The Summer of Sweet Nothings

9 || Chandler Grayse

"Bro. Why are we here, again? I thought you hated parties." Reaching beside the passenger seat to the back row of Chandler's pick–up, Jess grabbed his leather jacket and, despite the summer heat, whipped it on. Warily, he added, "This isn't about Tiff, is it?"

Admittedly, it was a little bit about Tiffany. But, after tonight, none of that mattered. Not the break-up, not their fight, not tonight. So, technically, when Chandler kept telling himself this was for him, he wasn't lying. Not completely.

"No," he replied, yanking his keys out of the ignition and tucking them into his shorts' pocket. Before opening the door, he grabbed his Electron out of the cupholder. "Remember when I said I was going on vacation?"

With a nod from Jess, he slammed his door shut, and continued. "Well, it's for the whole summer."

"What?" Jess turned to him, stepping up onto the sidewalk, closer to the music-blaring, light-emitting house where the rest of the baseball team waited. "Dude, you cannot be serious. How in the hell did Coach allow that?"

Tossing his drink up in the air and easily catching it, Chandler continued up the house's flower-lined walkway and shrugged. "I guess he wants me to. Trust me, I'm as confused as you are."

"Your dad's insane. What about-" Jess was cut off as Chandler opened the house's door, and music blared out.

"Grayse Child!" Shouts came from inside when they walked in and were quickly swallowed by the crowd. From the sea of bodies, a familiar face appeared.

"J-man." Jeremy smiled, shaking hands with Jess before turning to Chandler. "You showed!"

As Chandler laughed, someone offered them beers, which, as usual, he declined. He may have been at the party out of choice, but that didn't mean he was going to act like he enjoyed it.

"Yeah, no girl to hold me back, so why not?" Of course, the girl was usually the reason he went to the party, but Jeremy was either too wasted or too unaware to recognize that. Instead, he just laughed and nodded while Jess shook his head.

Smoke flooded into the room from somewhere. Yet nobody seemed to be paying any attention. Around them, bodies clashed against one another as bass blared. It was all a little too much for him, but Chandler didn't say anything. Soon enough, Jess was pulled away by a girl and Chandler was left alone.

Until someone touched his arm and Chandler turned to find a petite brunette looking up at him. A pretty hot, petite brunette.

For a second, as she pulled him into her, Chandler felt a ping of guilt before remembering that Tiffany and he had broken up. But it faded away and he let her body grind against his as he pulled her waist closer. In just a few minutes, he was covered in a light sweat, but she didn't seem bothered as she dragged him to get her another drink. He was about to ask her name when he saw someone enter the house out of the corner of his eye.

Tiffany.

Instantly, he looked away from his ex. But the damage was done. Her eyes narrowed and Chandler could tell she wasn't drunk. When she was drunk, she got irritated.

Right now, she was pissed.

The brunette didn't seem to notice, though. As Jess caught Chandler's eye from across the room and began to make his way toward them, the girl tossed her hair back and placed her hand on Chandler's chest, her drink on the table beside her.

"So I heard you and Tiffany broke up?" Her breath hit his face like a wall and Chandler could instantly smell the alcohol. He tried not to gag. "Is it true? Because-"

A tug came on his arm as Jess pulled him away from the girl. "We have to go. Now." His dark eyes flickered over to Chandler's left and he realized Tiffany was making her way over to them. "Come on."

They were too late, though. While they started to hurry away, leaving the brunette confused and kind of helpless looking, Tiff called out.

"What's this bitch doing, Chandler?" Chandler's ex-girlfriend stood between them and the girl. Instantly, the brunette's eyes went wide.

"I thought you were-"

"Shut. Up," Tiffany muttered, her shirt tight in all the places Chandler used to like it. Used to. Huh. She turned to him with her eyes narrow. "What's. She. Doing?"

Sighing, Jess stepped in. "Chill, Tiffany. You guys broke up, remember?"

"I don't care!" she shrieked, causing a guy near her to spill his drink as he jumped. "Does it seem like we're really over? I mean, use your Goddamn brains."

Chandler stepped forward. "Tiff-"

"No, Chandler. We're leaving. Let her go." Jess blocked him from the blonde girl staring down the brunette like an ax murderer.

"But she's going to kill her."

"I don't care, C. She'll survive."

Before Chandler could say anything else, Tiffany was in the girl's face.

"What did you think you were doing, skank?"

"You guys aren't even together, chill." The brunette spat out. From the table behind her, Tiffany grabbed the girl's red cup.

Why don't you chill?" she said before dumping the beer all down the girl's front.

"Tiffany!"

"Dude, come on." Jess pushed Chandler through the crowd and out the door.

"But she's going to tear her apart."

"That's their fight to fight." Chandler's best friend turned and faced him as he stopped in front of the truck. His dark eyes seemed to search Chandler's in the dim light of the street lamp. "You can't save everyone, Chandler."

Chandler's jaw went slack as Jess opened the passenger side door and climbed inside. "Come on. We should head home."

But, after climbing into his truck, starting the engine and pulling down the street, Chandler couldn't shake the feeling that he no longer knew where home was. That he hadn't for a while.