“You said your sister used to make that towel blanket thing. She did that before the accident?”
As soon as I asked the question, I knew it was the wrong thing to say. A prickling sensation came over my arm. Bad move. Bad question. Cruz didn’t answer, but he sat up and looked my way, rubbing a hand over my stomach again right as it let loose a long and loud growl.
“Want to go down and get food? I can make a pizza.”
I nodded, sitting up with him.
We both went and showered first.
A quick brisk washing and cleaning, and I left the shower first, wrapping a towel around my body before taking a second one for my hair. I padded into his room, starting to go through my clothes.
“Hey.”
He went past me to his dresser and pulled out a drawer. Some of my clothes were there, folded all nice.
He moved aside, going to his closet. “You left some things here one time, so I washed them. Kept forgetting to bring them with me, but they’re clean.”
I was relieved. That’s all I was going with because my underwear looked like it was done for life. He hadn’t realized he’d ripped it in half. I tossed it in the trash and pulled out a clean one. My bra was okay. There was also a pair of black leggings, so I pulled them on.
My shirt was a mess. It reeked of booze and smoke, and I had no clue where the smoke came from. The sweatshirt looked too hot for a party.
“You have a shirt I can wear?”
“Yeah. Come in here.”
I went to the closet. He motioned to some hanging and some folded on a shelf. “Pick whatever.”
The girl inside of me wanted to wear a shirt that had his name on it, his hockey number on it, but I knew that’d be asking for even more attention than we were already going to get. I grabbed a random shirt that had no correlation to who Cruz was. It was a black plain shirt, no lettering or numbers on it.
It was perfect.
And it was huge. I rolled up the sleeves, but let it hang so my ass was covered up.
“Ready?”
I finished tying my sneakers and nodded. “Yeah.”
He led the way.
When we got to the main floor, a lot of people had left.
I caught the time, noting that it was three in the morning so whoever was here were the long-haulers for the party. The kitchen itself was a mess.
Cruz cursed, taking it all in.
Cups were everywhere, liquid seeping over the counter and onto the floor. Pizza had been ordered, but the boxes were soaked. The pizza was picked over, only a few bits here and there remaining, but even those looked nibbled on. A few guys were in the kitchen, but Cruz scowled at them. They scrambled out.
I bypassed him, locating a garbage bag under the kitchen sink, and began going over what was on the counter, tossing everything or most everything into the bag.
Cruz began helping and we worked together until most of the trash was bagged up. After that, he took the bags to their dumpster or wherever their garbage went, and I began taking care of the dishes. Most could go in the dishwasher until that was full. I started a load, and by then, a few guys came in, hearing the sounds.
I started piling the extra dishes in the sink, plugging it and began filling it with warm water. Added soap.
“What are you doing, Daniels?” Atwater was confused, looking around, but he was weaving on his feet.
Cruz came back in, seeing his friend almost toppling over. “Go pass out in your bed, dude.”
“Huh? Oh. Yeah. Okay.” He headed off, bumping into the wall as he did.
“Daniels.” Gavin came around the corner, surprisingly sober. “Didn’t know you were here.”
Cruz turned on the oven then pulled out a bunch of frozen pizzas from the freezer.
Enough of the counter had been cleared and wiped down so I started washing some of the dishes.
“I’m surprised you are. Your frat didn’t do a party tonight?”
“They did, but I heard this one was off the chains so a bunch of us came over. Where were you?” There was a bag of chips and a bowl of cheese. Gavin wasn’t as sober as I thought. He began munching on the chips, dipping them in the sauce and not noticing how bad that cheese looked. It must’ve been sitting out for hours.
I pulled it away from him, dumping it.
“Hey.” He reached for it with his chip, but I raised my arm, pushing him back.
“I just saved your life. You can thank me when you’re sober.”
Cruz had opened the fridge and pulled out a new jar of cheese. He grabbed one of the bowls I washed, rinsed it, dried it a little, and poured the cheese into it. He slid it over to Gavin with the jar still tipped over. “Sit. Let it drip out.”
Gavin sat on a stool on the other side of the island. He stared at the bowl, nodding at what Cruz told him. He kept eating the chips.
I glanced back, seeing Cruz had four pizzas ready to go. The oven was still heating up.
He laid out some towels, moving the dishes I’d cleaned and put them to air dry. Once he was done with that, he touched my hip. “You want something to drink?”
I nodded. “Rum and coke.”
“Me too, please.” Gavin didn’t look up from his eating but held up a finger.
Cruz narrowed his eyes at him before moving into the other room where they had more booze set up. Once he was gone, Gavin raised his head up and gestured in his direction with a chip. “You two a thing now?”
I stopped washing dishes. “What?”
“Know you’re fucking. Pictures are all over social media of you two.”
“Pictures?”
He indicated the house. “Here. Tonight, I’m guessing. He was all over you and some of you two on a couch. There’s one where you’re making out against his truck.” He focused back on me, but his eyes were slow to center. He was on something; I could see it now. “Could’ve told me you were fucking him.”
“It’s no one’s business.”
He laughed at that, tipping his head back. “You and him? It’s everyone’s business. You two are hot. Gotta say that. You do a porn, make sure to sell that shit. It’d make you six figures.”
“Stop talking.”
Pictures. There were pictures and Cruz was the golden boy after last night’s game. Of course there were pictures. Everyone had a phone. We were getting more and more reckless. Then again, being secret hadn’t been the main objection.
I’d known word would get out, but this was faster than I’d thought.
Cruz came back, holding a beer and two other drinks. He put one in front of Gavin and handed me the other before narrowing his eyes. “What’s wrong?”
Gavin was fixated on his current chip, but he started laughing.
“Shut up,” I hissed.
Cruz looked between us two.
Still staring at his chip, Gavin asked, “You going to tell him or am I?”
I opened my mouth.
He beat me to it, dropping his chip and staring at Cruz with some hostility. “Pictures of you two all over social media. Congrats. If you were fucking in secret, you’re not anymore.”
Cruz went still, cursing under his breath before his eyes slid my way.
I felt sick to my stomach, but I mean, we both made the decision.
He said softly, “Don’t freak out and ghost me.”
An unbalanced and a little hysterical laugh left me before I closed my eyes and just shook my head.