lost and found | gilinsky

7.2

Nadia

    It's not like I didn't expect there to be drunk people. After all it was college and there was bound to be alcohol. What I didn't expect was to see my boyfriend with two beer bottles tucked under his right arm, a redhead's waist resting on the other, and a carefree grin plastered on his face. 

Once Rachel dropped us all off she headed toward a sea of sorority girls who were cheering her name the second we pulled up, making it obvious that she was popular among the group. Us stragglers then hung out on the front yard for a bit, until we were ushered into the house by a tall blonde with a wicked smile.

Matt followed her further into the house while Cam went with Kaylan to go find a bathroom, leaving me alone with Shannon. We'd only been standing around for a couple of minutes before Shannon broke the ice. 

"Matt's being such a dick," she grunted, accepting a beer can from a stranger who was passing them out. I politely denied one with the shake of my head.

"Are you guys still together?" I asked, not too sure about their status. 

Shannon pursed her lips, making me think that was the wrong question to ask. "I don't even know anymore. I mean, neither of us said the words 'I'm breaking up with you' to each other, but him going off with that bimbo is almost as if he's saying it without saying it." 

Clenching my jaw, I nodded. A part of me wished I grabbed a beer when I had the chance. I'd never been good with advice, so I really had no idea what to tell her besides, "you should talk to him," but that did nothing but put a scowl on her face. 

"That's the thing, I don't want to talk him. All he does is get angry and he's got a mean temper. It's not fun to be around." 

"Have you tried telling him to just shut up and listen to you?"

"He doesn't care what I say. He wants to make my decisions for me, but that's not the kind of person I am. I won't let some boy tell me where I can and can't go to college." 

"Then is your mind made up? Are you going to say yes to Berkeley?"

Shannon huffed, closing her eyes and leaning her head against the wall that was behind us. "This is so frustrating." 

"Do what's best for you," I told her, strangely confident about what I'd just come up with, "don't even put Matt in the picture. If he's serious about you then he'll find a way to make it work." All I could think about was how Gilinsky and I were going to be three-hundred miles away in just a few days, and how breaking up hadn't even been brought up - or thought about, as an option.

That was until I turn my head for two seconds to see him stumble out of the kitchen beside some girl. I have to do a double take to be positive I'm not seeing things, but there he is, in the flesh. The one and only Jack Gilinsky. 

"Thank you, I -" Shannon starts before I zone the rest of what she's about to say out. All of the sudden it's like I have tunnel vision and Gilinsky is the only thing I can see and hear. Him and the girl he has nuzzled up against him. 

"Excuse me," I whisper, not taking my eyes off the two as I leave Shannon's side. I feel as if everything is in slow motion, including my thinking. I've never been in a situation like this before and I have no idea what to do, and the closer I get to my boyfriend (who now has a third beer under his arm and has Redhead pouring the contents of her solo cup down his throat) the more anxious I get. 

I'm not one for confrontation, but I can't just leave something like this unresolved. Besides, I don't trust Redhead with Gilinsky; who knows what else she could talk him into doing. This is the first time I've seen him drunk in ages and of course it's with her. I doubt it was his idea.