Chapter 31: Twenty One-1

12:26 AM Xavier stalks forward with some random at his heels. I squint to try and get a better look at her. If I didn't actually know better, I'd say he was with a pair of twins but I'm sure the fact that there is one full person combined with half of a blurry one and they're identical most likely proves it's the alcohol waging war with me. He narrows his eyes to examine me before firing a glare at Jackson. "What's going on?" Jax crosses his arms and leans against the wall. "Trust me when I tell you, you don't want to know but you can sum it up like this. I want to go home, Lola refuses to come with me so right before you showed up I was getting ready to spend at least an hour with my ass on the concrete at which point I was going to throw her over my shoulder and make her leave because I'm sure as hell not going to leave her here." "Lola," X says. "What are you doing? Get up. Go with Jackson." I cross my arms over my chest. "Um, no." "Why?" "Because." "That's your reason?" Xavier asks. "Because." "Because I'm mad at him X. I bet you'll love that. Go ahead, say you told me so. I'm a big girl. I can take it." Xavier listens to me whine before turning to the girl behind him. "Nancy, I gotta deal with this." "Yeah, Nasty," I wave my hand, "move along now." She huffs. "You know what Xavier? Lose my number." Even in the dark, I can see his eyes roll as he stalks toward me. "What the hell are you trying to pull, Mouse?" "I don't want to go with Jackson," I say, remembering how deeply it cut when he rejected me. I want to reject him, even for an hour so he knows what it feels like. Jackson sighs. "She's being stubborn," he tells X like I'm not even here. Then he proves he does know I'm here by turning to me. "Will you go with Xavier, Angel?" "Don't call me that." Jax smirks. "Whatever you say, Angel. Answer the question. You go with him, willingly or you stop being pissed enough to come with me. Your choice." Xavier crouches down in front of me. "You want me to take you home?" I look at my best friend and nod. His face is equal measures of concerned and confused. He turns to Jackson. "I'll take her home." "No," Jax says. "Unless you plan to stay there, take her to your place. Someone needs to keep an eye on her. She was getting her own drinks. I think she was ordering doubles, plus a few shots." "Way to watch her," X says disdainfully. "Nicely done." "I was watching her," Jackson says. "I'm still watching her be a total stubborn pain in the ass. Take her back to your place. Let her sober up. At least I'll know she's safe. Tori is nice and all but I wouldn't pin her as being super responsible." "Right because getting Lola drunk enough to be angry with you and now asking me to take her back to my place is? Is that how it works?" "Look man," Jax says. "You may not like me but I have no problem with you. Lola's a big girl, contrary to what tonight may imply. I trust her. One hundred percent. Pair that with the fact that I know you will never ever hurt a hair on that girl's head-that you'd rather die first and yeah, I'm fine if she goes with you." Jackson stiffens. "Unless of course there's something you wanna tell me?" Xavier shakes his head. He's irritated. I can tell. "Forget it." His hand loops around the top of my arm to steady me. "Come on then." Jackson rakes his fingers through his hair. "I'll see you tomorrow." I shrug. "Maybe. Maybe not." This earns me a small smirk. "Alright, whatever. When the hangover wears off and you're puking your guts out, dizzy, feverish and wishing for some relief, you'll be around. Reminds me of somethin, how bout you?" Damn it. He's right. "Whatever." "You're pissed at me," Jax says. "It' isn't the first time, it won't be the last time and even so, I still love you." Xavier's grip tightens on my arm at Jax's proclamation. The words slip out before I can stop them in attempt to continue being mad. "Love you, too. C'mon Xavier. Let's pop this blow corn stand." They both laugh. "I mean let's blow this pop stand." Xavier shakes his head. "Stop talking, Lo." "Whatever." I hitch my purse over my shoulder and start walking. As we head back to X's car, I find myself avoiding obstacles that don't even exist. I'm not even sure if what I'm doing can be considered walking. It's more like a dance-a terrible one might I add-while Xavier is involuntarily tasked with keeping me vertical. When my foot catches on an uneven sidewalk paver and he stops me from falling, he says, "Jesus Mouse, how much did you drink?" "I dunno. Lotta." "Why would he let you drink so much?" I stop moving and glare. "Let me? Let me? I'll have you know, no one lets me do anything. I am my own person. I am a strong, independent woman." "Not so independent when you can't walk. I knew I didn't like that guy." "Pssh," I say, waving my hand dramatically. "Jackson didn't force me to do anything." "He shouldn't have allowed this. If you were mine, I swear to God." This causes me to stop again. "If I was yours?" Even in the darkness of night, I can see X's features harden. "Keep walking, Mouse." "No." "Walk," he says sternly. I freeze and glare at him. "Walk," he says again. "Or I'll do exactly what your boyfriend was prepared to do and toss you over my shoulder. You have no idea how tempting it is right now." "Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" I say. The venom in my voice is clear as day. He rolls his eyes. "Holy fuck, Lola Marie. Whatever it is you drank, you're never gonna drink it again. You're beyond a pain in the ass right now. I'm not asking again." Some small miracle, maybe a sense of self-preservation allows his words to sink in. I've mouthed off to Jackson, I'm running my mouth to Xavier. There are alarm bells in my head, pleading with me to shut the hell up before I do anymore damage. Once they come out, words cannot be unspoken.