Camille was showing her engagement ring to Falyn for the dozenth time of the evening, and I rolled my eyes. “It’s a fucking diamond, and a small one. Stop bragging.”

“Ellie, that’s enough,” Tyler said.

My face twisted. “She didn’t hear me.”

“You’re talking louder than you think. C’mon. Let’s go back to the room.”

“I’m having a good time.”

“No, you’re sitting in a corner getting drunk.”

I sighed. “I’ll go. You stay here with your family. I don’t want you to miss this.”

“So you can end up in the ocean? No. C’mon.”

I reluctantly stood, pulling away when Tyler tried to take my hand. He waved to his brothers and their significant others, and Tyler only touched me when I stumbled off the sidewalk.

We climbed an excessive amount of stairs to our room, and I leaned against the wall while Tyler opened the door. The lock clicked, the door opened, and had Tyler not caught me, I would have fallen inside.

He lifted me into his arms, carried me to the bed, and lowered me gently to the mattress.

“Come here,” I said, reaching for him.

He pulled off my heels and then turned me onto my side, long enough to unzip the back of my dress. He slipped the fabric down and then slipped a T-shirt over my head.

“Much better,” I said. “Now come here.” I reached for him again, but he turned off the light and the bathroom door closed. The pipes whined as he turned on the shower. I thought about joining him, but I was so comfortable, and dizzy, and maybe a little nauseated. After a few minutes, the heat became hotter and the comfort went away. Nausea took over, and I rolled off the bed, crawling to the bathroom and reaching for the knob.

I barely made it to the toilet before my stomach rejected the day’s worth of vodka I’d consumed. The curtain pulled back, and Tyler’s deep voice filled the room.

“Christ, Ellie. Are you all right?”

“Yep. Ready for round two in no time.”

The curtain closed just in time for me to heave again. The water turned off, and I could hear Tyler shuffling a towel over his body before starting a bath. He held my hair until I was finished, and then undressed me, lifting me off the floor and then lowering me into the tub.

He used a washrag to wipe my face, and then he sighed.

“This has stopped being exciting, hasn’t it?” I asked, feeling mascara sting my eyes.

“Yeah,” he said, sounding sad. “I think it’s time.”

I nodded, wiping the black from my cheeks. “It’s okay, Tyler. I knew it was coming.”

“You knew what was coming?”

“Goodbye.”