I’m about halfway through my drink when Everest seems to finally wrap up with his coworkers.

“Hey,” he asks when he gets back, pointing to the drink in my hand. “Is that the same one as before? Or did you order another?”

“Another,” I say, but it’s only half coherent.

When Everest hears the way the words come out of my mouth, he laughs. “Oh no,” he pulls the glass from my hand. “Okay, no more for you. I’m cutting you off.”

He sounds amused, which is a relief because I’d feel awful if he was annoyed. I already have so much residual guilt when it comes to drinking. I guess I have my mom to thank for that. She drilled it into my head that drinking is evil and that it’ll get me into trouble. It hasn’t yet, but the possibility is there.

Everest looks around. “Where’s Gwen?”

I nod to my left, where she’s still chatting up that guy. Everest presses his lips into a thin line, but he doesn’t say anything about her.

“Sorry about that,” he apologizes instead. “Guess it was rude of me to ditch you and start talking to coworkers.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” I tell him.

He lets out a little laugh, looking like he feels bad for me.

“Man, you sound drunk as hell.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. You don’t have anything to be sorry about.”

I still feel bad. Mentally, and physically now too. My head’s starting to spin.

“Can we go?” I ask. It comes out shaky.

“Uh, yeah,” Everest gives me a concerned look. “You good?”

“I’m fine,” I lie. “Just ready to go home.”

“Okay. I’ll get a taxi then. It’s too loud in here, but I’ll go outside and call.”

He layers up and finishes my cocktail for me before disappearing through the crowd of people hanging around the bar. Once he’s out of sight, I stand up and try to get myself ready. It’s a slow process because the sleeves on my sweater are inside out and my capacity to deal with that right now is none. I do eventually figure it out, and when I do I abandon my seat and wander over to Gwen.

“Hey,” I say, giving her a firm tap. “Time to go.”

The guy she’s chatting with gives me the dirtiest look I’ve ever seen, like I’m stepping in on his territory.

“I’m in the middle of a conversation, Ian,” she snaps back at me.

“Okay, well your boyfriend and I want to leave,” I reply pointedly.

She looks SO annoyed at that, which I expected.

“Well, I don’t see him around! In fact, he hasn’t spoken to me all night!”

“No wonder,” I mutter, nodding towards the guy giving me the stink eye.

With that, I turn away and zip up my coat before leaving the bar. It’s cold outside, but it feels good against my face. I glance around and spot Everest standing by a street sign. When he sees me, he raises a hand and waves. He has his phone pressed against his ear. After a few minutes, he hangs up.

I head towards him and he says, “Hey, they said it’ll be about half an hour.”

I nod. That’s not surprising.

“I have to close out my tab,” he tilts his head towards the bar, “and get Gwen.”

“I told her it was time to go,” I snort, trying not to sound bitter.

“Oh, thanks,” he shifts from foot to foot, sounding uncomfortable. “Well, I’ll go pay then.” 

He disappears inside again, and a few moments later Gwen comes stomping out the door.

“Where’s the taxi?” she asks, trudging up to me.

“On its way,” I answer simply.

“Are you kidding? You dragged me out in the cold and it’s not even here yet? Why don’t you just use Uber!?”

I don’t even bother answering her, I just stare down the road and pretend I’m watching for the car. I still feel dizzy and don’t want to listen to her talk anymore.

She’s annoying me a lot. Why does she have to be so rude all the time? It’s unnecessary. I didn’t do anything to her. Neither did Everest. All he did was talk to a coworker. It’s not like he was cheating. He was just being friendly. She should know by now that he’s not the kind of guy who would try to make her jealous.

“Where the fucking hell is Everest?” she snaps at me.

Jeez!

“Paying the tab. No need to swear.”

She cackles at that. “No need to swear,” she mimics in a childish voice. “Stop being such a baby, Ian. You’re an adult.”

I’m going to freak out. I’m so tired of her treating everyone like garbage and getting away with it while acting self-righteous.

Everest finally returns, which is good, because I’m not sure how much longer I can hold my tongue. He comes and stands next to me without even telling Gwen hello, occupying himself with his phone instead. She immediately realizes that she’s being ignored.

“Have a nice chat?” she hisses, not even trying to mask her passive-aggressive tone.

“Uh, yeah,” he replies simply, not bothering to look up. “Amanda’s cool. I work with her.”

“Great,” she snaps.

“Who was that guy you were talking with?” he asks, still tapping away on his phone. “Did you know him?”

“No,” Gwen rolls her eyes. “He was just nice.”

“Did you have a nice chat then?”

“Yes, actually, I did. He was fascinating. He’s studying neuroscience, apparently. He’s going to be a doctor.”

Everest doesn’t seem to care.

This is so awkward I don’t know what to do with myself. I can’t even say anything. Gwen would just get angrier. We all stand there uncomfortably until the taxi arrives, at which point Gwen sits in the front and me and Everest take the back. Gwen plays with her phone and Everest chats with the driver politely, asking him how his night’s going.

When we get home, Gwen stomps inside and Everest and I follow after her. I’m so drunk. Everything’s fuzzy and I’m wavering with each step. I feel terrible. Somewhere between the bar and our front door, the alcohol decided to punch me in the gut.

Near the bottom of the stairs, I stop to lean against the wall as Gwen charges up to her room and slams the door. The sound of wood splintering makes my head hurt, and a minute later Everest appears in the hallway. At first, he looks like he’s going to go up after her, but when he sees me he stops.

“Hey, you okay, man?” he approaches, reaching out and rubbing my upper arm. “You don’t look so good.”

“I dunno,” I garble.

Jeez, I sound pathetic. I shouldn’t have had so much to drink. It was stupid and irresponsible.

“Want me to help you get upstairs?” Everest offers.

I shake my head with what feels like the rest of the energy in my body.

“I feel sick,” I say.

I hobble into the bathroom, feeling awful. This is so lame. I sink to the floor in front of the toilet and wait for the inevitable.

Everest hovers in the doorway, looking worried. I wish he wouldn’t do that. I wish he would go away. I don’t want anyone to see me like this. I don’t want him to see me like this.

I inch closer to the toilet, pushing up both of the lids.

“Do you want me to get you water or something?”

“Sure,” I accept just so he’ll leave. 

As soon as he’s gone, I lean over the toilet bowl and start dumping my guts. Gross. This is so nasty. I must look like such an idiot right now.

“Sure,” I mumble.

He disappears and I hear his footsteps going upstairs. A few minutes later, he returns with my sweatpants. He tosses them at me and I kick off my jeans, pulling them on groggily. I struggle like I have no motor skills. I probably look like such a loser. Everest doesn’t say anything, though. In fact, he’s not even looking at me. He’s standing in front of his desk and checking his Facebook notifications.

Once my pants are on, I sit up. I’m still spinning. This is the worst feeling ever.

Everest kills the lights when he’s finished on his laptop. “You gonna throw up again?” he asks. “Do you need a bucket or trash can nearby?”

“Maybe,” I sigh. “Ugh.”

He grabs the waste bin that’s sitting under his desk and brings it over to me, setting it down and then snatching a pillow and an extra blanket off the foot of the bed.

“I’ll sleep on the floor,” he says, throwing the blanket down. “That way you can stretch out.”

“Dude, no…” I shake my head. “I’m not kicking you out of your own bed.”

Everest quirks an eyebrow. “Promise you won’t puke on me?” he laughs.

I shrug. I’m not promising anything.

He picks the blanket back up off the floor and sets it on the bed. “Well, scoot over then,” he tells me, plopping down. “I’ll let you sleep on the outside so you can get up if you need to.”

“Yeah, okay,” I mumble as we switch positions and he lies down, getting comfortable.

I can barely bring myself to move. I lie on my back, staring up at the ceiling. I’m so tired I feel like I could fall asleep right now, but I don’t. Instead, I’m thinking about the fact that I’m sharing a bed with Everest.

This isn’t really something we’ve ever done. He probably thinks it isn’t a big deal, but it is to me.

“Thanks,” I say quietly.

“Sure, man,” he lets out a long yawn. I guess he’s tired, too.

I roll to my side so my back is facing him. I don’t want to accidentally breathe on him or something. I feel awful about how poorly tonight went. Overall, I don’t think it’s my fault, but I shouldn’t have gotten so wasted. I shouldn’t have let Gwen pressure me into it.

“Sorry,” I mumble, closing my eyes. “Tonight was stupid.”

“Don’t be,” Everest insists, “I’m glad you came with us. It was fun.”

That’s a flat-out lie but I feel too crummy to call him out. I wish he wouldn’t do this. I wish he wouldn’t pretend everything with Gwen was fine when it’s so, so obviously not.

I keep my eyes squeezed shut and try not to think about anything. Especially not how mad I am with her. It’s not worth my time. Nothing will come from these feelings.

“You should go out with us more,” Everest continues, probably sensing how tense things just got.

“Maybe. After I graduate.”

“Yeah,” he replies quietly. “After you graduate.”

We stop talking after that and I’m glad because I’m not sure I have the ability to keep responding. My head’s spinning and I’m half asleep but mostly just feel dead. After not too long, Everest starts to snore softly. I wrap my arms around myself and take a string of heavy breathes, trying to make sure I don’t get sick again.