Page 106 of Don't Puck His Best Friend
Liam grins sloppily. "Wouldn't you like to know."
"Liam, I'm serious. Where do you live?"
"Nope. Not telling. You'll just... you'll just judge my place."
Cole tries a few more times, but Liam refuses to give up his address. Finally, Cole sighs and looks at me. "I'm taking him to ours. He can sleep it off on the couch."
"Okay."
The drive home is tense and silent except for Liam's occasional mumbling. When we get to the house, Rex goes ballistic, but we manage to get Liam inside and onto the couch before he completely passes out.
Cole grabs a bowl from the kitchen and sets it on the floor next to the couch. "Just in case."
We sit on the coffee table, watching Liam like he might explode at any moment. His breathing is heavy, and his face is flushed.
"You can go to sleep, Harp," Cole says after a few minutes.
I shake my head. "I'll stay up with you."
"You don't have to."
We sit in silence for a while. Liam shifts on the couch, muttering something. Cole's jaw is tight, his hands clenched together.
"He won't tell me what's going on," he says finally.
"Really?"
Cole sighs. "It’s almost been a year. We should be past this fighting over the same girl bullshit, and he should be able to talk to me."
The words hit me like a punch to the stomach. Fighting over the same girl. That's what I am to them. The thing that broke their friendship.
I stand, needing distance. "I'm going to shower and get ready for bed."
"Harper—"
"It's fine, really. Stay with him. Make sure he doesn’t choke on his vomit."
I leave before he can say anything else, before the guilt building in my chest can spill over. In the bathroom, I turn the shower on hot and let it scald my skin, trying to wash away the feeling that I'm the reason everything is broken.
When I emerge, Cole is in the bedroom, sitting on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands.
"I'm sorry," he says immediately.
"For what?"
"For what I said. I didn't mean—"
"It's okay. I understand." I sit beside him. "Really, Cole. Don’t be sorry."
"I just want my friend back." His voice cracks slightly. "I miss him, Harper. I miss talking to him and joking around and having someone who just... gets it. But every time I try, there's this wall between us, and I don't know how to break through it."
I take his hand. "Give him time. He'll come around."
"I don’t know."
We get ready for bed in silence, the weight of the evening pressing down on both of us. Cole falls asleep quickly, exhausted from the game and the emotional toll of dealing with Liam. But I lie awake, staring at the ceiling, thinking about the boy passed out on our couch and the friendship I inadvertently destroyed.
I wake up needing to pee, my bladder screaming at me. The clock reads three forty-seven. Cole is dead asleep beside me, one arm thrown over his face.
