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Despite being in college, May almost never went to parties.
It wasn’t something that she had planned, exactly. When she started at USC, she was actually excited to try to party and let loose and all that. But it just hadn’t happened.
At first, she struggled with the adjustment of going from her seemingly adult life to a more carefree one. Even in high school, May had often felt like she was struggling to relate to her peers, always being mocked for taking everything so seriously. And then working a full time job with real adults when she was still a teenager, she was mocked for not being serious enough. For being young.
At a school like USC, it seemed like more of the same. Everyone there was either thinking constantly about the future or so stuck in the present that they couldn’t even bother to show up to class half the time. As a result, May had a hard time connecting with people.
Basically, she spent the first bit of college just trying to adjust.
But eventually, May found a group of people that she got along with. People who didn’t look at her funny when she said she spent her gap year as a dispatcher. People who cared about the world and were at school to actually learn, but weren’t assholes about it.
By the spring, May had found a tight-knit group of girls from her program that she kind of felt like were her people. They found each other by forming a study group, but their study sessions had slowly morphed from actually studying to gossiping and getting caught up on reality dating shows.
They mostly hung out rotating between different girls’ apartments, or at the library, or sometimes at a restaurant if they felt like celebrating something. That arrangement was fine with May. She didn’t feel like she was missing out on anything just because she wasn’t going out and getting drunk every weekend.
But then one of them started dating a frat boy, and for the first time, May was being asked to come to a frat party.
When the whole group chat lit up with yeses, May let herself be excited too.
Who knows, maybe it would actually be fun.
--
It was fun, May had decided. Somewhere in-between dancing with her friends and taking tequila shots, she had watched the stupidest arm-wrestling tournament of all time.
It was all so stupid. And carefree. And May felt light and floaty from the alcohol.
She could see why people liked this. Maybe she was going to become one of the people who liked this.
But then, when she was watching some poor guy down the king’s cup, she heard the unmistakable sound of a smoke detector going off.
--
Half an hour later, May was sitting on the grass with the girls she had come to the party with, her head spinning. Objectively, she knew she should stop drinking. That the night had come to an end the second someone lit the stove on fire and someone had called 911.
But, May had discovered that she really liked Malibu Coconut Rum. She had a fifth of it in her hand that she had been carrying around, drinking most of it over the course of the night.
“Oh my god.” Melissa, one of the girls from May’s study group exclaimed. “One of the firefighters is coming over here. The hot one.”
“Firefighters aren’t inherent-inherent-like—” May stumbled over her words, groaning. “There’s nothing that hot about firefighters.”
“There’s something hot about this one.” Melissa giggled, and when May looked up she felt her blood go cold with a slight panic.
And, no, not because he was hot.
“Oh my god. Shit.” The words tumbled out of May’s mouth before she could filter them.
“He’s hot, right?” Melissa giggled.
“No, ew.” May said. “He’s not hot. That’s my brother.”
May didn’t let herself think about how that wasn’t really true. She was too busy wondering what Buck was doing working in the university district, and why he was walking towards her.
“What?” Melissa asked. “That guy’s white, May. Also, I thought your brother was like fourteen. And lived in Florida or something.”
“Yeah, Harry.” May emphasized. “That’s my other brother. My stepbrother.”
Again, not exactly true. But not exactly false.
“I didn’t know you had a stepbrother.” Melissa said. “How old is he, because—”
“Hey, May.” Buck interrupted, cheerfully. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Buck, what are you doing here?” May demanded. It came out more confrontational than she intended, and immediately felt Buck’s eyes look her up and down like he was checking her for injuries. Or maybe impairment.
She took another sip of her rum. To calm her anxiety. Or something.
“I’m on loan tonight.” Buck said, cautiously. “Uh, what is that you’re drinking?”
“It’s nothing.” May said, pathetically, because it was kind of starting to sound like Buck wanted her to stop drinking it. And May didn’t feel like doing that.
“Hi,” Melissa interrupted, and May was maybe a little grateful, even if she was pretty sure she was about to start hitting on Buck. “I’m Melissa. What’s your name?”
It was the kind of flirting that might work on a frat boy. Though, to a thirty-year-old man, it was more like listening to the ramblings of a toddler.
“Hi. I’m Buck.” Buck said, politely nodding at Melissa before promptly turning back to May. “Seriously, May. I don’t think you’re supposed to be drinking that.”
“Buck, it’s fine. I’m almost twenty-one, you know.” May whined. It didn’t make her sound very mature. She kept sipping on the bottle, and was convinced she still had some kind of leverage over this conversation.
“I know you’re almost twenty-one.” Buck sighed. “But right now, you’re underage and openly drinking in public.”
“Almost everyone here is underage and openly drinking in public.” May argued. “Why are you singling me out?”
“Because nobody else here has a mother who might kill me if I let anything happen to them.” Buck rolled his eyes, holding out his hand. “Give me the bottle, May.”
“No.” May said, clutching the Malibu tighter. “It’s mine.”
Instead of arguing with her further, Buck crouched down and gently pried the bottle from May’s hands.
“Hey!” May protested, trying—and failing—to keep the Malibu in her arms.
“Is this—” Buck looked at the label of the bottle. “Did you drink all of this Malibu yourself? That’s going to give you a terrible hangover. One time I—” Buck stopped himself from whatever story he was about to tell, obviously realizing it was not the time, place, or audience for that.
“What?” May giggled. “You don’t want to tell me a story from your whore days?”
“My whore days?” Buck asked, shocked.
“Yeah.” May said, then turned to her friends. “My stepdad fired him once for stealing the firetruck to have sex in.”
“Seriously?” Melissa replied, her jaw dropping.
“Thanks for sharing that.” Buck grimaced. “Is this all you’ve had to drink? You don’t seem… like yourself.”
“Hmmmm.” May hummed. “I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not.”
“Hey, Melissa.” Buck said. “Did she drink anything else?”
“Um.” Melissa bit her lip in thought, batting her eyelashes at Buck. “She was definitely doing tequila shots earlier. Oh, and we shotgunned some beers.”
“Okay.” Buck muttered. “Okay. Alright. C’mon May, I’m taking you home.”
“What?” May asked, panicking. “No! I can’t see my mom like this.”
“Not to your parents’ house.” Buck explained. “To your apartment.”
“Oh.” May said, calming down. “I still don’t want to leave, though.”
“Yeah? Well, I don’t really care.” Buck said, losing his patience. “Get up, May.”
“No.” May whined.
“Get up or I’m going to pick you up and carry you.” Buck threatened, and after half a second of consideration of how embarrassing that would be, May was rising to her feet.
“I don’t even know why you care so much.” May groaned, kicking her feet in the grass.
“Whether you like it or not, I feel some level of responsibility for you.” Buck explained.
“When have you ever been responsible?” May countered.
Buck ignored her, turning to the other girls sitting on the grass.
“Are all of you alright? Do I need to call anyone for any of you?” Buck asked them.
“No.” One of the girls said. “My boyfriend lives here, I’m gonna stay with him.”
“And we’re roommates.” Melissa said, pointing to herself and the other two girls. “We’ll get an Uber or something.”
“Okay.” Buck said. “Just—maybe stop drinking and go home soon? I think this party is kind of over.”
“May,” One of the girls on the grass said. “Your hot stepbrother is kind of a buzzkill.”
“Stop calling him hot!” May shot back.
“Okay, May, let’s go.” Buck placed a guiding hand on May’s shoulder, ignoring all of the comments between the girls. “Have a good night girls!” He called out as he walked May back over to the fire engine.
May dragged her feet in the grass, following just closely enough behind Buck that he wouldn’t feel the need to drag her.
“Hey, Captain Greene?” May stood back as Buck approached a woman by the engine.
“Buckley?” She replied.
“I uh, I happened to find a family member of mine by the grass over there. She’s pretty drunk, do you mind if I take her home? Meet up with you guys when I get her settled? I don’t really feel comfortable leaving her here.” Buck explained.
Captain Greene took one look at May, who was swaying a few feet behind Buck and nodded with a grimace on her face.
“Sure, Buckley.” She said. “Seems like a good idea. You have my number, right?”
“Yeah,” Buck nodded. “I do. Thank you.”
“No worries.” Captain Greene smiled. “Just let me know when you’re heading back, and I’ll send you the location if anything has changed.”
“Will do.” Buck said. “Oh! Actually,” Buck held out the bottle of Malibu still in his hand to Captain Green. “Would you mind getting rid of this? I wasn’t planning on letting her have it back.”
“Sure.” Captain Greene said, taking the bottle.
May almost shouted out in protest, but some part of her mind that was still thinking told her that probably wasn’t a good idea.
After handing off the bottle, Buck turned around to face May, his hands clasped together.
“Okay.” He said. “What’s your address?”
--
They ended up walking to May’s. Her apartment building was only about six blocks away, and it was cheaper and faster than trying to get an Uber.
“I could have walked by myself, you know.” May grumbled as she stumbled along the sidewalk.
“No, you couldn’t.” Buck said. “Please tell me you have better instincts than that.”
“I have great instincts.” May frowned. “That’s why I could have walked by myself.”
“Okay.” Buck said, his voice laced with sarcasm. “Sure.”
They walked in silence for a minute or so before either of them spoke again.
“So, do you frequent frat parties?” Buck asked.
“No.” May admitted. “I’d never been to one before tonight.”
“Oh.” Buck said. “Why’d you decide to go tonight then?”
“I don’t know.” May said. “I was invited and decided to try it. I was actually having a lot of fun. You know, until you showed up. No offense.”
“You were being safe though, right?” Buck asked. “Like, you weren’t taking drinks from people you don’t know well, or going into rooms alone with boys, or—”
“I have a boyfriend.” May interrupted. “You’ve met him.”
“No, I know—I, I wasn’t saying that—” Buck groaned. “It’s just that not all guys have the best intentions.”
“I know.” May whined. “I’m not gonna like, drink the jungle juice. Obviously my mom taught me better than that.”
“I was just checking.” Buck sighed, the falling a few steps behind May, stopping to bend down and tie his shoe. Crouched down in the dark sidewalk next to a bush, he blended into the night, as large as he was.
It only took about ten seconds for something to go wrong.
Buck heard a wolf whistle, and the sound of a group of young men talking.
“Hey,” One of them said, the voices getting closer. “Where’re you going all alone?”
Buck stood up quickly, alarmed. May couldn’t have gotten far, but he hadn’t even noticed that there was a group of guys headed towards them. How could he not have been looking for—
“We’re going to a party.” The guy continued. “If you want to come, we could always use more bitches.”
Before Buck could say anything, or move into the light where he could actually see, he heard May call out for him.
“Buck?” She asked, sounding unsure as to where he had gone.
“Buck?” The young man asked, looking at his friends. “Who is Buck? This bitch must be out of her mind. I don’t know if she’s hot enough to deal with that.”
“Hey.” Buck interrupted, promptly making his way over to stand in-between May and the boys. “Did you just call her a bitch?”
The boys—all of them—appeared startled. Stunned. Like they had never expected there to be any consequences to their actions.
“I, uh—” The boy who had been talking mumbled.
“Sorry, sir.” One of the others spoke up. “Please don’t arrest us.”
Holy shit these kids were stupid, Buck thought to himself.
“Do you think it’s okay to talk to women like that?” Buck asked. The boys didn’t answer, really, instead all looking at each other helplessly. “Do you?”
“Uh,” One of them spoke up. “No?”
“And I really hope you weren’t planning on taking advantage of drunk girls. Were you?” Buck continued.
A chorus of “no” and “of course not” and “never” was shot back at him, and the boys looked sufficiently scared enough that Buck felt okay sending them away.
“Now, head home.” Buck told them. “No more parties tonight. Everything’s shut down because of the fire.”
“What?” One of the boys whined. “But I thought—”
He was cut off by one of his friends elbowing him in the stomach.
“We’ll go home.” The kid with the elbow said. “Sorry again. Sir.” He then promptly ushered him and his friends away, and Buck watched them as they went, instinctively acting as a shield between them and May.
Once the boys were far enough away, Buck turned around and checked on May, who had been standing silently behind him.
“Are you okay?” Buck asked, looking her over. “They didn’t touch you, did they?”
“No.” May said. “I’m fine.”
“Okay.” Buck said. “Good. Those kids were morons. Even at my worst, I never would have said anything like that.”
“Yeah.” May mumbled. “Sorry. I could have dealt with that on my own, I think. I just—”
“May, stop.” Buck interrupted. “Remember how we were talking about instincts?”
May nodded, unsure of herself.
“What you just did, calling for help, was the best possible instinct you could have right then.” Buck said.
“But I could have—”
“I’m sure you could have dealt with that on your own. If you had too.” Buck said. “But you knew I was right there, so you asked for me. And you did that because you knew it was the smartest choice.”
“Okay.” May said, maybe a bit pathetically.
“You could have torn those idiot boys to shreds if you had to.” Buck said affectionately. “But I think me scaring them was a bit more effective.”
“Did they think you were a cop?” May asked.
“Maybe. I think so.” Buck laughed. “I wasn’t going to correct them.”
“They really are stupid.” May smiled a little.
“Yeah.” Buck agreed. “Now let’s please get you home.”
--
Back at her apartment, Buck was waiting in the hallway while May changed into sweatpants so she could go to sleep.
She was feeling better, or at least less drunk. Maybe a little bit more embarrassed then earlier. Part of her was starting to wish she had drank enough that she wouldn’t have to remember all the stupid things she had said and done that evening.
But then again, that probably would have made it worse.
May was just about to go out into the hall to tell Buck she was going to bed and he could go back to work when she was hit with a wave of intense nausea.
“Buck?” May said, standing right by her closed door.
“Yeah?” Buck called out from the hall.
“I think I’m going to be sick.” May moaned, feeling a familiar lurch in her stomach start to travel up her body.
“Okay.” Buck said. “Okay, can you make it to the bathroom?”
May didn’t waste time responding, instead opening her bedroom door and stumbling down the hallway to the washroom. She fell into her knees in front of the toilet before she couldn’t hold it in any longer.
Buck moved in carefully behind her, sitting on the edge of the bathtub and making an attempt to pull May’s hair out of her face so it would stay as clean as possible.
After a minute or so, May stopped vomiting, doing her best to blink the tears out of her strained eyes.
“I’m sorry.” May moaned into the toilet bowl.
“Hey, don’t be sorry.” Buck assured her. “It’s all good.”
“You probably think I’m an idiot.” May mumbled.
“You? An idiot?” Buck scoffed. “You have been smart and competent since the day I met you.”
May didn’t respond, feeling her stomach churn again and resting her forehead on the toilet bowl.
“I could never think you’re an idiot.” Buck continued. “It’s actually almost a relief to see you acting like a college student. Almost.”
May let out the rest of the contents of her stomach into the toilet bowl, and finally felt okay to pull back so her head was no longer in the toilet.
“You all done?” Buck asked, and May looked at him and nodded. She was too tired and embarrassed to try and say anything. “Do you have any washcloths around here?” Buck asked, and May pointed to the cabinet over the sink.
Carefully, Buck wet a cloth in the sink and bent down to wipe it across May’s face and the ends of her hair.
“I’m just going to try and get some of this off, okay?” Buck asked,
“This is so embarrassing.” May said, blinking back tears and feeling a sting in her throat that wasn’t just from throwing up.
“Hey,” Buck said, using a soft voice usually reserved for scared children. “Don’t be embarrassed. I did way more embarrassing stuff than this when I was your age.”
“Oh.” May managed to get out. “Like what?”
“Like,” Buck said, taking a second to think. “Like the time I ran a naked mile because a girl said she’d give me her number if I did it.”
“Did you get her number?” May asked.
“Nope.” Buck said. “She was, uh, gone by the time I got back.”
“Okay,” May cracked a smile. “That is pretty embarrassing.”
“I’ve done a lot of very embarrassing things. Did your parents ever tell you about the time Bobby sent me to therapy?” Buck asked.
“No.” May said.
“Well, I was supposed to be there for sex addiction.” Buck said. “And I, uh, slept with the therapist. During the session.”
“What?” May asked, suddenly animated. “No, you didn’t.”
“I did.” Buck admitted. “Bobby was pretty pissed.”
“No kidding.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure he got her fired.” Buck chuckled.
“Good.” May said. “She sounds like a bad therapist.”
“Probably.” Buck said. “Either way, that is a whole lot more embarrassing than this. And I was much older than you. This is pretty normal college behaviour, May.”
“You’re not going to tell everyone, right?” May asked. “I don’t think I could look Bobby in the eyes if he knew about this.”
“I won’t tell anyone.” Buck smiled. “I wouldn’t do that to you. Even though you called me a whore.”
“Was it a lie, though?” May countered.
“Ouch.” Buck said, feigning hurt as he reached out to pull May to her feet.
--
Once May was cleaned up, Buck was standing in the middle of May’s bedroom supervising her as she drank a whole glass of water. He normally wouldn’t have forced it, but between the amount of sugary alcohol she had and all the vomiting, he wanted to make sure she had some fluids in her.
It needed to happen. Even if she was kind of glaring at him the whole time she was drinking the water.
When Buck’s phone started buzzing, and he checked on May one more time before slipping out into the hallway to answer it, leaving the door half open.
“Hey, what’s up?” Buck asked into the phone. “His backup glasses? What happened to his regular ones?”
May put down the glass of water, listening intently to Buck’s words.
He must be talking to Eddie. About Christopher. May was proud of herself for catching onto that so fast. Even in her drunken state, May was still pretty perceptive.
Or maybe Buck and Eddie were really just that predictable.
“Okay, have you checked the medicine cabinet in the bathroom?” Buck asked. “I don’t know. You’re the one who keeps them in there.”
May wanted to laugh. Buck talked to Eddie like they were married. Whenever Buck complained about being single when he came over for dinner, she had to refrain from making comments about how women might be more interested if he didn’t appear to already have a husband.
“Yeah, I’m having an interesting night.” May heard Buck say. “I actually found May at a frat house fire. Yeah, she’s fine. I’m actually at her apartment right now. She was ridiculously drunk so I wanted to make sure she got home okay.”
“Buck!” May called out in protest.
“Wha—one second Eddie, what?” Buck said back to May. “Do you need something?”
“You said you wouldn’t tell anyone!” May shouted from her bed.
“It’s just Eddie.” Buck said. “Don’t worry, May, I’m not going to tell anyone else. Promise.”
“What if Eddie tells Bobby though? Or Chimney, and then Chimney tells Bobby.” May babbled, thinking of all the possible ways this horrible experience could somehow make its way back to her parents.
“Eddie’s not going to tell anyone.” Buck assured her. “Right, Eddie?” Buck said into his phone.
“That’s what you said and then you told Eddie.” May argued.
“That’s true, but Eddie doesn’t really count—oh wait, hold on.” Buck said, then listened to the phone for a moment. “Eddie says he promises he won’t say anything to anyone. Do you want to talk to him?”
“No.” May whined. “I don’t want to talk to Eddie. I want you to stop talking about me!”
“Okay, okay!” Buck called out. “Sorry. I’m sorry.”
His voice became more hushed, and May couldn’t make out what he was saying anymore. After a minute or two, he hung up the phone.
May wondered if Buck had any idea how strange his dynamic with Eddie was. At least from the outside looking in. In fact, May realized, he really should know. If he didn’t already. So she—
“Buck?” May called out from her bed, knowing he was still standing in the hallway on the other side of the open door.
“Yes?” Buck called back.
“Can you come here for a second?”
“What’s wrong?” Buck asked, coming back into the room and moving to May’s bedside, crouching down so he could see her. “Do you think you’re going to throw up again, or—”
“No.” May said. “No, I just have a question.” She felt like laughing a little. Or maybe she was laughing a little. She wasn’t really sure.
“Uh, okay.” Buck grimaced. “What’s your question, then?”
“Do you like Eddie?” May asked, because she had officially decided that she was impaired enough to get away with saying pretty much anything.
“Uh,” Buck scoffed. “Yes, May. I like Eddie. He’s my best friend. Why do you want to know, exactly?”
“Well,” May sighed dramatically. “It’s just I think Eddie really likes you. Like, really really.”
“That’s a lot of reallys.” Buck said.
“When we worked together, he talked about you a lot.” May said. “Like, so much.”
“Well, we do spend a lot of time together.” Buck said, calmly. “I’m sure I talk about Eddie a lot, too.”
“Okay, but he also hated your girlfriend. He was always complaining about her. Like, it was kind of annoying.” May babbled.
“Taylor?” Buck asked. “Yeah, I know Eddie wasn’t exactly her biggest fan, but—”
“Buck, will you just listen to me?” May asked, sitting up to look at Buck. “I’m being serious. I think Eddie is in love with you.”
May felt slightly annoyed when Buck responded with bursting out in a fit of laughter.
“It’s not funny!” May exclaimed.
“May,” Buck said after his laughter died down. “If you really think that Eddie is secretly in love with me, do you really think he would appreciate you telling me?”
“It’s fine.” May mumbled, laying back down in bed and pulling her blanket back over herself. “Eddie should know I’d be more loyal to you anyways. You’re like my brother. That trumps co-worker.”
“Does it?” Buck asked, and May resented that he seemed so amused when she was trying to actually tell him something.
“Whatever.” May mumbled into her comforter. “If you don’t want to listen to me that’s your problem.”
“Okay.” Buck snorted, and then looked at May, who was making herself comfortable in bed, laying back so she was looking up at the ceiling.
“I’m good.” May mumbled. “You can leave now.”
“I, uh—” Buck paused, standing up from his crouched position. “You look really cozy and everything, but I’m gonna need to you to get up and lock the door behind me when I leave.”
He sounded guilty about it.
“I don’t want to.” May groaned. “I’ll be fine. My roommates will be home soon anyways.”
“I know.” Buck said. “I’m sorry. But I can’t leave you like this with the door unlocked. Unless you have a spare key or something—”
“I’d have to get up to get it anyways.” May sighed, throwing the blanket off herself and rising out of the bed.
They shuffled to the door silently, and May stood a few feet back while
“You have my number, right?” Buck asked before opening the door. “If you feel sick again or if you need anything, just call or text me. Even if it’s late, I don’t mind. I can always turn around and come ba—”
“Buck.” May cut him off. “You can cut out the whole overprotective act. You did the right thing or whatever, so you can go now.”
“What?” Buck asked. “May, do you think—I’m not pretending to care about you.”
May wanted to be annoyed with him. She also maybe wanted to cry again.
The night had been overwhelming.
“I just feel bad.” May mumbled. “That you had to leave work to come take care of me.”
“I wanted to.” Buck insisted. “I care about you. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“Okay.” May said, and her eyes were stinging. And then, just because she felt so overwhelmed, and because she wanted to, May stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Buck.
They had never hugged like this. Maybe a congratulations side hug at May’s graduation, or when they hadn’t seen each other in a really long time and everyone was hugging. But not for more than half a second. Not even after Buck had gotten out of the hospital, May realized.
“I’m really glad you didn’t die.” May admitted, her face against Buck’s chest.
“Yeah.” Buck said, squeezing May tighter before letting go. “Me too. And I’m really glad I found you tonight. And that you’re okay. Even if you’re going to be miserable tomorrow.”
“I think I’ll be fine.” May shrugged. “I feel okay right now.”
“It’ll be worse tomorrow.” Buck grimaced, putting his hand on the doorknob and turning it. “Goodnight, May. I’ll see you later. Lock the door behind me, okay?”
“Okay.” May nodded. “Goodnight.”
And with that, Buck was out the door.
May locked the door and went back to bed.
--
May woke up the morning feeling like someone had thrown a dagger into her skull. Or maybe taken a sledgehammer to it. She didn’t feel like moving, her head throbbing at a level she didn’t know was possible.
She only turned to her side when she heard her phone go off.
BUCK
Hey, are you feeling okay?
She hadn’t been expecting Buck to check in. But then again, maybe she should have been expecting it.
MAY
I’m okay.
Sorry about last night.
BUCK
Don’t worry about it
I’m just happy to hear you’re alright!
MAY
I feel like garbage.
I’m never drinking that much again.
BUCK
Maybe try vodka sodas next time
Sugar makes it worse
MAY
Thanks.
I’ll keep that in mind.
May laid in bed for a while, eventually moving very slowly to the kitchen to drink a glass of water and take some Advil. Then, she found it in herself to move to take a shower. She felt disgusting in a way that only copious amounts of hot water would be able to fix.
When she finally got out of the shower, another text was waiting for her on her phone.
BUCK
Hey
Check your front door!
May didn’t bother to text back, too exhausted to question what he was up to. She walked over to the front door, and opened to see a plastic bag with an Uber Eats receipt attached to it.
May picked it up and brought it inside to the kitchen, ripping open the bag to find a McDonalds breakfast staring back at her.
It was almost a ridiculous amount of food. May pulled out her phone and snapped a picture, sending it to Buck.
MAY
Omg
Did you get one of everything?
BUCK
Maybe
I didn’t know what you liked!
MAY
Thank you.
I’ll have to share with my roommates.
BUCK
Enjoy!
Only this once tho
I’m not sending you food every time you’re hungover
May didn’t respond to that, more interested in tearing into the food in front of her.
She couldn’t remember the last time she had been so hungry, and she had basically no food in the apartment.
Thank god Buck knew something about hangovers.
--
The next time May and Buck saw each other, it was for dinner at her parent’s house. It wasn’t a big dinner or anything, just that Buck happened to be over the night that May was coming by for dinner.
It wasn’t that uncommon for just Buck to be over for dinner. Really, there was a reason May had told her friends he was her stepbrother.
“Hi, May.” Buck sat down next to her on the living room couch. “How’ve you been?”
“Good.” May said. “Better than the last time you saw me.”
She felt a little bit embarrassed bringing it up, but it seemed like it would have been weirder to pretend like it never happened.
And, after all, it was just Buck. May kept reminding herself of that. He wasn’t going to judge her, right?
“I would hope so.” Buck joked.
“Yeah, I think my party girl phase might be coming to an end before it even started.” May mumbled, letting out a bitter laugh.
“Aw, come on, don’t say that. You said you were having fun until I showed up.” Buck said.
“Yeah, well. Apparently, I don’t have very much self-control.” May groaned, looking down at her feet on the floor. “Plus, that hangover was pretty bad.”
“That’s why I told you to try vodka sodas next time. Buy some White Claws. At least then you’re staying hydrated.” Buck explained.
“I guess.” May shrugged. “I probably shouldn’t let one bad night ruin my fun forever, right?”
“Right.” Buck agreed. “You can’t punish yourself for doing something kind of stupid. If that were true, I would never make up for my early twenties.”
“Yeah. Okay.” May said, laughing at the thought of it, causing Buck to start laughing as well.
They were still laughing when Bobby turned the corner from the kitchen.
“Both of you are okay with goat cheese, right, because—” Bobby started, but cut himself off when he saw them. “What’re you two laughing about.”
“Um,” Buck stopped laughing, looking over at May. “Nothing.”
“Nothing?” Bobby asked. “Why won’t you tell me? Are you two making fun of me?”
“No.” May insisted. “It’s just…an inside joke.”
“Okay.” Bobby narrowed his eyes. “Since when do you two have inside jokes?”
“What?” Buck countered. “We can have inside jokes.”
“Okay.” Bobby threw up his hands in defense. “I guess I just didn’t know you two were so close.”
He was feigning some level of indifference, only both Buck and May could see right through him. There was a smile tugging at Bobby’s lips at the thought of the two of them being friends.
No—family.
--
Buck was at work when his phone lit up with texts from May.
MAY
Hey
Can I ask you something?
BUCK
Sure
Something wrong?
MAY
No I’m fine.
BUCK
Okay just checking
What’s up?
MAY
You know how you were saying I should try White Claws?
BUCK
Yeah
Did you?
MAY
No.
Here’s the thing.
A girl I know just invited me to a party and I want to go but all I have is a bottle of white wine and I feel like if I drink that I’m going to get super hungover.
BUCK
Probably
Please don’t drink a whole bottle of wine
MAY
So will you buy me some White Claws then?
Buck, honest to god, wasn’t expecting that.
BUCK
You want me to buy you alcohol?
MAY
Please?
BUCK
Don’t you have like
Friends
Who are 21
MAY
No. :(
Buck stared at his phone for a moment, not knowing what to type out. Logically, he felt like he should say no. This was Athena and Bobby’s daughter. How could he betray their trust like that?
But then again, if he didn’t do it, there was a chance that May was going to drink an entire bottle of white wine. And she was a pretty small girl. If someone offered her shots or something on top of that, she’d run the risk of needing to get her stomach pumped.
And really, she was almost twenty-one.
MAY
Buck?
Hello?
Please?
The party is tonight by the way.
Buck groaned, and wondered if he would go to hell for what he was about to do.
BUCK
Fine
I’m off at 4, I’ll pick some up then
What flavour do you want?
--
After work, Buck was sitting in a parking lot after his shift, trying to find the courage to get out of the car and walk into the liquor store instead of driving away. He felt like a criminal, somehow.
So instead of going inside, Buck called Eddie.
“Am I a bad person?” Buck said into the phone. “I mean, this is illegal, right?”
“You’re not a bad person.” Eddie said. Buck could picture him rolling his eyes.
“Okay, but if May had texted you and asked you to buy her alcohol, would you have said yes?”
“No.” Eddie answered easily.
“See?” Buck asked. “So, I’m obviously a bad person, right?”
“No, Buck.” Eddie said. “Look, I wouldn’t do it for May. But I did it for my sisters when they were underage.”
Oh, Buck thought. That almost made enough sense of it.
“Did you feel weird about it?” Buck asked.
“A little.” Eddie admitted. “But I kind of liked doing it, too. I don’t know. It’s just a thing that older siblings are expected to do.”
“Yeah, but May’s not really…” Buck trailed off. “I don’t know. I guess it’s complicated.”
“It doesn’t have to be.” Eddie said. “You’ve said Bobby’s basically your dad. She’s his daughter. That sounds like a sibling to me.”
“Okay.” Buck said, letting Eddie’s words soothe his guilt. “Okay. I’m going to go in now. Talk to you later. Thanks.”
“Bye.” Eddie replied, and Buck hung up the phone and got out of his car.
When he stood in line with watermelon flavoured White Claws in his hands, he almost felt the urge to put them back.
But then Eddie’s words rang in his ears.
It’s just a thing that older siblings are expected to do.
Buck wanted to do good by his little sister. So he bought the damn White Claws.