False Starts || Dave Grohl

Chapter 60

"Want another?" He motions to the partially full bottle of expensive vodka that I can't pronounce, "I'm probably going to finish this off tonight."

I watch in silence as his eyes – not so subtly - glance up from his shot glass to the crowd of people and back, causing me to snicker. We'd lost Casey to some guy in her upper level psychology course, and it's pretty obvious that our blond friend is not too happy about it. "Take a picture buddy," I pat his arm before snatching the clear bottle away, "It's less creepy than staring from afar."

"I'm not staring," He groans before swallowing down the shot without so much as a grimace. "I'm glaring."

My eyes roll as I pour my own shot, "Glaring, staring, is there really a difference? Either way you're looking at her like a lost puppy. If you have feelings, man the fuck up and do something about it."

"It's not that easy..."

"It's not?" I scoff and quickly down my own shot, chasing it with one of the lemons we'd cut up earlier. "You act like feelings are as complicated as the crazy shit you study as an engineering major, but it's pretty simple Jack. Boy likes girl, boy tells girl, boy either gets turned down or they start dating, get married, and eventually have little spawns running around."

My tongue runs over my dry lips, trying to rid them of the burning citrus juice. "Jack you're going to lose your opportunity if you don't ask her soon. I'm saying this out of love, grow a pair and tell Casey you like her."

"You're one to talk Pierce," He grumbles and takes a swig straight from the bottle.

My eyebrows scrunch together at his vague statement, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You obviously have moved on to someone else since Christmas Rose," Jack spits back, "You're sitting here leading Liam on when you're hung up on someone else, and that alone is fucked up. You're a hypocrite for telling me to out my feelings for one of my best friends when you are obviously too scared to admit your own."

Jack gets me, it's something I've hated since the day I met him. He's always been able to see right through my bullshit excuses, and this time is no exception. I'm about to respond when non-other than a tipsy Liam Macalister wraps his arm around my waist, increasing the tension between my friend and me.

"What's up with you two?" He slurs his words, trying – and failing – to motion between us with his hand. "You look like you're ready to kill each other."

"We might..." Jack mutters making me roll my eyes.

I'm not drunk enough to deal with any of this if I'm being honest, but Liam is the lesser of two evils right now. At least with him, I know I'll be able to put him to bed soon and get out of here.

"O-kay," My boyfriend tosses loose hair from his face, "Can I speak with Rose for a minute?"

"I think that's a great idea." My platinum blond friend shoots me one last glare, silently lecturing me to tell Liam how I am feeling before disappearing into the crowd with his bottle.

"Well, that was weird..." Liam cups his hand around an unopened beer can on the countertop, popping the tab easily. He shifts around so his back is against the sticky granite surface before pulling me close, "Want to sneak off to your place for the night? We're leaving at sunrise for the airport."

The thought of bringing his drunk self-back to my apartment makes me internally cringe. His actions are sloppy when he's intoxicated and he's usually only worried about getting himself off.

I learned really quick to save sex with him for sober nights and sober nights only. "I'm not feeling it tonight. Can't we just hang here?"

"Seriously?" His tone shocks me a bit as he shoves me away, "First you don't come down to the field after the game and now you don't want to hook up tonight? What is your problem Rosemary? Do you know how embarrassed I was when my parents met me down on the turf and you weren't at my side for pictures?"