Erin McCarthy - Believe

I spent my sophomore year in college partying. I wasnt even original about it. Just the totally typical pattern of skipping class and going out every single night. If there was a keg party, I went. If there was a shot, I drank it. If there was a guy, I made out with him. I wore short skirts, showed as much cleavage as I could, and I felt sexy and confident while having the time of my life. I threw up in more than one toilet, made out with a taxidermied deer on a dare, and came home without my shoes, dorm key, or phone on a regular basis.

Later, I tried to look back and figure out why I had slid so easily into party girl, but all I could come up with was maybe I just wanted a louder voice, and drinking gave me that. I wanted some attention, I guess, or maybe just to have a good time where there were no rules. Or maybe there was just no reason at all.

It all seemed normal. What you do in college, right? You party. You make superficial friends. You drink. Do stupid things that you laugh about the next day and take pictures that will prevent you from ever being a senator.

It wasnt anything I felt bad about. I mean, sure, I could have done without some of those hangovers, and I did end up dodging a few guys who wanted to date after I spent a drunken night telling them they were awesome, but nothing to make me feel ashamed.

Until I hooked up with one of my best friends boyfriend when she was out of town.

Then I hated myself and the existence of vodka. Because I wasnt one of those girls. Or I hadnt been. Never, under any circumstances at all, would I have come even remotely close to doing anything with a friends guy sober, so why would I do that? How could alcohol make me cross a boundary so high and thick and barb-wired? I wasnt even hot for Nathan. I never had been. I mean, he was cute, whatever, but it wasnt like I nurtured a secret crush or anything.

So how did I end up waking up next to him on his plaid sheets, his arm thrown carelessly over my naked chest? I came awake with a start, head pounding, mouth dry, for a second wondering where the hell I was and who I had had sex with. When I blinked and took in the face above that arm, I thought I was going to throw up. Getting to the apartment, sex, it was completely a black, yawning hole of nothing. I didnt remember even leaving the party. No idea how Nathan and I had wound up in bed together. All I had were a few flashes that suddenly came back to me of him biting my nipple, hard, so that I had protested, my legs on his shoulders. Nothing else.

As I lay there, heart racing, wondering how the hell I could live with this, with myself, the horror slicing through me like a sharp knife, Nathan woke up.

He gave me a sleepy, cocky smile, punctuated by a yawn. Hey, Robin.

Hey. I tried to sink down under the sheet, not wanting him to see me naked, not wanting to be naked.

Well, that was fun, he said, his lazy smile expanding into a grin. We should do that again before we get up.

The thought made my stomach turn. But Kylie, I said weakly, because I wanted to remind him that while his girlfriend was back at her parents for the summer, she still very much existed. His girlfriend. My best friend.

I love Kylie, but shes not here. And were not going to tell her. He shrugged. I didnt expect this to happen, but it did and were still naked. He pulled my hand over his erection. No reason we shouldnt enjoy it.

And he leaned over to kiss me. I scooted backward so fast, I fell off the mattress onto my bare ass. Im going to puke, I told him.

Bummer.

Grabbing my clothes off the floor, I stumbled into the hallway, hoping his roommate Bill wasnt around. In the bathroom, I leaned over the sink, trembling, eyes that stared back at me in the mirror shocked, the skin under them bruised. I didnt get sick. I wished I would. I wished I could vomit out of myself the horrible realization that I had done something terrible, appalling, unforgiveable, mega disgusting.

I couldnt use vodka as an excuse. And now I knew Nathan was an asshole on top of it all.

Without asking him if I could use the shower, I turned on the water and stepped in, wanting to wash away the night, the dirty, nasty smell of skank sex off of my skin. I felt like a slut, like a bitch, like someone I didnt even know, and my tears mixed with the steady stream of water from the shower as I scrubbed and scrubbed.

I spent the rest of the summer sober, far away from parties, guilt nibbling at my insides, making me chronically nauseous, and I avoided everyone. I begged Nathan to stop when he kept sending me sexy texts, and I ignored my friend Jessica, who had stayed in town for the summer and who kept asking what was wrong.

By August I was consumed by anxiety and the fear that someone knew, that someone would tell, that I would be responsible for Kylie having her heart broken.

I slept whole days away and I couldnt eat. I thought about getting meds from the doctor for sleeping or for anxiety or for depression or for alcoholism or for sluttiness. But what was done was done, and a pill wasnt going to fix it. Or me.

When Jessica called and said Nathans friend Tyler was picking me up whether I liked it or not and we were going to hang out, I tried to say no. But then I decided that I liked to be with myself even less than I liked to be with other people.

Besides, once Kylie got back in a week, I wasnt going to be able to be friends with any of them anymore, and this might be my last chance to spend time hanging out. I couldnt be in the same room with Kylie and pretend that I hadnt betrayed our friendship in the worst way possible. I wasnt going to be able to sit there and have her and Nathan kissing on each other, knowing that he had spent all summer trying to hook up with me again.

I was going to have to find a new place to live, and disappear from our group of friends.

If only it had been that simple.

If only I had walked away right then and there.

Then I never would have met Phoenix and my life would never have changed in ways I still dont understand.

Tyler was a good person to catch a ride from, because he didnt need to talk. He just drove and smoked, and I stared out the window, my art supplies in my lap. I had promised to paint a pop art portrait of Tylers little brother Easton, and I had to do it tonight because I might never see him again if I had the guts to follow through with my plan to move out of the apartment. I hadnt painted all summer. I wasnt inspired. And I didnt want to now, but I had promised I would back before the morning after with Nathan.

So since I couldnt explain any of that, I stayed mostly silent. I did say, Rory gets back tomorrow.

It was a stupid comment. Of course he knew his girlfriend was coming back to school. But I wanted to make some sort of effort. It was hot, even for August, and the windows were open, air rushing in and swirling his smoke around in front of me.

Yep. I missed her. A lot.

I didnt doubt he had. And I didnt think for one minute he would have betrayed her the way Nathan had Kylie. Even if he wasnt living with his brother and Jessica, who were also dating. Tyler just wasnt that kind of guy. Both Riley and Tyler were loyal, and I wondered why I always seemed to attract the wrong kind of guy. The liars, the cheaters. My boyfriend freshman year had been a douche, flirting with other girls in front of me, laughing it off when I complained. My high school boyfriend had told me he wanted a girl who had her life together, who had goals. What kind of goals was I supposed to have at seventeen? At that point I already knew I was going to college to study graphic design, wasnt that good enough? So apparently his way to fix my deficiency was to hook up with his ex at a party and humiliate me.