This feels like something we should continue at home.
Pulling back, I hear Arden whimper softly at the loss of contact. His hands are gripping my hips. He thinks I’m going to bolt again. He has no idea how wrong he is.
“Ready to go?”
He looks up at me, clearly confused by the sudden shift of energy. I’m hoping my facial expression says everything I’m trying to convey. And I think it does, because Arden places a soft kiss on my nose before nodding.
We stand together, abandoning the warmth of the fire, hope aflame in both of our eyes.
Instead of going back through the house, we decide to leave through the driveway, passing by a couple making out and someone puking in the bushes.
Avoiding the couple, we step passed the puking girl and that’s when I notice the pink pigtails. “Gemma?”
She looks up from the ground, vomit dribbling out of her mouth.
“Oh my god. Are you okay?” Rushing over to her, I use a somewhat clean part of her oversized t-shirt to clean her face.
“Too much drinking,” she mutters before leaning down and falling asleep on my lap.
“Shit. Arden, can you–” He’s already grabbing her under the arms before I can get the sentence out. “We should probably take her home with us. I don’t know how far her dorm is and there’s no way I’m putting her in a cab.”
“Of course.” Arden lifts Gemma into a fireman’s carry, holding her like she weighs absolutely nothing. It’s a good thing we only live five minutes away or this would’ve been much harder.
Besides the sounds of Gemma’s snoring, the walk is uncomfortably silent. What do you say to the guy that you were about to bring home and bone but instead he’s carrying your friend who was just puking her guts out?
When we get to the building, I rush ahead of Arden to open the door to the apartment and then my bedroom.
“Just put her on my bed. I’ll keep an eye on her.”
Arden nods as he walks past me into the room. He places Gemma down as gently as he can and she immediately rolls over, her snoring picking up volume and pace.
“This is the first time I’ve been in your bedroom,” he says, barely loud enough for me to hear, but I do.
“Arden, I—”
“It’s okay, Dani,” he says, walking toward the door. He passes me again and heads toward his own room.
“Wait, can we talk about this?”
“Not tonight,” he says. He sounds so…sad. Why is he sad? Because he didn’t get some? That’s a bit shallow. “Goodnight, brat.”
He goes into his room and closes the door. I follow suit but for some reason I’m smiling. He called me brat.
“Good morning, puking beauty.”
The blanket mountain next to me groans impossibly loud. “What the hell happened last night. How did I get here?” She pushes the blanket off her face and looks at me. “Did we have sex?”
Rolling my eyes, I throw a pillow at her exposed face and she smiles before groaning again. “My head,” she cries, as if someone is standing over her with a chisel. “Seriously, how did I end up in your bed?”
“You were puking in the bushes outside the KA house. I found you, and Arden carried you home.”
“What a gentleman. Remind me to give him a basket of soap as a thank you.”
I laugh but she’s dead serious. “I’m sure he’ll love that.”
“Thanks for taking care of me, Dani. I’m sorry if I ruined your night.”
“I was going to have sex with Arden last night,” I say, looking up at the glow in the dark stars I stuck to the ceiling.