[Image Caption: Koda and Sebastian in Nick's dorm room.]

When I wake up in the morning I’m not fortunate enough to be in the same cozy position. I’m on the edge of my bed while Koda is flipped over and curled up against the wall. I get up since it’s nearing noon, and decide to duck out for a bit and grab some food. Koda will need something carby and greasy when he wakes up.

As I move down the hallway, I see Corinne in the lounge with some of the girls. I hold a hand up and wave at them, but don’t stop to chat. I head down into the cafeteria and take my time deciding what to eat since I doubt Koda is even remotely conscious yet. I end up grabbing some burgers and a couple bottles of water.

Back in my room, Koda’s eyes are open and his brow is furrowed. “Headache?” I ask.

“Yup.”

I set the food on my nightstand and then open a drawer, getting some pain killers for him.

“Here,” I say.

He sits up, takes two, and grabs the water I brought, downing it. I watch him somewhat cautiously and decide not to say anything to him about last night on the off chance he’s still feeling sensitive about me babysitting him. I wouldn’t want to reignite those emotions. I’ll just make sure to let him do whatever he wants in the future. Jesus, if I had known he was going to pitch such a fit I wouldn’t have hassled him at all. It’s just more work for me. Worst case scenario, I can hand him over to the student health center.

I eat my lunch and Koda works on his slowly. I wonder if he’ll get sick. “Does your stomach hurt?” I ask.

“I think I’m alright,” he says, but he’s abandoned his food so I’m not sure if he’s telling the truth.

I don’t know what to do now. There will be more parties this week, but I doubt Koda will be up for it. Then again, he’ll probably be annoyed if I suggest we stay in my dorm. If he fucks himself up enough times, maybe he’ll start to learn his lesson. It sounds harsh, but what else am I supposed to do? He’s on a dangerous streak lately and I have no idea what’s causing it. 

He stands up slowly, eyebrows drawn together. He groans and kneels by his overnight bag, digging out pyjama pants. He changes into them, ditching the jeans he had on last night for something more comfortable. He sits back on my bed up against the pillow, sipping on the bottle of water. “Y’know what?” he says. “Let’s just… get day-drunk. Alcohol cures hangovers, right? A little hair of the dog?”

I smile wearily. I don’t have any hard liquor, but Tyler and I do have a few crappy beers in our mini-fridge. I stand up and walk to the corner of my room, grabbing a couple of generic cans and tossing them onto my bed. Koda cracks one open and starts sipping it.

“How is it?” I ask.

“S’fine,” Koda replies, but he’s making a face so I can tell they taste nasty. Whatever, at least they’re cold. I open one too but don’t have any intention of drinking this garbage. I just want to eat the rest of my lunch.

I feel bad for Koda. He looks like he’s in a sore state. I don’t know what’s going on with him these days. 

“Man, are you sure you’re alright lately?” I ask him.

“I’m okay, Nick. I’m sorry about last night. I know I can get annoying to deal with.”

“You’re fine, dude. I’m just glad you’re okay.” 

But is he? I don’t fucking know. At the start of the year, he was such a fun drunk, but now he’s overdoing it. I finish the rest of my burger and down some more water. I take a sip on the beer I cracked open and, boy, is it ever foul. 

“Moose piss,” I say, managing to get a chuckle out of Koda. 

We end up laying around my room all afternoon. It’s nice to not have homework to worry about. Everything about college is such a rush, but right now all we’re doing is sprawling out on my bed and wasting time until tonight. Tyler pops in and out, giving me a funny look each time. I wonder if he thinks we fucked last night. God, I hope not. He didn’t know Koda was going to be staying over again. I probably should have mentioned it to him, since this is his space, too. 

Eventually the evening rolls around and Koda starts to seem like he’s feeling better. I’m not sure if it’s because we rested or because we’ve been drinking all day. Either way, I’m glad to see him peppier.

“Down for a party later or wanna chill out here?” I ask.

“Uh…” he rubs his smooth chin. “Dunno. Guess we can go to a party. If you want to.”

“I want to,” I tell him, but I guess it’s nice he’s thinking about what I want as well.

I type out a text message to Corinne asking if she knows where the party is tonight. If she doesn’t, she’ll ask someone else for me. There’s always someone in our group who knows where to look. About a half an hour later Corinne gets back to me. Apparently there’s a dorm party being hosted in one of the buildings across campus. It’s not as convenient as I would have liked but that’s fine. I guess it makes sense that the frat houses would be busy cleaning up after last night.

“Dorm party,” I say, handing Koda my phone.

“Nice. Those are always more fun.”

If I see Corinne tonight, I’ll ask her about Samir. She must’ve seen him around. She’ll be able to tell me if he’s okay at least. Then I can finally drop it. I can tell Koda is getting annoyed. He keeps calling me obsessive, but I’m not, I’m just concerned. I’m too soft for my own damn good. I want everyone to be happy and it sucks when they’re not.

“I’m gonna go to the cafe and grab some more food,” I say. “Whatcha feel like eating?”

“Uh… whatever. I’m not fussy.”

I nod and head out again. I’m just glad the cafeteria stays open during spring break for all the losers that don’t go anywhere. If not, I’d be scarfing down Mr. Noodles daily since there isn’t a kitchen in the dorms. I decide to go for a vegetable platter and some fish. Healthy, right? 

“Thanks,” Koda tells me when I get back to my room and hand him a plate. “Sebastian texted me when you were out. He said he had liquor so I invited him to come by—I hope that’s okay.”

“That’s fine. Leave it to Sebastian.”

Eventually Sebastian shows up with a quart of Polar Ice. It’s some of the cheapest shit so I get why people buy it, but it’s so rank. Koda looks pleased, though. I guess this is good enough for him.

“Pre-party?” Sebastian asks, sitting with Koda on my bed. He’s eying the empty beer cans.

When Koda’s done scarfing his food, he and Sebastian take turns passing the vodka back and forth. I sit at my desk and eat slowly. Watching them drink that shit straight makes me wanna vom. 

“Tasty?” I ask.

“Not particularly,” Sebastian says. “So, Koda, gonna get hammered again tonight?”

“Shut up, man.”

“Just wondering.”

Thankfully, he doesn’t mention anything about me being mothering or whatever the hell he said to set Koda off last night. I’m not planning on going down that road today.

Sebastian doesn’t have the best track record with alcohol either, to be honest. He can be blunt and it pisses people off. He’s never exactly wrong, but always shit no one wants to hear. He’s too matter of fact and people aren’t ready to have their personalities critiqued when they’ve already had five drinks. It’s kind of a shocker that he and Koda are even friends, especially since Koda is so uptight. It’s probably circumstantial since they had a course together.

Soon, night time approaches and the sun is long set. They’re still passing the vodka back and forth, but it’s getting low. 

“Are you guys ready?” I ask.

Koda hands the bottle of liquor to Sebastian, who screws the cap back on.

“You guys go on without me,” he says, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I’m going to head back to my room.”

It takes a special type of guy to down half a fifth of booze and then choose to go hang out by himself. He might make an appearance later on, but probably not. For all I know, he could go back to his room and start reading Hegel or something.

Crappy dance music is playing when we arrive. Koda heads to the kitchen while I try to find my cousin. I look around a bit, but I don’t see her. Maybe she isn’t here yet. It’s still early, after all. Instead, I spot a girl I fooled around with in the past. I give her an awkward wave, not wanting to act like a dick. I also see Gabe, which is a bit of a surprise. He’s standing in the corner talking to Ivy. I want to go say hi, but I’m not sure how to. I feel like it would be awkward.

A moment later, Koda reappears with beer in-hand. He gives Gabe a quick glance up and down when he notices me staring, then smiles at me snidely. “You’re not going to disappear on me, are you?”

I chuckle. “No, I don’t think so. We’ve barely talked since then.”

“That’s too bad,” Koda says, but he looks secretly satisfied. I think he’s probably glad I’m not going to ditch him.

We end up in a game room and play a few rounds of pool. We end up gathering a bit of attention. I’m pretty good at pool, but Koda sucks and it’s even worse now that he’s drunk. He doesn’t seem bothered by everyone laughing at his horrible aim. He’s laughing along with them. It’s kind of nice to see him like this again—not taking himself so seriously. 

After pool, we head back into the kitchen for more drinks. So much for not getting crazy. We’re both so trashed we can barely stand and we’re acting like total fools. Koda is telling some story as he hangs off my shoulder, but half of what’s coming out of his mouth sounds like nonsense. That alone is funny, so he’s got me cracking up.

Corinne appears with her girlfriends sometime after midnight. “Corinne—” I start, putting a hand on her arm, but I lose my train of thought halfway through.

“Yeah?” she laughs.

I stare at her for a second, trying to remember what I was saying. “Right! Where’s Samir? I mean it—why does no one know where he is? Why doesn’t he come out anymore? I wanna see him.”

The girl who’s standing off to Corinne’s left stifles a chuckle. “What’re you laughing at?” Koda sneers, even though the chuckle is clearly directed at me.

“Your friend,” she tells him.

“He’s in his room,” Corinne tells me finally. “He’s been taking it easy lately. I think his parents are cracking down.”

I narrow my eyes on her. I’m trying to figure out if she’s lying or not… but I can’t. How the hell would I?

“I’m serious,” she says. “He’s fine, so stop worrying about it. I told his brother to check on him, too. So, drop it. Samir would be really annoyed if he knew you were getting your panties all in a twist. I’m pretty sure he wants to forget and move on with his life.”

“Well, he involved me, so I wanted him to tell me how it fucking ended,” I mutter.

“He probably didn’t want to get you involved. He had no choice, really. He just wanted to know what happened. The trail led him to you.”

“Yeah? So, he shoulda let me know he got it sorted. I was worrying, man! Any person would’ve been worrying…”

“Samir’s brain doesn’t work that way.”

“I guess it wasn’t my business…” I relent.

“It really wasn’t. At all.”

“Whatever!” Koda says with finality, attempting to separate himself from the support of my shoulder and almost falling over in the process, “Why’re we spending all our time thinkin’ about someone who isn’t here and wouldn’t even want us to be thinkin’ about’m?” I guess he has a point there. “C’mon, Nick,” he continues, “I don’t wanna talk about Samir anymore.”