I didn’t mind being disgusting. I was exactly where I wanted to be.
Hours later, the house was packed. Everyone must have invited more and more people until I was sure that the police were going to be called for noise complaints. Not that I cared too much as we cheered on Marley doing an upside-down margarita. Marley sat on a chair with her head tipped back while one person simultaneously poured a bottle of tequila and a bottle of margarita mix into her mouth.
The crowd counted for her. “One! Two! Three! Four! Five!”
She waved her hands helplessly, swallowing down the contents and grasping for a lime wedge. Everyone applauded for her as she wobbled back to her feet.
“I’m never doing that again.” She clutched my arm and pulled me away as another victim took a seat. “Why did I do that?”
“Because you’re drunk, Mars.”
She giggled and stumbled a step. “I am not.”
“Yes, you most definitely are. Maybe that last upside-down margarita was a bad idea.”
“No,” she said, waving me away. “It was fine. I’m fine. It’s your birthday! Plus, I rarely drink at Duke. Mostly dance rehearsals and basketball games.”
“Same,” I said with a smile. “I miss having you with me.”
“I know. It’s not the same. Though performing in Cameron has to be better than Georgia basketball.”
“Not an unfair assessment.” Duke basketball was unequivocally better than UGA, but I still loved watching the Georgia games.
“But,” she said, her voice dipping as she leaned into me, “do you know who I saw before I left?”
My stomach dropped at the insinuation. I only knew one other person who went to Duke. “No.”
“Yes, you do,” she teased. “He wanted to come see you for your birthday, but I told him no.”
Ice ran through my veins. “He didn’t say that.”
“He did!” she said, her voice rising.
“Shh,” I hushed her. “Ash hasn’t spoken to me in a year. He’s not going to suddenly want to show up for my birthday. That’s absurd.”
“Fine, don’t believe me. But he said he was going to text you.”
My hand immediately went to my phone. I pulled it out and showed her the blank screen. “Look. Nothing.”
Marley shrugged. “That’s just what he said.”
“What’s going on over here?” Cole asked.
He appeared as if out of thin air, and I jumped nearly out of my skin. I hadn’t been expecting him. My mind had been on Ash, and I definitely didn’t want to be thinking about him.
“Marley’s drunk,” I told him.
“I’m not drunk,” she countered. Making her point by trying to push off of the wall she was currently leaning on and failing spectacularly. “Oof!” She latched back on to the wall. “Maybe I am a little drunk.”
“We should get you some water.”
“On it,” Cole said, heading back into the busy kitchen.
“He’s in Athens tonight,” Marley continued when he was gone.
I closed my eyes and took a breath. “Ash is here?”
“He offered to drive with me. Then, we wouldn’t have had to drive separately.”
“What were you going to do with your stuff?”
“I don’t know. It’s Ash. He probably had his stuff flown home.” She waved her hand. “You know how he is.”
“I do,” I whispered.
“So anyway, yeah, I think he’s downtown.”
“Downtown?” Cole asked as he reappeared with a water. “I don’t think that sounds like a good idea for you, Marley.”
“Not me. Ash.”
I closed my eyes and sighed heavily. Cole didn’t know what that name meant to me. We hadn’t talked about deeper topics yet in our relationship. I hadn’t wanted to tell him about what had happened with me and Ash in high school … the good or the bad. And I really didn’t want to talk about it on my birthday.
“Who’s Ash?” Cole asked.
Marley’s eyes widened. “Um … nobody.”
Cole looked to me with raised brows.
“My ex,” I told him. “He goes to Duke with Marley, and I guess he’s also in town.”
“The football player?”
I nodded.
Marley sipped on her water and eyed us. “Sorry. I hadn’t planned to tell you.”
“It’s fine.” I patted Marley’s shoulder. “Maybe you should sit down for a bit, Mars.”
After I got her into a chair to continue to drink her water and made sure she was comfortable and watched by one of my dance friends, I returned to Cole. I ran a hand down my face. “Sorry about that.”
He shrugged. “Doesn’t bother me. I’m still friends with my ex. Jess actually called to wish me happy birthday yesterday. It’s not weird.”
Right.
Not weird.
Except that he had no idea about me and Ash. Or else he probably wouldn’t have said that.
“Jess is the girl you dated before me?”
The one Channing said had gone down in flames?
“Yeah. She was in love with the spotlight.” He tugged me closer, dropping a kiss to my lips. “It’s why I like being with you so much.”
“Because I don’t give a shit?”
He laughed. “Yes. One of the many reasons.”
“Perhaps you could elucidate the others.”
“For one, you use the word elucidate.”
I snickered and kissed him again. Glad that our discussion of exes was coming to an end. I did not want to talk about Ash. So, any divergence was for the better.
“Actually, I do have something for you.”
My eyes widened. “You said no birthday presents!”
“I know.” He shot me a sheepish look. “But I couldn’t resist getting you something small.”
“Well, now, I’m a bad girlfriend because I didn’t get you anything.”
“You won’t feel that way when you open it. And anyway, we’re still going to Last Resort on Friday night for our official celebration,” he said, taking my hand and pulling me up the stairs, away from the crowds.
“That was the plan. Memories over gifts,” I reminded him. “Now, you’re saying memories and gifts!”
“Lila, just open the present,” he said as he forced a small box into my hand, covered in blue Christmas wrapping paper.
“A little out of season,” I teased.
But I was already peeling back the wrapping paper and finding the dark green gift box underneath. I popped the lid on the thing, wondering what in the world he could have gotten me when we’d both agreed not to do this. When I saw what was inside, I immediately started laughing.
“You didn’t!”
He grinned broadly. “Told you.”
I reached inside and retrieved the small keychain of a can of Coke.
“Now, you can have your superpower with you everywhere.”
“Thank you,” I said, flinging my arms around him. “It’s perfect.”
“Phew!” He wiped his hand across his brow. “I was worried that I’d look stupid, giving my girlfriend a keychain.”