“Okay, then let me go pull up my car,” she said before disappearing around the house.
I stepped inside my father’s house. The interior was all rustic and ski lodge chic. People milled about as I grabbed a beer from the counter and downed it as I searched unfamiliar faces for him. I found him nestled on the sofa with a young blonde who appeared to be consoling him. I nearly vomited in my mouth. He was such a fraud. Such a fucking fraud. “I’m heading out,” I said.
“Okay.” He sat up, and the blonde moved a few inches away from him as if she wasn’t his latest screw. I waited for him to stand, to do anything that showed that he intended to console me after losing the only real parent I’d ever had, but in true Everett Caruthers’ style, he only nodded.
“See ya round,” I mumbled before spinning around and placing my empty beer bottle down on a table. I grabbed another for the road, unable to get out of that house fast enough.
Giselle’s car idled at the end of the steep driveway, her headlights illuminating the snow-covered road ahead. I hurried down the driveway, careful not to slip on black ice and fall on my ass. When I slid into the passenger seat, not only did the hot air blasting through the vents wash over me, so did a sense of relief now that I was away from that house once and for all.
“You good?” she asked as I closed the door.
“Nope.”
She sighed. I knew she wanted to say something to make it all better, but nothing that she said would. Life as I knew it would never be the same, and nothing anyone said or did would change that.
As we pulled away from my father’s house, I opened the beer and took a pull. On any other night, Giselle would’ve acknowledged my stupid behavior, but not tonight. Tonight, all bets were off. And I appreciated her ignoring it more than she probably realized.
“It was a beautiful tribute,” she said.
“Can we not do this?” I asked, slouching in my seat.
“Yeah. Of course,” she said, and I wasn’t sure if her quick response was due to my request or her relief in not having to talk about it with me.
We drove in silence for the next ten minutes. Giselle’s floral perfume worked its way into my senses. It was more expensive-smelling than the fruity lotions she wore when she was in high school. Must’ve been something her rich boyfriend bought her.
“One of these days you’re gonna have to be real with Kason,” she finally said, her eyes on the winding road in front of us.
“What do you mean?” I asked, the drunken slur in my voice more prominent now that I was in a confined space.
“His ego and selfishness are going to destroy him in more ways than one,” she explained. “You’re his best friend. He’ll listen to you.”
“Kason only listens to Kason,” I said.
“Yeah, well, one day he’s going to go too far, and it won’t be only him he hurts.”
I didn’t reply. Kason and I were bros, and we had each other’s backs no matter what. And even though it was a dick move to leave me for two snow bunnies on the night I buried my mother, I also didn’t need him to sit and sulk with me. I could manage that on my own just fine.
Giselle pulled up to the house I shared with Kason, not far from Cranmore University where he and I were both students. The bedroom lights upstairs were on, but there were no lights on downstairs. No question where Kason was and what he was doing.
Giselle cut her engine and opened her door.
“You don’t need to walk me to the door. I’m a big boy,” I said as I pushed open my door.
She ignored me, stepping out and making her way up the partially shoveled sidewalk to the front porch.
I closed my door and followed her, burying my hands in my pockets as the remaining snow crunched beneath my feet. A drunken haze washed over me, and I needed to be in my bed before I either puked or passed out.
“It’s freaking cold out here,” she shivered as I stepped up beside her.
“Go home. I don’t want you seeing anything in there that will scar you for life.”
She sighed, her eyes locking on mine. If I wasn’t so heartbroken, her look would’ve done me in. She opened her arms and wrapped them around me, pulling me against her curves. “I’m here for you, Thayer. I will always be here for you.”
I wrapped my arms around her and relaxed into her embrace. I’d never been that close to her before. Never felt that connected to her. I wanted to get lost in all things Giselle, and the urge to make that a reality overtook my body.
“Whatever you need. Whenever you need it. You just call me,” she continued.
I slipped my arms free and stumbled a step back. Her dark waves had softened over the course of the day, but she still looked just as beautiful under the single light by the door. I inched closer to her, my body being pulled by an invisible thread. “You need to stop me before I do something I can’t take back.”