Chapter 33: Matt

“Mr. Nelson, if you’re late to my class again, don’t bother coming next time.” Professor Mills glares at me as I slide into an empty chair, his mustached lip curled in a sneer. I wanted to get back up and stalk out, just to make a point, but instead, I said nothing and nodded, wishing I could punch him in the face.

“Yeah, Mr. Nelson,” Aaron hisses under his breath. “Where the hell have you been, dude?”

“Hungover as shit,” I said, far too loudly, and Professor Mills glared at us. Aaron scoffs and leans back in his seat, focusing his attention back on the front, and I tried to follow his lead. I couldn't concentrate, though. I couldn't even pretend to. Because I was sure Renee Lyon was taking over every crevice in their brains the same way she was mine. There is no functioning anymore, not while we’re all so crazy about the sassy redhead who wants nothing to do with us.

“There’s a party tonight,” Aaron whispered as Professor Mills turned his attention back to the whiteboard. “Wanna go?”

“Is Renee going?”

“Fuck if I know. I haven’t seen her since …” he stops speaking abruptly, then shrugs, and I know he’s hiding something.

“You’ve been with her, haven’t you?”

“Not like that,” Aaron muttered. “But I saw her, yes.”

“When?”

“None of your concern.” Aaron makes it a point to turn away from me and pretend to focus on whatever bullshit Professor Mills is spouting to his students. I nudge him in the arm, but he ignores me, and I know if I punch him out right here, I’d probably be suspended permanently. So instead, I wait for the end of class before following Aaron out of the building.

“We need to do something about her,” I said as Aaron and I walked. “Renee, I mean.”

Aaron shrugs. “We could, I don’t know, leave her alone,” he suggests.

“Yeah,” I said with a nod. “How’s that worked for you so far?”

On the football field near the quad, Jake is out on the field, nearly done with football practice. Aaron and I look around for a shaded spot near the bleachers and sit down to wait for our friend to finish.

“So, the party,” Aaron said, nodding at me. “Are we going?”

“Sounds fucking lame.” I take a cigarette out of my back pocket and slip it between my lips. Some chick sitting near us glances at me and scowls, but I ignore her, and moments later, the girl gets up and storms away, muttering under her breath. The cigarette still isn’t lit.

“It won’t be lame if Renee’s there,” Aaron reminds me. He leaned back a bit when I didn’t answer and shrugged, looking pensive. “Maybe I’ll just ask her to go tonight. You know, kind of as a date. What do you think about that?”

“I think if you keep talking, I will end up burying your body somewhere behind the house tonight.”

“Careful,” Aaron said. “I could be recording this entire conversation.”

I was about to retaliate when someone shouted something in our direction. A moment later, a leather football nails Aaron between the eyes, and he careens backward off the bleachers, cursing as his glasses spill from his face and hit the grass a split second before he does.

“Sorry!” Jake called, jogging up to us just as Aaron picked himself up off the ground. “I told you to catch it.”

“You said no such thing, dick.” Aaron got to his feet, scowling at Jake as he swiped up the rogue ball and chucked it at him with an impressive force that shoved Jake back a couple of steps.

“Damn, dude,” he said with a low whistle. “Why aren’t you on the team?”

“Please,” said Aaron. “Like I have nothing better to do than throw balls across a line and smack my teammates’ asses all day long.”

“That’s not how it works.” Jake throws his hands up in the air in mock deceit. “That’s not how any of this works!”

“Shut up, both of you,” I snap, pulling my buzzing cell phone from my pocket. I glanced at the screen. It was a mass text, sent to dozens upon dozens of people I didn’t know. “It was about the party.” I hand my phone to Jake, who squints as he reads.

“Are we going?”

“I don’t give a shit what you two do, but I’d rather go home and fucking sleep,” I tell them. Jake shrugs and hands the phone back to me, just as it buzzes again. This time, however, it was someone we do know.

Hey, this is Jami, sry. Jason asked Renee 2 the party 2night. I am worried about her.

There was nothing else, just that single text that made my spine turn to jelly with anxiety, real anxiety that I haven’t experienced in a very long time. I frown at the screen on my phone and then type back a quick reply, shoving the cell into my pocket before waiting for Jami to respond.

“Change of plans, gentlemen,” I said, hopping to my feet. “Let’s go get ready for the party.”

~ ~

It was loud. Late. Music blares from the speakers around our heads, but drunk college kids still manage to whisper sexual come-ons at each other, their bodies writhing in the middle of the floor, hot and sweaty and intense. But I was not focused on them. In the hour and a half the boys and I had been here, I’d been focused on one thing and one thing only.

Jason and Renee were sitting together on the ragged couch. Jason had one hand on Renee’s waist, and the other held her face to his as they kissed. I hated watching them but couldn't force myself to look away. Something didn’t feel right tonight, and it was not just because of my feelings for Renee Lyon as I watched another dude suck face. I wanted to drink more, but at the same time, I couldn't stomach it. Not tonight.

“Hey man, I’m ready to go home,” Aaron said, coming up behind me to slap my shoulder. “This party blows. I’m tired.”

“Quit being such a fucking sissy,” Jake said, punching Aaron in the shoulder. The beer in his cup spills over, staining the carpet under our feet. No one else even notices.

“Seriously though, is this what you two find to be a good time?” Aaron grumbles. “Watching Renee swap spit with that douchebag?”

“We can leave when she leaves,” I growled. I expected Aaron to argue with me, Jake even, but neither of them did.

“Fine,” Jake said. “But I need to get laid tonight.”

“Like that’s something new,” Aaron grumbles. “You always need to get laid.”

“Both of you, shut up.” The words come out angrier than intended, but neither of my friends seems to notice.

“Want another drink?” Jake asks, tilting his head at my near-empty bottle of beer. I shake my head, eyes still on Renee and Jason. Aaron is watching her now, too, and a moment later, Jake falls silent as the three of us watch her from across the room. We didn’t know what we were watching, but there was something off-putting about how Jason had his hands all over Renee. I wanted to kill the guy.

“Just keep your eyes on her,” I told my friends. “I don’t like this.”

“Should we intervene?” Jake asked, and I shook my head.

“No. Not until she needs us.”

“What makes you think she even wants to be around us right now?” Aaron shakes his head and swallows, then sets his empty cup aside, abandoning it, but he didn’t move in for a refill.

“She might not,” I said with a shrug. “That’s why we’re standing back here.”

“Evening, gentlemen,” a female voice said from behind us, bumping me from behind. I turn to look in time to see Carly insert herself into the middle of our little group. She was drunk, per usual, and if the flushed skin and glazed eyes of vodka-induced stupor weren’t already evident, her stumbling was.

“Hey, Car,” Jake said pleasantly. I was relieved, if anything, that they were on better terms again. More woman drama is the last thing we need in an overflowing crisis circle.

“Hi,” Carly purrs, pushing her body against Jake’s, and Aaron and I exchange an eye roll. “Care to join me somewhere private?”

I think Jake is about to take her up on it for a moment. But he doesn’t. Not that I could blame him, of course, because as fun as it was watching the girl we all liked swap spit with another guy, sometimes it was just not worth the pain.

“Sorry, girl, can’t do it,” he said, taking a slow step away from Carly. “I think we’re getting ready to head out, anyway.”

“I’m here if you change your mind,” Carly said, finishing the rest of her drink. She tosses her hair over one shoulder and turns to leave, but not before looking at Jake again. “She is not worth it,” she said with a slight shrug. “Renee, I mean. She is not worth the time you’re all putting into this. I could promise you that.”