“Are we planning another party in a couple of weeks?” Tanner asked out of the blue, and I pulled myself from my work. I had to solve this equation, and I was already on page six of my graph paper. I had a feeling I had made a mistake around page two.
“Party?” I asked.
“Yes, party. Everyone else seems to be on the schedule already, and one of the guys down the way asked if we were going to do one this semester. He was kind of bitchy about it, so I assumed he thought we weren’t going to join in and try to beat them or some shit.”
I looked at my roommate and rolled my eyes at Nessa. “So, we’re in competition with the brutes at the other end of the street now?”
Tanner sighed. “They think so.”
“Brutes?” Nessa asked.
“They’re the guys who would be on a football team if we actually had one.”
“We have a hockey team. One that does pretty damn well, too,” Nessa argued.
I raised a brow. “Thinking about catching a hockey player’s interests, are you?” I asked.
She ducked her head. “I was talking about the sports, not the size of their thighs.”
Tanner threw his head back and laughed. “Well, that’s an image I’m never going to get out of my head. However, I dated a hockey player once. Nessa has it right about their size.”
He held out his fist, and Nessa grinned and bumped his with hers.
“I’m pretty sure what you and that hockey player did had nothing to do with dating,” I drawled.
“Maybe,” Tanner said, drawing out his words. “Anyway, the guys in the house aren’t hockey players. I don’t think they’ve ever actually been on ice other than driving poorly on it.”
“And they want you to throw a party?” Nessa asked.
“So they can drink our beer, take our women, and pretend they know what the fuck they’re doing.”
“Your women?” Nessa kept going, and I laughed.
“Yes, because we’ve laid claim to them all.”
“Sure, you have. I totally believe you.”
“As for the party, I don’t know. Sanders usually handled most of that for us.”
“Asshole,” Tanner mumbled.
“Sanders? I thought it was you,” Nessa said, frowning.
“Sanders picked the dates because he pushed us to have them. He also usually got the beer because of his brother.”
“I’m twenty-one now. I can handle it,” Tanner said.
I nodded. “As is Miles. And the rest of us will be soon. However, it was usually Mackenzie and I who did most of the planning.”
“Well, if you need help, I’m here. The girls and I enjoy coming to the parties, but we don’t want to have one at our house.” She winced. “No offense.”
“None taken. I don’t really like people in here either, but thankfully we have locks on the doors,” Tanner added.
“Thankfully,” I agreed. “Maybe in a couple of weeks?” I looked down at the social calendar they’d put up on the site and frowned.
“There’s a calendar?” Nessa asked and pulled out her phone. “Why am I so behind the times?”
“It’s a stupid thing in the school app for college row houses. It’s pretty much so they can decide who’s footing the bill next and not miss out on anything,” I said, and Nessa nodded.
“Good, you know I hate it when I’m not in the know.”
“So we hear,” Tanner said, shaking his head. “Okay, I need to go work on a few things in my room, and then I have a date tonight.”
“Tonight?” I blinked up at him.
“Hey, you and Dillon aren’t the only people who are dating these days.”
I shook my head. “Mackenzie and I are just friends.”
“Whatever you say. Still, she’s hot, nice, not a bitch, and anything you can do to make Sanders feel like shit makes me happy.” He gave me a two-fingered salute and headed off to his bedroom.
“It seems I’m not the only one who thought you and Mackenzie were dating.”
I shrugged at Nessa’s words. “People can believe what they want. Doesn’t make it correct.”
“Maybe. Well, I need to get back.”
“Are you sure? Are you okay driving home?”
“It’s not snowing. It’s just super cold. I’ll be fine. Thank you for worrying about me.”
“I always worry, Nessa. You’re my best friend.”
She smiled and shook her head.
“Goodbye, Pacey. Let me know when the party is.”
“Of course. I’ll need my best girls there.” Nessa gave me an odd smile and shook her head. I froze, absorbing my words, and cursed myself. One of my best girls was gone. Forever. Damn it. Nessa held up her hand when I reached for her.
“No. The best girls are the ones that live in the house now. And will always be Corinne, though she’s going to be there rolling her eyes at us. Okay?” she said quickly. I nodded.
I walked her to her car, made sure she drove off safely and swallowed hard.
None of us were doing very well at this whole healing thing.
But we’d find a way. I wasn’t sure what else we could do.
My phone buzzed as I walked inside. I saw it was a call, not a text.
I answered. “Well, hello, Mackenzie.”
“Thank you for the flowers,” she whispered into the phone.
I jogged up the stairs and tried to hold in a cough, annoyed with myself for being so short of breath.
“Are you okay, Pacey?”
“Yeah, just a little sinus infection. It’s going away, but I have to finish out my antibiotics.”
“It’s been a week since we last saw each other on the date. You didn’t look sick.”
“You don’t have to look sick to have a runny nose. I’m fine. It’s why I kept my distance in class,” I added.
Mackenzie went silent for a moment, and I wanted to reach through the phone and hold her, tell her that I was an idiot.
“I probably should have told you that so I didn’t sound like an asshole. I blame the fever.”
“Pacey, if you were sick, you should have told me. I thought you hated me or something.”
“No, I could never hate you, Mackenzie. I got you flowers, didn’t I?”
“I thought it was because you were saying, ‘Thank you for crying on me, now I never want to see you again.’”
“Love...” I whispered.
“I’m fine. But you need to tell me exactly what happened this week, or I’m going to get angry.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose then cursed because it hurt. “I started feeling sick the day after our date. I figured it was just a sinus infection. Or a cold. It wasn’t too much. I’ve been on antibiotics because my doctor wants me to be careful. I’m fine, not contagious, and I didn’t get anyone else sick. But I still wanted to be careful, so I sat away from you and everybody else. I kept coming in late because I felt like shit, and I didn’t get a chance to tell you. And then, classes were difficult, and I forgot to text because of the aforementioned illness. I’m sorry I’m an idiot. Please forgive me.”
She paused. “Are the flowers to say forgive you or thank you?”