Change Your Ticket

Halloween was celebrated a lot differently in college. Candy was traded for alcohol, costumes became less and less, and parties replaced trick-or-treating. I was planning on hanging out in my dorm tonight so I could hear how Halloween went for Lexis but Derrick had other plans for me. That’s how I ended up in a random frat house far too dressed for the occasion.

“I’m gonna go find Madison, have fun!” Derrick said before leaving me in the crowded foyer.

Why did I agree to this? The house was packed with people making it physically impossible to move. I would have been more irritated with the lack of space if I wasn’t so pissed at Derrick. This was the second party he has dragged me to and left me at.

It was already late here which meant Josylne had already taken Lexis out. I knew she was planning on going to Asher’s after meaning I wouldn’t hear from her until tomorrow. Despite my desire to go back to my dorm room, I pushed myself through the crowds of people until I found my way to the kitchen.

“Hey! Look who showed up,” Tommy shouted over the blaring music.

Tommy and Alex had claimed their territory in the kitchen. From the looks of it Alex was playing bartender while Tommy chatted up the girls that passed. As I made my way over to them I got the disgusted looks the girls were sending towards Tommy. He must be trying too hard.

“Want a drink?” Alex asked.

I shook my head. To be honest, drinking wasn’t as much fun as it use to be. There were so many people always around that alcohol would have just put me more on edge. The last thing I needed was to do something stupid and be caught underage drinking. I could kiss any chance of ever playing this season goodbye.

“Come on man,” Tommy whined. “A little alcohol makes it easier to talk to the girls.”

“I have a girlfriend,” I reminded him. “In fact, I think you should lay off the alcohol a little.”

Unlike at home, I had no authority over these guys. My comment towards Tommy only made him drink more. With every chug of the cup came more slurs were made in his words. It wasn’t long before he was wasted enough to ensure that no girl would be taking him to their rooms tonight.

“You should probably get him home,” I suggested.

“He does this all the time. He’ll be fine in an hour.”

An hour wasn’t going to make a difference when that many cups of alcohol went into him. It wasn’t my place to interfere with Tommy’s life but I wasn’t going to leave him in the kitchen to hit on whatever poor girl he came in contact with. The least I could do was let him crash in my dorm.

With every step I took toward the exit, more of Tommy’s weight was on me. When we finally reached the living room, Tommy was half asleep and I was practically dragging his body through the crowds of people. Thank god for all those years of weight training, there’s no way I could have dragged him like this if I wasn’t conditioned.

I was ready to open the door until a hand stopped me. Charlotte was standing to my left, her hand outstretched blocking the doorknob. I wasn’t quite sure what her costume-or lack of-was and I had no intention to find out.

“Do you mind?” I asked.

“Leaving so soon?” she cooed, batting her eye lashes at me.

If I wasn’t so educated on the way some girls thought I might have mistaken her question as concern. I didn’t spend four years with Charlie to find myself trapped by another girl obsessed with football players.

“Yes I am,” I said.

Her hand withdrew from the doorknob but found its way to my shoulder. Her three inch heels didn’t give her the height she wanted, as she leaned on to her tip toes. Her lips pursed by my ear before she spoke. “Why don’t you meet me in my room when your done?” she whispered before pulling away to wink.

I pushed her off me as delicately as I could before exiting the house. Telling her nothing was a clearer answer than telling her no. I knew from experience that telling a girl you have a girlfriend only makes her want you more.

“Dude,” Tommy slurred. “She’s hot.”

Focusing my attention back to Tommy, I managed to drag him the two blocks back to my dorm room. I made a makeshift bed out of some spare blankets for him. Tommy’s snores filled the room the minute his head hit the pillow. Once I knew he was asleep I made my way into the bathroom to get myself ready. When I came back, I placed a bottle of water by Tommy’s head before falling into my bed.

I was asleep for fifteen minutes before my phone started ringing. The familiar ringtone jolted me awake, it was Josylne. I glanced at the clock, quickly doing the math realizing it was roughly three in the morning back at home.

“Babe?” I asked hesitantly.

Nothing good ever came with late night calls.

“Hey sorry, it’s actually Max.”

If Max was calling me from Josylne’s phone that meant they were together. Something had to be wrong for him to call me at this hour. My breathing quickly picked up.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah er I mean no,” Max said. “Jos is kind of at the hospital.”

My brain didn’t have time to the process the information before I had jumped out of my bed. I frantically searched for clean clothes while trying to stay calm.

“What do you mean she’s in the hospital? What happened!”

“She’s fine. I mean her leg is probably sprained but she’s fine,” Max rambled.

“She hurt her leg? What the fuck happened?”

“She was trying to leave Asher’s and this girl like shoved her and then she tripped over Chase and now I’m sitting in the waiting room waiting for her.”

That son of a bitch. Josylne wasn’t one to fight with people. There was no way Josylne had provoked the girl to shove her which meant she had been intentionally pushed. If Josylne sprained her ankle she was going to be out for weeks and if she fractured it well, there goes the rest of her season. I was going to kill Chase.

“I want to talk to her.”

“She’s still in the back,” Max said. “Plus, she sort of told me not to call you. I’ll make sure she calls you first thing in the morning. Don’t worry too much, she’ll be okay.”

If only telling a person not to worry actually made a person not worry. I slept for an hour that night. Between Tommy’s snores and my increasingly scary mind it was a wonder I managed to doze off at all.

“My head is killing me,” Tommy groaned from his spot on the floor.

“You may have over done it last night.”

“I usually do,” he sighed. “I don’t remember much but thanks for getting me out of there.”

“I’m surprised you even remember that,” I joked.

Before Tommy could say anything else my phone started ringing. It rang only once before I picked it up.

“Josylne?” I asked, hoping it really was her this time.

“Hey babe,” she greeted cheerfully. “Sorry for calling early but I know Max called last night and I didn’t want you to worry more than you should.”

“How bad is it?” 

“I sprained my ankle and managed to fracture a toe. My season is pretty much over,” I sighed.

“Dammit,” I cursed. “I’m going to kill Chase.”

“Don’t worry Parker, I’m already on it.”