Page 31 of She Used to Be Nice
“I mean …” Viraj looked around. “It worked, right? She didn’t get in trouble, so …”
Morgan scoffed. “Because the officer abused his power, Viraj. That doesn’t mean itworked.”
“Are you talking about the campus police officers who rode around on those gay ass segways?” Noah held back a spurt of laughter. “And honked those little horns when students were in their way?”
“Yes, exactly,” Emma said. “Although I wouldn’t have usedgayas a slur—”
“Those officers were a joke,” Noah interrupted. “Not exactly guys I’d call powerful. I think I only ever saw one who was above a hundred and fifty pounds soaking wet. She should’ve just told him to get lost.”
Because men always listen when you say no,Avery thought sarcastically.You’re proof they don’t.
“Well, if he was enough of a creep to offer that kind of deal, who knew what would’ve happened if she’d denied him?” Morgan said. “She was probably scared.”
At this, Noah made a dismissive sound. “Did she get to keep the cheese fries, at least?”
“I have no idea.” Emma shrugged. “I guess so.”
Noah sniggered. “Then the blowjob was worth it. Those fries are amazing.”
He high-fived Viraj, who’d joined in with laughter, while Charlie shook his head and Morgan and Emma exchanged a disturbed look. Then Noah took a sip of his drink, the movement of his arm sending a rush of his cologne straight into Avery’s nostrils. Avery held back a dry heave as he remained unbothered and indifferent to her presence, not once looking her in the eye during the entire conversation. It wasn’t that she wanted him to talk to her, especially not when his contributions were unsurprisingly offensive garbage. There was just something about the fact thathewas ignoringherthat pissed her off. It wasn’t fair of him to pretend she didn’t exist; he’d made it clear enough that he thought she was invisible the night of the party senior year. He didn’t get to keep doing that now and getting away with it. Why was he allowed to keep belittling her like this, after everything he’d already done to make her feel so small?
Everyone moved on to talking about the dining hall food at Woodford again, about whether the Philly cheese steaks were better than the chicken fingers were better than the onion rings. Avery could not have cared less. She desperately wanted to escape this conversation, this party, this life.
“What late night meal do you miss most, Avery?” Morgan asked.
Avery shot Morgan a confused scowl. She knew Morgan was only trying to involve her in the conversation, but Morgan knew it was the buffalo chicken sandwiches.
Everyone stared Avery down, daring her to speak.
“None of it. The food sucked.” Avery drained the rest of her whiskey and shook her empty glass. “Be right back.”
Avery hustled to the bar and inhaled a deep, cleansing breath once she was far enough away from Noah. She needed to takesome control here, needed something to make her feel like a regular functioning person, even though she wasn’t exactly behaving like one. She stared at the bartender, with his deep tan and muscular arms, then leaned over the bar and asked him for another drink. Soon the two of them fell into easy conversation about where he learned to bartend, like any two people meeting on a night out, his eyes lingering on hers just long enough for her to know he was flirting with her. Finally, something normal was happening. Everything was okay now.
As the conversation continued, Avery almost forgot where she was, until she glanced over her shoulder and spotted Noah gesticulating around the room while telling some elaborate story that had everyone double over laughing. At one point, midsentence, he locked eyes with Avery. And before she could look away, her vision began to tunnel. She tried blinking to clear it, but the pull was too strong and she zeroed in on his eyes. His olive green eyes, with that hint of sage and the navy dot by his pupil, the last thing she saw before he flipped her around and pressed her face into the mattress …
She tore away from him and asked the bartender for another whiskey, a double this time. She drank it all in two gulps. The booze rushed to her head and emptied her thoughts so that she was filled only with nothingness, with air, like she was inflatable.Much better.
Charlie stood in front of the room and used a knife to tap his beer bottle. Or maybe it was a wine glass. Avery’s vision was too fuzzy to see what he was drinking. She could barely make out his movements, let alone his beverage, as he gave a speech thanking their friends and family for coming out to celebrate and sharing a few words about how excited he was to marry Morgan. Avery did her best to channel her drunken energy into cheerful whoops and claps, imagining subtitles translating her inebriated babbles.
When he finished his speech to a round of applause, a blurred figure gestured for Charlie’s wireless microphone, making Avery’s breath catch again. She knew it was Noah, despite her poorintoxicated vision. If Noah ever murdered someone, she’d be able to help the FBI pick him out of a lineup of one trillion blond, green-eyed men.
“I’ll be quick.” Noah eagerly tapped the microphone. Then he clasped an open palm on Charlie’s shoulder. “First, I wanted to say thank you to Charlie for letting me stand by him as his best man. We’ve only recently gotten closer, but now I don’t know what I’d do without this kid.”
“Same here,” Charlie murmured into the mic.
Avery held back a gag.
“As some of you know, I founded a start-up called Meow Monthly,” Noah continued. “You might’ve seen us on Instagram. Our account is at 400,000 followers now and this is only the beginning, because we plan to post alotmore cute animal videos.”
He paused for reactions and laughter from the audience, eagerly looking around in a self-satisfied way.
Avery did not chime in.
“Every Saturday, my company and I volunteer with the Humane Society to help abused and neglected animals,” he continued. “Sometimes, we’ll even take one home with us.”
Noah grabbed a cardboard box from behind him. He removed the lid and held up a golden retriever puppy like fucking baby Simba inThe Lion King.There was a chorus of gasps and squeals from the crowd.
“I was gonna wait until the end of the night,” he went on, “but my friend at the shelter dropped this guy off early, and I didn’t want to keep him in the box for too long. Happy engagement, guys!”
