Michael

There is only so long a man will allow himself to be tortured before the pain and rage inevitably consume him.

And sitting there, watching my date smother my roommate between her tits as they drank and drank felt like someone had driven a blade into my heart and was slowly, maliciously twisting it.

I looked at Hugo, who was still poking at the unconscious petite girl, and slid my chair back. "I think I'm gonna call it a night," I said.

Chelsea's head whipped up from where she'd buried it in Ben's neck. "No, Mike, stay," she begged. "You can't go yet. The fun's not even started."

Her nickname for me made my fury tick up a notch. "The fun ended a long time ago," I muttered. "I'm leaving now. Either come with me or don't."

In his delirium, Ben's head lolled back, eyes bleary and unfocused. Chelsea looked concerned. "What about him?"

"No," I snapped. "Just you and me. That's it."

"B-but..." she whined as I stood up. "You're roommates, aren't you? So we're all going to the place. It'll be fine. He'll just pass out. He won't even know what we're doing."

Finding a girl to bang had been my main objective coming here, but the thought of having sex with Chelsea now, especially with Ben blacked out across the room, was so repulsive I would have sooner gotten with Kitty again.

"I'm calling an Uber." Unable to look at them a second longer, I pushed through the crowd and went outside to make the call.

Today had officially been the worst day in history. After Ben left, I'd cleaned the dorm and gone out to get breakfast. That was when I saw what Kitty did to my car. It had to have been her. She was so angry about the texts on my phone, especially Dominic. I didn't even talk to him anymore! And she had been with plenty of men during our relationship too.

And then Ben, that little prick, decided to bust my nose? After everything I'd done to help him out, this was the thanks I got.

That'll teach you to be nice to someone.

Eventually, despite the dark, I saw a rusty old silver vehicle pull up, and the text confirming the guy was here. I could so easily, I thought, just get in the car and go home, maybe even get some sleep for once, but I forced myself to go back for Chelsea.

She was lying half upside down in my chair, her spiky heels propped up on the table. "Uber's here. You coming with?"

"I'm not going if he's not," she said firmly. I glanced at Ben. His eyes were closed and he'd spilled one of the shots on himself.

A pang of sympathy shot through me. I couldn't fight off the part of me that wanted to look out for him. He was my roommate. A freshman. That was what I was supposed to do. Take the guy under my wing. But it was more complicated than that.

"Fine," I grumbled, too exhausted to argue.

Her eyes lit up excitedly and she struggled to sit up. "C'mon," she giggled to him. "Let's go, we're leaving."

"Rhoda?" Ben slurred.

"Chelsea," she corrected. "And what's your name?"

"Whatever."

"What's his name?" she asked me.

I didn't answer. I was more concerned with getting home. Luckily, the beat-up silver car was still outside. "Hey," I said when the driver rolled down his window. He was an old, skinny man, the wrinkles on his face packed with grime and his teeth a deep yellow.

"They with you?" he said, nodding towards Chelsea, who was waddling over, Ben in tow.

"I suppose." I climbed into the car, trying to avoid the large stains on the cloth seats. The faint scent of Febreze failed to cover up the other smells in the air: cheese and stale vomit. 

I bit back a huff as Ben toppled into the backseat next, separating Chelsea and me.

"Don't you want to sit with me, darling?" I asked her as Ben turned back and continued to grope her in front of me. He squeezed her breasts in his hands and stared at me as he shook them, almost triumphantly.

"Look," he said, his voice childish.

"I can see," I assured him.

Chelsea pulled down her shirt further, making one of her tits pop out, and squealed loudly as he lurched forward and wrapped his lips around it.

The driver chuckled. I looked up and saw him staring through the rearview mirror. "Feelin' left out?" he taunted me.

"Why don't you keep those beady eyes on the damn road?" I said.

He scowled and turned back around, harshly pulling us off the curb.

Ben stopped kissing Chelsea suddenly, panic in his eyes. "I'm gonna throw up," he said. Neither me or Chelsea responded. He started to lean towards her again, then evidently changed his mind and fell back into the seat. "I don't... feel so good."

I sat back down in my seat while the driver finally started moving. "Leave him alone, would you?" I said quietly to Chelsea as she unzipped Ben's jeans, both her hands running back and forth over his crotch. "He's drunk off his ass."

She pushed Ben out of the way and climbed closer to me. "Don't be mad, Mike. I'll do you when we get there," she breathed against my neck, her voice dripping with sugar. "Maybe right now."

I gently removed her hand from where it was creeping down my stomach to my crotch. "Not interested, sorry," I said.

She made a huge pouting face and returned to Ben, who was mumbling nonsense and still calling her Rhoda. I rolled down the window and closed my eyes. The night air whipped my hair against my forehead, cooling the fire inside my head.

Finally, the familiar sign reading Indiana Lakeside College appeared and we were back on campus. My shoulder hurt from wedging my body against the window, trying to get as far away from my fellow passengers as possible.

Ben groaned and grabbed onto my knee as Chelsea started stroking him and I slapped his hand away. "Y'all got a room you can take this to?" the driver shouted, peering his head around once more.

"That's kind of the point of this whole car ride, old man," I said. I pulled my wallet from my back pocket and fished out fifteen dollars for him before opening my door and getting out. I walked around the car and opened the other door to see Chelsea and Ben, her on her knees and holding him in her hand. "Time to go," I said cheerily.

She frowned. "You're really set on ruining my fun, aren't you?"

The driver sat back, peering his head around again in what I took to be an attempt at subtlety. "Look at him one more time and I swear I'll kill you," I whispered.

He twisted his whole body back around and stared straight ahead.

I took a deep breath and turned to Ben, leaning past Chelsea into the car. I grabbed both his hips and slid him down the seat towards me, which made him make some happy little noise. There was no way I was dealing with the pants, but I did my best to get his underwear back on him. "Is he okay?" Chelsea asked me.

"No. Where the hell are his shoes?"

She shrugged. "He must've kicked them off under the seat."

"Michael?" Ben murmured softly. He smiled up at me, his chocolate brown eyes full of adoration.

"Shut up," I said.

"I love you," he said, and, stretching up on his toes, tried to force his face to mine.

I turned him around so he was facing in front of me. "Walk," I ordered. He made a pitiful sniffling noise and stumbled forward.

As our little trio hobbled to the door, I began to feel like a mother leading a pack of children away from a playground. "Wait," Ben mumbled suddenly. I turned, unprepared, as he dropped to his knees on the stone walkway and promptly vomited into the grass.

I bit back a grimace. He'd skinned his knees but didn't seem fazed. He let his head droop onto his chest, as if ready to fall asleep there on the concrete.

"Can he walk?" Chelsea pressed one hand to her mouth in horror.

"Probably not," I said. "So what are you gonna do? This was your brilliant idea. You're the one that insisted he come with us."

She looked ready to cry. "Mike, please. Help him."

I scowled at her. "Would you stop calling me that? It's Michael, Mi-chael. Got it?"

Ben began mumbling something from the ground. I crouched down, catching him before he could fall forward into his own vomit. He flashed a look up at me, eyes dazed and glassy, but still those big brown eyes that made my heart kick. I avoided his gaze.

"I'm sorry," he whimpered.

I pressed my lips together, taking a huge breath. "Don't worry about it," I said. "Do you think you can stand up for me?" He nodded slowly. "Okay," I said. "Let's stand up."

Easier to carry him than trying to walk. I slipped one arm around his back, the other behind his knees, and lifted him in my arms, bridal style. He was pretty light, but I was fucking tired, and my biceps burned from the effort.

"You gonna carry him the rest of the way?" Chelsea asked, raising an eyebrow. "Not gonna lie, I kinda wish that was me right now." I didn't see how it was very attractive for me to walk around with another guy in my arms, but who knows. The fact that he was still hard made it painfully worse.

"Well, unfortunately for you, darling, you currently have the luxury of being able to walk," I told her.

"I can walk," Ben mumbled.

"Yeah, because you were walking great a minute ago."

"Can we be friends again?" he asked sweetly, swinging his legs.

I cleared my throat. "Sure."

Even if I told him how he'd single-handedly ruined my night, he wouldn't even remember it in the morning.

"Chels, c'mere," I said. She looked up. I nodded towards the door in front of us. "Get that, would ya?" I said, shifting him in my arms.

I did my best to direct her to the right room so she could open that door too, then headed straight for Ben's bed so I could drop him there like a sack of potatoes.

When I turned around, Chelsea was hanging off of the door frame and pushing her hips out.

"Will you take a selfie with me?" she asked. "It's a thing Amy's making us do," she explained when I gave her a blank stare. "We have to take a picture with all the guys we've slept with until we get to thirty." She bit her lip. "By Saturday."

I narrowed my eyes. "Seriously? What are you at?"

"Sixteen."

"Jesus," I muttered. "Thanks for the warning. I really don't need sixteen guys worth of chlamydia on my dick."

"Can you just take the picture?" she snapped, poking at the floor with her toe.

I groaned and scrubbed at my tired eyes with my palms. "Why don't you do it with him?" I gestured behind me. "Benny, you wanna take a picture with Chelsea here?"

He had managed to roll over and was suffocating himself in his sheets. "Who?" he murmured as I pushed him back onto his side. Before I could even turn around she had handed me her phone, camera open, and was clambering into bed beside him.

I sighed loudly as I watched her grip his crotch pretty harshly in her hand. "Alright then. Let's get this over with, shall we? One, two, three, everyone say cheese."

The flash came on in the darkness and Chelsea blinked her eyes shut.

"Cheese," said Ben, way too late. I held out the phone for Chelsea to take back.

"You sure I can't stay, Mike?" she asked, her hand half-way up his shirt.

I blinked hard, that last Mike pushing me over my breaking point. "Yep," I said. "Time to go."

"Well... good night then," she said reluctantly.

"Sounds like you have a big night ahead of you. Good luck." I smiled and gave her two thumbs-up.

She put her hand on her hip. "You're a real asshole, you know that?" she said before turning down the hallway.

"So I've been told," I murmured to her back.

I ran my hand through my hair and walked over to my bed to grab Ben's pillow, then brought it over to him. He'd rolled onto his face again. "Lift your head."

He didn't move.

Despite my anger, despite the pain still throbbing in my nose where he'd hit me, I still wanted to take care of him. Yeah, I was mad. I was really fucking mad. But looking down at him, he looked so cute, innocent even, it was hard to stay angry.

I leaned down, gently turning him onto his side for the second time. "Try to stay like this okay?" I told him, hoping he was listening. I guided his head onto the pillow and pulled the sheet around him the best I could.

"Mmm," he mumbled, curling his legs up.

I smiled slightly and brushed his fluffy hair up out of his face. "Okay," I whispered. I leaned down and kissed the side of his forehead and then turned away, towards the open door.

"Stay." His voice was barely audible.

I sucked in my breath. "No."

"Can we cuddle?" he tried again, his voice catching.

"Go to sleep," I said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

I paused for half a second and then walked over to the door, closing it softly behind me as I left. I shook away the guilt pricking at me as I jogged down the stairs. I would spend the remainder of my night alone, in the quietest bar in town, and I wouldn't think about anything that had happened on this horrible day.

But for some reason, as I gulped down shot after shot, I didn't feel it in the slightest.