Beauty and the Beat

Beauty and the Beat (26)

“You know what sucks?” was the first thing I said to Bennett Monday morning. “Alcohol.”

Bennett rolled his eyes at me. “You didn’t say that Friday night.”

I couldn’t help but make a face. “What do you expect?” I asked. “I was under the influence of it. A lot of it.”

I was kind of glad I didn’t remember anything. I was probably loud and obnoxious and embarrassing. That was definitely not something I wanted to remember. It was bad that other people were going to remember it. I didn’t need it burned into my memory.

“Do you even remember anything after getting drunk?” he asked me as we made our way into our last period of the day. I didn’t dare look at Ethan as I remembered waking up in his bed.

I shook my head. “I don’t remember a thing. I don’t even know how I got to Ethan’s apartment.”

Bennett rolled his eyes and took his seat. “You’re trusty, loyal steed was the one that got you there, ma’am.”

“Well, thank you for that,” I smiled at him, genuinely grateful that I had a best friend that cared about me so much. “I was probably really obnoxious and annoying. Sorry about that.”

Bennett shrugged and said, “You were under the influence. I expected as much.”

With one last smile at him, I made my way across the room to the back, where my seat was still right by the window. Maxxon was already in his seat beside me, and for some reason, something told me that something was wrong with him.

“Hello,” I greeted normally, deciding that nothing was wrong and I was just acting paranoid. “How are you?”

Maxxon blinked at me and merely said, “I’m good.”

I nodded. “Good.”

I took my seat and pulled my English binder out of my backpack. Maxxon’s eyes never left me. When I sat up straight and looked at him, his eyes darted away from me, his face red. What was wrong with him?

“Are you okay?” I had to ask, genuinely concerned. “Are you sick? Your face is all red.”

Maxxon shook his head adamantly. “No, I’m good,” he assured, but I wasn’t so sure I really believed him. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him act this way before. He was usually so in control of his emotions, but right now he looked like he was going to burst.

I hadn’t even seen him in the period before. We had had a substitute, so it was basically a free period. Usually, Maxxon would be right by my side, annoying me as much as he could, but it wasn’t like that today. He stayed far away from me.

“Is everything okay?” I questioned now, determined to find out what was on his mind. “Have you been avoiding me? What’s the problem? Usually I’m the one that avoids you, aren’t I?”

Oh, no. Had I said something when I was drunk? What could I have possibly said that would have made Maxxon feel uncomfortable? Oh, no… I hadn’t told him I loved him or anything, did I?

“Do you… remember anything that happened after the party?” Maxxon asked me tentatively, as if expecting some sort of bad answer.

“I remember going to the party and then waking up with a headache,” I informed him honestly, making sure to leave out the part where I had woken up with a headache in our English teacher's bed.

“So... nothing else?” he questioned now.

I shook my head. “Nothing else.”

Maxxon let out a sigh and looked to the front of the room, and my gaze followed him. Ethan was writing something about a test on the whiteboard, but Maxxon didn’t seem to be focusing on that. He seemed way too relieved to care about a test.