“This.” I throw up my hands, gesturing past him outside the door. “Do you ever not want to be on overdrive all the time?”
“Dyl, man, are you feeling okay? Do you need me to get Chase or some shit?”
I let out a breath; I love Jordan, but at times he can be wearing. “No, I’m fine. I was just thinking.”
“Well, can you think out here? I’m going to snag one or maybe two of the trio, and I
need my wingman.”
This is a pointless discussion to have with Jordan. He was right to ask if I wanted him
to get Chase, because as much of a pain in the ass my little brother can be, he’s still always been the voice of reason. It’s about one of the only traits he inherited from our father, all his other hippy-dippy mannerisms and quirks come from the egg donor—his biological mother. The same woman that decided after having him that she wasn’t cut out for domestic life. She just up and left him—she left me.
Shaking it off, I look up to Jordan, who’s still standing in the door, his ugly mug holding the same dumbfounded expression.
“Buddy, I’m no one’s wingman.” I stand and make my way into the hall, patting him on the shoulder as I pass. “Come learn a thing or two from the master.”
The next couple of hours fly by, and as the night goes on, I can feel my body become heavier—I’m definitely going to feel this one in the morning.
“Well, holy shitballs! Did little Chasey bring a girl to the party?”
I look in the direction Jordan’s sights are set, smirking internally. “Yeah, she’s his new bestie.”
Jordan takes his usual size’em up stance, so I wait to see what he thinks. “Ehn, she’s not horrible but definitely not at our caliber—I’d give her a solid five.”
“Five?” I look over to Jordan then back to where Chase and Velyn are standing. “Come on, man, she’s at least a seven–eight. I don’t know, she’s kind of cute, no?”
Jordan slaps a hand on my shoulder. “Since when do we do cute? But I guess we are talking about your brother here, so, yeah, I can let her pass with a light seven.”
He gives me a final tap then starts to make his rounds again. Jordan may never take over for his father, but he could certainly have a career in campaigning.
I look back over to where Chase and Velyn were, but they’ve disappeared.
Where did they go?
I lift my head to scan the room, but I don’t see them. Maybe he took her outside. I start to head in that direction, but I’m stopped when redhead grabs me by the arm.
“Hey, you!”
I look down to her and smile. “Hey there, beautiful, I’m glad you could make it.”
She shrugs. “Yeah, well, it was either here or Greek row for the night, but your friend convinced me that if I came here, I wouldn’t be disappointed. He wasn’t lying, was he?”
I look down to her eyes noticing that ever so familiar glint of a sure thing. But before I commit, I give a final scan of the area and, once again, nothing. I grab redhead by the waist, throwing her over my shoulder, and a squeal sounds from her mouth.
“Save those for later, sweetheart.”
When I wake up, the sun’s way too bright, and my head’s pounding hard. I roll over to look at the alarm clock and fall into a tangled mass of red.
Huh, why don’t I remember that? Well, now I know why I have the hangover—way too many last night.
I turn back, throwing my legs over the side. I’m not quiet getting out of bed, not that I’m trying to be because Miss redhead has already overstayed her welcome. I start to head to my bathroom but stop before making my way in. Nope, I can see how that’s
going to play out, and as I said, Miss redhead needs to go home.
I grab a towel and make my way to the guest bathroom down the hall from my brother. When I pass his bedroom, I can hear the television. Wondering what he got up to with his new bestie last night, I walk over and open the door.
Well, holy shit!
“Wow, now this I did not expect.”
“Excuse me?” Velyn looks up from the chessboard in front of her.
I move in, standing a few feet away. “I said, I didn’t expect this.”
“Expect what?” she questions a little confused. Laughing, I look around the room, but my little brother’s nowhere in sight. “If you’re looking for Chase, he went to grab us coffee downstairs.”
“Well, how chivalrous of him. Apparently, I’m going to have to explain to my brother how one-nighter’s work.”
She gasps, and that fierce look I saw in the Quad the other day replaces the one, that just seconds ago, wasn’t about to kill me. “I know what you’re implying and let me reassure you, that’s not what this is.”
I wave her off. “Listen, you think just because Chase is all innocent and shit that he’s going to fall for your BS, that he’ll buy you expensive crap, and oh, I don’t know, marry you one day; set you up all nice and pretty. Well, G.D., you’re way off.”
She’s a-fumin’. “G.D.?”
“Gold-digger,” I reply.
Her face just went from angry to nuclear. “I can’t begin to fathom how the two of you are even related. You're a misogynistic, egomaniacal, dickflick. You have no idea of the definition of decency because it’s only a word people beneath you need to know. Well, guess what, you asinine dipshit. Best relish the glory that is your pedestal because history has proven that there’s only one way you go
