Page 36 of Free Fall

We chattered away as the class finished, then headed for our respective lectures, meeting again for lunch with Seren, agreeing to gather at mine as soon as we were all done. It was an easy way to pass a birthday, an insignificant one filled with the average college fun I craved. I ordered the most sickeningly sweet coffee as I headed home, sipping it as I passed the early signs of spring.

Color was leeching back into the world, warming my blood. Flowers breaking through the mud, blossom hanging from the trees, the occasional buzz of a keen bee. It was a good time of year, when I grew older and the world bloomed again.

Seren was at my door when I rocked up, one arm loaded with grocery bags, the other with a paper gift bag. “Hey!” she yelled. “Birthday girl coming through!”

“Seren, there’s no one else here,” I commented with a laugh, letting her pull me into a hug even though we’d already seen each other twice today.

“Don’t care.” She shrugged. “It’s important that even the dust bunnies know to avoid your air.”

I shouldered the door open and let her walk in first, sighing when she upturned the bags on my bed, showcasing the avalanche of sugar and salt. My stomach squeezed a little at the sight of it all, but I took another sip of my sugary coffee and the moment passed.

Seren chattered my ear off until Avery arrived, then he joined in the cacophony, the movies going unwatched in the background as we bounced off each other, getting drunker and higher on sugar. My roommate was away, so we had the entire space to ourselves, spreading out between the beds in a poor man’s fort of blankets and pillows.

“I wanna dance!” I shouted, half way through Pitch Perfect and screeching along to all the songs. “Take me dancing, ladies!”

Seren shrieked and pulled me up, jumping and moving to the tinny music from my laptop. Avery had his phone out. “There’s a frat party not far.”

“Ew,” Seren blurted, swaying on her feet. “Ah, it’ll do. Come on!”

We stumbled to the party in our vegging out clothes, slipping right into the fray of bodies spilling from the large house. My eyesight wasn’t clear enough to work out what Greek letters they were, but the space was big and open, the booze in each corner of every room. People laughed and shouted, students moved together, music overwhelmed and mixed with the scent of sweat and spilled beer.

Warm hands hit my hips, tugging me into a body I didn’t recognize, trying to dance with me. While I kept moving, my mind revolted. “No!” I yelled, batting the hand away, whirling around to face the person touching me without permission. He didn’t look familiar. Could see he was hot, but hell, he needed to back off. I shoved him, rage a poor mix with alcohol.

“Hey!” he shouted, stepping up to me again.

“Don’t touch me!” I slapped him across the cheek, shocking even myself with my actions.

“Hey, what the fuck?” Seren said, appearing beside us. “What the hell are you doing?” She glared at the poor frat boy looking between us in bafflement.

“Shit, I don’t know.” He shook his head and wandered off through the crowd, disappearing in seconds as the over-packed space swallowed him whole.

Seren turned to look at me, her face marred with concern and confusion. “Zel, you have to tell me what’s been going on with you. You’re acting weird.”

I winced, adrenaline still coursing through me. The frat boy had done nothing wrong, only touched me, tried to dance with me. Shit, Islappedhim.

Seren stared at me, awaiting my answer.

“You guys good?” Avery asked, popping up at the same time I said, “I’m fucking Luca.”

“Tell me again,” Seren said slowly, sipping from the bottles of water we’d found before moving our asses out onto the backyard patio. Avery sat on my other side, his head dipped down as he listened. He didn’t know Luca, not my family or our history, but he was as shocked as Seren when she filled in the gaps for him.

“The massive viking looking guy from your dad’s office?” Was Avery’s blurting response, which made Seren laugh, a little of the tension breaking.

Still, I’d started the spillage, I needed to finish it. With my face turned down, I carried on. “Luca and I have been fucking since Halloween.”

Seren breathed out a long puff of air. “Yeah… shit.”

“I’m sorry,” I whimpered, letting my head fall into my hands. “This is such a mess.”

Seren patted my shoulders. “It’s not my mess though, no need to apologize, sweet thing. You just need to tell me what you need. Who’s shit we’re fucking up. Tell me that and I’ll be at your back.”

“Me too,” Avery added.

“I don’t know how to handle it. Things are good between us, you know? As good as they can be, anyway. We have incredible sex, better than anything I’ve experienced before, anyway. He’s different. I’m aware I sound exactly like someone who’s been brainwashed… shit…” I groaned again, shoving away my urge to ramble, shaking my entire body and slamming my feet onto the grass beneath the patio. “God! I need to get out of my body!”

“We could always force feed you more alcohol,” Seren suggested, her tone light. “There’s a whole kitchen full of cheap liquor to steal, and we can just sit here and get as shit-faced as you need. Avery will stay sober and get us home.”

Avery laughed, but nodded. “Of course. Then tomorrow, we can be sober and responsible. Figure out this shit show.”

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