Page 72 of Fall for Me

My chair was directly across the table from Seamus, between Ulrich and Winona. So even if I wanted to say something to Seamus, I couldn’t.

I felt his eyes on me though, burning through me, and my stomach flipped each time our eyes met.

We played poker, and though I sucked, I didn’t have terrible hands. Soon, I began to relax. I even started to have fun.

Half an hour later, after handing me another beer, Winona announced that she was only going to stay until eleven. They all booed, but when Seamus got up to use the bathroom, she leaned in and whispered that they’d all agreed they were going to keep this one short, anyway.

“Due to the—” she glanced at me.

“The accident we were in?” I supplied helpfully. I glanced toward the hall where Seamus had disappeared. Suddenly, all thoughts of poker slipped away. He was back there. I needed to see him, to talk to him. To tell him I was sorry for barging over and… I wasn’t sure what.

Winona cringed. “Yeah, that.”

But I could feel my brother’s eyes on me. There was no way I could stay without him freaking out. Then I registered the empty plates on the table, and the box on the counter. I wasn’t hungry at all, but I could use it as an excuse to get up.

Abruptly, I stood. “Would anyone like…” But I swayed on my feet, struck by sudden dizziness.

“Chelsea!” Eli exclaimed, getting up so fast his chair fell backward, slamming onto the kitchen floor.

“I’m fine,” I said, but my knees wouldn’t seem to hold me. “I haven’t had a drink in a while, that’s all,” I said, swallowing.

“The concussion,” Eli said, angrily. “You weren’t supposed to drink.”

“Shit.” Seamus’s voice now. He’d rushed back into the room, either at the bang of the chair or Eli calling my name.

“She needs to lie down,” Seamus said. He glanced to the couch.

“Too loud and bright here,” Winona said. “Come on, we’ll take her back there.”

“No, I’m going to take her home.” That was Eli. “Chelsea, you could have fallen. Hit your head again. Then what, huh?”

Irritation flickered up through the fog. “I’m fine!” I said. My knees seemed to be able to hold weight again, though the room was rocking slightly. Everyone was quiet.

I’d forgotten that point about drinking—or assumed they were being overly cautious. “I’m not drunk,” I said, unable to keep the defensiveness out of my voice.

Eli thought I was up to my old tricks, but I wasn’t. I was just light-headed.

“Did you eat anything before coming over here?” Seamus asked.

I opened my mouth, then closed it again. I couldn’t remember the last time I ate. I’d been too busy worrying over Seamus’s text.

“Concussion, booze, and an empty stomach. Perfect combo,” Eli said.

Over at the table, the two other guys looked to be packing up, Ulrich collecting the empties and Ben loading dishes on the counter—I was blocking the sink.

“Oh don’t go,” Eli said. “Everything’s going so great.”

They didn’t say anything to that. Just slapped Seamus on the back. “We’ll see you next month, yeah?”

“Eli,” Winona said, pulling my brother aside and speaking to him in low tones.

I poured a glass of water and downed it fast, and Seamus, next to me, handed me a couple of crackers. Even now, in this tense and terrible situation, I felt his presence next to me like something safe; something calming.

My skin tingled as I recalled what was on our phones.

“So this is a thing, huh,” Eli said, when I’d turned around.

Winona held her hand to her forehead in a way that told me she’d tried and failed to talk some sense into him. “Eli, let’s go.”

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