Wanna Bet? (19 page)

“
Oh boy” is
all he says and walks back to the table looking worried.

I shake my
head at the mess that has quickly become my life tonight. I’ve lost
a bet and now have to do three embarrassing things that – thanks to
the four shots and jager bomb – quick thinking aren’t going to get
me out of anymore
, by a guy
that I used to be friends with and both my friends are attracted
to. The guy that I care about and am attracted to and have been
intimate with, just a few hours ago is now getting it on with a
girl I also used to be friends with. Oh and I have to share a hotel
room with people who will be having sex no matter which room I stay
in after I have met my dead dads best friend. Great.

I
wake up to an annoying song and
thirty people hitting me in the head with hammers. I throw the
pillow over my head but the noise doesn’t stop. I reluctantly lift
my head off the pillow and search for the noise.

I find my
phone on the floor next to the bed in my shoe.

“
Hello?” I
whisper into the phone.

“
Where the
hell are you” Sophie screams into the phone making me wince and
hold it away from my ear.

“
Shh … Umm I’m
not sure hold on” I whisper to her then look around the room, I’m
still in the hotel but my stuff isn’t here. “I’m in the
hotel”

“
Why are you
whispering?” she asks not whispering.

“
Head … hurts
… dying” I groan and walk into the bathroom “oh fuck” I whisper as
I take in my appearance, I look like death.

“
What? What’s
oh fuck?” Sophie screeches in my ear.

“
If you say
anything above a whisper from now on
, I am hanging up on you” I warn in a whisper so it doesn’t
have the desired effect.

“
What room are
you in Brooke?” she asks sounding worried now and talking a bit
quieter thankfully.

“
I don’t know
hold on” I tell her and head to the door to check the number on the
outside “four oh seven” I tell her.

“
I’ll be there
now”

“
I’ll leave
the door unlocked then because I’m getting in the shower” I say
before she hangs up.

I let the
water wash over me and stand under it for much longer than I need
to, I don’t bother drying my hair when I get out but get dressed in
the fresh clothes that Sophie has left on the toilet for me. I can
hear an argument so I put my ear on the door and try to
listen.

“
What are you
doing here?” “What do you mean what am I doing here, what is she
doing here?” “I don’t know I haven’t spoken to her far from getting
this room number yet” “Well why not?” “Where’s your friend?” “She
went home” “I can’t believe you” “Hey
, at least I came home last night” “Will you two stop
it”

I lower
myself to the floor and put my head in my knees trying to think
what happened last night, I remember everything at the pub and
getting to the club but nothing after that. Someone knocks the door
above my head.

“
Yeah” I call
not lifting my head

“
Are you okay
Brooke?” Katie asks softly.

“
I’m not sure”
I answer honestly.

“
Can I come
in?”

“
Sure” I shift
out of the way as she slides in and closes the door behind her. She
takes in my position on the floor and climbs down next to
me.

“
What happened
last night?” she asks looking me over.

“
I was hoping
you could tell me” I whisper “I can remember as far as getting to
the club and that’s it” I groan.

“
You were only
with us until two o
’ clock
then you disappeared … with Andrew”

I groan and
reach for my phone holding it to my ear once I’ve dialled his
number.

“
Morning” he
says happily

“
What the hell
happened last night?” I ask not bothering to greet him
back.

“
You drank a
truck load” he laughs and I hold the phone away from my ear until
it stops.

“
I can’t
remember anything”

“
You didn’t do
anything stupid, you could only just walk when we got to the club
so I let you off the bet, you met Will and spent most of the night
talking to him, you’re not meeting him today now, you told him were
going to sleep all day instead”

I groan at
that “How did I get here?”

“
You asked me
for a room of your own so you wouldn’t have to watch a live porno.
We looked for your friends, well I did carrying you, we could only
find the one that was with Mel and you didn’t want to say goodbye
to them, so I got a taxi back to the hotel with you and got one of
the barmaids to get you to your room. I left you in
reception”

“
I’m so sorry
and embarrassed. Really
, I am
sorry”

“
It’s not a
problem, I had fun. Next time your in town give me a call. I’d
definitely do it again, I haven’t laughed so much in ages” he
chuckles.

“
Will do” I
grumble and hang up.

“
Well?” Kate
prompts

“
He put me in
a taxi, left me in reception and I got a new room, one of the
barmaids brought me here”

Her whole
body visibly relaxes

“
How mad are
they?” I ask nodding towards the room that I’m sure now holds all
my friends.

“
Pretty mad,
Luke and I have been looking for you since nine this morning,
Sophie started this morning at four when Tucker woke her and Matt
up because you wasn’t in your room or answering your phone. It’s
now three”

“
Oh god, lets
get this over with” I sigh and stand up.

Katie opens
the door and I follow her out not looking at anyone, as soon as the
shouting starts I throw my hands over my ears.

“
Where the
hell have you been?” Matt.

“
What the fuck
were you thinking?” Tucker.

“
Don’t you
answer your phone?” Luke.

“
I’ve been so
worried!” Sophie.

“
Please don’t
shout” I beg pathetically.

“
Damn right
were going to shout” Tucker shouts.

“
Well you know
what. Screw you all, it’s all of your faults that I’m in this
position anyway!” I scream back at them.

“
Oh really?”
Tucker asks folding his arms over his chest and raising an
eyebrow.

“
You” I point
to Sophie “Were begging me to have sex with him!”

“
But…”

“
You!” I point
at Tucker “you ran off after lunch and ignored me for the whole
night; you have a problem with something, fucking speak up and tell
me”

“
And you two!”
I turn my glare on Matt and Luke “If you two were man enough to get
you’re girlfriends yourself
,
instead of shoving me in front of some random guy, then I wouldn’t
have had to do it and be in this position now would I”

I turn to face
al of them “Now if you have all finished
shouting
, I’m going home and
if any of you even think about lecturing or shouting at me once
more I will get a train home
alone
”

“
No I’ll drive
you with Sophie, the boys can go in Matt’s car” Kate says from
behind me.

“
Fine” I nod
and walk back to my original room to collect my things, wisely no
one follows me and I meet them in the hotel lobby.

“
We’ll follow
you” Katie tells Luke and we all separate into the separate
cars.

“
Can we stop
for coffee please?” I ask from my seat in the back.

“
Of course”
Kate smiles at me.

The car
journey home is made in complete silence, Sophie falls asleep about
ten minutes in and I relieve Kate of driving duties after half hour
when I noticed she was struggling to keep her eyes open, which
pretty much left me with just my thoughts to keep me
company.

An hour into
the drive my phone starts ringing so I pull over to answer it
without checking who’s calling, the boys pull over ahead of me when
they notice that I’ve stopped.

“
Hello”

“
Hi Brooke,
just wanted to check to see how you are today, it’s
Will”

“
Oh hi, I’m
feeling quite bad actually; sorry I heard I was a bit drunk last
night” I wince imagining a
ll
the things that I could have done.

“
Yeah just a
little but you were fine, from what I heard you actually handled it
quite well” he’s laughing much to my relief “Will you be coming
down again?”

“
I’m not sure,
I guess I will at some point but I have exams and things coming up
so it may not be for a while, I’ll definitely let you know
though”

“
Yeah, I’d
like that” he sounds genuinely happy “Are you back home
yet?”

The boys are
making their way towards me now.

“
No on the
drive home, about an hour and half left”

“
I’ll let you
get back to it then, drive safe and say hey to your dad the next
time you visit him okay?”

“
Sure, bye
Will”

“
Why did you
stop?” Matt asks opening my door.

“
Phone” I hold
my phone up and rest my head on the steering wheel.

“
How long have
they been out?” Luke asks gesturing to the girls.

“
Soph went out
about ten minutes in and Kate couldn’t keep her eyes open ten
minutes later”

“
Brooke, you
can’t drive. You’re probably still drunk”

“
Trust me I
would not be feeling this bad if I was drunk” I grumble not
bothering to lift my head.

“
I’d like to
drive with Soph” Matt says from behind Luke.

“
I was going
to say I wanted to sit with Kate” Luke sighs and the three boys
just stare at each other.

“
Well you two
stay with your girls, I’ll drive Brooke back” Tucker grumbles
obviously not happy with the situation.

“
Fine” I give
in and climb out of the car.

“
Want me to
drive so you can sleep?” I ask wearily knowing he can’t have had
any sleep either.

“
Nope, I said
I’d drive you back so that’s what I’m going to do” he practically
spits the words at me.

“
Fine” I
grumble back and settle into the passenger seat.

This journey
home is just as silent as the one I just left. Things between us
are awkward when I think to how we woke up yesterday morning and
how we are now, it’s like a whole world has changed. I have no idea
what exactly happened but if I could take it all back and cancel it
out I would.

“
How’s Andrew?” Tucker asks
breaking the silence after about forty minutes, I look over at him
but he’s staring ahead.

“
How’s Mel?” I counter to
which he just nods his head once and the silence descends on us
once again.

We pull up in front of the
dorms and I let out the breath I feel like I’ve been holding for
the last twenty minutes. I reach for the door handle but Tucker
clear his throat, I turn to look at him but, again he isn’t facing
me.

“
I slept with her” he says
flatly.

I close my eyes and sit
there for a moment, when I re-open them he’s still staring straight
ahead, shaking my head I get out of the car.

“
Sorry I fell asleep on
you” Sophie says climbing out of Luke car.

“
It’s fine, it’s my fault
you were up so early” I shrug and grab my bag from the
trunk.

“
We’re going to JD’s, are
you coming?” Luke calls to me from the driver side door of his
car.

“
Nope” I grab my keys and
head to my car “I have somewhere to be” I don’t look back and
settle into my car heading towards the graveyard to tell my dad
about the trip.

When I get back to the
dorm that night Sophie is sat at the kitchen table with her laptop
she looks up at my entrance.

“
Hey, there’s food here for
you, I saved you some just incase you didn’t get a chance to
eat”

“
Thanks, but I’m going to
grab something in a little”

I smile at her pouring
myself a coffee from the fresh pot she’s made “Want
one?”

“
Thanks” I take the mug
from her and then sit at the table opposite her.

“
Was this weekend weird for
you?”

“
A little” I admit “It was
strange as in there were something I could remember some things
clearly, others like Andrew for instance I remembered bits, which
is how I recognized him but then some things like Mel, I couldn’t
remember her at all or Will for that matter”

“
I’m sure it will come back
but you’ve spent so long making sure you don’t remember them that
you’ve buried them deep”