Friends and Alibis

“You’re blonde.” He laughed.

“Oh shut up, will you?” I laughed.

“No oh god, this is just too god. You just need to make two piggy tails and then you will look like you’re 12 again.” Matt and Jimmy laughed at me.

“You both are being idiots. It can’t look that bad, it’s my natural hair colour, for god’s sake. You both should know that.” I told them.

“It’s not that it looks bad, it suits you actually.” Jimmy laughed. “But it makes you look like a little girl.”
They both burst into laughter again.

“You two are idiots. I’m leaving.” I laughed and went for the kitchen where the rest of the guys were.

For whatever reason the guys had decided to throw a party. Not that I had anything against that. They always liked to party, even when we weren’t legally allowed to drink just yet.

Everyone was in a really good mood, alcohol induced or not. And it seemed that the party hadn’t even really started because after half an hour of chatting with people I still remembered from my time in California, there were so many people that I couldn’t even turn around without bumping into someone. It truly resembled a High School/College party from the movies. And to be honest – I loved it. I rarely got to attend parties like these because I was either too young, didn’t know anyone that would invite me, or rather stayed in and had a movie night with Katelyn.

So to say that I let loose would be an understatement.

By the time 1 a.m. rolled around I was well on my way to being more than a little bit tipsy. But that was fine. Drunken laughter and liquid confidence never hurt anyone. And everyone around me was also either completely drunk or on the brink of passing out. So, no regrets.

I staggered into the living room and saw that all of the guys were sitting there, minus Brian (but I think we all can guess where he went off to, can’t we?). I stumbled onto the couch and fell on top of
Jimmy and Matt’s laps.

“I’m not feeling that good anymore,” I whined with my hands covering my face.

“Well, no surprise there,” The guys laughed at Jimmy’s response who then tickled me.

“Ugh, no, stop or I’m going to hurl on you,” I groaned and he immediately retracted his hand with another laugh. “Thank you. Can anyone of you four take me home?”

“Yeah, I can. I was just about to leave anyway,” Zack said, standing up, coming over to the sofa.

He reached out his hands and pulled me into a sitting position which made me groan from dizziness.

“It’s sad that you could hold your liquor better when you were fifteen,” he laughed. I flipped him off.

“Now come on, I’ll drive you home.”

He hooked his arm around my waist to stabilise me and after we said good bye, we went outside and he tried to get me into his car without hitting my head. Unsuccessfully.

“Ouch,” I hissed.

“Sorry,” he said with a grimace.

He settled into the driver’s seat and drove away. We didn’t really talk a lot because honestly, my head hurt and all I wanted was my bed.

But when we arrived at my apartment and I searched my bag for my keys, I had to let out a big sigh.
Nada.

“What?” Zack asked confused.

“My keys.... They’re not in my bag.” I whined. “This day… is the shittiest day… of my life.”

“Well, I could think of at least a hundred worse things,” he said with a soft smile and drove off again.

“Wait, where are you taking me?” I asked and narrowed my eyes at him.

“I’m gonna drop you off at the next bridge so you can spend your night there, what do you think, you big dumbass. We’re going to my place.” He laughed and the skin around his eyes crinkled.

“Oh,” I sighed. And then, even though I was still intoxicated, my brain started to rattle in an inhuman way. “I know that you’re not going to let me sleep under a bridge, but what about Amelia? I’m pretty sure she’d get a kick out of it.” I asked with my eyes wide open.

“Don’t worry, she’s not even at home. She went to see her mom in Idaho and won’t be back before Wednesday. Something about ‘Distance makes the heart grow fonder.’” he mumbled.

“Oh,” I offered in return.

“Yeah,” he said. “By the way,” he looked at me and laughed, “I really like your hair.”

“Thank you, kind Sir, but if you’re about to tell me that I look like a little girl, too, then I’m afraid I’ll have to take up the offer of the bridge.” I laughed.

“No, god, no. Don’t worry.” He smiled and parked in his driveway. “It’s really… you.”

“Should I be able to understand that? Because honestly, I’m in no state of mind for complicated things.” I crinkled my nose and got out of his car, he soon followed to unlock the door.

“No, it’s alright. Come on, I’ll show you where the guest room is.” He said and I followed suit.

As soon as we reached the room I plopped down, which made my head protest.

“Ouch,” I whined and Zack laughed.

“Do you need anything else? Painkillers, a bucket?” He laughed at my misery, that asshole.

“No, I just want to talk to you, I’m really not that tired.” I groaned.

But Zack just laughed and planted himself right next to me on the bed, with his back against the headboard.

“What do you wanna talk about? How much you missed all of us? Me?” he teased and I laughed but
nodded lightly.

“Yeah, I really did that. God, you have no idea how much I actually missed all of you.” I admitted.

“If it’s anywhere near how much we missed you, I’m pretty sure we do.” He said softly.

I abruptly sat up and looked at him. He just looked confused at my sudden movement.

“I know this could get awfully embarrassing but can I try something real quick?” I asked with a blank
face.

Zack just nodded lightly and slowly in utter confusion.

God knows what would have happened if he actually had known what I was about to do. But thankfully, he didn’t.

So I crashed my lips to his and gave that kiss everything my drunken self could muster up. And he didn’t stop me. Not even when the kiss started to grow more heated. Not even when both of us started to moan into that kiss and our hands started to roam each other's bodies. Not even when pieces of clothing started to go missing. On intention, of course.

And he didn’t push me off him when we fell asleep, side by side, undressed and sweaty and out of breath. And I just felt really happy when I finally got it all into my head – what had just happened.
How it had just happened. And I tried to savour everything.

At least until morning arrived and I found him sitting on the chair by the small desk that was placed in the guest room.

I couldn’t really see what was going on. He had his face covered by his hands and was repeatedly running them over it. But I just knew that whatever was going on, it wasn’t good.

As if sensing that I was staring at him, his head shot up and he locked eyes with me.

He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “I really don’t know what to say.” He said, his voice
unfamiliarly distant. “I just know that this was a big fucking mistake and I really need you to leave. I’m sorry but please, just get dressed and leave. Just do me that one favour.”

I sat on the bed, my mouth and eyes open, not really registering anything.

“Please, just leave.” He said again and left the room.

I still couldn’t move. I didn’t know what had hit me. I just knew that right now I had to get out of there. Not because he had told me so. But because what I had planned AGAIN hadn’t turned out the way that I had wanted it to. And I was sure that I had fucked it up for good. Even if he would blow off the wedding, I definitely wasn’t the one taking Amelia’s place. That much was clear. And it hurt. It fucking hurt.

I dropped to the floor and collected my clothing that was scattered all over the room and put it on as fast as I could, because as soon as I was dressed I stormed out of the house. Zack was nowhere to be seen anyway. And the walk of shame couldn’t really bother me after what had just happened, so I just started walking.

I grabbed my phone and called Matt.

“Yeah?” he picked up, his voice cracking. I didn’t even know what time it was, for god’s sake.

“Matt,” I said but my voice betrayed me and cracked. That seemed to alert him immediately.

“What’s wrong?” he asked concerned.

“I fucked up. I really fucked it up this time.” I sobbed into the phone.

Notes