Stay and wait

"Mmmmm slowly now." Callum groaned out.

Was he talking to me? He wasn't looking at me, but there wasn't anyone else here? Did he notice me wanting to chase after Sarah, was he telling me to give her some space? He was probably right, I should rush off to go look after her when she's clearly wanted to be more independent all day.

We weren't high school kids anymore, we were adults. If I couldn't treat Sarah like an adult and let her take care of herself, did I really respect her?

"Thanks man, your right." I said. "I know we haven't been getting along perfectly today, but I really appreciate the advice."

Callum had both hands under the table now, maybe he was adjusting his pants? It was a little silly he was still pretending to be fine, but after how nice he'd been I figured I should play along.

"So what do you do for fun these days?" I said to make conversation. Maybe it wasn't the nicest to make him talk more like this, but I couldn't sit here in silence waiting for Sarah to come back.

"Mmhhhh focus on the balls..." he said in a deep groan.

"Sports?" I guessed. It was hard to tell when his discomfort was making him talk weird. "Never been much into them myself."

"Ooooohhhh yeaaahhh." He stretched his words out. "Nothing better than giving them a hard pounding."

"I can imagine."

"Mmmmgghh you can't man. You haven't even experienced it."

"Yeah that's right, you've probably gone hundreds of rounds."

"Deeper, deeper." He moaned softly.

"More than hundreds? Haha you must be addicted or something." It was weird having such a normal conversation with Callum. For so long he'd been this dark figure in my head, but here we were getting along. I was understanding more and more why Sarah wanted to try this, it really was a cathartic experience.

"Yes, fuck, just like that!" He said while reeling. The pain must have been at its peak because he was moving around so much the whole table was rattling.

There was a strange sound I heard as the table rattled. Not like a squeaking I would have imagined, it almost sounded wet? Like a faint wet slapping sound I could only just hear over the music.

"Do you-" I started, but then I noticed Callum was clearly experiencing too much to talk anymore. "I'm going to give Sarah a quick call to make sure she's alright."

That was a fine amount of concern right? I didn't want to smother her, but seeing how Callum was reacting I needed to do something to make sure she was alright. I turned my head and dialled Sarah's number in, waiting through each ring for her to pick up.

"Mmllhhh hahh, hhhaaahh, hhhey Lewis." She said in a huffed voice.

"Hey Sarah, I just wanted to make sure you weren't feeling too bad. How's your stomach?" She sounded better than Callum, but clearly struggled with something.

"Mmuuguhh... ish okahay."

With the music, Callum's groaning and how softly she was speaking, it was a little hard to make out the words. They sounded quite slurred which must have been from the amount she just drank.

"That's good." I said. I wanted to tell her she shouldn't drink that much so fast, or ask if she needs help but I didn't. Like Callum said, I took it slow and gave her more space.

"Mmmhhhhhhh it's shoo guuud." It almost sounding like she was slurping something? Maybe she had a glass of water to settle herself, I couldn't hear well enough to tell.

"Okay, well I'll let you go. I love-"

"Hold on." She interrupted.

She must have been throwing up now, I could hear the wet gurgling noises.

Gluuck gluugh gluuahk

Faintly coming through the phone. It was even harder to hear as Callum started roaring at the same time. Grunting harder and louder than he'd had this hold time.

Ahhhhhhh God fuuuuckk

He shouted out. I glanced back at him and watched as his body convulsed in time with his grunts. I didn't want to think about what he must be going through so I turned back around.

"Ahhhh hhahhhh haaaahhhh, ohh fuck that was so much." I could hear Sarah say under her breath.

"Better now?" I asked.

"Hmm? Oh Liam! Uhh, yes much better." She said, clearly a little flustered. She was probably embarrassed I'd heard her throw up.

"That's great, ummm, I'll see you soon then!"

"Mmmmhh yeah, I'll just need to clean up first."

She hung up before I could tell her I love her, hopefully she'd be feeling better now. Callum certainly looked better after whatever he'd just gone through. He seemed much calmer, almost satisfied really as he stared at something under the table.

He grabbed his almost empty drink off the table and pulled it up for a drink. Instead of making contact with his mouth though, he just seemed to spill it onto the ground.

"Oh shit." He said, without much concern. "My pants are soaked now!"

"Are you sure?" I asked. "It looked more like it dripped onto the ground?"

"You think I don't know if my own pants are soaked?" He said. "Come on man, give me your shirt."

"What? Why?" I was getting along better with Callum, but I wasn't about to just give the man my shirt.

"I need something to clean this up. Can't use my shirt, it's too nice for that. And we can't use any of Sarah's clothes right?"

Something about the way Callum's mind worked was just so different to mine. He always seemed to come to conclusions that were wildly different from what I thought.

"I can just go ask the bartenders for some napkins or towels?" I don't know why I phrased it like a question, I knew for sure they would have something else we could use.

"Nah man, they'll throw us out if they think I'm so drunk I'm spilling my drinks. Just take it off already!"

I wasn't wholly convinced, but he knew more about places like this than I did. I took off my shirt, being thankful that the lighting made it hard for anyone to get a good look at me. I wasn't exactly ashamed of my body, but years of teasing made me uncomfortable with being shirtless around other people.

Callum took my shirt and began rubbing himself with it under the table. I waited awkwardly for him to finish as he cleaned up his mess under the table. For a second I thought I heard Sarah giggling, but when I looked around I couldn't see her anywhere.

"Yeah that's good." Callum said as he threw the shirt back to me.

I rushed to cover myself up, only noticing something was off after it was fully on.

"Ugghh, why does it feel so sticky now?"

"Duhh, because it's covered in my drink." Callum said, grinning wide.

"Fuck it didn't look like you'd split that much!" It felt like the entire front of my shirt was sticking to me so it must have really soaked through.

"I'm getting something to clean myself up with." I told him. "Keep an eye out for Sarah, she should be coming back soon."

"Don't worry." I could hear Callum say as I started to walk off.

"She'll be coming real soon."