Gravity's Rainbow

“Come to the party with me tonight,” I heard someone say before I felt an arm drape itself over my shoulders.

“I didn’t know there was a party tonight,” I responded, not bothering to check and make sure it was Colton I was talking to. After hanging out with him for a month or so, I could tell it was him by even the smallest details.

“There sure is,” he responded. “One of the guys in my frat is turning twenty one, and we’re celebrating tonight.” I smirked, knowing full well that the alcohol would be flowing like no other tonight. Colton’s frat was infamous for throwing parties that involved beer, beer and more beer. I grabbed my phone from my pocket, flipping it open quickly to make sure I didn’t have any texts.

Just like it had been for the past few days, I didn’t have a single missed call or text from Zack.

Had this lack of communication occurred two months earlier, I would have been depressed and lonelier than ever. But ever since I met Colton, I rarely noticed the fact that Zack had more or less stopped texting me. Not to mention, I rarely noticed the fact that I had stopped texting him.

“Alright,” I said, a grin fighting its way on to my face. “What time should I come over?”

“Nine o’clock?” He suggested, and I nodded. With one last hug, Colton turned in the opposite direction to his next class, leaving me with that excited, butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling I had known all too well recently.

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I adjusted the tank top that covered my torso, pulling it out of the black skirt it was tucked into, and then shoving it back in. With a sigh, I spun around once more in front of the mirror I had propped up against the wall of my dorm. It was hard to believe that in only two and a half weeks, I would be finishing up my freshman year at college. Already I had begun to collect boxes in an effort to get a head start on packing.

Pushing the thought of leaving out of my head, I grabbed my purse and phone. I checked it again, seeing that I had yet to receive any texts from Zack (though I wasn’t exactly expecting any either) before dropping it into my bag with a quiet sigh. What was once brisk Chicago night air had turned into comfortable weather, and the ten-minute walk from my dorm to Colton’s frat house was no longer something I despised.

I could hear the party blocks away, and I couldn’t hold back my grin as I entered the house. With enough confidence to startle even Mary, I felt invincible knowing that I had been invited personally by Colton.

“Glad you could make it!” I heard a voice exclaim over the music suddenly. I spun around, staring a smiling Colton straight in the eye.

“Me too!” I responded with as much excitement as he pulled me in for a hug. Taking me by the hand, he pulled me over to where the alcohol was sitting, and where the music wasn’t quite as loud.

“Do you want anything to drink?”

“Uh,” I mumbled, examining the selection. My fingers itched the text Zack and ask for his suggestion – because so far, he had never let me down in terms of alcohol choices – but I refrained. “I’ll just have a beer.”

“One beer, coming right up,” replied Colton, setting his drink down and cracking open a Corona. He poured a little more than half the bottle into a red plastic cup and handed it carefully over to me. Without thinking twice I took a long sip of the liquid, and though I despised the taste, I soon went back for another gulp.

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“Colton!” I squealed, nearly falling on top of him as we walked up the stairs to his bedroom. I had lost count of the friends he had introduced me to, the people I had danced with, and most importantly, the number of drinks I had. “I almost spilled my drink!”

“Sorry, babe,” he responded with a laugh, before continuing to drag me up the stairs. We passed a number of rooms, each with the names of their occupants and decorations that, normally, I would have enjoyed looking at. But for now, though, my mind was fuzzy. We continued running through the hallway and up another flight of stairs, laughing hysterically and yet for no reason at all, until Colton quickly stopped and jiggled the knob of the last door on the second floor.

“My room is a double, but I’m the only one in it!” He exclaimed when the door finally opened. I stared at the room in awe. It was nearly twice the size of my room, with a bed that had two mattresses stacked on it (from what I assume was his ex-roommates old bed) and two dressers. Colton ran towards his bed, jumping on it with a smile that stretched from ear to ear. I did the same, landing on his stomach and causing him to groan, though he quickly switched back to laughter.

Our laughing died down slowly, but I didn’t remove myself from his chest. Finally after we regained our breathing, I felt myself running my hand through his pale blonde hair. “Soft,” I murmured, twisting the strands in between my fingers. I could see Colton close his eyes, whimpering softly from being so content. “Does that feel good?” I questioned quietly.

“Yeah,” he muttered. “Really good.”

“Does this feel good?” I asked, moving my hand down and beginning to rub the skin on his cheek with the pad of my thumb. His skin was soft under my touch. Colton just nodded, his eyes still closed. “How about this?” I asked even softer, and before I had the chance to think about it, I pressed my lips gently against his. I pulled back before he had time to react, but when I looked down at him he was staring at me with wide eyes.

I was expecting him to yell at me, or maybe to laugh, but certainly not to guide my lips back on to his. Within seconds we were in the middle of a heated make out session, and after that, well, everything got kind of blurry.

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“Paisley… Paisley, wake up,” I heard faintly, my eyes still closed. I could just barely make out bright sunlight streaming down on me, and I finally forced my eyes to open. I groaned quietly and rolled over on to my side. “C’mon Paise,” the voice said with a chuckle, and I could feel myself smiling. Obviously the voice belonged to Zack, right? He was the only person who called me ‘Paise’. All of a sudden I felt a pair of lips planting soft, ticklish kisses under my ear and down my neck, and my eyes opened slightly as I began to giggle.

“Stop that,” I stated with a grin, turning around to face Zack. “It tick –“ But I stopped short, staring right into the eyes of the person who I didn’t want to believe was lying in bed next to me.

Holy shit… why was Colton two inches away from me?

“Oh my –“ I began, finding myself struggling to kick out of the blankets that now felt like they were strangling me. With a thud I fell off the bed and on to the floor below, and I could see Colton leaning over and staring down at me with a confused expression. I glanced down at myself, only to find that I completely stark naked. I reached over quickly and grabbed the first piece of clothing that I could – the shirt that Colton was wearing last night.

Great.

“Wha – What happened last night?” I asked quietly.

“Well,” Began Colton, rubbing the back of his neck. “I don’t remember too much, to be honest. I remember you and I running upstairs, and lying on my bed, and that’s about it. But, I’d say there’s a pretty good chance,” he added, motioning to himself and then to me, “That we slept together.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but then closed it quickly. I shut my eyes and began to rub my temples, praying that when I opened them back up Zack would be sitting in bed instead of Colton.

No such luck.

“I – I have to go,” I stuttered quietly, standing up and searching for my clothes. I was about to take Colton’s shirt off, but the idea of him seeing me without a top on (yeah, because that’s nothing compared to what happened last night) made me shiver. So instead, I pulled on my skirt, grabbed my purse and headed swiftly for the door.

“Wait, why?” Questioned Colton, stopping my dead in my tracks. When I turned around, I saw him sitting up in bed, the covers falling on his lap and exposing his bare chest. Just thinking about how he wasn’t Zack made tears begin to burn the corners of my eyes.

“I have a boyfriend, Colton,” I said softly. “I’m not angry at you,” I added after a brief silence. “It was my fault for never telling you. But… I have to go.”

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I toyed with my phone, opening it and then closing it again quickly.

I had to do this. I had to call Zack.

I had put it off already for three hours, too afraid of the conversation that had yet to come. I tried to tell myself that there was no point in calling him now – he would never pick up at this time in California. But I knew the longer I waited, the less chance there was that I would ever call him at all.

The dials that I heard while I waited for him to pick up felt like the lasted hours. I was confident that I would reach only his voicemail, but when I heard his voice pick up, I knew there was no turning back.

“Hello?” He said, his voice stinging my ears.

“Hey Zack… it’s me,” I responded softly.

“Oh, hey Paisley.” He didn’t sound excited to talk to me – great. I probably interrupted him from something important to tell him that I cheated on him.

“I… I have to talk to you.”

“What’s up?” He questioned, his voice shaking slightly. I disregarded it.

I couldn’t stop the tears that fell freely from my eyes, at this point. I knew it would be better to just say it, and that prolonging it would only make things worse. “I cheated on you,” I said quickly. Zack didn’t respond. I wanted to die, I wanted to curl into a ball and fall asleep and never wake up. “I’m so sorry, Zack!” I exclaimed, sobs finally raking through my body. “It was a stupid mistake, and it didn’t mean anything, and –“

“I cheated on you, too.”