Page 7 of Bar Down

Thought we could make it fun.

Eli is not some guy that I can just hook up with. I don’t even know if he’s into guys, although I have my suspicions.

Although, seeing that girl draped all over him at the kitchen island is now making me question things. I caught the last question she asked him before I walked away with a bottle of liquor.

Will you show me how flexible you are?

Will he?

Trip asks me something and I shake my head, coming out of my daze. I’m about to fake a smile and reply to whatever he said when I see Eli making his way towards us at our corner of the dining room table. He takes a seat at the head of the table, where Robbie was perched before.

“Hey guys, how’s it going?” he asks Trip and Mack with a genuine smile. I brood quietly next to him and watch him as I nurse my sixth or seventh drink of the night. Perfect Elias is looking a bit rumpled. The blue dress shirt he’s sporting tonight has some wrinkles in it, which I’m sure he’s annoyed about. I’ve rarely seen Eli in any sort of disarray. His apartment is always perfectly put together, his bathroom is squeaky clean and looks more like a fancy restaurant bathroom than a hockey player’s bathroom. My apartment on the other hand is in a chaotic state with clothes and bottles strewn all over the place. No wonder he never comes over to my place.

Eli introduces Trip and Mack to Alice who immediately starts chatting them up about their most recent vacation. He turns to look at me and his gaze is contemplative. Pale blue eyes arebouncing all over my face and he suddenly frowns. “Can I have a word with you?” he asks low enough so only I can hear.

I lean in closer to him and some of my pettiness shows as I whisper, “Where’s your puck bunny? She was dying to see how flexible you are.”

Eli’s jaw is set and I see a muscle twitching, which makes me smirk. “Don’t tell me you didn’t show her your stretches. Especially that one where you look like you’re humping the?—”

Eli stands and grabs me by the elbow so quickly that I nearly knock a glass off the table. I manage to catch it just in time and I shoot the whiskey before placing it down. The next thing I know, I am being dragged across the room. Is it spinning or is that just me?

“What, man? Where are we going?” I ask, annoyed that he’s taken me away from the party. The last thing I want is to be confronted about my idiotic texts.

Eli opens the door to the small laundry room and all but shoves me in there. I stumble a bit and he notices, so he steadies me with a hand on my shoulder.

Then he closes the door.

Eli

I’m somad at Ash, I don’t even know where to start. I want to scold him for the comments he was making at the table. While he thought he was whispering, the truth is everyone could clearly hear what he was saying about Hannah, and Alice was right there, looking at me with wide eyes. So I panicked and dragged him here. Not my finest moment, but here we are nonetheless.

My annoyance flares as I think about the texts from last night. What the fuck was he going on about? I doubt I will get any straight answers from him right now though, he’s a drunkenmess. I sigh and deflate a little when I see Ash looking at me. He looks so lost and scared. What is he afraid of?

“Are you okay?” I gently ask him.

“I’m fantastic. Don’t I show it?” he smiles, but it’s all wrong. It’s not his charming, beautiful smile. This one is all tense and lopsided.

“Tell me what those texts were about,” I hear myself say, even though I know he’s gonna deflect.

“I’d rather not. I’m drunk,” he says, looking past my shoulder at the door.

“Tell me.Please.”

Ash shakes his head and looks up at the ceiling, crossing his arms over his chest. Alright then.

“I don’t know what’s going on with you recently, but you know I’m always here for you, right? No matter what. You can tell me anything.”

He rubs his hands over his face and starts pacing around like a cornered animal. I get the feeling I’m somehow making it worse so I say, “I’m sorry, Ash. I’ll leave you be.”

I open the door a crack and can hear people starting to count down the thirty seconds until midnight.

“Why was your door locked?” Ash says before I can walk out. I turn around to face him and he’s slowly walking up to me. His fingers are clenching and unclenching at his sides and for a moment, I’m distracted, until I realize he’s asking about last night.

“I got a migraine, so I went straight to sleep. My phone was on do-not-disturb until I got here.” I see his lips part at my admission, and his eyes find mine. Did he think I was ignoring him on purpose?

“Oh. Was it a bad one?”

“I managed,” I say with a half shrug. The truth is, it was a bad one. I don’t get them often, but when I do, they knock me out on my ass.

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