January
CAMDEN KENT
One Year Ago
"Hey, they're playing beer pong out back," I sidled up next to Brandon, hugging his arm to my chest. "You wanna be my partner?"
His chest puffed out as he inhaled a deep breath, then turned to me. "You know what I would really love right now?"
Trying to lighten his obviously bitter mood, I narrowed my eyes with a little smirk. "To take another shot?"
"I'd love if you could just come with me to one of these parties, and not cling to me like a fuckin' piece of lint, Camden."
I heard myself swallow under the sound of whatever godforsaken techno song was playing on a loop, slowly loosening my grip on him. He sighed again, then turned to the two guys in front of him. After apologizing for my "rude" interruption, as if they were in a fucking business meeting and not at a New Year's Eve party, they continued their conversation about who was going to win the Super Bowl.
Rather than sticking around for that, I turned on the heels that were giving me blisters and made my way to the kitchen to pour myself two shots to take back to back. I found Kayla in there, flirting with some tall and broad blonde like I would expect her to be.
When I walked up to join them, Kayla put on her pink lip gloss smile and lifted her arm for me to settle into her side. The guy introduced himself as Sam, and I pressed my lips together in response like I gave a fuck.
"What's wrong, girlie?" Kayla asked.
I shook my head, glancing to my left to see a half-empty bottle of vodka resting on the counter. Before answering, I took a decent swig. "This party fucking blows."
"Lemme guess," she laughed, "boyfriend?"
"He just called me a piece of fucking lint for asking him if he wanted to be my beer pong partner."
Her face was screwed up in confusion. "What the fuck does that even mean?"
"Like," I hiccuped with my hand over my chest, "he said I was being too clingy."
She made a scoffing sound, rolling her eyes on my behalf. "Yeah, well we both know he's an idiot sometimes. I don't even know why you're still with him. Maybe you should dump his ass as your new resolution."
"Maybe," I muttered with my lips to the bottle, though we both knew I wouldn't. God knows I would have done it sooner if I was going to do it at all.
"Do you want me to go kick his ass?"
I shook my head, holding the bottle out to her. "I want you to get wasted with me, and I'd rather you be my midnight kiss at this point."
"Deal," she winked with clumpy black lashes as she took a pull, sticking her tongue out and shivering after she swallowed. "You should drink more, I'm more drunk than you are."
Not needing to be told twice, I finished that bottle all by myself until I could barely feel my body. Kayla had been right by my side, but by the time a drinking game started around the kitchen island, I had lost her. The whole room spun in slow motion as I turned my head in an attempt to find her through the otherwise non-existent lighting.
Barely leaning up against a wall, I called Brandon and closed my eyes with my palm pressed to my forehead. I got his voicemail, then dropped my phone in the process of trying to hang up and call again. I don't know how long I was staring at the device until someone picked it up for me.
