Before I Met You

16: "I Never Claimed to be Nice..."

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚂𝚒𝚡𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗

 "𝙸 𝙽𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝙲𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝙽𝚒𝚌𝚎..."

 "YOU'RE TELLING ME that you still haven't gotten into her pants yet?" Cameron erupts into a fit of laughter and almost falls off the couch when Dion throws a pillow in his direction.

"It's a work in progress." He shoots back, sending all of us a sly grin. "Trust me, it'll get there."

I lean over to pick up the remote from the coffee table and switch the television on. I'm not in the mood to be around everyone, but I know that I should be with others instead of being by myself.

"All I know is that I don't know why you're wasting so much time on one girl." Rodney shakes his head and opens up a beer. "It's been weeks, dude. Do you know how many girls you could have slept with by now?"

"I bet money I could sleep with her before you." Cameron challenges, arching an eyebrow in his direction.

"As if." Rodney laughs until he starts to cough. "I'm pretty sure Amelia's only into black guys. You wouldn't have a chance, Cameron."

I actually laugh at Rodney's joke, causing Dion to laugh as well.

"Whatever." Cameron mumbles and reaches over for a beer from the table. "All I know is that I need to get drunk tonight. Classes this semester are no fucking joke."

He can say that again. I already have a test next week that I'm not looking forward to at all, and I've hardly had the time to study. Well, I just haven't made the time to study. I've been too distracted.

I've thought about Elena for the past week after our fight on campus. The nightmares have gotten worse, and I haven't been able to stop relapsing. On Wednesday I stayed sober, but on Thursday I did it again. I'm so ashamed of myself that it's like I can't stop.

"Oh, look who it is." Cameron smirks when Dion's phone starts to go off. Dion shoots him a glare and brings the phone up to his ear.

"Hey." He smiles uncontrollably, but immediately shuts up and furrows his eyebrows together. "Is she okay?" He asks.

I pop my eyes up to his and suddenly am interested in his conversation.

"Bring her back to the dorms. I'm sure she's okay."

"Who?" I ask, all of them turning to look at me. I realize that I'm now on the edge of my seat, my palms becoming sweaty.

Dion holds a finger up to me. "Hey, calm down. She's going to be fine. Do you want me to come help you? I've dealt with this before." Then he looks at me, his eyes slightly narrowing. "Yeah, I'll be there in ten."

He hangs up the phone and stands to his feet, searching around for his shoes. "I've gotta go help Amelia." He mumbles. "Elena is completely trashed at some party and she doesn't know how to handle it."

"I'm coming." I immediately say back to him. "Let me just find my shoes."

"What? Why?" Everyone turns to look at me and I don't know what to say. All I know is that I feel guilty as hell. I'm the one that hurt her. I'm the one that treated her like she didn't mean shit to me. Now she's on an alcohol binge. Great.

"Just because." I mutter back, unsure of what else to say. I go into the hallway and slide on my sneakers as Dion does the same and we head outside without a goodbye. I can't help but get nervous since I'm unsure of what state she's actually in.