What You Don't See

The Real Reason

My eyes widened at her request and all that was heard in the quiet room was the sound of Jake spitting out his drink all over the carpet, coughing it out, clearly as surprised as I was. The look of horror on Chase’s pale face only confirmed how awful the next thirty seconds were going to be. At first I thought Natalie was going to laugh and say she was only kidding but when she crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrows at him sternly, I knew she was not going to give this up.

“Well?” She waved her hands towards me.

“Natalie!” I screeched at her.

“What I’m helping you!” She whisper yelled, holding up her hand to block Chase from seeing her lips like he couldn’t hear her anyway. She leaned to the side nearly tipping over, very pleased with herself.

I take that back, she’s much more drunk than I thought, and no alcohol in the world could make this moment less awkward as the seconds passed by and all I could do was stare at him in shock. It was clear he didn’t know what to do either because we just stared at each other while everyone watched us.

“Chase you don’t have to.” I quickly assured him. As much as I’d always wanted to kiss Chase, this is not how I wished it would happen. “Natalie, could we speak privately!” I hissed at her, walking across the circle and dragging her out the door. I passed Brian, who was sitting on the ground, glaring at Chase with clenched fists, until Natalie and I were finally in the hallway.

“What are you doing?” I screamed at her, causing the few guys standing near us to stare and quickly walk away to avoid whatever was going to happen.

“You should be thanking me.” She slurred innocently, pointing her finger in my face.

“Natalie I swear to god I’m going to kill you for this!” I continued to explain how incredibly wrong she was but trailed off when I heard yelling coming from behind the door. Instinctively, I shoved it open to reveal Brian and Chase arguing in each other’s face.

“Holy shit!” Natalie panicked behind me as I watched Brian pull his arm back and it was as if it were in slow motion when he brought his fist towards Chase’s face. An involuntary sound coming from my throat, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. My feet were glued to the floor and I just watched as Jake placed both his hands on Brian’s chest, effectively shoving him backwards, while Cole gripped onto Chase’s arms to separate them.

I wasn’t entirely sure how long they had been fighting for, or even the reason, but I was positive that it needed to be stopped. I finally gained back movement in my legs and quickly scurried over to the scene in front of me.

“You piece of shit.” Brian spat at Chase.

“Get out!” I screamed at him, slamming my fists against his chest, forcing him out the door before he could even say anything.

I ran over to Chase whose lip was now bleeding profusely. “I’m sorry.” I cupped his face examining it. He didn’t say anything; he just continued his heavy breathing. Get some ice Cole, I spoke surprisingly calm. I pried Cole’s fingers from Chase’s arm and led him towards the bathroom across the hall, to find it occupied so I ushered him further down the hall and up the stairs to my room. When we finally got there, I was relieved to find it empty.

“Brooke, it’s not that bad. You can let go of my hand now.” He said the last part softly and I looked down to where I was gripping his hand tightly. I quickly retracted my hand from his and felt my cheeks heat up immediately.

Smooth Brooke, smooth.

“Uh… sorry.” I mumbled.

“Also, quit apologizing this isn’t your fault.” His eyes were clouded as he stared at me. I honestly couldn’t tell how he was feeling, but it wasn’t the usual care free Chase I was used to. I broke our intense eye contact, letting out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding. I wet a towel in my bathroom and walked back out to find him standing in front of my desk looking at an old picture I had of him, Jake, and I freshman year.