he stumbled loudly into the glass wall, Liam had to let go of me to stabilize him. Vince was clearly drunk and halfway to a deep sleep even while standing upright. Which was impressive, if you thought about it.
“Nothing. We’re going to get you to bed.”
“Who? You and hoozie-boozie?” Vince asked, dangling his fingers in my direction.
“Hoozie-boozie?” I mouthed at Liam. He just shook his head.
“He calls everyone whose name he forgets ‘hoozie-boozie’.”
“Yeah.” Vince had a sudden moment of lucidity as his eyes snapped open and he looked right at me. “Who are you?”
I started to repeat my name, but he mumbled “hoozie-boozie” again before his eyes slid closed once more.
The elevator dinged, announcing our arrival to the sixteenth floor. “Give me his key,” I said, holding my hand out.
Liam didn’t hesitate, placing the keycard in my hand as he used his other arm to support Vince under his shoulders. “1643,” he said without me asking for the number.
I led the way down the left hallway. Of course, his room had to be one of the furthest from the elevators, but after a few momentary breaks in the hallway where Liam gave me half smiles as he shushed and supported Vince against the wall, getting better footing to push him further, we made it to Vince’s room. I slid the key in the lock and opened the door for Liam to lead Vince through and to the bed.
Vince fell backward onto the bed, causing it to creak loudly in the otherwise silent room. Liam and I exchanged glances, both of us muffling laughter. Liam removed Vince’s shoes and then turned to me.
I expected that to be it, but Liam didn’t look in a hurry to leave just yet. “I’ve got to take his pants off,” he said like that was a totally normal thing to say about your friend.
“Uh…”
“He has a prosthetic leg; he can’t sleep while wearing it.”
At that, I knew my eyes grew wide. "Do you need help?”
“If you don’t mind.”
“I don’t.”
“Vince,” Liam said, leaning over him and patting his cheek. “Tori and I are going to remove your pants to get your leg off.”
“She’s pretty,” Vince said, looking at me out of one eye. “You got to her before I could.”
Liam glanced at me, giving me a smile that warmed me all the way to the tips of my toes. “She is pretty. She’s going to pull your jeans off while I lift your hips, okay?”
Vince mumbled his agreement and we set to work. Liam thankfully had already unbuttoned his pants, so when I took the hem of his pant and started tugging, they rolled off his hips easily. Liam lifted Vince like it was no sweat, and I wondered just how muscular he was under his blue long-sleeve shirt. And maybe under his pants, too.
Once the pants were off, Liam pressed and held something on the top of the prosthetic and then wiggled it off his leg. I decided to turn away then—one, because it felt pretty private and two, because Vince was in his American flag boxer briefs and if I’d traded places with him, I wouldn’t want some stranger staring at me in my patriotic undies.
There was some quiet rustling behind me. “All done,” Liam said, and I turned around, seeing that he’d moved Vince so his legs no longer hung off the bed and so that he was safely ensconced in the covers.
“Tucked him in?” I asked, noting the depressions of the comforter at Vince’s sides.
“Everything but the bedtime story.” Liam glanced at Vince and then at me. I wonder if he was feeling like I was: which was a great multitude of things. It was our first time alone—without my friends egging me on and without Vince sleepily adding commentary. Vince let out a snore and both of us laughed.
“Shall we return you to your friends?” he asked, holding out a hand for me.
No, no. I wasn’t ready to go back to them, especially if that meant saying goodbye to Liam for a second time.
“Do we have to?” I asked.
8
I stepped toward her and took her hand in mine. The moment was more intimate than it deserved to be, as we stood in Vince’s dark hotel room, the quiet lull of his snoring our soundtrack. “You don’t want to go back to them?”
“No. They’ll probably dare me to do something dumb.”
“Like tell a stranger you love them?”
Though the room had only the littlest bit of light, there was no mistaking the glow