The Surgeon. |✔️|

VIII.

Unprovoked, my eyes rolled at the mention of her name. "Did I say the wrong thing?"

"No," I clarified. "I do spend majority of my time with her, but, we're currently at odds."

"Because of earlier?"

"I really don't know .. every time I try to ask her about it, she downplays my concern."

"That's not healthy, you have every right to voice how you feel." He encouraged. I nodded my head in agreement, then took another long sip of my tea. I started to feel slightly off, then shook my bottle to realize in the midst of our talking, I sipped faster than I planned. My body started to feel hot all over and I'm sure he could notice the blood rush to my cheeks. I tried not to become paranoid by what I was feeling, so I decided to play it cool and sit my drink on the glass table to avoid touching it any more.

"Would you like another?" He asked before rising to his feet.

"I'm good, thanks."

"Cool, I'll be right back."

I let out a deep sigh and clinched my jacket tighter around me; I was more than ready to go home now. I pulled out my phone and looked at the time of 10:30pm. I saw no message from my mom or Rue, so I chose to compose a message to my mom, but was interrupted by Sidney once more.

"Grabbed you a water." He spoke before placing the cold bottle in my hand. I thanked him and drunk it gracefully in hopes it'd relief some of what I was feeling.

"Aye yo, round of shots for everybody!" Sidney's fellow teammate announced. Sidney looked at me out of curiosity, "You coming?"

"Why not." I said with a slight shrug. He grabbed my hand and led me through the crowd toward the kitchen. We gathered around the massive marble counter and accepted our shots of clear vodka.

"What type is this?" I whispered in his ear.

"Regular Amsterdam, nothing major."

His friend spoke a lengthy toast before we raised our glasses. I managed to finish in one gulp, and Sidney glanced at me in amazement. My face turned sour and the vodka lit my esophagus on fire. Do people really enjoy this mess?

People started to filter out and I let out a brief sigh as I felt my body begin to feel warm all over once again.

"I'm going to the bathroom." I excused myself. I made a fast dash upstairs and quickly locked the door behind me.

"Breathe Aaliyah, just breath.." I stumbled a little to sit on the toilet, handled my business then thoroughly washed my hands. This woozy feeling was getting stronger by the second and I knew I needed to plan my escape quickly. Grabbing my phone, I traveled to my favorite contacts and pressed my mom's name; I cursed under my breath when I was met with her voicemail.

"Aye you almost done in there!?" A voice shouted through the door. I turned the knob and an older guy fell in.

"What are you doing?" I yelled from underneath him. He pinned me to wall and I could see the drunkenness clear as day in his droopy eyes.

"Heard you was fresh meat on the court, mind if I get a taste?"

"What?-no! Get off of me!" I struggled to say as he gripped my wrist tighter. I felt his body jerk and saw the face of Sidney standing across from us.

"Man, Tyrese what the fuck is your problem!?"

"Sidney chill nobody was touching your girl-" Sidney cut him off with a quick yet strong punch to the face. I gasped and quickly ran out of the bathroom, down the steps and out the door.