Chapter 32: Twenty One-2

My shoulders slump. "Sorry." "Walk," he says for the third time. This time I do. I walk and keep my stupid mouth shut. Xavier lives in an off campus apartment with his roommate, Jared. Tori may be a slob but Jared is a chauvinistic pig, which is why X and I spend so much time at my cramped dorm. Compared to my dorm room, his apartment is high roller living, but X wants to protect me from Jared's less than noble intentions at whatever cost, including but not limited to having space to breathe. He slides his key in the lock and shoulders open the door. "Walk." I pout. "Is that all you're going to say to me? Walk. Walk. Walk." I push past him, nearly tripping over a pair of running shoes just inside the door. I point an accusing finger at them. "You're damned shoes jumped out at me!" Xavier shuts the door behind him and kicks the shoes out of the way. "They aren't mine, they're Jared's." "Whatever." Xavier grabs my arm and starts to haul me down the hallway toward his bedroom. I wriggle my arm from his grasp. "What are you doing?" "Putting you to bed," he says. "W-" I hold my palm up. "Walk. Yeah. Got it you freakin' drill sergeant." I know where X's bedroom is, so I head there. "I assume you're going to sleep on the couch?" "You assume correctly," he says. "I don't need you to tuck me in." "You can't even walk straight, Lola." I'm about to argue when I stumble into the wall with my shoulder. I grimace and shake it off. "God Xavier! Stop leaving things in the way!" "It's the wall, Mouse. It's stationary. It never moves because it has to hold the roof up now wa-" Again, I don't let him finish. Holding my palm in the air as if to shush him. Xavier's bedroom is simple. He has it for one reason, to function as a place to sleep and get dressed. There is the difference between males and females. If I had more than a bed to myself, I'd go crazy decorating. Xavier closes the door behind us, walks to his dresser and grabs a Lakers t-shirt. He hands it to me wordlessly. "Turn around," I direct him. It's bold. I know that. This is, after all, his house. X doesn't argue, used to the routine by now. I move to pull the wrap dress over my head. It was easy enough to slip on, but getting it off is a whole different ball game. The tie on the side winds itself around one arm so I end up with the dress half over my head and twisted like a fish in a net. I giggle. "You done?" "Uh, just give me a minute." I move my body around in an effort to dislodge my arm, but somehow I succeed in wrapping the fabric of the skirt around the same arm. Now I'm not only stuck but I'm also blindfolded by black wrap dress. It smells good though and for the first time perhaps ever, I appreciate Tori's mandarin ginger perfume. I must be causing a ruckus. "You alright?" X asks. "I'm fine," I say. "Just running into a bit of a problem." "I'm turning around." "You wouldn't dare." "Oh, trust me Mouse. I wanna get to sleep before tomorrow. I would." "I can fix it." Frantic, I start to try and rip the dress off of myself which causes me to stumble. I run into the bedside table. "Fuck!" "Good God," Xavier says. I can't see him, but I can tell by the projection of his voice that he has in fact turned around. "Don't look," I implore. My arms are suddenly being tugged upward and in seconds they are free from the dress. I can feel my hair standing up with static seconds before I feel the air on my skin. My bare skin. Even though I'm in my bra and underwear, I cross my arms over myself in an effort to hide. Where the hell did I put the shirt? My eyes dart to the floor and X's follow. He quickly bends over and picks it up. He takes a step closer to me, his eyes fixed on mine before he puts the t-shirt over my head and pulls it down. He helps me get my arms through the holes, silent the whole time. He pulls back the blanket to his bed. "Get in. Be right back." I crawl inside, a million thoughts spiraling through my head. Xavier just saw me almost naked. That hasn't happened since we were kids. Suddenly I feel like shit. For being a bitch to Jackson, for acting like a child with Xavier, for the god damned spinnies in the room. X returns with a large soda bottle filled with water in one hand. The other hand has a light grip on a drinking glass with his thumb. He sits on the bed and for a second, I think the small sway his body weight causes is going to make me get sick. He opens his palm and hands me two white pills, pours a glass of water, and sets the large bottle not he table next to the bed. "Take these. And drink as much of the water as you can." I take the pills from him and down them. "Xavier?" Now that I'm done being irritating, Xavier's demeanor softens. "Yeah?" "I'm sorry." "I know." "I'm sorry for being drunk." "I know. It's okay, Mouse." "I'm sorry for being rude." "I know." "I'm sorry that you have to sleep on the couch because of me." "It's not a big deal," he says. "Before I go, you're not gonna get sick are you?" "No," I say. "I'm okay." "I'll be in the living room if you need me." "Okay. Can you hand me my phone?" "Go to sleep," he says, reaching in my purse and pulling out my phone. "Seriously Lola, you're going to need it." "Sleeping," I say. "In one second." "Wake me up if you need anything," X says again. "I will." He stands and heads to the door, turning. "Love you Mouse, to the moon and back." My eyelids are lead. "I love you, too." When he leaves, I text Jackson, or at least I hope it's Jackson. I'm sorry. I want to wait for his reply but I can hardly keep my eyes open. I set the phone on the table next to the water and hope like hell Jackson Sunday is in the habit of forgiving me.