5 Ways to Ruin Casey Brandt

e i g h t

♡ CASEY ♡

I think it's about two hours later when we decide it's time to cut ourselves off. Mik has fallen asleep on Nate's shoulder. Koda is singing to the table of basketball players to our right. I've fallen off my chair at least twice. We stumble outside the bar with our arms around each other, laughing about something that doesn't make sense but is funny anyway, when I see her.

Briar Elliot is walking across the street and she's not alone.

"Hey, guys, I'm gonna break off here," I say while Koda and Nate help Mik into the backseat of their Uber.

"You sure?"

"Yeah," I glance over the car to make sure Briar's still there, then give Koda a clap on the back. "Yeah, man, I'll be good. See you tomorrow?"

"If I'm not violently hungover, yes."

I wait for the Uber to pull out before crossing the street. There's a group of people, a girl in heeled boots throwing up and another in a purple skirt holding her hair, two guys laughing at something on a phone. Standing across from Briar is one clearly intoxicated guy.

He's yelling at her. Even as she tries to get around the group, he jumps in the way. I watch as she tucks her bag closer to her side and tries, then fails, to get through again.

"Crier Briar! Crier Briar!" he chants.

She cringes. The two with the phone are laughing. They turn the volume up and tip the screen toward her, blocking her way when she breaks off in my direction. She ignores them and continues attempting to cross the street. When her eyes meet mine, her face morphs from annoyance to anger.

I keep making my way to her anyway. The three guys begin calling after her again. I'm not sure what comes over me. If it's the guilt, the look on her face, or the beer, but when the chanter tries to follow her I shove him back. Hard.

He looks confused, even as he's looking right at me. Like he can't see me at all. I wonder how drunk he is, if that even matters to me right now with how he's treating Briar.

"Woah, dude. Chill," he says, slurring a little.

The two guys step forward to steady their drunk friend, no longer amused. I stand my ground. Briar is behind me now, walking away, but she doubles back to stand just behind my left shoulder.

"Casey, don't," she demands.

"Yeah, Casey, don't," Drunk Guy mocks. He turns to Briar again. She glares at him through her bangs. "You tell him, Crier."

I throw the punch before I can think about it.

"Casey!"

Drunk Guy wasn't very stable on his feet in the first place, but, when my fist meets his jaw he flattens onto the sidewalk. Right into the vomit. The girl holding her friend's hair gasps. She puts her arms out to catch him, stepping into the pool herself. She shrieks. The guy with the phone tries to help him up, smearing some of the rancid smelling throw up onto his pants.

Gross.

I hear the noise behind us before I see it. People jump out of line to see the commotion. I didn't see the third dude coming, either, until he'd already hit my face like a bolt of lightning.

Tiny pins and pricks erupt on my cheekbone beside my left eye, which begins watering almost instantly. Before he can hit me again, and before I can even consider landing one of my own, we're separated. 

A crowd of onlookers begins to form on our side of the street. Some are encouraging us to keep fighting. Others are trying to figure out what's happening.