Barcode Boy: After Hours

He was crying again. By now, I should’ve been used to it, but the sound never stopped hurting me. The boy’s face was buried in his pillow, but his cries still echoed throughout our dorm. I sat on the other side of the room, quietly watching the blond sob in his sleep.

Frankly, it had been a while since Carter had a breakdown like this. His personality never had him bouncing off the walls, but it had been weeks since his sobs awoke me. I glanced at my phone with an exhale.

It was only ten at night.

I tied my dreads up, walked over to the blond, and sat on the edge of his bed. Nowadays, it was tough not to cry with him when shit like this happened.

I combed my fingers through his golden curls, rubbing his head. The boy shuffled a little bit and rolled onto his back, his watery eyes beginning to open slightly.

He sniffled. “Oh God, I did it again, didn’t I?”

I hesitated and then nodded, watching as the boy covered his face with his hands, still crying.

“Was it about your friend again?” I asked softly, brushing his hands away and wiping his face.

Carter sat up, and I wrapped my arms around him.

“Y-Yeah. I’m sorry, Aaron.”

I pulled away, his teal eyes avoiding my gaze. “Hey, it’s alright. I just want you to be okay.”

The blond took a few deep breaths as I rubbed his shoulders. I hated seeing him like this, but at the same time, I began to enjoy holding him so close to me whenever it happened. I wasn’t a touchy person, and he gave me a similar vibe, but I started getting used to it. 

It was nice.

I wasn't a fan of my actions, but it was getting harder to ignore. 

Carter leaned back into me, and we sat in silence as he calmed down. I tensed up as he dug his face into my neck, even though I should be used to that now, too.

“Hey, do you want me to go to the 7-11 and maybe get you some snacks or tea or something?”

He finally let go and glanced at me.

“A-Ah, no, you don’t have to do that.”

I adjusted my glasses. “You sure? It’s no skin off my bones.”

I watched as his ears and shoulders turned red since his face was already flushed from crying. 

“You should come with me—some fresh air would probably do you good.”

He leaned against the wall. “I-I’m not really dressed for that. I’m fine,” he mumbled, pulling his knees to his chest.”

The kid was right, but it wouldn’t take much effort to throw on a sweatshirt and some joggers.

I grabbed his hand, and he flinched. “Please?”

Just as the blond was about to open his mouth, there was a knock at the door. When I stood up, he sighed and laid back on his bed, scrunched in a ball. After pulling the handle, I faced two guys I recognized from my English class.

“Hey Ay-Ay Ron,” The redhead chuckled. “I’m surprised you’re not asleep.”

 “Well, I was,” I mumbled to myself. “What do you want, Rick?”

He and his sidekick smirked.

“You see, Jordan’s throwing a party at eleven and—”

“I’m not interested,” I interrupted with a scowl.

Sian scratched his head through his beanie. “Jesus Christ, at least let us finish.”

 “I don’t even know why you guys bother coming to my dorm with this shit. I’m not a partygoer, I’m not a people person, and I have plans for tomorrow morning,” I huffed. “And before you get all smart, yes, I still study on the weekends! I’m busy.”

Rick pulled on his hoodie strings. “Fuck, Ay-Ay, do you ever have any fun? You’re missing the full college experience. At this point, why didn’t you just go to community college if all you wanted was to rot in the library? Live a little!”

“No, I’m actually trying to put in the work for my major! I’m not some liberal arts kid! If you guys wanna fuck around, that’s on you, but leave me out of it,” I hissed, grabbing the door.

Sian blocked it with his hand as I was about to close it in his face.

“Hold on, okay?! Jordan’s having some raffle, and the more people you bring, the more times you can enter!”

“Why should I care?” I paused. “…What’s it for?”

“An eighty-inch flat screen and a PS4.” 

“What the fuck?” I snickered.

“I know, I know,” Rick laughed. “Kid’s hella rich.”

“No shit, but your dorm is just as small as mine. Where the fuck would you even put that?” 

Sian sighed. “Doesn’t matter—just, will you come? I can enter with you, and Rick can enter with Carter.”

I looked off to the side. Sian and Rick were terrible influences, and I’d lost track of how many times they got the cops called at the various parties they attended. I was puzzled that they picked me as their victim for the night. We weren’t fond of each other, but I didn’t want them to find another excuse to declare me an asshole. 

“After you guys enter the thing, can I leave?”

They looked at each other. “No, that defeats the point. Jordan’s trying to increase turnout.”

“That’s asinine.”

“What’s asinine is leaving a party five minutes after making an appearance. You’re not a celebrity,” Sian taunted. “You’re just a nerd with shitty social skills.” 

I furrowed my brow while pinching my temples. Funny how attending my classes and jumping ahead in material made me the asshole. God, they were annoying. 

So much banter for something that wasn’t even legal, but if I pointed that out too, they’d only hate me more. Jordan was a junior and lived off-campus, but the three of us would all be underage drinking. Then again, I’m sure that went for most of his guests. 

I desperately needed a breather, and so did Carter. He needed to get that kid out of his head for a second. It was irresponsible, and we had a lot to lose if we got caught, but maybe I needed this right now. 

We needed this.

“Just give me a minute,” I sighed before turning back into my room and shutting the door.

Carter still resided on his bed, now in a hoodie and some ripped jeans. He rolled over to face me once he heard the door close, but I noticed his eyes were still red.

“Are we still going to 7-11?” He mumbled, cracking a smile. “I put on pants.”

“Do you…wanna crash a party instead?”

The blond raised his eyebrows. “What? Hell no!”

I laughed softly. “Yeah, I anticipated that response…”

The boy scrunched up his nose. “Do…you wanna go to a party? I thought you were busy tomorrow.”

“Well—yeah,” I muttered.

“Dude, we can’t even drink!”

“I mean, yeah, but no one has to know!” I chuckled nervously. “I mean…ugh—I just… It could be fun. It’d be a nice change of pace, y’know! It’ll be our first college party and if we hate it, we never have to do it again. Let’s not knock it ‘till we’ve tried it…as they say.”

The blond stared at me, silent.

“We don’t have to stay there for the whole length of the event, but we can meet some new people and junk. And…it might get your mind off, y’know,” I waved my hand around, “for at least a little bit.”

Carter blushed. “Okay.”

“Wait, really?”

He nodded and stood up, stretching. “Yeah, why not. Frankly, I don’t want you going alone. We should stick together.”

I smiled, and we fist-bumped.

When I opened the door, Sian and Rick looked at me as Carter turned off the lights. We nodded, and they gave us a concerning smirk, though before any second thoughts had formed, we were already in their car on the way to Jordan’s place.

I was thankful when the ride was over because even with the radio, the silence was piercing. We had nothing in common with the other guys.

I kept trying to tell myself that I was doing this to help them out, but I just wanted an escape. I hated to admit it, but I was starting to have feelings for Carter—at least a little bit. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. Not only wasn’t I gay, but I hadn’t fallen for anyone since elementary school. 

The feelings came out of nowhere, and I was hoping they’d disappear just as fast as they flooded my brain.

And then I’d consider how Carter might react if I acted on them. Maybe he’d fall for me, and I’d finally see him happy—not hiding all his emotions behind a fake smile. Then again, I might worsen his mental state if I told him. 

When we got inside the house, we all wrote our names on some list and got wristbands. Sian and Rick’s were blue, and ours were green, yet they ran off immediately once receiving them, leaving Carter and me standing in a sea of people.

“So…you wanna find some booze?”

The blond shrugged. “I guess. I mean, that’s what we’re here for right?” He asked with a chuckle.

I smiled, and we wandered around, eventually finding our way to the kitchen. A girl was looking through the fridge and glanced at us when we walked in, but then she did a double take.

“Aaron? Wait, and Carter?”

The brunette stood up, revealing her quite…revealing outfit to us. She wore short shorts and a tube top, even though it was October and way too cold for that combo. Sure, the current population raised the temperature inside, but this wasn’t Florida.

The blond waved at her. “Hey, Blair. Funny seeing you here.”

She ran over and hugged him. “Funny seeing me here? Funny seeing you guys here! You two aren’t party people! You’re more responsible than that,” She sneered.

“I mean, so are you!” I laughed.

The woman shrugged. “Yeah, that’s true. I’m not gonna drink anything, though. I’m only here because one of my friends wanted us to accompany her as part of her birthday celebration.”

Carter and I glanced at each other.

“Why are you guys here…?” She asked suspiciously.

“Girls,” Carter blurted as I said “Raffle,” therefore making us completely unbelievable. 

The brunette giggled. “What? Okay. Um, well I guess I’ll see you two around! Don’t do anything illegal,” She said and hugged us before leaving the kitchen.

Once she was gone, the blond grabbed a case of beer on the floor by the dishwasher. He looked at the bottles and then back at me.

“We’re horrible people,” He sighed.

I shrugged. “No one has to know. Are you a lightweight?” I asked as we made our way to the back of the house.

“I sure fuckin’ hope so. I’m ready to forget this night ever happened.”

I looked away, and he noticed.

“N-Not because of you though! Sorry, that’s not what I meant.”

I chuckled as we plopped down in a corner by the patio.

“I just feel awful about…fucking crying again,” He mumbled and placed his hand on his face for a second. He opened a beer and took one sip before gagging.

“Ugh,” He stared at the label before taking another swig. “Fuck it, who cares…”

I hesitantly opened mine and followed his lead. “You don’t have to apologize. It doesn’t bother me. I just want you to be okay.”

Carter chuckled. “Yeah? Well, I’m not okay!” He hissed at the floor.

I flinched.

“Just when I think I’m over it or have successfully suppressed it enough to sleep at night and get my fucking work done, the thoughts come flooding back.” He squeezed the bottle.

“I feel so alone. The only person I have is you, and I feel so bad. I shouldn’t be putting all of this on you.”

Carter continued to ramble like he would after having breakdowns in our dorm. Except this time, he was guzzling down beer with every sentence. Somewhere along the way, we grabbed another case because I was doing the same.

When we got sick of the flavor, we roamed the house and found the various kegs containing what we quickly realized was the strong stuff. Alas, that didn’t stop us from going through seven solo cups. The more we drank, the lighter the mood became, and at last, Carter smiled. We watched our classmates make fools of themselves before I looked over and realized that I’d lost the blond.

You’d think his dandelion-like afro would be easy to spot, but searching for him was like swimming upstream. Between the lights, the music, the booze, and my inability to walk in a straight line, it was one hell of a scavenger hunt. I wound up by the patio door again where he sat by the glass, staring outside.

“Holy fuck,” I laughed, falling to the floor beside him. “Where have you been?!”

“What? I said I was going back over here. The music was making my head throb. I told you!”

“You did?”

Carter snickered. “Yeah!” He shrugged and leaned back against the glass. “Eh, it’s late and I’m tired, so it doesn’t take much to wear me out.”

“Hey, I’m not judging.”

The blond glanced at me and sighed. “Still, thanks for getting me to come here,” He said softly. 

“Huh? Oh, yeah, don’t mention it. I can go find Blair if you want, so we're not stuck sitting here awkwardly,” I recommended with a laugh. “She’ll help keep it interesting.”

We locked eyes for a second.

“Nah, I’m fine with it being just us… I mean, that’s how it normally is—I’m used to it.”

I took my hair down and fiddled with the tie. “Yeah? I figured you’d be sick of that by now.” 

I watched as the blond swished around the remains of his leftover bottle from earlier. He smiled.

“Hell no! We’re friends—I could never get sick of you! Not to mention, being around too many people is just… overwhelming. Even the corner wasn’t enough seclusion. And while I’m close with Blair too, I’d be embarrassed if she saw me like this.”

When he looked away from me, I scooted a bit closer to him. “As in…sad?”

He snickered. “Nah, I’m always like that. I mean drunk.” He beamed and leaned into me, knocking over his empty bottles in the process.

I laughed in response as we watched a few people circulate the room. We were so far from the main crowd that the music was barely audible. From the looks of it, people only came to where we were in search of the bathroom.

Between sips, Carter and I would try to figure out what song was playing in the next room based solely on the bass and occasional pauses. However, sometimes it’d get mixed up with whatever the hell was coming from the basement.

“Fuck, I think if I have another of these I’m gonna be sick,” The blond chuckled as he sat down another empty bottle. “You think they laced the kegs?”

I scoffed. “The hell? You’re just not used to being drunk. If that were the case, most of the house would be conked out. Have you drunk before?”

He combed some curls out of his eyes, though as he shifted, they quickly fell back into his face. “My mom’s let me try a few wines, but nothing to this point. Nothing strong,” He placed his hand on his forehead. “You?”

“Yeah. I mistakenly had spiked punch at a relative’s birthday party,” I admitted, and we both laughed. “But I didn’t even get through a whole cup.”

The blond smiled at me, and I felt my face heat up again. “Do you feel foggy?”

“Yeah. Foggy feels like a good adjective.”

“Well,” He began, grinning at me, “We better make the most of it before we vomit our brains out.”

I snickered. “The hell does that mean? Does alcohol make you extroverted or something?” 

The boy laughed at me, but once he calmed down, he just sat there facing me with a smile, his eyes closed. The alcohol made his face red, and it was cute, so I happily took the opportunity to stare at him. I wasn’t sure if I was overheating from drinking or from my proximity to him.

The blond flinched and opened his eyes as I raised an eyebrow.

He groaned, “That was a long blink. Holy crap.”

I laughed softly.

“Shut up,” He shook his head and leaned towards me. “We should do this more often.”

“As in…drink at college parties? I mean, it’s probably not a good idea to make this a hobby. We’ve got classes, and you shouldn’t use drinking as a coping mechanism.”

The blond suddenly stuck his hands in my hair and shuffled around my short dreads. “No, I mean hanging out together,” He beamed. “Just the two of us!”

He caught me off guard, but I wasn’t sure if the butterflies in my stomach were from him or the booze.

“What do you mean, you idiot,” I said and laughed. “I try to take you out constantly, but you always wanna stay in our dorm! You’ll go to class, but you pass on everything else. You’ve missed so many sports games and events in the quad. God, and the movie nights! They played The Princess Bride last weekend!” 

Carter lowered one of his hands, still playing with one of my cuffs on the coil. “Well…yeah. But I like that you still offer at least, even though you’ve probably memorized my responses.”

I chuckled awkwardly. “Well, I’m hoping eventually you’ll say yes, like tonight. And it hopefully won’t take any bickering, convincing, or bribing.”

He looked down, and there was an awkward silence. He placed his hands on his lap. 

“Thank you…for never giving up on me,” He said softly. “Even when I’ve already given up on myself, you’re always there to help me get back on my feet, and I’m thankful for that.”

“O-Of course dude, you don’t have to thank me for that,” I said and ruffled his hair in hopes of cheering him back up, but he kept his gaze on the floor.

“God knows what might’ve happened to me if I’d never met you. You’re like, my voice of reason and, I don’t know. Without you, I’d probably be dead.”

I stiffened. “Carter…? W…What do you mean by that?”

The boy took a deep breath and swung his head up, suddenly smiling at the ceiling. “I don’t know. I can’t put it into words… Everything in here is liquid,” He pointed to his head. 

When I didn’t respond, he looked at me, chuckling.

“Sorry, I don’t know where I was going with any of that,” He leaned against the glass. “Still, thank you for tonight. Being with you is fun!”

I nodded awkwardly, but eventually, the confusion was washed out by the alcohol. I had no idea how long we’d even been sitting here. It felt like hours had gone by. I watched as Carter played with his hoodie strings like a cat, and I placed my hand on my stomach with a sigh.

I had probably drank too much to remember how good this night was, and so did Carter. We’d find a way back home, fall asleep, and he’d go back to being miserable the next morning. It seemed like there was no way to keep him happy.

“How come you look dead inside now,” The blond suddenly snickered.

“S-Shut the hell up, you’re one to talk.”

He grinned at me, and I exhaled. Drinking made his emotions twice as arbitrary as they already were, but at least he was smiling. And I think I deserved to smile too. If he was happy, I didn’t need to stress about him. The rest of this weekend could be fine, and I could be jinxing it.

“Is there anything you wanna do? We could see what the guys are up to in the basement,” I began. “Or we could spy on Sian and Rick.”

The blond looked at me. “Hm? No, I just wanna stay here with you.”

“Oh.”

“What?” He cocked his head to the side.

I hesitated, and the boy messed with my dreads again as he attempted to get one last sip out of an already empty bottle.

“C’mon, you’re not allowed to be mopey now!” Carter pouted. “What do you wanna do? Am I boring you?” 

“N-No, not at all!” I said and smiled. “To be completely honest, I don’t know how any of this works. We got drunk, we watched some people dance, now what? Are you supposed to drink until you blackout?”

Carter began staring off into space. “This is probably why introverts don’t go to college parties. We’re inexperienced in this category,” He snickered.

“Yeah,” I said softly. 

“But hey, it’s nicer being alone together. Like, there’s still a party happening somewhere in the house, but over here, it’s just us. No screaming or head-pounding music.”

The blond was right. The lost stragglers had found their way back to the main room and left us alone again. Due to our angle, I doubted anyone could even see us from the hall. 

“Who knew a party could be so relaxing,” I joked as Carter laughed. “But y’know, you’re right.”

He blinked. “Hm?”

“Being alone with you,” I admitted as I felt my pulse in my stomach as if my stomach didn’t already have enough problems.

The curly-haired boy grinned, his cheeks managing to become redder. Despite his expression, he seemed to be going in and out, not always paying attention, as if I could remember what we were on about earlier.

“Hey,” I said softly, slowly sliding my hand up his arm and resting it on the side of his neck. 

We locked eyes for several minutes, but neither of us said anything. I was trying to come up with something, but Carter looked completely clueless, so I don’t think it would even matter. He was so out of it, but at least he was happy, despite how drunk he was. Despite how drunk we both were after at least two hours.

I smiled as Carter continued mindlessly twirling his empty bottle. I took my glasses off and sat them by the other empty containers as everything became a blur except for the boy in front of me.

The blond glanced at my sudden movement, but before he questioned what was going on, I placed my other hand on his back and leaned in, pressing my lips to his. I brushed my thumb over his ear and then heard him drop the bottle he was previously drinking out of. 

I was afraid to open my eyes but figured I’d stay until he pushed me off. Though just as I peeked mine open, Carter closed his, tangled his fingers in my hair, and managed to pull us closer together, moaning softly as he did so. 

We parted for half a second to breathe, and then I wrapped my arm around his small waist and pulled him back in. 

“Aaron…” He whispered against my lips, tugging on my hair a bit more as I slowly slid my hand up the back of his shirt. We were both sweaty, and everything was becoming messy and blurry, but neither of us cared.

Then, Carter pushed me back just as I was about to slip my tongue into his mouth. Frankly, it was good he stopped me because my inhibitions were too far gone to be of any help.

“S-Sorry, I just can’t breathe,” He huffed, looking down with his hands on my shoulders.

“No, you’re cool, it’s fine. I’m sorry.”

When Carter finally looked up, his entire face was red. He avoided my gaze, but I guess I couldn’t blame him.

“U-Um,” He began awkwardly. “So…do you wanna…” He trailed off.

I leaned back in and kissed him softly for a split second, and then we locked eyes. 

“Um, thanks for that,” Carter mumbled before staring at the wall. 

I watched as he fiddled with his hoodie, chaotically trying to hide his erection. I chuckled softly and then looked back up at him.

“I feel like I’ll regret saying this but, I want you to know I love you,” I confessed. 

He stared at me and laughed nervously.  

“I mean, not in a weird way!” I shouted before he could respond. “I just, I don’t know—had a hunch that no one had told you that in a hot second,” I muttered while trying to save myself.

Carter wrapped his arms around me, resting his head in the crook of my neck. “Thank you, Aaron. I love you too.”

I hugged him back, and we stayed like that for a while. Eventually, the blond returned to sitting beside me, but we failed to find any more words. I stared at the ceiling, contemplating what had just happened, or at least trying to because my drunk thoughts were all over the place. 

Carter fell asleep on my shoulder, snoring quietly, but I didn't move him. The physical contact was nice, especially from him. 

I closed my eyes. 

I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to remember this night or not. That was the best kiss I’d had in a while, not that I thought it’d lead to anything tomorrow else.

He’s a surprisingly good kisser for a hermit, but while I say that, I wonder what he thought about me. 

“Yo, Ay-Ay.”

I flinched and looked up to see a blurry Sian in front of me. Someone wasn’t too far behind him, likely Rick since they were a package deal.

“Hey,” I muttered and massaged my temples. “You win that PS4 or something?”

He sighed and squatted in front of me. “No…but we did get a bunch of restaurant gift cards,” He said and chuckled. 

“What—really?”

The black-haired boy shrugged. “Yeah, I mean, you know us and free food.”

“Ah true. You two going home or something?”

Rick came over to where we were and handed me several gift cards. “Not yet. We just figured we’d give you half of the prize since you helped out, and you’ve got shit to do tomorrow. Not to mention you and Hughes are loners and were probably uncomfortable as hell being here.”

“O-Oh,” I smiled a bit as I placed the cards in my pocket. “Thank you guys, but it wasn’t all that bad.”

“You sure? You guys are literally in the furthest room from the party,” Sian chuckled as he noticed the bottles around us. “But at least you got drunk.”

I tensed up as Carter shuffled beside me, his hand brushing against mine. “Hey, I kinda enjoyed being background characters.”

Sian and Rick glanced at each other. “Uh-huh… You guys are a different breed of weird, but whatever. Thanks for coming, at least. If you need to get home, there’s this brunette who’s been going back and forth giving out rides.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah, but not for free,” Rick said and scoffed. “A small price to pay to not drink and drive,” He said as we laughed.

“Anyway, have a good rest of your night,” Sian added before they both left the room.

When they were out of view, I looked over and rubbed Carter’s head. “Hey, you ready to go home?”

He groaned quietly and opened his eyes a little bit.

“We can get a ride. I’ll carry you.”

The blond shuffled around a little and hopped on my back after I stood up. I grabbed my glasses and put them back on since the extra weight and the alcohol were already causing me to wobble enough. The closer we got to the rest of the party, the louder it got, but Carter continued to snore. 

On my way to the front door, we ran back into Blair, who grinned when she saw me.

“Hey! Where have you two been?” She beamed.

I yawned. “Uh, just drinking in the back by that other patio exit. Carter passed out, so I figured it was time to go.”

The girl chuckled and then caressed Carter’s head, who was leaning on my shoulder. “Is he alright?” She asked hesitantly, suddenly looking at me with a concerned expression.

I sighed. “I think so… I don’t know, but I think getting out of the dorm helped him a good amount.”

She smiled a bit. "Ah, well that's a relief. I can take you back home, free of charge since we’re bros.”

“Wait, you’re the taxi brunette?”

Blair chuckled, twirling her keys as I followed her to the car. “Hell yeah! I’ve made a hundred bucks so far!”

I laughed. “What? How much are you charging?!”

“Don’t worry about it,” She winked.

I continued to laugh, and then we finally got on the road. Carter kept sleeping in the back seat as I sat shotgun, watching her drive. We were all close, but Blair was closer to Carter than she was to me. 

Still, part of me felt she deserved to know. I never knew if she had a crush on him, but she was always worried about what he was going through, and I needed to tell somebody.

She never really stuck her nose in, but still let Carter know she was there if he needed her, in the same way I was. Then again, what if I didn’t remember anything the next morning and she told me? And it’s not like she could forget—she was probably the only sober person at that party.

I removed my glasses and stared at the blurry lights whizzing past us.

“Hey, can I tell you something?”

The brunette glanced at me and turned down the radio. 

“If you say you’ve got the hots for me, I’m throwing you out of the car.”

“Geez,” I snickered.

“You wouldn’t be the first tonight,” She smirked. “But, what’s up?”

I shuffled in my seat. “You have to promise not to tell anyone else, please.”

Blair gave me a concerned expression before nodding. “Uh, yeah, of course.”

I continued to fiddle with my glasses. I hadn’t felt this anxious in a while, but at the same time, I’d never been this drunk or done something so goddamn stupid.

“Okay, yeah, I-I kissed Carter.”

The girl flinched slightly. “Huh?!”

“It wasn’t on purpose! Well—maybe it was… I don’t know. Like, I wanted to, a little. But he didn’t push me away or even get mad!”

Blair began to smirk. “Why did you even kiss him in the first place?!”

I placed my hand on my head and sighed. “God, I don’t know,” I lied. 

I liked him—that’s why I did it. I would’ve just kept it all to myself if I was sober, but instead, I just went with my gut. I looked back at Carter for a second, who was still snoring in his seat.

“I just needed to get it off my chest,” I mumbled.

She nodded.

“But please don’t ever bring it up! Especially if we don’t even remember tomorrow!”

“Okay, okay, calm down dude. I won’t say anything.”

I put my glasses back on so her expressions were more visible. “T-Thanks.”

She hesitated for a second. “Was it nice? Kissing him?”

My face heated up, and I turned to look out the window. “Yeah…” I sighed. “It was fuckin’ awesome, despite how bad I feel about it right now.”

Blair chuckled and rubbed my arm for a second. “Don’t worry. People do way stupider shit when they’re drunk, or even concerning in some cases. And I think it’s better to be him than some stranger.”

I snickered and took a deep breath. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“And hey—I mean, I have no clue what Carter’s going through right now, but I’m sure some affection couldn’t hurt, y’know?”

We smiled at each other for a second as the girl continued to drive.

“And honestly, you need to chill out a little bit. You’re always pretty tense, so this night probably did you some good, too.”

I scratched my head. “Yeah…maybe you’re right.”

“When was even the last time you kissed someone?”

“Shut up—I don’t know. When was the last time you kissed someone?”

She rolled her eyes with a laugh. “Fair point, moving on.”

The rest of the ride was quiet, aside from the radio and Carter’s snoring. When we finally got to our dorm, Blair got out and helped me carry him since he wasn’t gonna wake up any time soon, or at least enough to walk down the hall.

Nevertheless, once the adventure was finally over, I collapsed on my bed and gazed at the blond from across the room.

For once, I think he was guaranteed to sleep soundly as a faint smile resided on his face. Sure, I didn’t know if that was because of me or if he was having a nice dream, but it still made me feel good knowing that he finally felt good.

Because if you ask me, I think he deserved it.