––––––––
I watched the door that Mel and Kenny went through like a hawk. I told myself that, at any minute, she’d walk back out. That she’d run through the door and far, far away from him. But I didn’t see her, and I wasn’t sure if I should go after her.
What if I was reading the situation wrong? What if she wanted to go with Kenny?
Something told me that she didn’t want to do anything. A voice whispered that she had to go with him. But why? What could Kenny have that Mel needed that badly that she would follow him in to some, no doubt, creepy room?
I walked back to the booth that Ariel and Eric were sitting at and plopped down in a seat. Something didn’t feel right, and I wasn’t sure what it was. I crossed my arms over my chest and tried to convince myself that Mel was okay. That she was doing what she wanted to do.
“You okay?” Ariel asked, her eyebrows pressed into a frown. It was the first thing she’d said to me all night, and my heart did a little leap of happiness. Eric’s arm was slung around Ariel’s shoulder. The two of them seemed pretty cozy.
“I’m fine,” I said. I sent her a look that said I was not fine. I could tell that she saw it, because her frown deepened.
She opened her mouth to speak, but Jake showed up, carrying a tray of four glasses.
“Ho ho! When did you become a waiter?” Eric asked.
“Just helping out,” he said. He slid a glass in front of me and sat in the chair next to me, cradling his own glass.
The glass smelled like beer, and I wrinkled my nose.
“Relax,” he said, leaning in close. “It’s the crap non-alcoholic beer that they serve at these parties.”
“Yeah,” Eric said, shaking his head. “Super lame.”
I remembered Mel’s comment. Don’t trust anyone. Was she referring to Jake? I frowned in to my drink. She hadn’t been drinking nonalcoholic beer. I was certain that she was half drunk when she spoke to me.
“Come on. Drink it,” he scoffed. “No girlfriend of mine would refuse a beer. Especially a nonalcoholic one.”
I wanted to tell him that I wasn’t his girlfriend, but Ariel and Eric, who had already drank their supposedly nonalcoholic shots, were staring at me. I sniffed my drink.
I’d never liked the smell or taste of beer. I was sure that I wasn’t going to like the nonalcoholic kind either. But, with the three sets of eyes on me, I had no choice.
I gulped mine down, the sickening taste sliding over my tongue. It tasted like bitterness and lemon. I suppressed a gag. How could people drink this stuff?
“Another round!” Eric cried, banging his hand on the table.
“None for me, thanks,” I said, waving my hand like I was shooing away a fly.
“Ah. Come on, babe,” Jake said. “Live a little!”
“No. I think I’m okay.”
Jake leaned in close, his lips touching my ear, one hand on my knee. I suppressed the urge to shake it off.
“I’ll tell you what. If you can out drink me, I’ll let you out of our little deal.”
My stomach clenched, and my heart raced. I was only one drink away from being done with Jake Winsted forever. One drink away from getting my life back.
The words were out of my mouth in an instant.
“Deal,” I said.
Jake’s hand left my knee, and he was gone, leaving a grinning Eric, a confused Ariel, and me.
“What did he say to you?” Ariel asked.
What would it take to keep Ariel happy? Some bitter lemon beer? I’d drink a vat of it.
“He said that he was going to get some more drinks.”
Eric knocked on the table again, while Ariel threw her hands in the air with a hoot. I smiled, basking in the relief that was sure to come out of Jake’s new clause to our deal. I could outdrink Jake. I knew I could. I had more to lose than he did. More to gain, too.
Jake returned a minute later. He turned our chairs to face each other, a sly smile on his face. His top button was undone, and he’d untucked his shirt. I saw the competitive edge in his eye. I knew that I would probably barf up the foul-tasting drink before the night was over. But I had to do this. I couldn’t fail.
He picked up the first glass.
“Ready,” he said.
I rolled my eyes. “Set.”
“Go.”
I slung the first drink back, and it burned down my throat.
Then the second. And a third.
I didn’t know what number Jake was at, but by the fourth, I was starting to feel dizzy.
Light headed. Swoony.
I was half way through my fifth glass before my empty stomach lurched and threatened.
“You call it?” Jake asked, his eyes still sharp.
I didn’t know if I nodded or not before I raced to the bathroom. I barely made it to the stall before all five glasses of my beer came up at once.
It tasted worse the second time.
Ariel came in to the stall after me, pulling my hair back from my face.
“Jeez, Bella. What was that about?”
My response was another round of vomiting.
When I had emptied my stomach, Ariel helped me to the sink and I rinsed out my mouth and washed my face. My makeup was ruined, but I didn’t care. This night was a bust. I didn’t get anything concrete on Jake, Cole was still dancing somewhere with Stephanie, and I had just thrown up.
Time to throw in the towel and beg Jake to take me home.
“Well, that was exciting,” Ariel said.
That wasn’t the word that I would use, but my head was swimming too much to argue.
“Why did you do it?” she asked. “It’s not like you to take sucker bets.”
I shrugged. Apparently, I wasn’t yet sick enough to not lie.
“Jake asked me to do it and I did,” I said. “You can’t say no to Jake, right?”
She frowned.
“He likes you a lot, you know.” She pulled off another paper towel and dabbed at the wet spots of my face. “Eric told me.”
“I’m sure he doesn’t like me all that much.”
She leveled me with a look.
“Bella, listen to yourself. Your boyfriend likes you. It’s time to stop trying to fight him off and start to embrace it. Jake Winsted was your dream, and now that you have him, you won’t even let him kiss you.”
“Is that what Eric told you?”
She shrugged. “Amongst other things. Look, just give him a chance, okay? He’s a nice guy.”
She balled up the paper towel, threw it in the trash, and put her hands on her hips.
“Promise me.”
“Promise you what?”
Why were there two of her all of a sudden?
“Promise me that you won’t dump him because you don’t think you’re good enough.”
“Good enough for Jake?”
“Yes, Bella; good enough for Jake. He likes you. You should be confident in that and not think that it’s all going to blow up in your face. He’s not like that. He’s a good guy. Everyone says so.”
My head was throbbing, my vision was blurring, and my mouth tasted like vomit. I was in no mood for lectures. Especially on subjects that Ariel didn’t understand.
“I just want to go home.”
I pushed past her and stumbled through the door.
The music seemed ten times louder, shaking my heels. I moved forward, and walked right in to a hard chest. Cole. His blue eyes were wide, his face full of concern.
“Bella, we have to talk.”
I didn’t want to talk to him. Especially with Stephanie lurking nearby.
“Leave me alone. Go back to your girlfriend,” I growled.
“Bella-”
“I said leave me alone, Cole!”
I stumbled away from him, and directly in to the path of Stephanie, Ursula, Mel, and Dana.
Great.
“Well, look what the cat dragged in.”
Stephanie’s voice lit a hatred in me that I hadn’t known I’d possessed. I felt like I was about to die, and my vision was doubling, but I managed to glare at both images of her. She’d never done anything mean to me, but just the fact that she was Cole’s girlfriend made me want to punch her.
“Just leave me alone, Stephanie.”
“I am going to say this once. Stay away from Cole. He’s mine. Do you hear me? Mine!”
“I don’t want Cole. You can have him!”
“Good.”
I narrowed my eyes, trying to focus on her. For a split second, I saw her clearly. All traces of our brief friendship was gone. She was back to being what I had always known her to be. Evil.
I shuddered, and my stomach lurched again.
“Oh,” she said. “And by the way...”
Someone shoved me from behind, and I stumbled forward. Before I could regain my balance, I was shoved backward. The circle around me tightened. Ursula shoved me to Dana, who shoved me back to Stephanie. I felt like a hot potato, constantly caught and released.
My stomach churned in anger, and my head hurt so much that I could barely see. I landed on Stephanie, but before she could shove me forward again, I swung, my fist connecting with Ursula’s chin. There wasn’t much power in the punch, but it was insulting enough.
All four girls descended on me, punching and kicking and scratching until I could only curl up into a ball while they pulled my hair and slammed their fists in to my back. I screamed, but was sure that no one heard it over the loud music.
Then, the beating stopped.
I looked up.
The three girls had surrounded Ariel, backing her in to a corner. Then Eric was there, standing in front of Ariel and pointing at the door.
Stephanie reached up and slapped Eric hard across the face.
Ariel ran around Eric and hurled herself at Stephanie. The two girls fell to the floor, punching and scratching each other as they rolled on the ground.
Jake and Eric managed to part Ariel and Stephanie and pull them up.
I pressed my back to the bar, trying to hold down my churning stomach bile.
That was when the bouncer showed up.