“Great,” I said, wiping my dirty hands on my pants. “But I just hate…” I couldn’t even finish the sentence for fear that I’d start crying. I hated being that girl who crawls away from the party. I hated being the girl who needs rescuing. I hated being Hartley’s little gimpy pal. Watching The Princess Bride over and over again was much more palatable than this brand of mortification.
“I know,” he said under his breath. He bent over to pick me up, but I pushed him away. I did a transfer maneuver that would have made Pat proud — pulling myself into the chair in one smooth motion.
Hartley turned me around, pushing my chair toward the door.
“We have to do the stoop backwards,” I reminded him.
“We do everything backwards, Callahan,” he said.
I had no idea what that was supposed to mean, and I didn’t ask.
— Hartley
When we reached the flagstone path in the Beaumont courtyard, Corey tried to wave me off. “You can go back upstairs,” she said.
“You’re drunk, Callahan. I’m going to walk you.”
“You’re babying me,” she complained.
“Huh. Well then I’ve babied every single one of my friends at some point, and most of them puke on me. Bridger does it weekly.” We went on in silence for a couple of minutes before I had to ask, “what were you thinking, Callahan?”
“I wasn’t, okay? I just wanted to go to the party, for once. Why do I have to plan every minute of my life three hours in advance? Nobody else does.” The courtyard was so quiet that her voice echoed off the walls. “Damn it. I’m whining.”
“Everyone has their shit to shovel,” I mumbled. “How was the game, anyway?”
“Fine. Tie. 3-3.”
“Did you score?”
“Of course I did.”
I laughed. “Can’t believe I even bothered to ask.”
“Seriously,” Corey agreed, slurring the word a little bit.
When I got her to her own room, I hung back in the doorway. She wheeled into the empty common room and the turned her chair around to face me.
The silence between us felt unnatural, and her pretty face was as sad as I’ve ever seen it. I fought the urge to cross the room and… I don’t know what. The urge to take care of her was nearly overwhelming. What I really wanted to do was gather her up and hold her. It didn’t seem fair that the best person I knew would be so sad and lonely on a Friday night.
She tipped her head to the side, revealing a span of creamy neck. “I’m sorry I ruined your evening.”
“You couldn’t ever.” Without thinking, I took two steps into the room. Fuck. What I really wanted to do was run my fingers through her hair, and kiss the place just behind her jaw. And then, kiss a few dozen other places.
Fuck. Me.
All I did, though, was to place a single kiss the top of her head. She smelled like strawberries mixed with chlorine. “Goodnight, Callahan,” I said, my voice rough. Then I did the necessary thing. I turned around and headed for the door.
“Hartley?”
I turned around only when I was safely at the door. “Yes, beautiful?”
She rested one soft cheek in her hand. “Why do you always call me Callahan?”
The question stopped me cold, because I didn’t really want to think about the answer. “Why do you always call me Hartley?” I countered.
“Everyone calls you Hartley. But you’re the only one who calls me Callahan.”
It was just my luck the she could be drunk and logical at the same time. The reason was simple, but I wasn’t going to say it. I called her Callahan because it made her sound more like one of the guys. I’d been trying to set a tone for our friendship. But it was just another lie I’d told myself. I was finding out that there were quite a few of those.
“Because it’s your name.” I cleared my throat. “If you’ll excuse me, I have some of my own shit I need to shovel.” At that, I turned around once and for all, and got the fuck out of there.
Chapter Nineteen: You Deked Me
— Corey
“Oh, my head,” I complained the next morning, crutching towards the dining hall for brunch.
“You should have taken a couple of Advil before bed,” Dana pointed out.
“If there were things I could redo about last night, that wouldn’t even be near the top of the list.”
“That bad, huh?”
“It was just embarrassing. I had to be rescued. By Hartley.”
Dana smiled. “And we know how much you enjoy being rescued.”
“And by him. Ugh. And then I had to listen to Stacia complain about it. Then I’m pretty sure he went back over to her place afterwards to do the horizontal mambo.” I had lain in my bed last night, watching the room spin, and trying not picture his big hands removing her fancy nightgown.
“Look on the bright side,” Dana said as we approached the Beaumont gate. “It’s waffle day. Shall I meet you inside?”
I shook my head. “Today I’m taking the stairs. I really need the practice.”
Ten minutes later things were looking up. I’d climbed the stairs without tripping or panicking. And Dana and I got our favorite table near the door. I was just finishing my waffle when Daniel slid his tray next to mine. “Morning, lovelies,” he said. “Can I sit?”