Page 64 of Going the Distance
“I don’t know, Elle, maybe we should just…talk to him tomorrow.”
She looked so upset, so betrayed. I knew that feeling all too well, but I was too furious with Lee to evenconsiderletting him off the hook easy tonight. Conflict wasn’t usually my bag, but this was an exception. Rachel wringing her hands and biting her lip in an attempt not to start sobbing only spurred me on.
“You stay here if you want, but I’m going in.”
I stepped inside and heard Rachel run up after me. She touched my shoulder. I think it was more for her comfort than mine.
We followed the noise to the massive living room. There was a video game playing on TV—it looked likeFortnite.There was music playing from somewhere, too, but nowhere near as loudly as for a usual party. The football team were scattered across the couches, chairs, sitting on the floor or standing around the room. Bottles of beer and cups were scattered on every surface. There were maybe five or six girls around—I recognized them from the cheerleading squad.
Lee was sprawled in the corner of one couch, a cup balanced in his loose hand on the arm of the couch, with Peggy Bartlett perched on his knee, pushing his hair back off his face and giggling.
Rachel made a noise behind me, and I turned just in time to see her run out.
I debated running after her, but I’d deal with Lee first.
I stepped into the room, and people looked up.
“Hey, Flynn, you didn’t say you were gonna invite one of your girlfriends!”
“She’s not my girlfriend,” he slurred, but grinned at me. “ ’Sup, Shell?”
“Nah, he’s totally boning her on the side,” someone muttered, but by the time I looked up to glare, I couldn’t tell who’d said it.
“Thisis date night? This is why you can’t answer your phone?”
“Hey, lay off him, all right?” Benny Hope, a guy who’d had to retake sophomore year, called over. “Go back home to your Build-A-Bear collection.”
“Dude, come on,” Lee said, laughing. “Mr.Snuggles is a cherished member of the family.”
Everyone laughed. My cheeks burned. I balled my hands into fists, trying not to run out of there like Rachel had.
“Lee, we’re leaving.”
“But I’m having fun.” His glassy eyes rolled toward me, his mouth an open, slack smile. “It’s fun, Elle. You should stay.”
“Your girlfriend just ran out of here crying. You don’t think maybe you should go follow her and talk to her? You don’t think maybe you owe both of us an apology?”
“C’mon, I’m not the one who crashed your party and ruined your night.”
Peggy Bartlett laughed, pushing his hair back again. “Yeah,Elle.Maybe you should just leave before you ruin everybody’s night. Nobody invited you, last time I checked. Nobody asked for a stripper.”
More laughter. Lee’s was loudest.
There was a hand on my shoulder. I almost expected it to be Rachel, but the hand was too heavy. I looked up to find Jon smiling at me. There was no sympathy in his eyes, but no mockery, either. I couldn’t help but feel relieved at the intervention, and the fact that at least someone was happy to see me.
“Hey, Evans! What’re you doing here? Flynn invite you?”
“She’s totally dragging us down, J,” one of the other girls whined. She was a junior and I didn’t know her that well. Sara? Sarah? Something like that. She pouted and it looked like one of those overexaggerated Snapchat filters. It wasn’t a good look on her. “Tell her to leave already.”
“You want a beer, Elle?” he asked me instead. “Stick around, huh? I’ll get you a beer.”
“Elle’s a bad drunk,” Lee pitched in. “She should go home.”
“I’m not staying,” I told Jon. “I’m taking Lee home.”
He eyed Lee. I could smell the beer on Jon’s breath, but he didn’t look wasted like the rest of the guys. “He’s been drinking for hours. You bring your car? I’ll help you get him outside.”
A few people protested, moaning that Jon was ruining the party now, too, saying he should leave Flynn where he was, Flynn was fine, they were all having a great time till I showed up and ruined it.
