He takes another sip as he puts one of the bags in the trunk and again as he gets into the front seat of my car. I hold my hands on the steering wheel and say:
"You're not drinking that here in my car!"
He approaches me and says quietly:
"I have been here since five in the morning, my cell phone is dead, and I am in the company of a highly annoying girl. The only thing that could improve me would be to drink this whole bottle of whiskey!"
That makes my face burn, he brings the bottle to his mouth again, and I automatically take it from his hand. He says, irritated:
"Hey! Give it back to me!"
"No! I'm trying to do my friend a favor, and you're making this whole thing a nightmare. So you're not going to take this shit inside my car!"
He stops trying to get the bottle back, and I am holding it tightly against my body, and we are gasping in anger at the same rate. He steps back, stares at me, and begins to speak:
"I know who you are, Molly! You're the little friend Julie talks about so much. You are the girl with a boyfriend who is always traveling and leaving you alone, and please don't assume that it's my fault if the lack of sex makes you so dull."
My face now feels like it's on fire. I stare at him unresponsively and mentally repeat these phrases to try to keep calm: "He is Julie's brother," "Don't kill him," "He's drunk."
He takes the bottle from my hand in a moment of distraction with a chuckle on his face, then he closes the bottle and puts it in the glove compartment of the car and says:
"Satisfied?"
I don't answer. I am still repeating those sentences mentally. My cell phone vibrates. It's Julie:
"I'm going to kill him!"
He laughs and settles down in the car seat. And Julie answers, her voice still hoarse:
"Oh no, did he is drunk again?"
"What do you mean? Does he always drink? You could have warned me!"
"Look, Molly, don't listen to him. He's going through a hard time."
"Okay, we'll be right there."
"Thanks bye."
I hung up the phone and turned to him to tell him that if he kept talking more shit, I would leave him right there, but he fell asleep. I still feel like killing him, though.
As soon as we get to our condo, I look over, and he is still asleep. I kind of like not having to listen to him on the way, but now I would give anything to let him walk on his own, something that doesn't seem possible.
I try to wake him up, but he is making this difficult by asking me to leave him alone. I don't see anyone around to help me, and Julie must be in bed.
I see Paul, our neighbor arriving in his car. He sees us and asks if I need help.
I explain what is going on in a few words, and he decides to help me with the bags. Paul is now in the trunk while I go to help Chris get into the elevator.
I open the passenger seat door and put his arms around my neck, and lift him, asking him to try to make an effort to help me. He looks at me and asks me to let him sleep in peace.
With great effort, he gets up. I close the car door, and we head for the elevator. Paul is with the bags on the side of the car, observes my effort to keep Chris upright, then comes to us and helps me get into the elevator with him, saying that he will be right there with the bags.
Thank goodness that the elevator is empty, and I don't have to give any explanation about that scene. Inside the elevator, I still have to support him on my shoulders up to the fourth floor where our apartment is.
The elevator stops on the third floor, and an old couple asks, a little surprised, if the elevator is going down. I say no, and they comment on something while I press the close button on the door.
As soon as the door is closed again, Chris turns to me with his lips brushing against my neck. This makes me disconcerted. But I try to ignore it. After all, he doesn't even seem to know what he is doing anymore.
Then he says:
"Wow, you smell perfect."
Then he lifts his hand, brings it up to my waist, and holds it tight, bringing me very close to his body. A shiver started in my stomach and spread all over my body. This makes me too embarrassed even though we are alone.
Maybe the fact that I've been away from Colin for two months makes me more sensitive to specific touches, so I focus on the fact that I'm with a jerk.
But when I remove him from there, he does it himself. Then he again closes his eyes and looks down as if he wants to fall asleep again. The elevator door opens, and I make him take a few very disorganized steps to the entrance of Julie's apartment.
In the middle of this disastrous walk, I lose my balance, and we both fall to the floor. I stand over his body, he opens his eyes, and we stare at each other for a few seconds.
I hate that he has a dimple on his face when he smiles because that has always attracted me to guys, but he changes the way he smiles and starts to say it with a sarcastic chuckle:
"I could stay in this position all day long, babe! But I have to get in."
I instantly turn red, mainly because Julie is standing in the doorway, watching us with confused eyes when I look up.
Chris laughs even harder, and I want to get out of there. In an instant, I stand up, and we are trying to lift him off the floor. A few seconds later, Paul appears with the suitcases.