Fighting the Disquiet

11

"But ignoring something doesn't make it less real, y'know. Something isn't fiction just because you choose not to acknowledge it."
― Steven T. Seagle

I nod and follow him down the block to the car. I'm expecting him just to unlock it and possibly leave me the keys, but instead, he unlocks the car, opens my door, and walks around to the driver's side to get inside.

"Wait, I thought you were gonna go back to the party?" I ask as I stare at him skeptically.

"I'm not going to leave you here alone," he says, "not when you're drunk and sick."

I bite my lip in thought, unsure if I should be trusting him. What if he tries to pull something?

"Your promise you're not gonna like pull anything on me right?" I ask after a moment.

I notice that his eyes squint at me for a moment before he chuckles and shakes his head.

"I promise, I'm not going to do anything," he says smiling at me.

The street lamp is casting shadows across his face and if he wasn't smiling I would assume that he is upset.

He turns the car on to crack the windows before turning it back off and turning his body in his seat so that his back is leaning against his door and his leg is bent and resting against the steering wheel. I'm intimidated by his gaze and instead play with the wrapper around the water bottle he gave me.

"Are you feeling better?" he asks after a moment of silence.

I nod not bothering to look up at him. As I picked at the wrapper I thought about why I would have heard Tanner's voice in my head. I tried to figure out why I would hallucinate him talking. And that stare. It sent chills down my spine thinking about it.

"Are you cold?" he says already removing his leather jacket.

I was actually a little cold, so I thanked him as he handed me his jacket. It smelled like what I assumed was his cologne. I slipped into it and leaned back against the car door so that I was facing him but also as far away as I could be from him. Of course, now that he was out of his jacket I was given a better view of his body. The way that his arm was wrapped around his leg I could see how muscular he was. I never really paid much attention to how fit he was, but I guess being on the swim team he had to have pretty good upper body strength.

"You should drink some more water," he says, breaking me away from my stare.

I nod and take some more sips.

"Don't worry," he says, his lip twitching as if he trying not to smile, "I won't tell anyone you couldn't hold your liquor."

I roll my eyes and defend myself, "I just don't usually drink. Well, I mean, it's been a while. I guess I just drank too fast or something," I stumble on my explanation feeling my cheeks start to burn.

He smirks and nods.

"I'm just teasing. Amy gets drunk off her ass every time we party. I'm sure she'll be puking tonight, too."

I try my best to give him an annoyed expression but I can't help the smile from breaking across my face. I can tell that I'm still tipsy and it's making me a little embarrassed that I can't seem to control myself.

"I'm sorry you're sitting out here with me. We can go back inside if you want," I say after taking some more sips of water.

"Nah, it's not really that fun to go to a party sober. It gets annoying pretty fast when everyone around you is loud and drunk," he says scrunching up his face.