Distraction (12 page)

My stomach knotted. As much as I didn
'
t want to admit
it, a small part of me agreed with Kellie. Still, I didn
'
t like the fact
that she
'
d gone behind Tristan
'
s back. Thankfully, Alyssa joined
us again, saving me from hearing any more of her convoluted explanations.
Kellie eagerly accepted her refill from Alyssa, but didn
'
t down her drink
this time.

"Oh, Tisha and her brother, Bret, are here. I
'
ll catch you
gals later." I wanted to argue with her to stay, but Alyssa took off
before I had the chance.

"Hey, I see a few friends. Let
'
s go say hi."
Kellie followed behind. I introduced her to Jamie and Alex, two fellow sorority
sisters. Jamie and Alex smiled and welcomed Kellie to the party. Kellie
'
s ability to
fall into conversations easily made me dislike her even more.

Alex turned to me. "Elle, you up for a game?"

"Nah, you go ahead. I
'
m DD tonight."

"
Your loss,
" Alex said, fanning out a deck of cards. Kellie, on the
other hand, didn
'
t have any qualms with playing the drinking game. I stepped
back and watched silently as they played a quick round. Kellie either learned
quickly or had played before.

When a few other people joined the game, I mouthed to Kellie
that I
'
d be back. Kellie waved her hand at me dismissively. My face
heated with irritation as I walked away. I went to the kitchen, grabbed another
water, and walked back to where I
'
d left her.

Robbie had taken over my place next to Kellie. He reached
over and brushed Kellie
'
s hair behind her shoulders. I gawked as she gave him a
flirty laugh in return.

I didn
'
t want her thinking I was spying, but I didn
'
t feel
comfortable leaving her alone either, especially with the flirting going on
between her and Robbie. I wasn
'
t sure if my hidden feelings for Tristan biased my opinion,
but something about her didn
'
t settle well with me.

"Not interested in playing the game?" I turned
around and found Eric. He pointed to the table where Kellie and the others
were. He sipped his beer, lazily waiting for me to answer.

"Nah, I
'
m the DD tonight."

"
Cool,
" he said, nursing the beer in his hand. "So who
'
s the new girl?"

"Oh, she
'
s my best friend’s girlfriend," I admitted, not wanting
to go into the gory details.

"I didn
'
t know Alyssa batted for the pink team. I thought for sure
she was into guys." I watched his Adam
'
s apple bob with
laughter. He had a nice smile.

"No, not Alyssa, funny guy. My friend, Tristan. Kellie
'
s a freshman and
I promised Tristan I
'
d take her out and introduce her to a few friends. Though I
'
m not sure he
meant the frat guys." I turned back to the table. Robbie had moved closer
to Kellie.

"You
'
re a good friend," he said.

He had no idea.

Eric and I fell into conversation easily and my thoughts of
Tristan drifted away. He asked about my classes this semester and when he moved
closer, slightly brushing against me, I didn
'
t move away.
Eric emptied a few beers and I finished another water. The best part is I
'
d forgotten
about Kellie.

"Hey, I think your friends about to lose everything she
drank." He pointed in Kellie
'
s direction. I turned in time to see Kellie sway with her hand
cupped over her mouth. I
'
d never seen anyone actually turn green before.

"I better go, but it was nice talking to you, Eric."

"Yeah, nice talking to you, too. Maybe we can get
together again sometime?"

"
Um, sure.
"
Kellie bent over.
"Hey, I better get her out of here."

“All right."

I hurried over and grabbed Alyssa, urging her to help me with
Kellie. She obliged, but only if I promised to clean her car if Kellie puked
inside. Alyssa drove fast to our house, wanting to avoid a mess. We barely made
it back in time. Alyssa and I had to nearly drag Kellie to our bathroom.

"Okay I
'
m staying with Tisha tonight at her parents' house. You
'
re on your own."
Alyssa backed away from Kellie as soon as her body convulsed again. "
I don'
t do
clean up,
"
she said.

"
Good luck,
" Alyssa said, quickly scrambling out the bathroom door.
I turned to grab a towel from the cabinet when I heard Alyssa talking to
Tristan in the hall. Before I knew it, he rushed in.

"Jesus, Elle, what the hell is your problem? I asked you
to take her out, introduce her to your friends, but I didn
'
t think you
'
d be this
reckless." Tristan
'
s voice rose to a near shout. But Kellie
'
s muffled groan
echoing from the porcelain tank, followed by another episode of splattering
noises, silenced him. He kneeled down beside her.

"It's okay. I
'
m here. You
'
re going to be
fine." Tristan raised his head, shooting me a sharp glare. "Do you
think you can get me a towel?"
I opened the cabinet door, hand
ed Tristan a
towel, then backed out of the way.

Quietly I observed the delicate manner of him holding fallen
hair from Kellie
'
s face, and then wiping her mouth. His other hand moved in
slow circles over her back, assuring her he was there.

My stomach churned with guilt and jealousy watching as he
cared for her without hesitation. He was right; I was reckless. I may not have
intentionally wanted Kellie drunk, but I didn
'
t care either.
How pathetic.

I left them alone. The least I could do was offer them to
stay the night. I grabbed some pain pills and a glass of water from the kitchen,
then headed to my room and pulled the covers down. When I finished, I walked
back to the bathroom.

"Hey, my bed
'
s ready and there
'
s water and some
Tylenol on my nightstand. Can I help you get her up?"

“
No... I got her.
" Tristan lifted Kellie and cradled her against his
chest as he walked to my room with me following behind.

"I guess I
'
ll let you get some sleep." I waited as Tristan pulled
the comforter over Kellie
'
s shoulders. "Goodnight, Tristan."
I
sighed.
"I
'
m sorry." I
left the room, pulling the door closed behind me.

On the couch, the loose spring stuck in my back. I rolled
over, hoping to avoid the stab until I fell asleep. I focused on breathing, in
and out, straining to keep the tears away. Finally, I fell asleep.

Chapter
7

Tristan

The guys and I practiced later than expected, and during
drills all I thought about was Elle and Kellie partying together.

It'd only been a little over an hour since I
'
d dropped Kellie
off at Elle
'
s house, but Alyssa was there too, and no good could come out
of that situation. So when we
'
d finished up for the evening, I raced back to my house and
cleaned up. I didn
'
t care what I wore and grabbed the first shirt in my closet
followed by a pair of jeans. When finished, I raced out to my car and hit the
road.

The party was packed when I walked in. I had to shift through
the crowd as I searched for Kellie and Elle. I found Elle first. She stood next
to some tall, geeky looking dude, laughing. The dopey way he stared made it
obvious he was into her. Even if I couldn't fault him for that, I also couldn't
stop the sudden need to punch his face in, or quiet the sudden possessiveness
coming over me. I wanted to turn, look away, but I couldn't. My feet were glued
to the floor as I watched them. My blood boiled as I did.

Someone asked if I wanted to dance, but I ignored the offer
and made my move toward Elle. On my way, I heard Kellie
'
s voice off to
my left. I turned and found her surrounded by a group of guys, Robbie included.
From the looks of things, she was in the middle of a drinking game. The flood
of guys around her or her drunken state didn
'
t bother me.

All I could think about was Elle standing next to that guy. I
clenched my fists, trying to breathe. She wasn't…mine. Fuck. I had to get away.

I turned back to the door, ignoring the angry comments from
people I bumped into on my way out. Outside, I jumped in my car and peeled away
from the curb. My windows were rolled down, and the air rushing around the
inside helped cool my temper down.

I drove around for a good while, straining to let go of the
way Elle smiled while she talked with the guy. Or the way she tucked her silky
hair behind her ears making her easier to see how beautiful she looked. When my
mind finally cleared, I headed back to Elle
'
s house. I
thought I
'
d be okay, but as soon as I saw Elle, the image of her
standing next to that dude pissed me off again. I yelled.

God, the hurt look in Elle
'
s eyes made me
want to kick my own ass for being an asshole. I knew she
'
d forgive me in
the morning. That was just her, always forgiving of those who
'
d hurt her. I
never wanted to be that person, but I
'
d done a hell of a job of hurting
her tonight.

I needed to apologize, but I waited a while until Kellie
'
s breathing
evened. Knowing she wouldn
'
t wake up, I got up and made my way to the living room. The
hall light poured enough brightness into the living room for me to see Elle on
the couch.

I froze, standing in the doorway, not sure what to do or say.
My heart raced with worry, but it didn
'
t take me long to realize she'd already
fallen asleep. My shoulders slumped and I leaned against the doorframe,
transfixed with watching her, then winced. I knew she
'
d feel like shit
in the morning. She needed a new couch.

Elle turned, uttering a name. I could
'
ve sworn she'd
called out my name, but being too far away, I couldn't be certain. Guilt gripped
at my insides. I didn
'
t know if I could do this, be a part of Elle
'
s life without
wanting her. I never thought too much about how my life would turn out, with
one exception. I knew Elle would always be a part of it.

I couldn't explain the sudden rush of intense anger consuming
me. I
'
d seen her with guys before, but tonight felt different.
Maybe knowing my chance to be with her drew to an end set me off. The sick,
twisted tightness in my chest increased. The only thing I knew for sure was I
didn
'
t like the sense of emptiness it provoked.

Maybe Kellie was right?

I needed to make a choice: Elle or Kellie.

Even thinking about cutting her out of my life made me want
to hit something, but I knew what I had to do. I walked closer to the couch and
bent down. Soft, light brown hair fell over her face, and carefully, I brushed
the strands away. I coaxed myself to not hold on. She didn
'
t move and as I
watched her, her shampoo, the fresh flower smell, filled my senses. I took a
deep breath in through my nose, and closed my eyes, memorizing her face in my
mind.

When I stood, I walked away and didn
'
t look back.

Elle

The next morning I woke up on my back with the stupid spring
poking in the middle of my spine. With a grunt, I eased myself off the couch
and stretched. Immediately the smell of fresh coffee hit me. I headed to the
kitchen, pulled out a mug, and filled it to the top.