He chuckled. “Fuck. I’m just jokin’ with you, Marc.”

I kicked at him, forcing him to take a step back. I jumped off the railing and made way for the front door. He pulled at my arm, though, and tugged at me to stay.

“Quit. Why’re you running off for?” He whined playfully.

“Let go of me.” I refused to stick around.

And he refused to release his hold. “Are you that desperate to have sex?”

I turned around, shaking his hand off in the process. “Don’t try and put yourself on a pedestal, and act like you’re too good for sex. You’re the one who contacted me the first time for a hookup.”

Sensing my anger, he pulled me to him. “I didn’t mean it like that.” He ignored my resistance and pulled me into an embrace. “I just want you to know I want more than just that.”

I took a step back, ready to respond, when the front door swung open. A wave of noise from inside the house leaked out before the door was closed again.

“Oh, Aiden!” A person from behind me called out.

Aiden moved away from me, and I turned around to face the stranger. I met the drunken eyes of a girl. My stare held over as she stumbled over to Aiden, briefly using me as support before she reached him.

“Why are you here, Alice?” He asked.

She let out a fake gasp before latching her arms around his neck. “Aiden, I have friends too, I was invited! Why didn’t you tell me you were coming to a party?” She whined, her speech beyond slurred.

“You said you were going clubbing with your friends.”

“Yeah, this is our after party!” She squealed. “Sophia knows Rod.”

“Ray.” I corrected.

She perked at my voice and released herself from Aiden in order to turn around. “Um, who the fuck are you?”

Taken aback, I opened my mouth, ready to counter back. However, Aiden cut in before I could do so. “He’s a friend.”

She gave me a once-over before turning her attention to Aiden again. “He looks young… and lame. How’d you even-“

Unwilling to have her insult me any further, I asked, “Who are you, anyway?”

I should have seen the response coming. The little cues were in front of me. The way Aiden stepped away from me, and how stiff he became in her presence. Or the way Alice’s face lingered far too close to his lips for any sort of platonic relationship. All that, and it still felt like a bag of bricks had came plummeting down on me when she said it.

Girlfriend.

A mix of a scoff and a laugh came out of my mouth. Figures, right? Cliché, right? It had to be a lie.. Right? But one glance at Aiden’s face was confirmation enough. Without a word to either of them, I spun on my heels and walked back inside.

> > > > > Next Day

I awoke from my sleep, rubbing my eyes as the harsh sunlight beamed through the blinds. I sighed and flipped over on my side.

“Good morning, lazy.”

I opened my eyes, my sight finally fixating on Emma’s face. “Oh.” I mumbled. I had forgotten I told my parents I’d be staying over at Emma’s in order to go to to the party. “I’m glad we got here safely.”

She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Thanks to me! I had to ask Jenny and her brother if they could help walk you here. You were totally plastered.”

“Hm, it doesn’t feel like it.” I mused, my voice groggy.

“I made you puke it all up.” She replied, sticking a finger down her throat before faking a gag. “You really don’t remember?” I grimaced at the thought before shaking my head. “Well, you’re welcome. Your phone has been blowing up, by the way.”

I lunged for my phone, scrolling through the many notifications. They were a plethora of missed calls and texts from my parents, but in the middle of the chaos was a simple text from Aiden that read: hey.

“Gee whiz. Don’t have a stroke, now. Whose call were you expecting?” She mockingly asked. “Aiden’s?” My head shot up. Emma’s knowing eyes were fixated on me. “Oh, Marc. You caused a bit of a scene last night. You were beyond gone, I guess.”

My stomach dropped as all the possible scenarios ran through my head. “What’d I do?”

Emma sat up beside me. “Well… Aiden came looking for you while you were drunk, and you were not welcoming to his presence. You won’t believe what happened next!” She paused with the exaggeration that even click bait ads would be envious of. “You went off on him. Yelling that you hated him, and not to bother contacting you because you were ‘over his dick’.”

“Oh my gosh.” I sighed, plopping back down on the bed, my arm shielding my eyes.

“But,” Emma started, her tone hopeful. I chose to peek from under my arm. “Nah, I’m fucking with you. It was pretty bad.”

I grabbed the pillow beside my head and chucked it at her face. She squealed when it made contact. “Was his girlfriend still there?”

“Girlfriend?” She fake gasped, bringing her hands to her mouth to further the act. I reached for the pillow my head laid on, and she quickly apologized. “Sorry, sorry! Yes, she was. But the bitch was just as drunk as you were, so I doubt she’d remember anything as well.”

“That’s reassuring.” I said sarcastically, before letting out a long groan. “I acted like a total bitch, and he still texted me. Why?”

I was mostly asking myself, but Emma still chose to answer. “Maybe you gave such bomb ass head that he wants another round?”

Emma was already off the bed and running for the door before I jumped up and chased after her.

> > >

After much bickering with Emma on whether I should reply to Aiden or not, she snatched my phone away from me.

“Ooh. He has an iPhone, too.” She mused, commenting over the blue text bubbles. She dodged my attempts of getting my phone back, and quickly typed a short reply. “There.”

She handed me my phone back, and I looked at the text she had sent. hi. I could live with that, and it was beyond tame, considering how Emma could be.

With my thumb hovering over the home button, I took notice of the little bubble that appeared at the bottom of the messages. He was responding already. I told Emma. She reached for my phone again, but I pulled back. She looked at me quizzically as I placed it down on the end table in front of the sofa.

“You’re so full of it, Marc.” Emma laughed, rolling her eyes. “This isn’t some sort of horror film where we sit and wait for a call or text.” My phone buzzed just then. “Too bad we already know who it’s from. No suspense there.”

Ignoring her, I picked my phone back up and hurriedly unlocked it. I read the message.

Hi, can we talk?

Emma peered over my shoulder, waiting to see the reply I would type. I pressed away at the screen.

it’s the least you could do, don’t u think?

Emma grunted in disapproval, so I erased it. Attempt 2.

yeah, what’s up?

Grunting again, she shook her head. Fuck. You. Emma. Attempt 3.

sure.

She smiled. “Short and simple! You should know that’s the way to go.”

“Sure.” I repeated.

> > > > >

I sat in my car, strumming my fingers along the steering wheel. I’m such an idiot for agreeing to this. Meet up to talk? Sure! In the park’s parking lot at 10 p.m? Sure! When it’s dark and empty? Sure! Make sure to freshen up and use mouthwash? Sure!

…Well, that last one wasn’t said, but I still fucking did it.

I pushed my car’s power off when I saw another set of headlights come into the lot. The truck parked next to mine a few spaces down, and within a minute, Aiden was outside my car knocking on the window.

“Hey.” He greeted once I had gotten out. I gave a short hum in response.