Sober

I wake up the next day around one, shirtless on the floor of my dorm room. I’m situated perfectly so that the sun is burning my retinas, though as I struggle to sit up, I feel sharp pains throughout my body, especially in my back.

As usual, Zeke’s watching Netflix on his computer while eating breakfast, and he takes his earbuds out after glancing at me. 

“You’re finally up,” He says with a chuckle.

I struggle to nod, but as I do, I notice the tons of phone numbers written on my stomach. I groan and attempt to examine them, despite my blurry vision. As I glance back up at Zeke, my face heats up as I stare at his chest that’s barely covered by some fishnet. God, he always wears those, and even though my eyesight is fucked, he still looks great. I hate it.

“What the hell happened last night…” I ask while rubbing my head.

He laughs and places a ton of money in my lap. “Don’t worry about it. Anyway, here’s your payment for being my plus one and some extra for amusing everyone else.”

I finally sit up and grab the money. “Where’s my hoodie?”

He shrugs and continues to eat. The smell makes my stomach grumble, but at the same time, I still feel nauseous.

“Zeke, tell me what happened.”

He ignores me and goes back to playing his show. I stare at the numbers on my torso, and as I do so, a name pops into my head.

“Kyler…” I mutter to myself.

My roommate looks at me. “Huh?”

I turn to him as my face heats up. “Kyler. D-Did he write his phone number on me?”

Zeke laughs again and puts his plate down. “Are you dumb—of course not. He’s not even gay and if he was, I doubt he’d go for a loser like you,” He says under his breath.

“All those numbers are from girls, so just pick one and start having some fun for once. If anything, you should share a few with me.”

I turn around and start mumbling Kyler’s name to myself. My entire head is fuzzy, but the more I repeat it, the more I remember him. His ears were covered in piercings, and his eyes were a beautiful yet freaky shade of light blue that was almost white.

God, whenever I locked eyes with them, I wanted to punch him in the face, and he wouldn’t stop staring at me either.

I pull on my hair a bit.

Kyler.

But at least he was…pretty. Like, really pretty. Sure, his man bun looked really dumb, but it was also kinda hot, at least on him.

I never thought that was something I’d be into.

Kyler Wells.

What a dork. He wouldn’t leave me alone.

At least he wasn’t too much taller than me. And his T-shirt kept falling off his shoulder, and that was hot too, though I couldn’t remember if it said anything on it.

“You gotta crush on him or something?” Zeke asks as I jump, thanks to him practically reading my mind.

“N-No!” I shout, waving my hands around. “I’m just trying to remember everything since someone won’t bother to tell me.”

Zeke smirks. “Don’t bother.”

I look at my arms which were a little bruised, and then back at Zeke.

“What the hell happened? What the fuck did you get me to do?!” I cry. “I don’t even know how I got here—did you take me home? Did someone else?? When did I even end up back here?”

I start hyperventilating while attempting to count the bruises on my body. “The last thing I remember is…is…” I lower my arms and stare at the ground. “…asking Kyler if he’d make sure nothing happened to me,” I finish quietly.

Zeke smiles. “Guess we know how that went!” He says and shrugs.

I stand up and shove him down onto the bed, trying not to wince as my entire body cries out in pain.

“I know you have videos on your phone—you always do!” I scream while attempting to punch him, yet he effortlessly pushes me off and onto the floor with a laugh.

“Why in the hell did you think that was gonna work? I’m so much stronger than you.”

I try and reach up to grab his phone out of his pocket, but he kicks me back down. He keeps his foot on my stomach and even though he’s not wearing shoes, it hurts like hell.

“I fucking hate you!” I manage to get out.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. The feeling’s mutual.” He moves his foot. “But you have no one to blame but yourself since you’re too much of an anxiety-ridden dork to ask for a new roommate.”

I avoid his gaze as he cleans up and closes his laptop. 

“Anyway, I’m going out and won’t be back until late ‘cause I’m going to Louis’ party. You gonna be there?”

I hesitate for a second and finally stand up. “Yeah.”

“Damn, that didn’t even take any bribing.”

I brush myself off and glance at him. “I’m not going so I can entertain you and your braindead friends,” I explain.

I watch as Zeke throws a hoodie on and ties his shoes. “We’ll see,” He says with a concerning smirk and then leaves.

I walk over to the mirror and sigh at my reflection, attempting to wipe off the numbers. I had no interest in calling any of those girls anyway. All I wanted was to find Kyler and give him a piece of my mind. Then I could rest easy and never do any of this ever again, and this time I meant it.

I’m not even sure why I trusted that guy in the first place. Like, sure he was hot, but he was kind of a creep, right? Even if that’s wrong, I’m not sure why I put my trust in a total stranger who was the one who gave me the beer in the first place.

I mean, maybe he didn’t know any better.

Then again, what if he was another one of Zeke’s pawns hidden behind a pretty face? And pretty hair, and pretty body.

I watch my face turn red in the mirror and move my hair out of my eyes.

I just needed someone to tell me what happened unlike Zeke, and Kyler was the only relatively normal person I remembered.

I’m so sick of that bastard using me whenever I drink. Okay fine—I chug whatever anyone gives me just to get it over with, but if anything, I just wanna be shitfaced and alone. Or…at least with Kyler.

I sigh.

Zeke’s bribes are weak anyway and I have a job, so I don’t need to be getting my money from him. It’s not worth it.

After cleaning off my torso, I open the mini fridge hoping to find something to snack on, though I just end up staring into the empty appliance. And of course, this weekend was Zeke’s turn to buy food.

Though at this point, I’d rather starve than try and eat something with my jacked-up stomach.

Around ten, Zeke texts me the details of the party, such as the address and host, and by then, I had taken a shower and changed my clothes. I put on a black button-down tee and some navy jeans since I couldn’t find my hoodie anywhere, meaning today I had to wear a shirt. But the disappearance of it seriously pissed me off.

Since the party started at eleven, I spent most of my time beforehand icing my bruises and coming up with what I could say to Kyler. Though, when it was finally time, I got a ride with some randoms since the buses had already stopped running. 

After entering the house, I immediately see Kyler in the dining room, surrounded by a ton of girls. My body heats up, for this view looks way better than the fuzzy memories I was trying to finagle this morning, though I can’t help but sigh.

“This night’s gonna suck,” I mutter to myself.

I make my way over to him and hide behind a couple of people so he can’t see me, though I notice my hoodie tied around his waist, which clashes with the grey check on his pants. I watch as he flirts with every girl around him and I click my tongue. I just wanna go over there and punch him, but my body still hurts too much to do anything.

I just don’t get it. From what I recall of yesterday, he was all over me, but now he’s trying to get under the skirts of these chicks. 

I pull at the collar of my shirt, overheating from anger so much that I can’t even remember what I want to say to him now. I attempt to walk a bit closer to him, but I stumble over my feet, and he looks at me just as I stop myself from crashing to the floor.

His face lights up for a second, but then he notices my scowl and recoils.

“You…” I hiss and yank him out of the chair. “We need to talk.”

“N-Nikki?” He stammers as I drag him up the stairs.

I find an empty bedroom and throw him into it, slamming and locking the door behind us. I aggressively untie my hoodie from around him, my hands fumbling anxiously as I do so, but once I finally get it, I throw it on the ground, and the guy backs away from me.

“Kyler, you promised not to let anything happen to me—what the hell?!” I unbutton half of my shirt to reveal some of the bruises that were on my torso as well. Some of them looked like hickies, but I tried not to think too hard about it.

“Oh my God…” He says and covers his mouth. “N-Nick, I’m so sorry.”

I fix my shirt and take a step closer to him.

“You know what—no! I don’t know why my idiotic drunk self decided to trust some random fuckboy who started talking to him! God, everyone I meet nowadays sucks! They all just betray me—this is why I don’t have any friends!”

I push my hair back and struggle to hold back my tears.

“No, Nick! You don’t get it! I didn’t mean to abandon you!” Kyler states while starting to tremble a bit.

“Yeah right, you dick! You’re just like everyone else!” I yell with a forced laugh. “You get me drunk to the point where I can’t even remember my name, and fuck with me for your own amusement at my expense! Clearly, no one gives a rat’s ass about me!”

Just as I was about to continue ranting, I noticed tears welling in Kyler's eyes and paused. 

What?

Why is he the one crying?

Was he guilt-tripping me?

Nothing even happened to him.

“Nikki, you don’t get it,” He says while pinching the bridge of his nose, scrunching up his face as if that would stop the tears.

I clench my fists. “Oh, really—what’s not to get Kyler? You’re just like Zeke and all his scummy friends that spend more time drunk than sober, and spend more time at places like this than in class trying to graduate!”

“Shut up and let me talk!” He hisses. “I just…” He wipes his face grabs which had become bright red, along with his ears. He frantically scans the disorganized bedroom while trying to collect his words.

“The last thing I wanted was for you to get hurt, okay? I just wanted to keep you there in my lap, in my eyesight, but Zeke convinced me to hand you over!”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Sorry what? Your lap?”

Kyler ignores me and keeps talking. “I didn’t know he was such a creep and after seeing what was going on, I tried to stop him and his friends and everyone else, but they wouldn’t listen, and before I knew it, you had slid down the stairs in a goodman laundry basket!”

The brunet takes a deep breath while shielding his face. “I-I’m so fucking sorry, Nikki. I never wanted someone to take advantage of you or for you to get hurt and," He notices me rubbing one of my bruised arms. "I’ll seriously never forgive myself… And I know Zeke probably told you that I kinda...bailed. It's no valid excuse, but the whole altercation stressed me out, I was embarrassing myself, everyone was pissed off—I just couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t wanna break down in front of everyone, but it was worse to leave you alone with him.”

“I’m really, really sorry Nick.” He finally looks at me with his red puffy eyes and I swallow heavily, surprised by his genuine explanation.

“W-Whatever, it’s fine I guess.”

“No, it’s not! You’re covered in bruises—are you okay?!” Kyler asks frantically and lightly touches my arm, examining it.

I flinch, as his hands were warm and way softer than I expected them to be. I move back a little bit and brush him off.

“Yes, I’m fine,” I lie, for the pain continuously fluctuates every few minutes depending on how I move. All I needed was to sit down.

Still, his icy blue eyes stare at me, full of concern, and my cheeks burn.

“It’s seriously fine, I accept your apology or whatever. Can we be done here?”

Kyler sighs and gives me a slight smile. “Sure.” He starts moving in for a hug I instantly back up.

“S-Sorry, my bad—I’m a hugger,” He stammers and quickly puts his arms down, though as I notice the tear stains on his shirt, I take a deep breath, and hug him regardless.

“It’s...fine, I guess. I don’t really care.”

I was tense for a few seconds, but the moment he held me back, I melted into his body, placing my face in his neck. I can’t even remember the last time someone hugged me, so despite being awkward, the sensation is nice. Not to mention he smells awesome, but as I realized his overabundance of cologne was probably for his girlfriends, I immediately lost interest.

After twenty seconds or so, he still won’t loosen up, and I start squirming, unsure of what to do, having already let him go. 

“Kyler, you're being weird..” I mumble though he laughs in response. “Dude, let go!”

As he finally pulls away, I catch his giant smile, but as I got distracted by his face, he ruffled my hair, catching me off guard again. It's been ages since I've met anyone this touchy. I watch him walk to the door but as he reaches for the doorknob, I grab his other hand.

“Hey,” I mumble, quickly letting go as he looks back. “Before we have to go back into that rancid crowd of people, can I ask you something?”

He nods and I feel my stomach turn as he stares at me, awaiting my question. I fix my gaze on the ground. 

“Last night, you were flirting with me, right?”

His face turns bright red, yet he still laughs. “Um, yes. Why?”

“Were you like, just messing with me or something?” I ask, glancing at him with a frown. “Cause today when I saw you, you were messing around with all those chicks and… I don’t know, I’m assuming that’s why you’re overdressed and dowsed in cologne.”

Kyler examines his fit, seemingly unsure of the problem. "You think I'm overdressed?" He asks, completely missing the point, but as I eye him, he scratches the back of his neck. “I, um. Well…” He trails off.

I sigh. “What team are you on?”

“Team?”

There’s an awkward pause before it clicks.

“O-Oh! Oh. Um,” He continues mumbleing under his breath and I squint at him.

“What?”

“I said guys!” He blurts, shoving his hands in his pockets with a red face.

My eyes widen and he avoids my gaze.

“Don’t tell anyone else.” He commands with a 

glare. “It’s not my greatest feat…”

“Wait, then why do you…" I mutter quietly to myself. “That still doesn’t add up,”

He turns back towards the door, before glancing at me with a smirk. “Womp womp. You'll survive.” He picks up my hoodie and hands it to me as I continue to stand there trying to piece his weird actions together, though after noticing, he sighs.

“Nikki, just...don’t tell anyone. No one in my life knows, except you."

I nod slowly. "No one at all. Not even family or," I glance around. "Friends. And you're trusting me with this secret, why?"

He squints at me. "Because you asked."

I nod again before putting my hoodie on, happy to have something to hide in again.

“Anyway! You going home now?” Kyler asks, his expression completely changing as we leave the room.

“Yeah. I only came to talk to you,” I mutter. “Do…you want me to stay or something?”

He shrugs as we make our way back downstairs, the commotion increasing as we do so. 

“I mean, it would be nice!” He flashes me one of his dorky smiles, and we both blush.

“F-Fine, but if I get drunk, don’t let me out of your eyesight.”

Kyler grabs my hand and kisses it. “You have my word.”