Page 9 of Lessons in Forgiving
Between us. In the way I breathed, and the way he looked at me.
“It’s cute that you say that.” I didn’t know why I held my breath until he continued. “But I don’t think we’re going to be friends, Paula.”
CHAPTER 4
NOW
I know I should’ve slowed down after the third tequila shot. In all honesty, I’d probably reached my limit after number two.
But Riley was handing me another one, yelling, laughing, singing along to the music, everything about her so magnetic, her mood so contagious… how could I say no? The decision was basically made for me when she gave me the cup.
Plus, I had almost completely forgotten about the man currently stood on the other side of the room.
Henry was propped against the back of the couch when we’d arrived, arms crossed in that way that made them strain against the confinements of his sleeves. His brown hair parted down the middle, and he was talking to someone female who wasn’t me.
Which made me remember I shouldn’t notice—didn’t have any rightto notice—who he was or wasn’t talking to, and made me down that first Tequila shot so fast I almost coughed it all back up.
Now, I tipped my head back with the fourth one, liquor burning down my throat, soothing the unjustified jealousy still burning in the pit of my stomach.
Involuntarily, I might add. The girls cheered, and Maeve threw her arm around my shoulder, swaying us to the sound of a mediocre Abba remix blaring through the frat house.
It would be fine, I told myself.
Although I couldn’t count the number of times I’d stumbled, stepped on a foot, or reached for an arm for balance, and although my ex-boyfriend was somewhere in this room—mostlikely heavily flirting with a girl whose name I didn’t know—I’d be fine. Right?
I had my girls, my cat… and before I got the chance to ponder how pathetic I sounded, Riley handed me an empty cup. Just in time.
She filled it to the brim with some kind of alcohol concoction that could probably kill someone, and we all drank it anyway.
Really, I was just looking for a clock on the wall the next time my eyes involuntarily searched the room.
And surely, the way my stomach dropped was because I couldn’t find the time, not because I couldn’t find him. Henry was nowhere to be seen.
Not that I wanted to.See him, I mean.
“Girls,” I… panted?Dios mío, was the alcohol catching up with me that quickly? “I’m just gonna go to the bathroom.”
Laila jumped into Mom-Mode, concern riddling her tone, blue eyes wide in worry. “Do you need us? Are you going to throw up?”
She was the only one who had refused the second shot, instead opting for a sweet mixer that would let her wake up without a booming headache tomorrow. I was already way past that point.
My head shook, and unfortunately the world began spinning around me. “No.”Maybe. “Peeing.”
Apparently, I couldn’t muster more than one-word answers.
Although the bathroom upstairs put a steep staircase between me and release (in whichever form it came), I climbed it heroically to avoid the queue that had formed in front of the guest toilet downstairs.
Taking the last step, I let go of the banister reluctantly, already reaching for the opposite wall for the support I definitely needed.
Pretty sure I was feeling the world spinning on its axis right then, which reminded me we were on a ball in space in the first place. And we were spinning with it. And I honestly never quite understood how that worked. The thought made me feel sick.
“Fuck,” I groaned again, resting my forehead against my arm on the wall for… more support? I wasn’t quite sure, but with my eyes closed, I noticed less of that spinning globe we were all trapped on doing its thing.
Out of the void around me, someone asked if I was alright. I nodded as fast as I could, already muttering multiple variations ofyesagainst the wall that were only answered with an amused snort, the beginning of a laugh that just sounded so, so,so… familiar.
My eyes snapped open.
Wide and horrified, I held steady eye contact with the wall I was still facing. The wall my forehead still pressed against. All to avoid looking at Henry Parker Pressley. Right next to me.
