Half truth

Chapter Thirty-One

“For the record, toga parties are just an excuse for jocks to show off their muscles and girls to walk around almost naked.” I lifted my red cup to make that toast with Celia and missed her cup, hitting the air beside it instead.

“You know you’re slurring your words.”

“Am not.” I blinked hard.

My eyes felt heavier than usual. I hadn’t drunk like this in a long time, but tonight I’d decided to escape the madness inside my head and drown out my thoughts. Maybe I was slurring.

“You are.” Celia raised an eyebrow. “Have some water. You don’t want to be slurring when Travis gets here. Also, let me tie your toga again. I’m scared your boobs are going to pop out.”

I looked down at myself. My boobs were not in any danger of popping out. My vagina, maybe. The slit came all the way to the tip-top of my thigh, but not my boob. I said this out loud and Celia laughed.

“Dude, your slit is really high. You know people don’t normally use actual sheets for these things, right? We buy ready-made togas at costume stores.”

“Um, excuse me, I did buy a ready-made toga. I just made minor improvements.” I looked down at my exposed thigh. “Maybe I went a little overboard.”

Celia laughed again. “You’re a mess.”

I took another gulp of the water. Maybe I did need it, after all. My throat felt parched.

“Do you have a mint?”

“I do.” She shook a tin of ci

“No way.” I laughed, popping a mint in my mouth and handing her the tin back. “That ship has sailed. Am I still slurring?”

“Yes. More water.”

“I’m going to have to pee. Also, I want another shot of Fireball.”

“Oh my God, Mae. Drink the water, then pee.” She shot me a stern look. “Then we’ll do another shot.”

“Be right back.” I walked toward the bathroom.

The room seemed to shift a little, so I slowed down. Maybe another shot wasn’t the brightest idea. Still, I’d feel better after I peed. When I was finished in the bathroom, I stepped out and held onto the threshold for a second. The party was a sea of white sheets. The only thing missing was a Trojan horse smack in the center of the room to hide in. I must have been standing there for a long time, because by the time I reached the kitchen, where Celia was now making out with Quentin, I felt like I was completely sober. I grabbed a red solo cup and vacillated between the Fireball and Cuervo.

“Fireball. I’ll do one with you.” Travis’s voice beside me made me gasp as I turned around to face him.

He looked as handsome as ever, one brown muscled shoulder and arm exposed in his loose-fitting toga. From the way his hairline was perfectly even and his dark hair faded on the sides, I could tell he’d just gone to the barber. His smile was wide as he looked at me for a moment before wrapping an arm around me and pulling me into him. I pressed my face to his chest and breathed in his familiar scent, Aqua Di Gio cologne, and exhaled, already feeling much better than I’d felt all day. He pulled away slightly but kept his hand splayed on my back as he turned to Celia.

“Are you the roommate that left her after a hot minute?”

Celia laughed. “Yes, but I still check up on her.”

“Good.” He left his hand on my back. I fought the urge to shrug it off. “It was the right move for you though. This is a nice place.”

“Hell yeah it’s a nice place, and you can crash anytime you want,” Quentin said, smiling. “But we still go

Travis laughed. “We’ll see about that. We got a new center and he’s looking like Shaq out there.”

“That just means we’ll have to foul him and see how he does from the three-point line.”

“Ah, low blow.” Travis laughed again.

“Okay, we gotta go say hi to people,” Celia interrupted. “You guys can talk sports later.”

She shot me a look that said, damn he’s hot, as she dragged Quentin out of there. I shook my head and turned back to Travis.

“Do you have a cup?”

He reached over the counter and got one from the new stack. “I do now.”

“Perfect.” I placed them side by side and poured a decent amount of Fireball for a shot, the amount that would burn the hell out of our throats and probably make us question our choices tomorrow. I slid him a cup and picked up mine. “Cheers.”

“Cheers.” His dark brown eyes met mine as he tapped his cup to mine. We took the shot at the same time and set the cups down on the counter. “Another one?”

“One more.” I laughed, pouring us another one. We did it again, setting the cups down.

“One more?”

“No. I already had too many tonight. I’m good for now. Maybe in thirty minutes.”

“If there’s any left.” He eyed the bottle and looked at me again. “You look great, as usual.”

“So do you.”

“Been putting in overtime at the gym.” He flexed his bicep to show me.

“I can tell.”

“I guess that’s what happens when your girlfriend leaves you. You get bored and workout more often.”

“Hm. I bet your coach wishes I’d left you sooner.”

Travis laughed. “Probably.”

“Are you ready to graduate?”

“I am. Ready to graduate, ready to start law school. I’m excited.” He smiled. “I got into Princeton.”

“Holy shit.” I gaped, slapping him on the arm. “When did you find out?”

“A couple of weeks ago.”

“You should’ve told me.” I slapped him again. “That’s crazy amazing, Trav.”

“Yeah. I’m happy. Mom’s happy. Dad’s ecstatic. I think he reported it on the news the other day instead of the weather.” He laughed.

“I’m so freaking proud of you.” I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. With the movement, I could definitely feel my toga riding down in my chest area, so I lowered myself and fixed myself quickly, just in case.

I’d learned as a teenager that getting drunk at parties wasn’t a brilliant idea, but if you were going to do it, you should always be mindful of your wardrobe and your surroundings. I’d learned that, of course, by wearing a tube top at a party. Thankfully, there was no recorded proof of what happened, but I never let myself live it down.

“Hey, you want to go outside?”

“Sure.” I grabbed a bottle of water and started walking beside Travis, quickly grabbing onto his arm when I realized the room was indeed tilting again.

“You really did have a lot of shots earlier, huh?” He smiled down at me. “You usually only do the public affection thing when you’re drunk.”

“Not true.” I frowned. “And I’m not being affectionate. I’m holding onto your arm so I don’t fall over.”

The wind blew my hair wildly. I reached up with one hand and fixed the thin gold crown on my head, pressing myself closer to his body for body warmth. We walked to the edge of the wraparound porch. I let go of his arm and leaned against the column. He stood between my legs and brought a hand up to my face.

“I miss you, Mae.”

“I miss you too.” I closed my eyes.

Right now, in this moment, I thought maybe I did miss him. Every other day, I hadn’t really. Not that I hadn’t thought about him or wondered what he was doing. He was my safety for so long, it felt weird not to have him around, but still, I couldn’t truly say I missed him. Or us.

“So, let’s work this out.”

“No.” My eyes popped open. “I miss you, but that doesn’t mean I want to be with you. We don’t work together, Trav. You know this.”

“We can try again.”