After dinner mom asks Ross and I if we're drinking tonight. "No way!" I lie, and she can tell.
"Mora, please don't lie to me. Remember I was once your age. Ross, are you drinking too?" and Ross is honest.
"I don't know. I thought about it, but I'm driving, so I don't know. If Mora didn't want to drink I was going to."
"Well I would rather neither of you drink, but I know you're going to anyway, so here's some cash for a cab. Ross we'll just follow you to your hotel, and we'll go back to the house until you guys are ready to meet up with Conner." she says and I'm shocked.
"Mom, you're supposed to tell us not to drink."
"Honey, what good would that do?" she peers at me, and I don't know what to say, so I just agree with her.
"Okay then." and she sticks her tongue out at me.
It's eleven thirty when a cab picks us up and takes us to the fraternity houses outside of the college. I think about texting Aiden and letting him know what I'm doing but I choose against it. He can't be mad at me for hanging out with my brother. Conner wouldn't allow what happened the night I was with Zoe to ever happen. I was safe with him and Ross.
We pull up to a giant red brick house, with older painted trim around the windows. It sits tight between two other houses that resemble it. All three houses are lit up with lights, and kids are outside. There are giant bouncy houses sitting on the lawn. I always thought that was just something they put in movies, but I guess fraternity and sorority houses are really like this. I could never see myself in a sorority. I love my quiet time too much.
Before I'm all the way out of the cab, Conner is screaming at me and pulling me out in a bear hug.
"Sis! I'm so glad you're here." I can't breathe. He's holding on to me so tight.
"Conner, I can't breath." I gasp, and he sets me down, and quickly moves on to Ross.
"Bro, I'm glad you could make it out tonight. We kicked ass huh?" he brags on himself and the team.
"Yeah man. Thanks for inviting me. I've had a good time."
I quickly interrupt them before they get into their guy talk. "Conner, what's going on with you and Scarlett?" I ask, and this time Ross speaks up.
"Mora!"
"Shhh." I put my finger up at him, and Conner raises his eyebrows.
"Mora, I want to talk to you about what happened with us, but not right now okay. I'm just in a really good mood, and I can't think about her right now." he says.
"Well I want to know what's going on, and she won't talk to me because she's afraid you'll be mad."
"I understand but let's talk about it later on. I promise, we'll talk before you leave."
"Well I leave early in the morning Conner. Are you going to wait until we've been drinking?"
"No Mora. I promise. We will talk about it. I'm riding with you to mom's house tonight. We'll talk then okay." I'm surprised he's staying at mom's especially after the game tonight.
"Oh. Okay. I guess I'll let it go for now."
"Thank you!" he answers dramatically then leads us inside. "Do you guys want a drink?" he looks back, and we both say yes at the same time.
"Jinx!" Ross screams, and I sneer at the two of them.
"We're not ten anymore Ross." I say, and Conner snorts.
"Mora, we can never be too old for Jinx!" I roll my eyes again. It's nice to be around the two of them together again. Their energy is so contagious and comforting.
The kegs are in a messy kitchen along with Conner's roommate Logan, and a girl that he's standing close to. She has pale skin, and bright red hair. She's pretty in a natural way. She isn't wearing much makeup, and her outfit is more modest than a lot of girls here. "Hey Mora." he waves at me while Conner is filling up our cups.
"Hi Logan." I say, and the girl introduces herself.
"Hi Mora. I'm Rose. I've heard so much about you." and she offers her hand to me so I shake it.
"Hi Rose. Nice to meet you." I smile. "This is Ross." I motion him over, and Conner is right next to him.
"Come on, let's play some beer pong." he says motioning for all of us to follow him. I can see that not much has changed since he's moved on to college. He still thinks he's a leader, and surprisingly they still seem to follow him.
There are three beer pong tables in the middle of what I can only guess is the living room, and the lights are dimmed down, and the music is extremely loud. Rose sits in a seat that looks like it once belonged in the center of a sectional sofa. "Do you want to play?" I'm screaming over the music to her.
"No. Go ahead!! I've already played a little tonight. I need a break from drinking."
"Okay. Logan, want to embarrass these two?" I yell at him, and he nods. Logan's hair is buzzed, and his freckles are more vivid than last time I've seen him because he's more tan. I assume from football practices.
"You two are going down." Conner laughs, as Ross and Logan fill the cups up with beer.
"Please!" I yell across the table.
The guys let me shoot first, and I make it in a cup on the back edge. "Yes!" I scream and Logan high fives me. "Hell yeah Mora. Good job!" and Rose is cheering us on too.
We end up playing two games, and it last for about an hour. They were filled with boo's, cheers, and Conner and Ross's dorky winning dances. They were close games, but of course they beat us. I blame Logan though because I made the majority of the cups for us. Needless to say we all got a little buzzed.
"Let's dance!" I motion to Rose, and I pull her up, and we drag the boys out back where everyone is dancing. Conner finds his way to a group of people doing keg stands by himself leaving Ross and I with Logan and Rose.
"This is so much fun!" I yell at Logan and Rose.
"We're glad you're having fun!" Logan screams back over the loud music, and Ross fist pumps him. Even though it's a cool night, we are all sweating from dancing so much.
"Ahh it's your song Andrews!" Ross yells at me. It's Shape of You by Ed Sheeran. I giggle, and start to dance with him. We're all getting pretty tipsy. Before I realize it, Ross and I are the only ones left of our group dancing. Rose, and Logan are sitting over close to the house making out, and Conner is nowhere to be found.
"Should we find Conner?" I shout at him.
"Nah. He'll be fine. I'm having fun!" he screeches back and I don't respond. I just keep dancing. He's right though. This is the most fun I've had in a long time. I could see myself going to school here, and being friends with people like Rose, and Logan. I know Scarlett would be having fun too if she would have come.
"Ross, I think I'm danced out. I need a drink." I yell, and he follows me inside. Once we're back in the kitchen, I turn around to look at him. "Oh my gosh. That was so much fun!" I say. We're both flushed from dancing.
"Yeah, I haven't done anything that physical since football practice senior year." he laughs then says "well and Sophie." he's grinning ear to ear. I can tell he wants a response from me, and I can't help but feed into him.
"Gross!" I shake my head.
"I knew she bothered you Mora." he says with a slight tone of arrogance.
"She doesn't bother me!" I snap at him.
"Are you sure?" I notice that it's just the two of us in the kitchen now. Ross is leaning against the counter as I put more beer in my cup.
"Yes. I'm pretty sure." I push his right elbow off the counter, and he laughs out loud. I'm trying to keep my balance.
"Mora, what does Aiden have that I don't?" his eyes are drunk, but he keeps all his focus on me.
Why does he insist on crossing the line on this trip? A part of me is starting to understand why he gets under Aiden's skin so much. "Ross, please let's not do this right now." He's ruining my buzz.
"Seriously Mora. What is it that he has, and I don't?" His eyes become intense as he stares at me.
"Ross." I repeat. "You're with Sophie. Don't you like her?"
I ask him because I know sooner or later we're going to have to talk about it, so why not now. I'm just ready to get this out of the way.
"Sure I like her. But that's it Mora. I like her. She's not someone I could love." Oh no. My stomach drops.
"Please don't go there Ross. We're having a good time, let's not ruin it." I lean my back side against the counter and look to my side where he's standing now. "and I have a boyfriend. We can't go there."
"How do you know you can trust him?" He's not dropping it, and I should walk away, but I find myself wanting to stand up for Aiden.
"I don't know, I just do. He hasn't given me a reason to not trust him." my voice is becoming rigid.
"Do you trust me?" he asks, and I wonder what he's trying to get at.
"Honestly Ross, if this is how you act when you have a girlfriend, then no I probably wouldn't trust you."
"Mora. Don't you get it. I like you, and yeah I guess I made a mistake when I never let you know how I felt but I'm telling you now. When I saw you with Aiden, it pissed me off so I started to date Sophie hoping it would piss him off, but he doesn't seem to care..." I cut him off.
"So you're using Sophie?" I change the subject to her hoping he'll drop the discussion of him and me.
"No I'm not using her. I have fun with her, but it's not the type of fun I have with you."
"You just said you wanted to piss Aiden off."
"Yeah, I guess so. I feel like he took you from me." he admits, and I'm shocked. Now I'm really getting upset so I push myself off the counter to fully face him.
"Ross, you can't do this. You can't spend years with me, and never even hint to me that you like me, then as soon as I get a boyfriend, jump in and try to ruin that for me. It's selfish, and I'm sorry, but you had your chance, and it's gone." I find myself getting closer to him so he knows how serious I am.
"So I had a chance?" his voice is lower, and he's trying to flip my words.
"No Ross, that's not what I'm..." before I can finish my sentence, he grabs me pulling me into his arms, and kisses me hard, and fast. For a minute I let him before I realize what is actually going on. I pull away quickly and shove him.
"Ross, you can't do that!" I yell, but he tries to kiss me again so I push him away again. "Ross, stop." I say rigidly as he tries to stumble toward me, and a second later I hear Conner.
"She said stop." he steps in between us, glaring at Ross with more anger than I've ever seen on him, and Ross's eyes grow large.
"Bro, I'm sorry. I got the wrong signal from her...'' he tries to grab Conner's hand, but Conner pushes his hand away, so he steps around Conner to focus on me. "Mora, I'm sorry. I got the wrong signal from you. It wasn't my intent to upset anyone. I just had to let you know how I felt..." Conner stops him.
"Ross, now is not the time. We've all been drinking, so drop it now before we all get into something we'll regret." and he puts his hands up to him.
"You're right man. I'm sorry again. I'm going to go ahead and go. Mora, I'm sorry." his face drops and he walks past Conner and I, and I suddenly feel a rush of sadness for him. I know he didn't want to harm me. This all got way out of hand. I don't say anything back to him as he leaves.
"Can we just leave." I look up at Conner, and he just nods. I've never seen Conner speak to Ross like that. I imagine it's because he's never seen him act like that. I know I've never seen him act like that. He was so forward, and he didn't consider anyone's feelings but his in that moment alone.
Once we're in the cab getting ready to go to mom's Conner ask "Are you okay?" and he watches me for confirmation.
"Yes. I mean, I will be. I just wish he didn't go there." and I was sad not because he kissed me, but because I knew it was a turning point in our friendship. I can't just be friends with him now, not after that. It's not fair to Aiden. I would be furious if something like that happened between Sophie and him while we were together.
"Yeah, I wish he wouldn't either. I told him to leave it alone." he admits.
I shoot my eyes up at him. "So you knew?"
He stares ahead as we're riding in the back seat of the cab. "Yeah. A few weeks after you started dating Aiden, he called me and told me he liked you. I always knew he had a crush on you, but I didn't realize how strong his feelings actually were. That's partly why I was against Aiden for a while. I wanted you to choose Ross." he confesses, and I don't know how to respond, so I just sit there. "Now what are we going to do?" he jabs my shoulder, and I give him a small smile.
"Really though. What are we going to do without Ross and Scarlett." I just want to cry. Ross risked ruining our friendship in less than five minutes. How could he be so stupid.
"You and Scarlett will be fine. Ross and I will get over it too." he says.
We pull up to the condo before I ask about Scarlett. I go ahead and let him pay the cab driver, then we get out. While walking to the front of the condo I bring her up.
"So what happened Conner?" I stop and sit on a bench nearby.
He hesitates before he sits down next to me. He sits there quiet for a long minute, and sighs before he begins.
"She cheated on me." he confesses, and my jaw drops in shock. I was not prepared for that answer.
"What!" I gasp.
"She kissed Aiden's friend Josh." he says, and I don't believe it. I freeze for a moment juggling my thoughts. When were they even alone for that to happen.
"How do you know?"
"She called me crying after it happened." he answers. I can feel the anger start to boil within. I can't believe she did that, and I can't believe she didn't tell me. I wonder if Aiden knows.
"Well did she kiss him, or did he kiss her? I mean, maybe he kissed her without her consent. Kind of like what happened tonight with Ross?"
"No. She was pretty honest about all of it. They did other stuff. They were at a party, and she said they were drunk..." he can't finish his sentence, and I don't make him.
"I'm going to kill her." I say under my breath, but he quickly interjects. "Don't be mad at her."
My mouth drops open because I can't believe he's standing up for her. "What! Why?" I huff at him in anger.
"After coming here Mora... I don't know. I thought I would miss her more than I do. Yeah I hate what she did to me, and I'm pissed at her, but Mor... it didn't break my heart like I thought it would. I'm hurt, but at the same time, I'm okay. I'm moving on." He lowers his head staring at the ground and I just look at him for a second. I'm sad for him, or maybe I'm sad for myself. I don't know how I'm going to juggle the both of them.
"I could kick her ass for you if you want me to." I joke with him because I regret bringing her up. He gives me a faint laugh before changing the subject.
"So are you going to tell Aiden what happened tonight?" Now we're both looking ahead at the moon hovering over the beach.
"I guess so. I mean should I?" If I tell Aiden I'm afraid he's going to make me choose him or Ross, and that's a big decision - choosing a boy over a long term friendship. Damn it, I wish Ross would have never gone there.
"Mora, if you don't tell him, he's just going to find out by someone else, and he'll be upset that it didn't come from you." He says and I know he's right. So I take out my phone preparing to text him, but Conner stops me suddenly. "No way Mora, I would wait until you get home. You're just going to stress him and yourself out if you tell him right now." then he rolls his eyes at me like I'm ignorant.
"Conner, I'm so new at this relationship thing. I've never had a real boyfriend. I'm so clueless sometimes."
"Mor, you're hooked. I've seen you crush on dudes but this guy has you twisting and turning, and that's okay. You're falling in love with him. All I can say is it's about time."
"I don't love him." I snort because I'm not ready to consider that right now with all the changes, and college ahead of us.
"Sure sis, whatever you say." Conner sighs out loudly, rubbing my hair all over the place, and then slowly stands up. "Let's go inside. I'm ready for bed." he mumbles, and I follow him up to the condo. He stays ahead of me the entire time. We're both lost in our thoughts.
I can tell he's still upset over Scarlett. I'm not sure why he's not letting her take all the blame, but I have a feeling it has to do with me. He doesn't want to be the reason I lose my friendship with her.