Hate Is A Strong Word

06: things drunk people do

  After that dare, I, intending to drink my horror away, really, really wanted to go home.

'Then go!' You must be thinking. Your house is literally. Right. Next. Door.

Well, I also happen to be locked out of my house.

You have three brothers, you must be thinking now. Surely at least one of them is home?

Nope. None of them are home. They're all out doing whatever the hell they do on Fridays. My luck is absolutely endless.

'Then call someone!' You must be banging your head at my inability to solve problems.

But, I forgot my phone inside. No, not forgot, but just chose not to bring it. I LIVE RIGHT NEXT FUCKING DOOR, FOR GOD'S SAKE.

And generally, when problems occur, they usually aren't planned.

An hour later and I still haven't found Calli, that little biatch who dragged me into this mess.

I could be at home, enjoying Hamilton! Watching cheesy dramas and musicals, but noOo. She just had to pick today to drag me out of my perfectly wonderful isolation time.

My isolation time is for EVERYONE'S sake.

Everyone's.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I ended up stumbling around the 2nd floor of Aiden Taylor's house, drunk and woozy, searching for a room I can crash for the night in.

Everything, however, was spinning, and I, desperate, ran (stumbled, fell, blundered, whichever word works) into an unoccupied bedroom.

Searching for a room to crash in had its major downs. Couples making out everywhere. Doing things you can't unsee. Things that make you want to claw out your eyes. Things people shouldn't be doing at someone else's house. Gag.

I think I have to throw up.

The room also, luckily, had a bathroom.

I proceeded to shut the door of the room and puke my insides out.

Not really my idea of fun.

I lean back, my shoulders pressing against the cool blue tile.

I close my eyes for just about half a second before a surprised cry sounds from behind me.

I turn my head slowly, eyes widening as I realize who's bedroom I wandered into.

My luck just keeps on getting better and better.

"Heeeeeyyyyy loser." Says Aiden Taylor, my least favorite person in the world.

My overly drunken self, however, did not seem to comprehend that.

I stare at him blankly as he sits next to me. "Wassup?" He asks, his words slurring together.

"Meh," I say.

"Can I tell you something?" He asks me.

"Surrree."

"I hate my dad."

I giggle, for whatever reason. GIGGLE. The things people do when drunk."Well, I hate my mom."

"I bet she's not as bad as my dad." He says, taking a sip from his cup before realizing it was empty and tossing it.

"Ha. Try me." I toss my cup in the trash.

"He cheated on her. With my aunt." Damn, that was bad, but I could still beat it.

"Oh," I say. "That's pretty bad. My mom just decided to poof away one day. Then she came back and acted as if everything was just fiiiiine. It wasn't."

"Sometimes I just wanna drown my sorrows away and away."

"Then join me," I say in a regal tone, waving my hands. "In the practice of drinking until you don't care."

Aiden smiles lopsidedly at me before opening his cabinet and pulling out a bottle of wine. Or was it beer? Whatever it was, it had alcohol.

"Who has alcohol in their cabinets?" I giggle. Again. Being drunk was doing this to me and yet I was still willingly drinking more. Where is the logic in that?

He takes a sip. "I do, my fair lady. Now let us drown our sorrows away."

I chortle and take the bottle from him, drinking as if my life depended on it.

We passed it back and forth between us in comfortable silence.

"She still loved him, after what he did. Then they divorced, and Dad got Peggy while Mom got me." Aiden said, first to break the silence.

"Love is so stupid sometimes. Like, why do we even fall in love if, in the end, we're just going to destroy each other?" I ask in the heat of the moment. "And you know the worst thing? It's that no matter how many times they let you down, you forgive them and hope for something to change. But they don't change."

He turns to face me. "I think that love is a blind bat. As blind as a blind blat."

I'm not sure how we ended up telling our life stories to each other, but when alcohol is involved, people tend to say things that they prefer kept a secret.

After we opened the second bottle, I was the first to break the silence. "I have a crush on Noah." I blurted out. "I never told him because I know he doesn't see me that way." I sigh.

"That sucks," Aiden says sympathetically.

We stay in silence for some more time.

"Do you want to get over him?" Aiden asks suddenly.

"Yes." I answer immediately. "I can't stand loving someone who doesn't feel the same. I'll end up like my dad."

"I can help."

I scoff. "What do you know about getting over people?"

"More than you know."

"What's the price?" I ask him, already knowing that there will be one.

"You have to tutor me in possibly every subject I have."

I scrunch my eyebrows together. "Since when are you suddenly so worried about your grades?"

"He won't let me see Peggy unless I get decent grades."

My mouth forms a silent 'oh'.

"So deal?" He says. "You help me get better grades and I help you get over Noah."

I nod fast once, then nod slowly. "Deal. But we need insurance so we'll keep this deal."

"A contract?"

I nod. "With our signatures."

Aiden stands up and I follow him to his desk as he pulls out a sticky note and writes the terms of our deal on it, adding a few other things.

He shows me the contract and I nod in approval. "That'll work," I say.

Aiden signs his name and passes me the pen. I take it and sign my name on the paper.

"So it seems, Mr. Aiden Taylor, that we have ourselves an unlikely alliance." I turn and give him a drunken half-smile.

He returns it. "It seems like it, Ms. Mavis Sallow."

. . .

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