Rayston Point Road || Editing

Chapter Four

"So, is this an ex-boyfriends?"

I was leaning against the pier we had crowded underneath, my third, half-empty beer not providing me with nearly enough intoxication as I had been hoping for, or was necessary to deal with Mac's outrageous attempts to flirt with me as he rested his hand on the pole above my head and leaned in much too close.

"Ex-girlfriend, actually," I retorted, even though it wasn't true. Bailee was one of the few girls I encountered who had only ever been just a friend, but the look on Mac's face as his eyebrows shot upwards and his mouth dropped into a small circle was worth the fib. I rolled my eyes as I took a long pull of my beer, finishing it in search of the numbness, and then pressed it against Mac's chest. His hand moved automatically to cradle it, the look of shock still on his face, quickly morphing into something else that made me want to wrinkle my nose in disgust at what he was undoubtedly thinking.

"Don't worry," I winked at him, pulling my hand away. "You're still wouldn't be my type." I ducked from underneath his arm and walked away from him, towards the open cooler settled in the sand underneath the pier, a small fire glowing in front of it to illuminate the drinks in side and provide a focal point for the gathering, where some bodies had already congregated to, seated in the cool sand around the flame.

"What'd you say to Mac, Harvard?" I looked up from the beer I was fishing out of the half-melted ice to find Isaac standing on the other side of the cooler, arms crossed loosely over his chest with a drink in one hand, his eyes trained over my head. I glanced over my shoulder as I straightened up, observing Mac whispering to a boy I didn't recognize, one who had met us here with the coolers of drinks, his eyes still wide and trained on me as I spoke. I rolled my eyes again as I looked back at Isaac, finding him holding out the bottle opener to me. I took it and popped open my beer, letting the cap fall into the cooler, before handing back the piece of metal attached to his keychain.

"That he's not my type," I shrugged, lifting the beer to my lips as I watched Isaac nod twice slowly, rolling his shoulders and readjusting his arms over his chest. He had a small, amused smile on his face as he looked back over my shoulder at Mac.

"Don't blame you," he pursed his lips, tilting his head slightly, before smiling again. "That guy probably thinks he's in love with you already."

"Cause I was into girls," I added, lips against the mouth of the bottle, smirking as I watched Isaac's eyes widened, less so than Mac's but still noticeable, and he choked slightly on the beer he had lifted to his lips.

"Holy fuck," Isaac coughed out a loud, incredulous laugh, grinning at me. "I think I might love you." He kept laughing as he shook his head, looking over me at Mac once again, clearly relishing in the humiliation of his friend. I frowned, looking away from him towards the water as I sipped my beer.

"Only cause you don't know me," I responded under my breath, but still loud enough that I knew Isaac would hear. I inhaled slowly, feeling the warmth start to spread to my cheeks as the three beers I had downed finally started to mix with gin I had imbibed earlier and the lack of food I had consumed all day, buzzing through my body. A feeling of relief grew deep in my chest. My tolerance for alcohol had spiked dramatically in the last year, making it harder to get what I desired out of cheap beer, but after three and a half beers to supplement the hard alcohol and no food since the bag of chips I had bought at the gas station earlier in the afternoon, even the cheap stuff seemed to be working.

"We can change that," he smirked, his eyes finding their way back to my face. Again, I was struck by how beautiful he was, and the idea that if I was a few more drinks in and still back in the city, we definitely would have had a chance, but as I took another long pull, Leighton's words came floating back into my mind, and stuck there. I knew how upset she would be if she knew I was drinking, in the back of my mind somewhere, my conscious told me not to make it worse.