Bitter Affectionate

Chapter 11

(TRIGGER WARNING! This chapter contains mentions of heavy drinking and sexual assault. Viewer discretion is advised.)

Throughout Christmas break, Brent hadn't heard from Piper, and he often clung to me for entertainment, which I didn't mind. He was my best friend. But, Calvin had gotten quite sick of it. Countless times, I've left Calvin's house after just arriving, or had to cancel plans to be there for Brent. I thought for sure that when Piper finally got back to him, everything would be solved. The world as I know it would go back into place; Brent would be obsessed again and Calvin would get more of my attention.

Boy, was I wrong.

When Piper returned, Hally set us all up to go to a club in the city. She promised we could sneak in without any trouble from the bouncer, which was true. Little did we know the trouble was all beyond the front door.

When we got inside, Hally demanded two things; drinks, and to immediately get on the dance floor. So, like the dutiful date I had become for her, I complied.

We took to the floor instantly, her holding a fruity drink and dancing the way only hot girls can get away with; hair flinging everywhere, one arm flailing above her head, eyes squeezed closed. I was always an awkward dancer, which is either due to the fact that I'm too tall or because my fragile masculinity from being stuck in the closet has made me think moving my hips will raise everyone's suspicion.

Probably a unhealthy mix of both.

Piper had been acting weird all night. I didn't take her as the type to drink, but she drank herself silly. She must have drank twice her body weight, which was due to three factors; 1) Both girls being beautiful enough to never have to pay for a drink, 2) Brent  being infatuated with her enough to overlook her excessive consumption and even buy her more and 3) she kept transferring her straw to the next drink, so it was very convenient to move and drink at the same time.

Hally was drunk too, but I discovered that they were two very different kind of drunks. Piper just stumbled, and looked a little bit less like a deer in a headlights. Hally, however, was like an elevated version of herself. She just had more energy and a more flirtatious vibe about her.

At some point during the night, I glanced over my shoulder to check on Brent and made eye contact with a girl I recognized. I remembered her vaguely. She used to go to school with me until she moved, and I recalled her name being Cassandra. She smiled at me, curly brown being twisted around her finger and the other hand used to give me a cheeky wave. Not wanting to be rude, I wave back at her, but it doesn't end there.

Before I knew it, everyone I know had left the floor.

Piper had been turning paler and paler throughout the night, and I was relieved when Brent finally took a drink from her hands and pulled her away from the crowd. Hally abandoned me shortly after, saying she needed to find Piper and completely ignoring me when I tried to tell her that I saw her and Brent go into a single stall bathroom.

I sat down on a bar stool near the corner of the bar. (Unrelated but why do bars have to be so goddamn tall? I'm a giant. My legs shouldn't dangle when I'm sitting. It's unnatural.)

Cassandra approached me, sitting in the seat next to me and ordering a gin and tonic.

"Drew," She said, by a way of greeting I assumed. "I haven't seen you in forever! Man, you've gotten hot!"

I could tell she was at least slightly drunk, but not close to either of the girls I came with that night. She leaned a little closer to me and I leaned backward, trying not to make it obvious that I was avoiding her.

"Uh, thanks," I replied awkwardly. "What school are you going to now?"

"I'm doing online school," She answered. "But I'm more interested in you right now, not school. Are you still in basketball?"

"Yeah, I am."

"I can tell." She reached a hand out toward my bicep and I retreated.

"Uh, I'm here with someone, Cas."

"So, what?"

"So you should probably back off."

She raised a brow at me. "Back off what? It's just talk. Totally innocent."

Within the next five minutes I sat with her, she said things that were anything but innocent, and eventually I got sick of it.

"Alright, I'm gonna go find my date," I said, standing from the stool to leave. I didn't get one step away, though, before she had her hands on my chest, pushing me backward and slamming her lips into mine.

I didn't know if it was a second or a minute, but it was torturous. She wreaked of alcohol, and for a girl a foot shorter than me, she was rough. She had one of her stocking covered legs wrapped around a bar stool to keep stability as I pushed her away.

It was an uncomfortable amount of time before I got the release of Hally crying out my name and stomping away in her heels. Cas finally took a step back enough for me to see Hally leaving with Piper chasing after her, pale, stumbling and frankly looking like hell. She was shivering, and I was starting to get worried for a plethora of reasons.

"Cassandra, get your hands off of me!" I shouted. I finally had to push her back. I didn't shove her roughly or hurt her, I just moved her enough to free myself and I began to search for my friend.

I felt sick to my stomach. I had been drinking, so maybe that was it, but I knew it wasn't. It was something else. It was the girl who's lipstick I still felt on my face and hands I still felt on my body. Never in my life had I felt so invaded. I just wanted to be in Brents house, planted in front of the tv, playing the same stupid video games we always did and listening to him complain about girls and teachers and coaches.

Instead, I was stumbling around a club, calling out for him and avoiding the girl who was still watching me from the other side of the room.

Finally, after what was anywhere from they minutes to an hour of searching, I gave up. I left the club and two things dawned on me: I didn't have a ride home, and Hallys car was gone. And because no one else was allowed to drive her car because of how much she loved it, I could only assume she was in it.

My stomach sank. The night came crashing down on me all at once. I leaned against the building and emptied my stomach until there was nothing left, and I was just coughing and holding my torso.

I walked home in the dark, headlights burning my eyes and my mouth keeping the awful taste of bile the whole time.