Three

Jake and I moved back onto the deck and sat down.

“You have a lot of guts showing up to a San Marco frat party. I guess I can assume you and your friends are also on the Jacksonville State football team, right?”

He slapped a hand to his chest in fake surprise. “How did you guess?”

I chuckled. “Well, I should warn you now, my brother is captain of the San Marco Tigers, and I start my first year as a JV cheerleader this year for that exact team.”

“Then this must be my lucky day.”

“Oh, how so?” I was barely in my drinks, but I already felt the liquid courage coursing through my veins as the flirtatious conversation flowed between us.

“I was hoping I’d get more excuses to see you, and it turns out I’ll get to see you at every game with San Marco. I used to dread those, now I’ll have something to look forward to.” He flashed me a cocky grin but for some reason it made me laugh rather than gag.

“Wow, you really are the sweet talker.”

He leaned a little closer. “It’s pretty easy when you have someone so sweet to talk to.”

I opened my mouth but was cut off by sudden loud shouting behind us that came from inside the house. I stopped and listened only to recognize Avery’s drunken voice as he raged at someone.

“Oh, shit. That’s my brother,” I muttered.

“And that’s my captain,” Jake said and pointed to the person whose face Avery crowded.

“I had a feeling this was going to happen,” I said and rushed inside.

Jake went ahead of me and grabbed my hand, which made my heart jump into my throat, and guided me through the crowd with a lot more ease than I had earlier. We made it to the front of the crowd and saw the group of guys Jake was with, and they looked like they were about to fight Avery and his frat brothers.

“What the hell are you guys even doing here? This is a San Marco party. Is your school so poor your frats can’t even afford your own parties?” Carter sneered.

“Chill, boys. We just came to see what all the hype was about, and I hate to say I’m quite disappointed. If you ever want to know how to really party, we always welcome you to check out how Jacksonville State throws their parties,” the supposed Captain barked back.

He walked up to Ryan who was idly standing by next to Carter knocked his solo cup out of his hand and spilled the contents all over him.

“Until then, we’ll continue to beat your sorry asses on the field. Party up, I’m sure that will help.”

I watched as Avery raised his hand which held another red solo cup, but before I could see what happened next, I was dragged through the crowd and toward the back door again.

“Hey, what the hell?” I cried and swatted at whoever hand clutched my wrist. I turned to see the back of Aiden’s ruffled head.

“You don’t need to be anywhere near that, Ry. I got your friend out of there already, time to go,” he said over his shoulder.

“I was talking with someone, hang on.” I tried to pull my wrist free, but he only tightened his grip and pulled harder.

“You can figure that out later, things are about to get heavy here and I don’t want you anywhere near it.”

I tried to look back through the crowd to spot Jake, but I was too short to see over the growing crowd that gathered to watch the fight go down. I just hoped he wasn’t in the middle of that, I’ve witnessed my brother get angry drunk before and he isn’t a force to be reckoned with.

If only he had applied that same rage and strength on the field, but I don’t think they would allow drunken players.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Since no one can take you home right now, you guys can stay upstairs for the night.”

He dragged me to the front yard where Isabelle was waiting on the grass.

“Hey, I need to head home, I have to be up early. How far would it be to walk home?” she asked.

“About a half-hour walk maybe,” Aiden said.

She shrugged. “I’ve done worse. Are you coming, Rylee?”

“I’m going to stay here, but we’ll get someone to walk back with you.”

“That’s okay, I should be fine.”

I turned and noticed that Aiden already disappeared and smiled sheepishly at her.

“Sorry, I don’t think anyone here will let you leave by yourself,” I said just as Aiden showed up with Ryan.

“Really, you aren’t going to give him a chance to change?” I asked.

“Oh, I don’t live here, I have a room in the dorms so I’m going back, actually. I can walk your friend back to the girl’s dorm.”

“Then, let’s get going. See you tomorrow!” Isabelle grabbed his hand and dragged him off, clearly in a hurry.

“Well, that’s settled. How is everything inside?”

Aiden shrugged. “It moved to the backyard, I think they’re fighting it out and then everything should be good. Most people have already left through the back, we should be good to go back inside.”

“Where am I staying?”

“You can stay in Avery’s room for the night, I’m sure he’s going to end up passing out either outside or on the couch.”

I rolled my eyes and almost wanted to slap myself for being related to that imbecile. Aiden walked me inside and up the stairs to Avery’s room, but groaned when he turned the knob, and it was locked.

“Never mind, you can stay in my room for the night. I’ll get his keys later,” he said and led me to the end of the hall.

‘Oh, god. Sleeping in Aiden’s room, this is something I only dreamed of, but never thought I would.’

The only difference was I always thought I’d be sleeping in the same bed as him, not alone. But fate is a fickle bitch it seemed.

My heart hammered in my ears as I walked into his room and recognized all the posters and decorations from his old room back home. The nostalgia was both comforting and not when thinking of how far we have come, and nothing has changed between us.

“I don’t have much for you to sleep in, but I’m sure one of my shirts is big enough for you to use as a dress,” he joked and threw a Linkin Park band tee at me.

Looking at the shirt I remembered the many times we hung out in the backyard of my parent’s place or the basement and listened to album after album of these guys. I’d love to watch him recite all the lyrics and play air guitar to the solos.

“Where are you going to sleep?” I asked.

“I’ll use Avery’s room; I should go and check on him anyway.”

“Why didn’t you join the fight?”

He pointed at me. “Someone had to get you out of there. This is the exact reason I told Avery you shouldn’t come to these parties; things always end in a fight of some sort. We’re lucky Carter and his family are loaded, or we’d never be able to afford the repairs this place needs weekly.”

“Awh, you really care about me,” I teased, but deep down I hoped he would confirm it in some way.

Instead, he just smiled and pushed me toward the bathroom.

“Get changed and go to bed, there is Advil in the cabinet if you need some. I’ll drive you back to the dorms in the morning, goodnight Ry.”

I frowned and waved him off. “Goodnight, Aiden.”

I walked into the bathroom and looked at my flushed face in the mirror.

‘Will I ever get over these stupid feelings?’