Page 62 of Tiny Fractures

She presses her lips together before shrugging. “Just curious. Seems like you’re hiding something,” she says, her eyes narrowing, boring their way into my head.

I laugh. “You’re too much, Vada, seriously,” I chuckle, and take another big gulp from the bottle. I need to slow it down, so I set the bottle back down on the floor next to me.

“Was it a girl?” she questions.

I swallow the Jack too fast, making myself cough hard.

Shane comes to my rescue. “What are you, his mom?”

“I’m just asking!” Vada leans back in her seat, huffing, then mutters under her breath, “If it’s some chick, she better be cool. We don’t need some weirdo in our group.”

“Wow, babe,” Steve chuckles. “What’s up with you tonight?”

“Sorry, that was mean. I just really want Ran to get with Cat already,” Vada gripes, and I laugh. If only she knew.

“We know, babe. We know,” Steve placates her, patting her head with his hand, making all of us laugh.

We spend a couple more hours hanging out on the deck before Shane makes good on his threat and yells, “Cops!” at the top of his lungs. As anticipated, the stragglers quickly disperse, and Drew volunteers to drive Cheyenne, who fell asleep in her chair in a rather unflattering position. Summer covers her with a blanket, then helps Drew get Cheyenne to the car, warning him not to try anything with her.

In the end only Shane, Tori, Zack, Summer, Vada, Steve, and I remain, and it’s exactly the way I like it. The six of them are my closest friends, and I’m about as content as I can be. The only missing piece is Cat. My night would be fucking perfect if she was here with me right now, and my thoughts turn to her at every possible chance. It’s fucking exciting yet unnerving at the same time. Deep down I know I have no business being with her. I should stay away from her, for her sake.

Unfortunately, I don’t slow down with the alcohol, and by the time Zack takes Summer home, I’m way too trashed to drive myself home. So when Vada suggests Steve sleep over at her place, noting that her dad is in California at some week-long legal conference, Shane simply decides that I’ll be crashing at his place tonight.

“Hand me your keys, man. You’re not driving like this,” he says, studying my glassy eyes. “How much did you have?” He takes the bottle of Jack from my hand, noting that it’s decidedly more empty than full.

“Who even knows,” I say slowly, giving him an exaggerated shrug, then fish my car keys out of my pocket and drop them into Shane’s outstretched hand.

“Alright, I’m going to make a quick fast food run; we gotta get some greasy-ass food in you before you fucking pass out on me,” he says with a nod to Tori. “Keep an eye on him for me, babe,” he says, grabs his keys, then heads out the door behind Steve and Vada.

Tori starts to collect empty plastic cups and bottles of beer, trying to tidy up the house as much as possible. Shane’s place is usually trashed after his parties, and though I try to help, Tori insists that I just sit down and drink some water instead.

“So, Shay told me a little secret,” she says, sitting down next to me on the white sofa in the living room. She hitches a knee up onto the cushion so she can face my wasted self.

“Oh yeah, what’s that?” I say, squeezing my eyes shut, willing the room to stop spinning.

“He said that you have a thing for Cat,” she says with a smile.

“Fucking asshole,” I groan through clenched teeth.

Tori laughs. “He didn’t do it on purpose. I have a way of finding out things,” she says with a gleam in her eyes, and winks.

“Using your hot female powers to your advantage again?” I say, looking at her, but immediately regretting opening my eyes when I get dizzy. I lean my head back against the sofa and close my eyes again, fatigue and nausea gnawing at me.

“What can I say? He’s dough in my capable hands.” She shrugs smugly.

“Yeah, he is.” Shane has been head-over-heels for Tori for a year and a half now. I wasn’t one to believe in soul mates and all that shit—I’d never been as drawn to a person as Shane was to Tori, and vice versa—but it became obvious pretty quickly that those two were meant to be together.

“So, is it true?” Tori pokes her index finger into my shoulder.

“Is what true?” My head feels foggy and slow from the alcohol.

“That you have a thing for Cat,” she says with an eye roll.

“Oh… yeah. I do.”

Tori squeals, clapping her hands, and I flinch from the noise. “Sorry,” she says quickly, then throws her arms around my neck. “That’s so exciting! Vada is going to die when she finds—”

“Don’t tell her,” I say, sitting up. “Seriously, Tori, this thing… it’s so new, and Vada has a way of pushing things too hard.” A wave of nausea comes on, probably because I sat up way too quickly. I groan. “God damn it.” I stand and walk out of the living room.

---