My Brother's Best Friend

After Party

I opened the door, “Here” He said holding the door open. “How about I help you avoid a hangover in the morning? Have you eaten anything since lunch?” I shook my head. He followed me into the entrance of our suite. I was almost relieved he was behind me. I opened my dorm room. “Ill order us something to eat, trust me you’ll thank me tomorrow morning.” He said.

I am going to change. You can sit there, I pointed to one of the chairs in the room. I grabbed my sports bra, boxer from earlier and Matthew’s old sweatshirt I sometimes slept in. I headed into the bathroom and changed. I needed to get the dry glue-like taste out of my mouth so I quickly brushed my teeth and wiped my face. I came back into the room and threw my clothes in the laundry basket. I still had the body jewelry on, I couldn’t figure out how to get it off. I grabbed two water bottles out of the fridge. I handed one to Ben. He was on his phone. I hope he wasn’t annoyed or feeling obligated to help me.

He looked up at me as I got closer to him. I sat in the chair that was next to him. Sitting felt so good. “The delivery guy is here, I'll be right back” He said standing up. He left the room. I quickly did a double check in the mirror and detangle my hair and threw it up in a messy bun. I turned on the TV and put an Office episode on. I then again got to thinking why Ben asked me if I was busy. I found myself hoping he would bring it up again so I could answer him. I didn’t want to bring it up in case it didn’t mean anything.

Ben came back with the sandwiches and handed me one. “So what do you think of your first night out here?”

“Somewhat overrated but I feel like I need to give it a second chance.” I answered and took a couple bites. I didn’t realize how hungry I was. He laughed. “Yes you should give it another shot, the first party of the year is always a little different.” I managed to eat half the sandwich and had some water. Ben looked at me “How are you feeling?” he asked. It wasn’t the question I had hoped he asked. “ I am feeling better, still a little off, or should I say tipsy.” I wrapped my sandwich up. Ben stood up and threw his wrapper away. I looked up at him. He was tall, his skin tan and had such a defined jawline. He was the guy that even looked intelligent. It must be the way he held himself. He took my wrapped half sandwich and put it in the fridge and turned and looked at me. If my face could talk it would be telling him to get closer to me. I hadn’t felt this much attraction for anyone. I wanted him to come closer, I wanted to kiss him.

He sat back down. “Do you have practice tomorrow?” I asked, wanting to cut the silence, I didn’t want him to leave. “I do, getting ready for the first game next weekend.” he said “ what are you doing tomorrow?”

Relieved he finally brought that up again. “I am not so sure, I guess I’ll see what the others are doing and base my day off that. I know I'll be going to the gym tomorrow or maybe running around campus.” I said. “Depending on how I feel” I broke eye contact with him. He moved closer to me. “What makes you like running so much?” He asked.

Without thinking I said “There is something about it that is a great distraction, not to mention the endorphins. I could be having the worst day or a stressful day, I’ll head out for a run and it just dissipates. Clearing my head sounds so basic, but honestly, I don’t care. That's my reasoning. Listening to Matthew’s playlist sometimes I’ll get lost and don’t even realize until my watch notifies me I’ve gone 6 miles.” I could myself start to trail on and looked up. He was closer to me than before.

“Your brother was really worried about you last year.” Said Be

n. “He was worried that you’d defer a year. I remember not knowing what to say, I would just listen. He would talk about how strong you were but also how he was worried you’d break. The way he talked about you, it made me want to meet you.” He inched closer, was he going to kiss me? I moved closer to him, and suddenly the door swung open.

“Hey there you are! I was worried about you once you disappeared from the party.” Riley said in a huff. I looked over at Ben who was now further away from me.

“I told Eric to let you know I was walking her home. She didn’t feel good” Ben said. Caleb, Hailey, Bridget, Stacy and a few boys with them came into the dorm.

“See I told you she was fine. Ben’s my best friend he wouldn’t do anything but get her home safe” Said Caleb.

The room was crowded. Stacey and Bridget took the other boys into their dorm and closed the door. You could hear music starting and drunk laughing.

“Of course you have The Office on,” says Caleb. “Has she been quoting it?” He laughs

Ben gets up, “I should head out and we have an early practice. Make sure you take ibuprofen and finish that water bottle” Ben says. Ben left and Caleb, Riley and Hailey sat down.

“You feeling ok?” says Riley.

“Are you ok? You ran pretty fast to get here” says Hailey laughing.

“Well I didn’t like the look of those guys at the party. They were kicked out right around the time she disappeared so I got nervous.” Riley said.

The credits were running on the episode, I walked out to the entrance way to use the bathroom. Before heading back in the room I went to the mirror to try to get the jewelry off. I was struggling to get the clasp. “Here let me get it” Riley said. He was behind me and the dorm room door was shut. I could hear Caleb and Hailey talking. The music in the other suite was quieter and it sounded like a full blown make out sesh had started. Riley’s hands were warm against my skin as he went for the clasp.

“I didn’t mean to ditch you, I just didn't want to get sick in front of everyone.” I said

“That's ok, I am sorry I overreacted by getting worried about you” He unclasped the necklace part and went to take it off not knowing it was attached to the other pieces. His hands went down my shoulders. I could feel the shiver of goosebumps as his hands became close to my cleavage. “How does this thing come off?”.

“Here,” I said, grabbing the loose piece from his hands and let them drop in my sports bra and wiggling my way out of it.

“Do you think its safe to go in there?” I wondered if Hailey and Caleb were making out like Stacy and Bridget.

“I have no idea” he said. “Well I am going to go to bed. I want to go running tomorrow. You want to come?”

“Sure text me when you’re up”. He bent down and kissed my forehead. “I’ll see you tomorrow”.

Stund and confused, I headed into my dorm room.