Run, Girl (If You Can)

Since Aaron wasn't actively bleeding out or anything like that, he was low on the priority list to be seen. Even though they went to the emergency room of one of the best hospitals in the city with the lowest wait times, they still waited for an hour before Aaron got called back.

The atmosphere was incredibly tense. Aiden clearly feared for his life but there was no need. He wasn't the one who hit him in the eye. It was Cameron.

He had apologized profusely after it happened but Aaron had to hold his temper in check. His mantra was 'he's getting married, he's getting married, he's getting married.' He couldn't do anything until this was over and done with.

The nurse took his vitals before calling for a doctor to examine him and left Aaron sitting in a small side room.

What a disaster. He still had to socialize after this too when all he wanted to do was sleep. His face hurt. He had never been all that great at relating to other men anyway, even the ones in high society who had similar life experiences.

Aaron tolerated Aiden and Cameron because he had gotten used to their presence but the only person he enjoyed spending time with was Keeley. He would get to see her tomorrow but wasn't even looking forward to it anymore because he looked terrible. She would definitely laugh at him.

The doctor came into the room as he was dreaded her reaction and reached out to shake his hand. "I understand this was a paintball injury."

"Yes. The goggles were faulty."

"Let's have a look at you." The doctor put on a pair of gloves and painfully pried Aaron's swollen eye open to examine it for damage.

He began tearing up. Everything surrounding his eye was tender.

"I'm not seeing any problems. Close your right eye," the doctor instructed. Aaron did. "Can you still see out of the left one?"

"Yes."

"Any headaches or nausea?"

"No."

The doctor backed away. "I think this is a simple case of a black eye. It'll go away on its own in a week or two."

A week or two. Fantastic. He would have to go into the office like this. Everyone would see it, including his father. Could he get away with pretending to have the flu? No, it wasn't flu season. Ugh.

"Thank you," he said flatly before heading out to the waiting room where Aiden sat.

He jumped up immediately, worry written all over his face. "What did the doctor say?"

"It will heal on its own in the next week or two."

Aiden grimaced. "Yikes."

"Yeah," Aaron said icily. "That just about sums it up."

The ride back to his apartment was a silent one. They beat the rabble so Aaron approached the doorman quite formally despite his current appearance. The doorman's eyes widened at the sight but he wisely said nothing.

"I am expecting a group of guests in the next fifteen minutes. Go ahead and send them right up."

"Yes, Mr. Hale."

Aaron strode toward the elevator with tangible dignity, Aiden following in his wake. When they got to the second floor of the penthouse, Aiden whistled.

"This is the perfect place to have a party! Have you really never held one here before?"

"No. Why would I do something like that?"

Aiden shut up immediately. He had a point.

The rest of the group showed up wearing their shirts, thankfully. Apparently the bet had been forgotten due to the suddenness of Aaron's injury. They were all amazed at the size of the place and looked around in various states of shock.

"Geez, what do you even do for a living?!"

"I've never seen an apartment this big in my entire life."

"Even I didn't know you had this much space!"

"I did," Aiden said a bit smugly, directing his comment at Cameron, who had just spoken.

He glared at his friend. "When have you been here before?"

Aiden didn't want to admit to the reason behind either of the times he had been here because it was too embarrassing. He simply grinned mysteriously in response.

"Enough ogling my house," Aaron said coldly. "Are we going to play games or not?"

"We are," Aiden said quickly. "I've got the perfect one! I left it in Cam's car though."

Cameron volunteered to go get it and everyone else was at an awkward standstill during the time it took him to come back. You could practically hear the crickets chirping until Dinah showed up. Everyone relaxed a little once they saw her; pets humanize people.

"Ohmygosh I've never seen her in person! She's so cute!" Aiden cooed, crouching down to pet her.

"What's her name?" Cooper asked.

"Dinah."

She was like a little ambassador for Aaron, calming the tension in the room considerably as she rolled around and basked in the attention.

When Cameron came back with the game, the mood in the room had completely shifted. He was surprised until he saw what everyone was huddled around. Aaron was even showing Chase pictures he had taken of Dinah doing funny things.

Aiden saw him and hopped to his feet before taking the game out of his hands. "Hey guys, we've got Drunk Jenga!"

Some people cheered, others groaned, but Aaron was confused. He had never heard of this. Keeley had mentioned something about regular Jenga once years and years ago but he couldn't remember what it was.

Opening the box, Aiden began setting up a tower with little wooden tiles that had been written on with permanent marker. He explained the rules of the game.

Like regular Jenga, each person went around in a circle and chose a block to remove. The difference was that there was a direction written on each one that the person who picked it had to complete. Whoever knocked over the tower had to drink an additional shot. 

This seemed like a terrible idea to Aaron but he kept his mouth shut. It wasn't his place to refute. He only had to endure this a couple more hours before kicking everyone out and going to sleep.

The rules weren't terrible at first. Chase had pulled a tile that said rock, paper, scissors on it. The loser had to drink. He chose to do it with Cooper, who lost and took the penalty.

Cameron pulled a tile where everyone with kids had to take one shot per kid. Chase, Mike, and Donny were the only ones who had to participate that time.

Aaron didn't have to drink until Aiden's tile indicated that all singles had to take a shot. He, Cooper, and Josh were the victims of that turn. Everyone else had a wife, fiancée, or girlfriend at the very least.

'Okay,' he thought to himself. 'Maybe this isn't so terrible. I can get through this.'

Everyone but Aaron got progressively drunker as the game continued. Tallest person drinks, one drink for each sibling you have, youngest person drinks. He didn't have to drink again until he was the one to accidentally knock over the tower.