Second Chance At Love

Three Miserable People.

Cgc

I was somehow able to convince Rhys to come out to this party that Brynn invited me to tonight. I told him we would probably leave early since I couldn't bother to stay there the whole night and still, he agreed. I asked all of my roommates to come but Xander and Valdez both opted out to spend time with their girlfriends.

"Oh, good, you brought Rhys," Brynn says as she gets into the front seat. I see Rhys smile slightly from the rearview mirror. "Why is that a good thing?" I ask, starting to pull out of the school after she closes the car door. "Hey!" Rhys defends even if I didn't disagree with her. "Oh, uh- just?" she says, her cheeks flushing slightly. I try to hide a frown from appearing on my face at that. Is she into Rhys because I'm fucking positive I've been replaying her 'I'm not into dating and hook up culture' statement about a thousand times every time I see her.

"Thanks," he says from the back seat, probably as clueless as I am. The car ride over to the fraternity house is quiet since it's only about a minute from where Brynn's dorm complex is. More than one party is going on tonight but we're only here for one. The party has already started, people sitting outside of the house with red solo cups and playing some party games. Brynn leads the way inside the fraternity, the music very loud from outside. "Can we go say hi to my friends?" Brynn asks "I think they'll be happy to see you guys here."

Rhys and I exchange a look before nodding. The both of us would never say no to being introduced to cheerleaders after all. The three of us walk deeper into the house, squeezing our way in between people. It is more packed than I thought it would be. "Look who I invited," Brynn says to a group of girls. They all wave and greet both of us. Lauren, whom I already know, rushes to my side and wraps her arm through mine. She's a senior like us and well I've slept with her once or twice. I think Xander and Valdez have too. And Max. And maybe Rhys, but he'll speak for himself.

"You have to be my partner in beer pong! Aiyden isn't letting me win," Lauren tells me, rolling her hazel eyes. "Of course, he's not letting you win, he's Aiyden. I got you," I wink at her. "See you guys later?" I say to Rhys and Brynn. They both nod and continue their conversation with the rest of her friends. Lauren drags me further into the house towards the table where Aiyden and Jordan are playing beer pong against Jaylon and Dean - all basketball players. "We're next!" I say, motioning a finger between Lauren and I.

Aiyden shoots me a wink and shoots his ball straight into his teammate's last cup. Dean and Jaylon both groan loudly and accept defeat by moving out of the way. "Just because your partner is pretty, doesn't mean she's good at BP, Scott," Aiyden says. Lauren glares at him and flips him off. "She's pretty and she'll kick your ass," I say nonchalantly, setting up the cups again. "We'll see about that," he retorts. After I finish setting up the cups and filling them with Corona, I look towards the shorter cheerleader next to me. "You drink when one of 'em shoots, I'll drink when the other does? I'd drink to both but I'm DD tonight," I tell Lauren.

She nods quickly, picking up two balls and handing one to me. "Brynn?" she suddenly says. "What about her?" I ask. "You're taking her home?" she says, looking up at me. "Yep," I reply. Her plump lips curve into a smile and she looks away, not saying anything. "Who's first?" she asks Aiyden. "You two," he says. "Perfect," she says to him and then turns to me "we're not losing." I can't help but smirk. When have I ever lost in beer pong? Never. "Hell no, we're not."

After getting Lauren her win against Aiyden, I look around for either Rhys or Brynn. It's only been about thirty minutes so I don't plan on leaving yet but I left Lauren behind and I don't feel like being alone here. My eyes land on both Rhys and Brynn as they stand in a new corner from the one I left them at. It's just the two of them now and they both have a drink in hand. My lips downturn slightly at the sight. I don't know why I'm a little jealous of them together. I know nothing about her type and who she likes but I'm positive it's not Rhys.

He's not ugly at all, he's really attractive actually. I'm confident enough in my sexuality to say I'd date him if I liked guys but I just can't see him with Brynn. Then again, I like Brynn enough to say that if she and Rhys started dating, I would be happy for him. She's one of the coolest people I've ever met and so is he, they'd be good together. Except, I kind of don't want that. I don't even know why I'm thinking about it this much since she's probably not interested. I hope not.

"Hey!" I say, finally walking up to them. "Oh, hey. How was the game?" Brynn asks me with a smile. "We won, of course," I say easily. "Nice, man," Rhys tells me, tipping his drink at me before taking a drink from it. "So. . . what have you guys been doing?" I ask. I didn't pay attention to them the whole time I was playing mostly because I couldn't see them. If they were together this whole time, I wouldn't have known.

"One of my teammates was being overly flirty with Rhys and he was scared so I saved him," Brynn says with a laugh. "I was not scared, I was. . . surprised at how forward she was," Rhys defends. "Since when have you ever ran away from a potential hookup?" I ask curiously. He would never turn a girl down unless he really wasn't interested at all. I don't choose to believe that was the case here. "You should have seen her, man. She started being super handsy in front of all the other girls and I felt so fucking awkward," he tells me.

"She was being really handsy," Brynn agrees and laughs again. "Was she cute? I like handsy women," I say, looking past them to see if any of the girls Brynn introduced are still around. "Have at her, she's yours." Rhys holds his hands up in defense, eyes widened. "Sabrina is very single, and very into you," Brynn tells me. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion, "How do you know?" I ask. They must have talked about me whenever I left with Lauren. "I just do," she says with a shrug, drinking whatever is in her cup.

"She's a freshman, bro," Rhys tells me. My eyes widen and I start shaking my head. I wasn't actually considering it before but that fact is much more of a reason to stay away. Nothing against freshman, but as a senior: no, thank you. "Okay, okay. We'll keep you two scaredy-cats away from an eighteen-year-old girl," Brynn says, extending her arms out like she's trying to hide us. I think she forgets we're both taller than her. I push her arms down to her side carefully, making sure not to spill her drink.

"I can defend myself, Brynnie. You can protect, Rhys," I say, patting my best friend's shoulder. "I got you, Rhys," Brynn says with a smile. "I won't ever say no to protection from a handsy, eighteen-year-old, blonde, 5'2, feisty little cheerleader," he cringes like he's actually traumatized from what went down. Both Brynn and I can't hold back our laughter and Rhys rolls his eyes. "You two won't be laughing when that shit happens to you," he says. "Hey, she might be your soulmate," I say, pointing a finger at him. "Uhm, yeah, no. I'm not getting into a relationship unless you do," he says.

"That's never happening, so you'll be single for life, buddy," I shrug my shoulders. "Aww, you guys should make a pact to get married later on in life if neither of you is married by a certain age," Brynn adds. Rhys almost chokes on his beer and I look at her like she's crazy. "No? I'll make that pact with you, not him," I tease. She laughs, "You wish. I'm on the same boat as you boys." I do, wish. Wait, what did that second sentence mean? "Why's that?" Rhys asks, taking a sip from his new beer.

"Eh, relationships are too much work. I'm too content with my life right now to have relationship problems," Brynn says. Okay, so that is a valid reason. I can actually agree with that. I don't think I'll ever meet a girl who can hold me down since one. I get bored easily and two. I cannot do the stress of a relationship. "Well, if you find the right person to be with, you won't have relationship problems," Rhys says. Oh, wow. I never thought I'd hear a sentence like that come out of his mouth. Then again, he has been acting strange lately. I'll figure out what that's about later.

"Very true, but in this day and age, good luck finding someone like that," she says with a smile, though I don't think it is real. So I have to figure out things about both of these people in front of me. I'm sure Brynn's been through something that's given her this mindset. I would guess that she's been in a shitty relationship with a shitty dude. I won't push for any details if she won't give them to me though. "You're right. Well, here's to being single forever then!" Rhys says putting forward his cup. Brynn follows and then they both look at me.

Since I'm not drinking any more than I already did, I put forward my fist against their cup and bottle. "We're miserable," I say. Brynn chuckles and leans back against a counter. "We'll be miserable together at least." Rhys nods, "I'm good with that."

Cheers to three miserable people I guess.