Page 85 of Where the Dark Knelt
I shrugged.I wasn’t sure, but the thought of not speaking to him again made me miss him already. Whatever happened, I still loved him, even if he didn’t know it. I put the car into gear and drove away.
Chapter Thirty-Four
WILL’S CURIOSITY
Six weeks after Orlando, it was Mandy’s birthday. Neil surprised her by inviting everyone to a beach party for her. There was a campfire, and he’d got some battery powered rope lighting and decorated around the party site with it.
Neil made the beach scene look romantic for her withtikitorches. He had some portable barbeques and coolers full of beer and wine. He even paid a freshman from another course to cook the food.
“Stop it, Will.” I swatted his hand away from ruffling my hair. We were all giggling at Will’s antics around the campfire. The drinking game we were playing was fun, guessing the song from a random line, all of us singing the song when someone identified it.
I was surprised at how great a singerWill was. “You need to play and sing, Will. Don’t hide that amazing voice of yours.” When he sang, his voice made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
Smiling slowly, Will cocked his head. “You think I’m a good singer?”
I grabbed his hand, and hugged it to my chest. “Honestly, I could listen to you sing all day, you have a very seductive voice.”
He narrowed his eyes and pouted at the word seductive, pretended to act that out. Will’s smile widened as he grabbed me by my T-shirt, pulling me in for a hug. “You’re amazing, Lily. You always make me feel so much better about myself.”
I glanced up at him. “What’s not to feel better about, you’re an incredible person, Will,” I said, patting my palm against his chest. He shook his head in disbelief.
He had just sung “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”byAerosmith. Even though it was a cheesy song, he sounded ridiculously seductive and sexy with this a capella version of the song.
Saffydisliked the fact she wasn’t the center of his universe at that moment, and was clearly annoyed about it. Will had mingled amongst the other students, spending time getting to know them. The more he enjoyed himself, the lessSaffydid. She became more and more irritated by him.
Eventually, she tried to call time on his drinking. “Enough, Will, don’t drink any more, you’ve had more than enough for tonight.”
Will was becoming increasingly annoyed with her. His head snapped around, scanning to see if anyone had heard her before challenging her.“What is wrong with you? Why can’t I have a good time with my friends? Who are you, my mother?” he hissed quietly.
Saffyhuffed at him and sat back down, but her chin was taut and her eyes flashed with anger. She stood up. “Okay, we’re done here, Will, let’s go home.” She began moving toward the gate area, expecting Will to follow her.
Standing up, Will swigged back the last of his beer and threw his empty beer bottle in the cardboard box with the other empties. The loud clinking sound drew the attention ofsome of the others sitting near the fire. Tucking his fingers into his front jeans pockets, he swayed a little.
When he spoke, he hada slight slur. “Maybeyou’redone. Maybe I’m not. If you don’t want to stay, don’t let me keep you from your bed.” Sweeping his arm dramatically toward the parking lot, Will indicated she was free to go if she wanted to.
Looking around her, she could see everyone was staring at her. She turned her attention to me. “Lily, can you help me get him to leave?” I was not about to get in the middle of those two.
“Saffy, maybe if you leave him a few more minutes he’ll come to that decision on his own.” I didn’t want to push it because I felt that this could only get worse for both of them.
Saffy’sneck jutted back in disbelief and she twisted her lips at me, throwing her hand up in a ‘stop’ gesture. “Okay, fine, I’m going home, are you coming at least?” I didn’t want her to fall out with me, but I didn’t want to leave either. I was having fun.
“Saffy, please… I need to catch up with a few people yet, and I think someone should make sure that Will’s okay.”
Throwing both hands up in surrender, Saffy huffed out a breath. “Whatever! I’m going home. You two do what you like.” She glanced over at Will, who was paying no attention to us, and had begun to sing with a group of students. They were all hugging and trying to out-sing each other.
An hour after Saffy left, other people began to leave.Lewis, one of the other students, offered us a ride home. He hadn’t been drinking because he was taking some antibiotics following surgery. I didn’t ask what his surgery was for, I was just pleased that he could give us a ride home.
Toying with the idea of taking Will back to our place because he wasn’t in a fit state to leave home alone, I decided against it. I didn’t want to see a full-blown argument erupt inour condo between Will and Saffy that I couldn’t get away from.
I asked Lewisto help take Will into his house. He sat in the back of the car and asked several times whereSaffyhad gone to. He couldn’t remember their conversation and seemed to be having difficulty taking any information in. Lewis and I struggled to keep Will upright.
“Are you fondling my junk?” he asked, giving me a drunken lopsided smile as I searched in his pocket for his keys. Lewis was worse than me, he’d pinked up with embarrassment, and I saw this in the porch light.
We both giggled at Will’s comment though.“No, Will, we’re just helping you inside.” We half walked, half dragged Will as far as his couch, then planted him firmly on his side.
Will was now lying in a self-induced coma from the sheer amount of alcohol he’d consumed. He was a funny drunk, singing and dancing, as well as quick-witted and hysterical when he was trying to play the drinking games.
I asked Lewis to stay for a few minutes while I took off Will’s shoes and socks, organizing him more on the couch, then I put a light sheet over him as it was still hot.I got a glass of water and tried to give it to him, but he was largely unresponsive and all I got was a grunt.
