Page 41 of King of Players

I felt lonely. So painfully lonely, and if I couldn’t let it out, I feared I would burst into tears.

“Marvin,” I whispered. “I miss him… and that’s not okay.”

sixteen

Sobering Up

Chad

“You sure you can find your way to the bedroom by yourself?” My friend Talia laughed through her open window as she rested her hand over the wheel. “Need help finding the door?”

Staggering, I swayed in the middle of the driveway, chuckling. “Ah-ha-ha, you’re hilarious. Sure you don’t wanna come in?” I offered with a suggestive gaze.

She laughed. “No. And I highly recommend a hurl bucket.”

“You know very well I can hold my liquor. This is nothing.”

“Well, look out. The nothing’s got a hold of your feet.”

“Don’t be a jerk!”

“Nighty night, Chaddy boy. I had fun.”

I waved with a hand as I spun on my heel, trying to direct my steps toward the entrance. “Always a pleasure, darlin’. Always a pleasure.”

Just as I raised my hand to the door, it cracked open. I looked up, expecting to see my housekeeper. Instead, I saw Kaira’s angry face staring back at me. As she stepped aside, I pushed the door further and walked inside. For a second, I wondered if Talia had mistakenly driven me to Kaira’s house. No. No, this was my house.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, walking past her toward the kitchen.

“You’re wasted!”

Opening the fridge, I grabbed a bottle of water. “So?”

“I came to talk to you.”

“How did they just leave you here?” I took a big gulp, which made my stomach turn.

She smirked. “I guess they’re used to your girlfriends being here at all times, unattended.”

“Well.” I shrugged, smiling and rolling my eyes as I staggered back toward her. “So, talk.” I could see that she was livid, but I couldn’t think of what I had done wrong. Since she told me that nothing more could happen between us, I had respected her wishes and stayed out of her way. My head hurt. I felt nauseous. I wished she would get it over with and leave so I could pass out in peace.

“Not while you’re in this state, I won’t.” She marched angrily toward the kitchen, her eyes searching all around.

“What are you doing?”

I heard the clanking and slamming of items on the counter while her hands worked at an impressive speed. “Sobering you up.”

“Wow,” I snorted. “You really can’t bear to see someone having fun, can you?”

“No.” She sternly said without looking at me. I started to smell the coffee, and once again, my stomach turned. “I’m a prude, remember?”

“What?” Surrendering to gravity, I let my body flop down on the couch. I then proceeded to gulp down the rest of the water, at the risk of making things worse. I was just so incredibly thirsty.

Without offering a response, she trooped toward me, handing me a cup of coffee. “Here. Sip it slowly.”

“Th—Thanks? I guess?” Furrowing my eyebrows, I watched her walk barefoot toward an armchair a few feet away. Instead of gracefully sitting down like she always did, she gathered the wide, flowing skirt of her dress in her hands between her legs, hiking it up as she did. She then threw herself into the chair, raising her legs and crossing them in what resembled a yoga pose. I took a sip and realized that she didn’t add any sugar. Cringing, I asked, “What exactly did I do?”

Impatiently, she sighed, squeezing her eyes shut and tilting her head in visible frustration. “Something tells me that I’m gonna have to repeat myself in fifteen minutes… but here goes nothing.” After pressing her lips into a thin line for a moment, she finally said, “Chad, I don’t appreciate the fact that someone other than the two of us found out about what happened.”

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