The New Separation (Book 2)

Chapter 7

Elliot

"Hey, Elliot?" one of the waitresses, Samantha, called, walking into the back where I was. "Table three just left. No rush or anything, it's so slow out here. Just wanted you to know."

I nodded. "Thanks, I'll be right there."

It would be my first actual table assignment at work. Currently, I was learning how the dishwasher worked, considering it was this huge industrial thing so different than the one we had at home.

"Go on," my manager, Lisa, said. "I'll show you more when you have dishes to clean so you can get some practice in."

Her suggestion made sense, so I went around the back, collecting the things she has already told me I would need to clean tables. It wasn't that much, and I only had to double check once about which items I needed.

When I got out into the dining area, I had to remember which was table three. It was hard to remember when they aren't actually numbered, they just went off a chart that was hung up in the back. But, because it wasn't that big of a place and we really weren't that busy, I figured it out pretty quickly. It was the only one with dirty plates on it.

Except, I noticed at the same time who was sitting at the table next to the one I needed to clean. And I really didn't want to go over by them right now.

"What's wrong?" Samantha asked from behind me, making me jump slightly. "It's over there." She pointed, but that wasn't my problem.

I nodded anyway. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm going."

I couldn't just not do my job because my friends were sitting right there, probably ready to embarrass me. Why did they have to do this on my first day? It just wasn't right.

I couldn't stall any longer. I had to go over there. It didn't matter if they saw me, they were probably going to show up here sooner or later anyway. So I went, trying my hardest not to watch their table as I got closer. Maybe I'll get lucky for once and they won't say anything?

"Yeah, you clean that table!" Jared called as soon as I started putting the dishes into the bin I had brought with me. "Clean it real good!"

I slowly turned to face their table. Jared was looking at me with a wide grin while Emily had her face buried in her hands. "What are you doing?" I asked Jared.

He gestured down at his plate. "Eating breakfast. Duh."

I rolled my eyes as Emily picked her head up. "I didn't have any say in this, by the way," she said. "He dragged me here. I didn't even knew you had a job, Elliot."

I turned back to the table I was supposed to be cleaning, but continued the conversation. "Yeah, my moms made me get one. It's my first day."

"They only made you get one so you'd stop missing Colton so much, didn't they?" Jared asked.

"I don't know," I sighed. "But if that was the case, it's not working. I still miss him like crazy."

Colton

Going to that party was probably one of the worst mistakes I've ever made in my life. I could barely even remember last night, but the pounding headache that greeted me in the morning totally didn't make me think it was fun.

But then again, wasn't this the way you were supposed to feel after college parties?

I hadn't even opened my eyes yet, and I knew my headache would only get worse once I did. At least it was Saturday and I didn't have anything going on today.

Shifting slightly on the bed, I realized I was definitely back in the dorm room. This shitty bed couldn't belong anywhere else. How I made it back to my room though, I wasn't sure. How much did I drink last night? I wasn't planning on having all that much, definitely not enough for me to forget the whole night.

The sound of the door opening slowly started grating on my sensitive nerves, but then shot a burst of pain through my head when it squeaked. I don't remember my door ever squeaking like that. That's weird.

So I opened my eyes, ready to tell Danny off for waking me up this early. Except, it wasn't Danny who had just walked through the door. It was Aleena.

"How did you get in here?" I asked, sitting up.

She held up her keys. "My room, you idiot. How much did you drink last night?"

That's when I finally looked around to notice that this wasn't my room. It was Aleena's room. And I was laying in her bed.

The next thing I knew, she was sitting on the edge of the bed next to me. She then leaned over and pressed a kiss to my cheek. "How's your head? It must be hurting a bit. I have some meds around here somewhere."

She started searching through a bin under her bed, but I couldn't seem to get past the kiss on my cheek. When did she start doing that? That wasn't normal for her. It actually bothered me, quite a bit.

"What happened last night?" I asked. "How'd I end up here, if you didn't even go?"

Her eyes widened, looking up at me as she stayed bent over the edge of the bed. "You don't remember?"

I shook my head. I know Alec and I walked to the house the party was at together. It was already in full swing when we got there - with members of both the guy's and girl's soccer teams. I think there were some other people I didn't know there too, but it was hard to tell if I just didn't recognize this side of them. Then, of course, someone from the team quickly made sure to put drinks into our hands. I don't even know who it was, or what drink it was, but I didn't care. We drank - and then had another drink once the first one was gone - and danced. It was fun.

Nothing after that was coming back to me.

Aleena sat back up, then shifted so that she was sitting in my lap. Before I could protest, she ran her fingers down my chest, which wasn't covered - where the hell was my shirt?

"You really don't remember this? Us?"

"No. We didn't. Please tell me that's a joke. I-I'm in a relationship, Aleena. I wouldn't cheat."

"You told me last night that you didn't have a girlfriend. You came to me, Colton. Not the other way around. And I could tell you weren't lying when you said that. You suck at lying."

My heart sank. It couldn't possibly be true. I wouldn't have done that to Elliot. But as I moved out from under Aleena and her covers, I realized I was completely naked. Which meant that, yes, we did it last night.

"Okay," I said softly, grabbing my boxers from where they sat on the floor, next to what was obviously a used condom. "Whatever we did last night, it's never going to happen again. I'm sorry, Aleena, but I can't."

I quickly pulled on the rest of my clothes, found my keys and phone, then ran back to my room, feeling the the biggest jerk in the world for cheating on Elliot.