Page 8 of The Drop

“How would I know that? You didn’t even introduce us; ugh, I feel like I’m going to throw up.” I’m pacing the living area now.

“B, calm down. He doesn’t even know which apartment is mine!”

“Cami, I didn’t even say I was leaving him or the party.” I press a hand to my forehead. “He has no clue what’s happened or why I ran away.” I was breathing heavily now; this was getting so messy.

Cami comes running over with the bottle of wine I had put down and shoves it at me again. “Drink that and breathe”

“That seems counterproductive,” I say while taking a deep chug and wincing again. It’s a cheap wine.

“Shh.” She hisses loudly as her phone rings, and I roll my eyes. She runs over to the balcony door, adjusting the curtain. “Okay, they are here.” She drops to the floor, cracks open the balcony door, and crawls through.

“What the hell are you doing?” I hiss, clutching the wine bottle for dear life like it will save me from this horrible situation.

“Josh just got here, too. I want to listen.” She continues to crawl out the door, looking over her shoulder and shrugging. “Don’t be such a baby, come on.”

“How am I, the baby? You’re crawling on the floor.” I sigh, dropping to my knees, and crawl out the door behind her while holding the bottle of wine. I can already hear doors slamming as I join Cami sprawled on our stomachs.

My heart is in my throat; it’s beating so loudly that I am honestly surprised Cami can’t hear it. We can see through the bars and have a perfect view of Josh facing off against four big hockey players whom I most certainly have never seen before in my life. Except for the guy at the front, who I now know has a name.

Grant.

He stands on the sidewalk with his hands in pockets in front of Josh’s car and the apartments, three large guys stand behind him looking intimidating but also like they had betterplaces to be, and truthfully, they probably do, who wants to chase off a random girl’s ex on a Saturday night? Not me.

“Hey, man,” Grant says casually to Josh, who’s just got out of his car. “I’m going to need you to get back in the car and go.”

“Nice guy act, perfect way to open.” Cami vibrates next to me as she grabs the wine and somehow sips from it.

“You love drama way too much.” I sigh, grabbing it back and doing the same.

She smirks at me and shrugs.

“Sorry, I think you’ve got the wrong guy.” Josh’s voice pulls my attention back to the group he is trying to skirt around. Luckily, the front of the apartment building has shrubs surrounding the grass area up to the steps, so without stepping through those, he has to get around the guys.

He looks like normal Josh, not like a panicked boyfriend whose girlfriend disappeared out of a bathroom window, and he has been looking everywhere for her.

“Mm, not so sure about that.” One of the guys at the back says he’s built like a wall, and he’s giving off wild wildernessvibes with black hair and the beginning of a beard. “Preppy guy, probably wearing a blazer. You fit the description pretty well.”

The other boys let out groans alongside Cami, winking an eyebrow.

“Bear wasn’t supposed to say exactly what I wrote,” she says sheepishly. “In my defence, it was very accurate.”

She is right, he’s wearing exactly what he wore to the party; the only thing she missed was the loafers. Compared to these hockey guys, all dressed in jeans and casual t-shirts and jackets, he looks like he is playing dress-up.

“So, I guess you know where my girlfriend is then.” He faces off with them, having given up trying to get around. “I don’t want any trouble; my name is Josh, and I just need to speak with her. A lot of people are worried about where she’s been.”

“She doesn’t want to talk, so just do us all a favour, dude, and get back in the car.” The other brunette standing next to Grant speaks this time; he is the closest in height to Grant but a little less muscular, and his hair is shorter than the other guys.

“Look, I know her friend lives here, and she’s probably filling her head with some bullshit about not talking to me, so cut the crap and let me go see her.”

I look at Cami wide-eyed, shocked that Josh would say that about her. He’s never said anything bad about Cami, not that he brought her up much or attempted to include her to hang out when we were home, but he’s never spoken about her like that.

“Best friend; he missed the best at the beginning.” She swigs more wine. “Right? Best?”

“Right.” I nod aggressively, “BEST.”

We both nod together to confirm it. We may have been a little distant, but Josh would know I go to Cami for everything; she is my ride-or-die best friend.

“Asshole,” we whisper in unison, turning back to the street.

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