Drowning

Chapter 37:

I woke my parents up before we left and let them know my plans. Dad told us to have fun and be safe as we all left the house. JD, Anna, and Mark piled into JD's car. Aiden, Brynn, Ezra, and I went in Aiden's car. Ezra took the front seat next to Aiden, which left Brynn and me in the back.

Brynn leaned over and whispered in my ear, "What's going on with you tonight?"

I put my lips back to her ear. "Nothing."

"Bullshit," We were whispering back and forth like we were playing telephone on a playground. I could see Ezra trying to listen in to our conversation. Brynn and I had a lot of practice at sneaking around. He wouldn't hear a word.

"Brynn, I can't get into it right now. Let me talk to you when we get to the house."

"Before you even walk in the door." She agreed.

I had to tell Brynn what was going on before our friendship was ruined over this. She seemed like she was into Ezra. I hoped she would understand when I told her what was really going on.

We pulled up to the house and got out of the car a few minutes later.

"Hey, guys, Brynn and I need to talk a minute. We'll catch up." I called out as we all climbed out of the car.

Ezra paused, not sure if he should go on without us. Aiden nodded and pulled on his arm to make him head towards the house when he didn't start walking on his own.

"I'm on to you." Brynn blurted out as soon as the guys were out of earshot. "You like Ezra, don't you?"

"Brynn, I wanted to tell you. We had a bit of a thing at the Camo concert. It wasn't serious. I promise I would have told you if I knew it was going to end up like this. No one else knows anything happened."

"So, that's why you were all over Aiden tonight. You were trying to make him jealous because you thought I was going to hook up with Ezra." She placed her hands on her hips, daring me to deny it.

"Maybe a little." I said in a small voice. "Are you mad at me?"

"Hell no. I wouldn't have gotten to see that ice cream trick. That was hot. We were all about to fight over you. I would have won, of course." She said, smiling and winking.

"You know it." I blushed a little bit and rolled my eyes. "I am really sorry. Are you sure we're ok?"

"Girlie, find your man and have some fun. Leave the distractions to me." She turned and strutted up the front steps. She opened the door and yelled. "Where are the shots, boys?"

I was thankful for Brynn tonight. She was such an amazing and forgiving friend.

I walked into the house and everyone else was already congregated around the kitchen table with shot glasses. I walked up to the table and Ezra shifted to make some room for me to stand next to him. I brushed up against him and he took a deep breath. His body relaxed the moment I touched him.

The seven shot glasses were full and we all reached for them simultaneously. Brynn performed the countdown and we all slammed our shots back. Round two was poured and we repeated the motion again. Somewhere after round four, I lost count. Brynn was the conductor of our liquor orchestra tonight as she kept chanting for more.

JD and Anna were completely trashed within the first hour. They were sitting in the corner on the floor, poking each other, saying how much they were in love and that they should go elope. Brynn convinced them to take one more shot before they ran away to get married. She winked at me from across the room as she helped them pour the shots down their throats. They drunk the shots happily, which sealed their fate for the night. Aiden and Mark would be much harder to take down. They had a higher tolerance.