500 Days (16 page)

“
You happened,” I mumbled.
He flung his arm over my shoulder as I half dragged him to the
front door. Then I remembered he didn’t have his keys.
Just my luck
. I leaned
him up against the door ready to text Declan when he tapped me on
the shoulder. “What?” I snapped. He pointed up to a ledge above the
door, higher than both of us could reach. “How the hell am I
supposed to get that?” He knelt down and clasped his fingers
together. “You’ve got to be kidding me?”

“
I won’t drop you. You
gotta weigh, what, like 200 – 220?” I shoved him so hard he fell
back into the bushes.

“
You’re a dick.” I
searched the area for another option while Casper tried to pick
himself up out of the bushes. I found a small bench on one of the
neighboring porches.

“
What are you doing?” he
asked, brushing himself off. “Are you stealing Mrs. Roper’s
bench?”

“
No, I’m just borrowing
it. Wait, your neighbor’s name is Roper? Let me guess, you and
Colton are the gay neighbors?” I giggled. He creased his brows not
getting my ‘Three’s Company’ reference. “Never mind,” I said,
placing the bench in front of the door. I felt around the dirt
filled ledge until my fingers touched metal. I took down the key
and unlocked the door. Then I returned the bench and handed the key
to Casper. “Can you manage it the rest of the way?” He stumbled
past me, falling into the wall. I rolled my eyes and gripped his
waist. He leaned into me as I helped him up the steps.

“
I am sending you a bill
from my chiropractor along with the bill to clean my car,” I
grunted as I dragged him up the steps.

“
Bedroom is at the end of
the hall.” I hoisted him up a little and carried him into his
bedroom and threw him down on the bed. He was lying on his back,
his eyes closed. He looked almost peaceful. I was about to go when
I suddenly felt guilty about leaving him like this. I would feel
bad if he got sick in his sleep and choked to death on his own
bile. I rolled him over on to his side and stuffed some pillows on
each side to keep him rooted in place. Then I searched the room for
a trash can. I couldn’t find anything and was about to give up when
I noticed he was sitting up.

“
What are you still doing
here?”

“
I was looking for a trash
can in case you got sick again.”

“
Bathroom,” he pointed
behind him. I nodded and made my way over to the door on the other
side of the room. I found it stuffed under the cabinet beneath the
sink. I stepped back out into the bedroom and left the door open in
case he decided he wanted to try to make it to the bathroom. My
heel snagged on the plush, cream carpet. I bent down to release it
when I spotted two bare feet in front of me. My eyes traveled up
the semi tattooed legs, past the pair of boxers, and bare chest,
stopping on the beauty that had erupted in front of me. In the
short amount of time it took me to search for the trash can Casper
had managed to strip himself of his shoes and clothes. His stormy
eyes met mine. He looked almost tranquil as he raised his hand to
my cheek, pulling off my mask.

“
You’re so beautiful,” he
whispered. My breath caught in my throat. He pulled gently at my
wig, causing my hair to fall into waves down past
my shoulders. “That’s much better,” he smiled,
running his fingers through my hair. “So soft, just like I imagined
it.” He twirled a piece between his fingers. I was frozen in
place.

“
Casper…”

He pressed his fingers to my lips. “Shh,
it’s so much better if you don’t talk.” I smacked his hand away and
shoved him out of my way. “What?” he asked innocently.

I stomped over to the bed and put the trash
can down on the floor. He crawled across the luxurious black
comforter and reached for me. “Alex, wait.” I pulled away but he
still was able to get a good enough grip on my arm to pull me down
on the bed, falling on top of me. “Don’t leave me.” The pleading in
his voice almost seemed desperate and for a second I felt sorry for
him. He brushed a piece of hair off of my face making me shiver. I
bit my tongue. “Please, stay. Just lay with me.”

“
Casper, I can’t.” I
rolled him off of me, but in his attempt to capture me again I got
an elbow instead. I yelped, throwing my hand up to my
eye.

“
Oh shit, I’m
sorry.”

I stormed out of there. “You might want to
sleep on your side so you don’t choke on your own vomit,” I growled
before I slammed the door and left.

The first thing I did when I got home was
scrub off all my war paint. I winced when I had to clean the eye
Casper elbowed. I hated wearing all this makeup, but it went along
with the part I played at work. My eye was sore and red. I cringed
at the thought of a bruise developing. I peeled off my uniform and
changed into some comfy sweats and a tank top. Then I threw my hair
into a ponytail and headed out to the kitchen to get some ice for
my eye.

Halfway through ‘50 First Dates’, Declan
finally returned home. She jumped when she saw me on the couch.
“What are you still doing up and what happened to your –” she
gasped when I pulled the ice pack away.

“
Some asshole from the
bar.” I didn’t really care to go into too much detail at the
moment.

“
Alex, I told you. One of
these days those guys would fight back. You’re not as tough as you
think you are.”

I stopped her there. “Declan, stop. I can
handle my own and it was an accident.” She looked like she didn’t
believe me. “I’m tired. I’m going to go to bed.” I turned off the
TV and dumped out the half melted ice in the sink.

Sometime around noon there was a knock on
the door. I moaned, kicking back the covers, and got up to answer
it. My eye was killing me. I fought the urge to look in the mirror.
I knew it would be bad but I couldn’t bring myself to look at it.
Declan crawled out of her room, rubbing her eyes. “Is someone at
the door?” she asked between a yawn. I swung the door open,
surprised to find Casper.

“
What happened to your
eye?” No hi, I’m sorry, or here’s money to get your car clean. No.
He was completely clueless.

“
You don’t remember?” I
asked, trying to keep my anger in check. He shook his head no. “You
did this, Jackass. You elbowed me in the eye last night.” He
covered his face as if he suddenly remembered the horrible
disaster.

“
Shit, last night is a
little hazy.” I stood with my arms crossed waiting for an apology.
“I wanted to return this.” He handed me my red wig and mask. I
snatched them out of his hand Just as Declan reached the
door.

“
Hey Cas, what are you
doing here?”

“
I was just dropping
something off that Alex left at my place last night.” Declan’s eyes
went wide.

“
And now he was just
leaving.” I went to close the door but he stuck his hand out
stopping it halfway. I narrowed my eyes at him.

He leaned in close and whispered, “We
didn’t, you know…”

“
God no!”

He ran a hand through his flat, messy hair,
looking a little relieved. “I’m sorry…I feel horrible.”

“
Good, you
should.”

“
No,” he put a hand on his
stomach. “I mean, I don’t feel so good. You think I could use your
bathroom?” I slammed the door in his face and walked back to my
room. The nerve of him. Seriously.

I fell, face first on my pillow and
screamed. “Feel better?” Declan asked. I rolled over to face
her.

“
No.”

“
Want to tell me what that
was all about?” She leaned up against the door with her legs and
arms crossed.

I sat up and blew out a breath. “Casper got
really drunk at the bar last night and Gus made me drive him
home.”

She stood up straight. “Wait, why would Gus
make you drive him home?”

“
I don’t know!” I threw my
hands up. “To torture me.” She tilted her head to the side and
raised a brow. I rolled my eyes and told her the truth. “I offered
to call him a cab and he made some comment about being the
bartender’s job to cut him off and Gus agreed so as punishment I
had to take him home if I wanted to keep my job.”

“
He can’t do
that.”

“
Can and did.”

“
What else are you not
telling me?”

“
Nothing,” I said, lying
back down.

She crossed her arms again not satisfied
with my answer. “Clearly something else happened. Why did Casper
have to return your wig and why did he tell me to tell you he would
pay to have your car detailed?”

I sat up. “He said that?”

She nodded. “I opened the door after you
stomped off. Cas told me to tell you he’s really sorry and he
promises to make it up to you by first getting your car cleaned.
Now care to tell me what really happened?”

I pulled my legs up and patted the bed. “He
puked all over my car.”

“
Eww, oh Alex I’m sorry. I
hope you left the windows open to air it out.”

“
No, he somehow managed to
keep it outside the car, but still on the car.” She stuck her
tongue out in disgust. “I carried him up to his room and then
positioned him so he wouldn’t choke on his own vomit. Then I
searched for a trash can just in case he felt sick. When I came out
of the bathroom he was wearing only boxers.”

She covered her mouth, eyes wide. “Oh my
god. What happened then?”

“
Then he hit on me. I
turned him down. He pulled me down on the bed. I tried to push him
away and I ended up with a black eye.”

She sat up straighter. “He didn’t try to
force himself on you, did he?” Declan didn’t get angry often, but
when she did she was a force to be reckoned with.

“
No. This was a complete
accident. He was too drunk to function and said some stupid
things.”

Her body relaxed. “What did he say?”

“
He was just being an
asshole. It was stupid and he was drunk.” I got up off the bed and
made my way into the kitchen, Declan hot on my tail.

“
You’re not getting off
that easily.” I dug in the freezer for ice to make a pack for my
eye. “Obviously he said something that hurt you.” I shut the
freezer not able to look at her. She turned me to face her. “Alex,
whatever it is, you can tell me.”

I sighed and met her sympathetic gaze. “He
told me I was beautiful.”

Her face fell into confusion. “Wait, you’re
telling me you’re mad because he called you beautiful?”

“
Yes…no.”

“
Gee Alex, I wish I got
annoyed and angry at a good-looking guy who told me I was
beautiful,” she said sarcastically.

“
He was drunk Declan. How
did you think I felt?”

“
You two need to just do
it and get it over with.” She pushed past me to the coffee machine.
My jaw dropped. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. It’s obvious to
everyone but you two. We all see how you act around each other.
It’s a clear case of wanting something you can’t have because
you’re too stupid to admit you like each other.”

“
One, that doesn’t even
make sense and two
,
I do not like Casper and he does not like me.”

“
I still think you should
just at least do it once. Come on Alex, it’s been like a month?”
Two, but I wasn’t going to admit that out loud. “When are you going
to get your head out of the clouds and realize Colby is just like
any other jackass out there?”

“
What does me getting laid
having anything to do with Colby?”

“
It has everything to do
with Colby. I know your sorry ass has been moping around this place
since he’s been back and you have yet to see him since your
tattoo.”

“
It has nothing to do with
that. In fact I just saw him a week ago and he asked me to go to
lunch.” Then he canceled on me. Something about a client’s tattoo
taking longer than he expected.

“
Alex, I don’t even
understand why you even try? You guys could never have a real
relationship. Jasper would never allow it.”

“
Who said anything about
wanting a relationship? We’re just having fun.” I shrugged.
More like
were
, in the past tense.

“
I just don’t want to see
you get hurt.”

“
And sleeping with a
dickhead who pukes all over my car and elbows me in the face in a
sad attempt to get me to spend the night with him is the better way
to go?”

“
I never said it was
better. I just worry about you Alex.”

“
I’m fine and you wouldn’t
have to worry so much if you were actually around.”

“
What’s that supposed to
mean?”

“
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean
it…it’s just ever since you started dating Colton I never see you.
And not that I’m not happy for you
,
I am. I like Colton, I just, well…I miss having
you around.”

“
Oh Alex, I’m sorry,” she
threw her arms around me. “I know I have been spending a lot of
time with Colton and I promise I will make it up to you starting
this weekend.” She pulled back and clapped her hands excitedly. I
raised a brow. “It’s your birthday silly. You didn’t think I would
forget my best friend’s twenty-first birthday, did you?”