Under the Surface (12 page)

Chapter Twelve

Ren

I would say I’m scientifically drunk.

Scientifically?
Sporadically? Nope, neither of those are right. I think I mean seriously. Okay,
yeah
seriously.
Whatever, I’m fucking drunk. I’m drunk and can barely
think over the sound of this blasting music.

I’m currently
listening to Mason recite some stupid story that I in no way am following.
Something about a bra and a package of Big League Chew? I don’t have a clue.
We’ve been at this party for about an hour now. After drinking in the car, we
all downed copious amounts of beer, leading me to my current drunken state.
Emmy surprisingly managed to match me in my alcohol consumption. If I’m this
fucked up, I can only imagine the state she’s in.

Speaking of
Emmy, I haven’t seen her in a while.

I interrupt
Mason’s story to ask, “Have you seen Emmy?”

“Not for half
an hour or so,”
he says. “I think she’s somewhere with
Danny.”

Danny.
I should’ve guessed. Of course Danny would try and scoop her up.
The way she was dressed tonight, Christ, can you blame him? I should’ve warned
him to back off instead of saying she was fair game.

Normally I
wouldn’t have a right to get pissed at Danny for wanting a shot at her. I mean,
it’s not like she’s mine or anything. Even though I think I might like her to
be. I
think
, but shit I don’t know. All I do know is, if Emmy’s blacked
out, Danny shouldn’t lay a hand on her.

The struggle
for me to get my ass off the couch is ridiculous. I need to cool it on the
drinks if I want to be sober enough to walk Emmy home tonight.

The crowd at
the party is insane. When I got here I thought there was a ton of people, but
everyone somehow managed to cram every inch of this house with their bodies.

I shove my
way into the kitchen, because I think that was the last place I saw her. I see
a girl in a tight white dress with blonde hair and I walk over to her. “Emmy,”
I grab the girls arm and turn her around, only to realize it’s
definitely not Emmy.

“
Uh, no man, I
’m
Alyssa,”
the blonde girl says to me.

“Sorry, my
mistake.”

Alyssa takes
a second to look at me and places her hand on my arm. “I could be Emmy though,
if you want me to be?”

Is she
serious right now? “Um, no thanks,”
I reply. The girl just shrugs
her shoulders and turns back around as if nothing happened.

Whatever. I
decide to try the garage next, and find nothing but a few stoners getting high.
Still no Emmy.

Where else
could she be? I check the remainder of the downstairs, I even walk past the
bathroom and see some random girl exiting, so I know Emmy isn’t in there.

Maybe she’s
upstairs? And fuck, with Danny. I realize now I’m pissed. Just as I’m about to
barrel my way upstairs Mason grabs my arm.

“Found her,”
he says.

“Where?”
I ask, taking one last look at the stairs then back at Mason.

“Outside,
with Danny. She’s waiting with him while he smokes a cigarette.”

“
Thank fuck,
”
I say, releasing an audible breath. “I thought she went upstairs
with Danny.”

Mason smiles at
me as if he knows something I don’t.

“What?”
I ask him.

“Nothing,”
he says and continues to smile like an idiot.

“Quit looking
at me like that,”
I say as I head towards the back door of
the house.

“So you
thought Emmy went upstairs with Danny, huh? And that pissed you off.”

Shit.

“Yes, I
thought she went up there with Danny, but that didn’t piss me off.”
I lie.

“Whatever you
say, man. Just don’t freak out when you see the two of them together outside.”

“Why would I
freak out when I see them? What exactly are they doing?”

“Nothing
really. It just seems pretty obvious he’s looking to take her home tonight,
that’s all.”

“I’ll take
her home tonight.”

“
I don
’t doubt that
you want to,”
Mason says to me.

“That’s not
what I meant.”

“Whatever you
say, Ren.”

I decide to
give up on this conversation because it’s going nowhere. I open the back door,
stumbling a bit as I do, and look around for Emmy.

I find her
with Danny, no surprise there, but she’s sitting on his lap. He has one arm
around her waist and the other resting on her thigh. Her fucking thigh.

“Can you
believe this guy?”
I say to Mason, “He’s practically mauling
her right now.”

His response
is a short laugh. “That’s funny, coming from the guy who told Danny he could
have her, and the guy who not two minutes ago said he wasn’t jealous over the
two of them.”

“I’m not
jealous. I just think it’s ridiculous the way she’s acting with him.”

“Make up your
mind, Ren. If you want her, which I think you do, don’t let her leave with him tonight;
that’s all I have to say. I don’t want to know what will happen if you find out
the two of them fucked.”

If Danny
fucks Emmy, or even kisses her, I swear to god I’
ll lose it.

Fuck, what am
I saying?
Do I want her? Am I only worried about
protecting her from getting taken advantage of while drunk? I have no fucking
clue. I can’t assess this right now while I’m drunk.

“That’s not
going to happen, Mason. Trust me.”

“Okay. Let’s
just see how things are tomorrow morning.” Mason spots Emmy and Danny and yells,
“D., E., how are my two favorite party people doing? You’re looking awfully
cozy I see.”

“That’s
right,” Danny replies as he strokes his hand up and down the outside of Emmy’s
leg. Bastard. “Emmy here was just telling me about her work. I can’t believe I
didn’t recognize her, one of the most beautiful waitresses at one of my
favorite diners.”

Bullshit, I
bet he never eats at her work. He’s just saying that to butter her up. And he
doesn’t get to call her Emmy, only I do.

“I had no
idea Danny ate there so much. He probably sits in Farrah’s section.”
Half of the words out of Emmy’s mouth is slurred. I thought I was
drunk, she’s trashed. She’s slouching on Danny’s lap and looks like she’s
having trouble keeping her eyes open.

“Emmy I think
you’ve had too much to drink,”
I say.

“Yup, I don’t
doubt that! Ha!”
She starts laughing like her reply was the
funniest thing ever, and Danny joins her.

“Let me do
the drunk test. My friend told my once if you can’t feel your hips, no wait, I
mean your lips, then you are definitely drunk. Let me try it,”
she touches her lips. “Yup, can’t feel a thing! Ha see, drunk.
Drunk, drunk, drunk.”

“Hey, I can’t
feel mine either!”
Mason replies with his whole hand pressed
to his bottom lip. “Guess, I’m drunk too.”

“Me too!”
Danny adds in. Now suddenly everyone’s playing along with Emmy’s
party trick.

“Ren are you
drunk? Get over here.”
I move to stand right next to her, and she
grabs my face and smacks her hand against my mouth. “Ya feel that, mate?”
Talking with what she probably thinks is an Australian accent.
It’s cute and funny, and I wish no one else was around us right now to hear it.

“Yup, I
definitely felt that, but I think it’s because you smacked part of my face and
not just my lips.”

“Aww, I’m
sorry Ren. I would kiss it and make it feel better but, you know, none of us
can feel our lips right now.”
She giggles a little to
herself after she says that.

Can she
please not mention us kissing right now? All I can think about is ungluing her
ass from Danny’s lap and now I’m losing focus on getting her away from him.
“That’s nice of you to say, Emmy, but I think I’ll live.”

“See Emmy,
that’s where I think you’re wrong,”
Danny says to her. “I bet
you can feel a kiss.”
And the bastard leans forward and kisses
her. I start to move forward but Mason stops me.

“Relax, man,
Danny’s cool. He won’t let things get out of hand.”

Danny is
Mason’s friend. If he really was worried about him he would stop it. I wait,
very impatiently, while Danny kisses Emmy. It isn’t a quick peck either, he’s
taking his time, and from the looks of it, Emmy’s enjoying it. She’s leaning
into him and touching the side of his face.

“I’m not
going to stand here and fucking watch this,”
I say to Mason. I walk
back into the house, this time definitely pissed.

“
Ren wait up.
”
Mason grabs my arm. “Take a breath. Do you want her or not?”

I pause for a
second. I don’t know how to answer him. I do want her, I love spending time
with her and she means a lot to me, but I don’t know if having anything more
with Emmy will ruin our relationship. I also don’t know if that’s what she
wants. She seems to be enjoying herself with Danny right now, and if
that’s
what she really wants, I can’t
stand in the way.

“I think I
do, but…fuck I don’t know. I don’t think it would actually work. I’m confused,
but what I do know is that I don’t want to watch Emmy with Danny right now. And
she’s too drunk. I need to make sure that’s all that happens tonight. She’s
wasted and Danny shouldn’t get the opportunity to take advantage of her.”

“Do you
really think he would do that?”

“
I don
’t know,
Mase. You’re better friends with him than I am.”

“I don’t
think he would, and we’ll just keep an eye on him. It didn’t look like they
were getting ready to leave anytime soon. Let them hang out, and at the end of
the night you’ll be the one to walk her home.”

“Alright, I
guess I can agree to that. But she cannot go home with him.”

“We’ll hang
in the living room, drink a few more beers, talk to any hotties who find it
impossible to resist my sexy ass when they walk by, and keep an eye on the door
so we don’t miss them.”
Mason grabs a beer out of his backpack and
hands it to me.

“Okay, but no
more for me,”
I say while refusing the beer. “
I don
’t want to
get anymore drunk than I am.”

“More for me
then.”
He opens one for himself and we’re soon joined by Justin, a guy we
met about two years ago. We start up a conversation, and I keep my eyes in the
direction of the door so I don’t miss Emmy.

Thirty
minutes later, I’m tired of small talk and ready to head home. I’m a little
more
clear
headed than earlier and decide to look for
Emmy and see if she’s ready to head home yet.

“I think I’m
gonna head out, Mase,”
I say. “I’m getting tired, and I’m going
to find Emmy to take her home.”

“I was
thinking about leaving too. Do you want me to wait for you? Justin was going to
give me and a few other guys a ride, but I can walk back with you if you want.”

“
No I
’m fine, you
can head out.”

“Okay. See
you back at our place. Oh and Ren, try to stay somewhat rational when taking
her from Danny.”

“I’ll try my
best.”
No promises here.

I do my
second walk around the house tonight, because I figured Emmy wouldn’t spend the
whole time outside with Danny. But I was wrong, she’s nowhere downstairs so I
head outside to grab her. Only once I get there she’s nowhere to be seen.

I look around
again, there’s less people in the backyard, but the spot where she and Danny
were sitting is empty.

“Are you
looking for that girl you were talking to earlier?”
I turn to my left and notice a guy sitting in a chair smoking a
cigarette.

“Yeah, how
did you know?”

“Lucky guess.
I saw you talking with her earlier, and just now saw you walk over to where she
was sitting. Figured you were looking for her.”
He takes
another drag of his cigarette and shrugs his shoulders.

“Have you
seen her?”

“She left.”

No. “What do
you mean she left? I’ve been by the front door for the last half hour, I
would’ve seen her go.”

“She left
with the guy she was with. You know your other friend or whatever. They went
out the back gate like twenty minutes ago. They didn’t come back here, and you
said you were by the front door, making no other way they went back to the
house. So they obviously left. Although I’m surprised they didn’t leave sooner,
those two were all over each other.”