enough.

“Madden,” he bellows, attracting the attention of everyone around him. He throws his arm around me, but I shrug it off, not in the mood to keep away from Harper any longer. There’s an uneasy feeling in my gut, and I don’t like it.

“Have you seen Harper?”

“Oh yeah, she’s in with your little friend.”

“Doing what?” I ask with a frown. I know women like to go to the bathroom together, but they don’t seem like they’d have made friends that quickly. Evan makes a snorting motion, though, and I scoff.

“As fucking if.” Harper doesn’t touch that shit. She barely drinks, which is probably why it looked like they were hitting her so hard.

“Harper will do plenty when you dare her to.” I frown at his unhinged laugh, not knowing what he’s on about, and when I see Harper exit the bathroom with Sylvie, I push away from him, ignoring his grumble as he sways.

I wouldn’t believe him for a second, best friend or not, until I see her eyes. They’re glassy and unfocused, swinging around the room just like his.

I get to her in a second, gripping her upper arm and forcing her to look at me.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I’m irrationally angry. She’s perfect; why on earth is she dabbling in this shit? Her brows crash down as her eyes bounce around my face.

“Me? What areyoudoing?”

“I’m taking you home. Let’s go.” I turn to lead her through the crowd, but her quiet words still me.

“What about Nate?”

“Don’t pretend you care about him,” I throw over my shoulder.

“Like you care about Sylvie? Is that the kind of girl you want, Madden?”

Is that what this is about? Keeping up with Sylvie; doing the shit she does? She couldn’t be farther from the truth.

“No, baby,” I say softly, not daring to touch her. It’s not like I want to with everyone here, with my brother somewhere… “She’s not who I want at all.” Her eyes droop shut, and I’m not sure she’s even taking in what I’m saying. My anger kicks up again. Why on earth would she think I wanted someone who does drugs? As if that would make her more desirable to me? There’s not a thing that could—she’s all I ever want. And in this moment, I don’t know why I couldn’t just fucking tell her that—why I felt I had to wait until she’d graduated. She’s only a year younger, but I didn’t want to put her in an uncomfortable position. Not to mention my brother is her best fucking friend. We both are.

“We’re going,” I tell her, unsure if she even hears me, before leading her through the house to the foyer. “I’ll get an Uber.”

“Wait,” she murmurs before we reach the front door. “Not without Caleb.”

I sigh but relent. That’s fair. Grabbing Evan’s keys from the bowl I saw him throw them into earlier, I hand them to her with her jacket and the hat Caleb took off on the way in.

“I’ll be back. Wait here.”

Harper

I’m standing in the foyer with Evan’s keys in my hand, waiting for the guys, when Caleb appears and throws his arm around my shoulders. He nearly topples us both. My vision swims, and my limbs feel weak under his weight. I didn’t think I drank that much, but I amnotfeeling good.

“Hey, H,” he slurs in my ear. “What are we waiting for?” He takes his hat out of my hands, leaving my jacket thrown over my arm and the keys in my outstretched palm.

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