Back To You | complete

Chapter 40| Confessions & Accusations

When I was about to ring her again, I noticed some commotion towards the booths. I thought about ignoring it, but knowing Chelsea, she probably created that drama. I let out a deep calming breath as I proceeded to investigate.

Five minutes later, I was hauling out a screaming girl on my shoulders. Literally. Hauling. Her.

How long will you keep punishing me? I directed at the universe. Haven't I suffered enough for my mistake?

People looked, but dismissed it quickly. The attention span of an inebriated brain is practically zero. Chelsea kept screaming incoherently and I kept ignoring her blatantly. Odds were that she wouldn't even remember this episode the next day. Why waste my energy?

I set her down on her feet when we reached the doors and supported her out. We were almost to my car when she jumped at me out of the blue, taking me by surprise as she planted her mouth on mine.

I froze for a second as it sunk in before I pushed her back firmly.

"What was that?" I demanded, sounding much calmer than I felt.

Annoyance crept up in my veins and I reminded myself that she was drunk and not in control of her actions to avoid bursting out on her. Her touch burned, and not in a good way.

"I love you!" She clamored. "But you don't love me. Just like he doesn't."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. She didn't mean that. She couldn't mean that. She had consistently been in love with a toxic man for years by then. Also, I had made it clear multiple times that I did not feel anything for her. The hookups at the beginning of freshman year had been few and only to get our minds off the people we actually loved. To numb the pain we felt in their absence. 

Nothing less, nothing more.

I slowly reconstructed my falling patience and took another deep breath as I turned a deaf ear to her other ramblings.

I dumped her in the passenger seat unceremoniously and strapped her in. She kept talking and I kept being deaf. I needed my brains to function so that they could assist in driving. I had someone I needed to get back to as soon as I could and an accident would put a big dent in that plan.

I drove to my place. I knew the bag of flesh next to me was going to throw a fit if I talked to her. I planned to do what I usually did when she would call me when drunk: dump her in my guest room. She usually went away on her own in the morning. I could come back from practice the next day and the house would be mine again. This time, I decided I would just crash at Livvy's and let Chelsea fend for herself. My apartment door didn't require a key to be locked.

When I arrived, I made a quick job of getting her out of the car and locking the doors before calling for the elevator. Though my intent was only to support her, she was clinging to me as if for dear life. I tried not to let pity take hold of me again.

I have done my duty, I reminded myself. I don't owe her anything else.

Up in my apartment, I switched on the lights as I went. The guest room hadn't been used in a while so it wasn't the cleanest, but it was more than liveable. I guided her towards the bed and sat her down.

"I'm leaving," I spoke to her. "You should sleep. There's food in the fridge. Heat it up in the microwave if you feel hungry."

She nodded weakly, looking exhausted. She had stopped speaking a while ago. She slowly climbed under the covers and curled up in a ball. I watched her warily for a minute to make sure she would be fine. All my instincts told me to go away at that point but I couldn't move.