You, Me, And The Divide

Chapter 16

Candice wasn't really into all of us, and as the night went on, she tried more and more to cut Alex off from us. He didn't. Alex always cared more about us than his conquests. It was one of the reasons I was okay with him being such a man whore. When she finally began to annoy him beyond reason, he quite nonchalantly told her to leave.

"Excuse me?" She said sassily.

"If you want to leave, just leave. I'm staying here," he told her as if it wasn't a big deal.

It was to her apparently because she slammed her cup down and stormed out. I honestly wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been in the same room as me to see. I didn't really take notice to people that weren't talking to me. Alex instead started joining the conversation again. We all sat drinking in a circle. We started sharing about the embarrassing moments we each have suffered through.

Will lit his own pants on fire at church. According to what he told us, he didn't realize how close he was to the candle. He backed up to let someone past and his pants went up in flames.

Alex told the rest of the group about the time he drunkenly called his grandma to pick him up from a party. She rolled up in her powder blue car wearing sunglasses and a pink cardigan sweater. I remember her specifically calling him a pansy that couldn't hold his liquor the way she could. Of course it was all to embarrass him. The last time she drank from a keg, we weren't even an idea yet.

Katie talked about the time she went to her dad's business picnic in a dress. The wind picked up her dress revealing her lovely underwear, and later, she dropped the twelve pounds of potato salad that was meant for everyone to share. The woman that made the potato salad gave her a snooty look the rest of the day.

"What about that time you forgot your lines in school play, so I stood up and asked everyone if they found a baby?" I asked Katie. "Does that count as embarrassing for me or you?"

"You saved me from humiliating myself on stage. It wasn't embarrassing for me at all. You weren't even embarrassed after," she reminded me.

"Oh yeah. Then probably the time we were swimming at that pool at the resort your parents took us to," I told Katie.

"Oh god. I forgot about that," Katie said trying and failing not to laugh.

"What happened?" Danny asked now interested.

So I went on to tell them all about the time I was swimming with all these people at the pool, and my top came untied. Worse than it coming undone was the fact I hadn't realized it came untied. Katie swam over and stood in front of me and had to tell me all while attempting to block people's view of me.

"I think the time you dragged me to that gay get together and some dude tried hitting on me," Danny responded mostly speaking directly to Drake.

"Well in all fairness, you were being friendly too," Drake said defensively.

"Hold the phone. You're gay?" I asked a little lost.

Drake lifted one shoulder and nodded. "Yeah. I don't really parade around in high heels and dresses to show it though if that's what you were expecting."

"I just never put two and two together," Katie replied.

"Well, that's my embarrassing story. My dad choked on his lemonade when I told him. It took him 10 minutes to stop choking before he said "No shit, Sherlock." My mom was already out of my life at that point," he told us. "I was 100% embarrassed."

Around two am, Alex and Drake were asleep on the couches Katie was yawning nonstop, but she was too stubborn to go upstairs to our room. Finally, she fell asleep in the recliner. Will scooped her up and carried her off. He returned to the kitchen to say he needed blankets. While Danny was off retrieving blankets, I stepped out onto the deck quietly. There was almost no clouds, and apart from the cold, it was a beautiful night.