"Do You Want My Pants?"

There were two things that Liv hated more than anything else in the world: drunk people and wet socks. It took everything in her not to scream her head off when Carter Matthews stumbled into her and spilled  two entire cups full of beer down her pants. 

“Whoops.” He stepped back and looked down at the floor, where a small puddle lay by her feet. Looking back up at her, he gave her a lopsided smile and laughed. “Sorry about that, Liz.” 

“It’s Liv.” She corrected him, feeling slightly annoyed that he couldn’t remember her name even though they were in the same intro to anthropology class.

Carter gave no indication that he had heard her, he just grabbed the cups off the floor and wandered off in search of a refill. 

What am I supposed to do now? Liv thought to herself as she looked down at herself. Her jeans were soaked, her socks felt squishy, and the large stain that was spreading down her legs was starting to look like she had peed herself. 

She should have never come to this party. This was officially one of the Top 5 dumbest ideas she had ever had. She didn’t even really know anyone here, she wasn’t friends with any of them. She was a month into starting college, and she was incredibly lonely. 

That was why tonight, for the first time in her life, Liv had decided to put herself out there and leave the comfort of her dorm room to attend one of the weekly Friday night parties that everyone was always raving about. She had been hoping that maybe she could meet some new people, but the thought of that seemed pretty unlikely now. 

Liv pushed through the crowd of people, trying her hardest to ignore the strange looks that she got from some of them. Her feet made squishing noises as she walked, which only served to magnify her humiliation. She spotted the bathroom down the hall and quickly rushed over and shut herself in. 

Glancing over at her reflection in the toothpaste smeared mirror, Liv cringed when she saw how bad her jeans looked and how flustered her face was. She quickly kicked her shoes off and peeled off her soaked socks. Without a second thought, she tossed them into the trash can. Putting her shoes back on, Liv began inspecting the drawers to see if there was anything she could use to fix herself up. She prayed desperately for a hair dryer but the only things she could find were razors and dental floss. 

“Open up! I need to pee!” Someone in the hallway began rapidly pounding on the bathroom door. 

The noise made Liv jump and she hastily closed all the drawers back up. “Just a minute!” She called back, but her words did nothing to lessen the intensity of the person’s knocks. In fact, they seemed to only get louder. 

Liv finally gave up, accepting that she was going to have to go back out there with her drenched pants and opened the door. Immediately, a group of girls pushed through with such force that they nearly knocked her down. 

Liv stumbled past the door frame and went back to the hallway. She could feel her cheeks burning the more people stared at her. She supposed that she could have just left and gone back to the dorm right then and there, but the exit was all the way on the other side of the house. She didn’t have it in her to face the walk of shame just yet, so Liv did the only other thing she could think of. 

There was a small closet just a few steps down the hall, so Liv walked over to it as discreetly as she could and locked herself in. As soon as she closed the door and found herself embraced in total darkness, she left out a sigh of relief. 

“Hey, this closet’s occupied!” 

The sudden deep voice from behind her shot goosebumps down her spine, and Liv was so shocked and surprised that the closet wasn’t empty that she nearly fainted. She turned around and spotted a guy sitting on some coats, balancing a laptop on his knees. The bright light of the screen illuminated his face creepily, which made Liv instantly regret her decision to hide in this closet. 

“Sorry, I…um…didn’t know anyone was in here.” Liv laughed nervously as she felt around for the doorknob. “I’ll just go, sorry for disturbing you.” 

“Hey, are you ok?” The guy asked. The annoyance in his voice faded away and instead he looked taken aback by her appearance.  “You look like you’re freaking out, also you’re dripping.”  

“Yeah, I know.” Liv mumbled, in disbelief over what terrible luck she was having. “That’s beer, my pants are completely soaked right now and I’m absolutely mortified and I just wanna leave but I feel like everyone is staring at me and---” 

“--you decided to hide in a closet until the party dies down so you can leave without being seen?” The guy guessed. 

“Yeah.” Liv admitted. She knew it wasn’t a good plan, but hearing it spoken out loud by someone else made her realize just how ridiculous it sounded. 

“Yeah, that makes total sense.” The guy nodded, as if that was a completely rational plan. “Also, I was just kidding about what I said earlier, you can stay here if you want. There’s enough space for the two of us.” 

“Thanks.” Liv said, sliding down to a sitting position. She was surprised by how nonchalant he was being, but she also appreciated that he was nice enough to act like she wasn’t a total weirdo. “So what are you doing in here?” 

“I have a paper due at midnight.” The guy held up his laptop to show Liv his screen. “Didn’t wanna miss out on the party though. I only have one more page to write.” 

“Oh you’re working on a paper?” Liv felt bad that she had interrupted him. “I can go find another closet or maybe even a pantry so that you can focus on your assignment.” 

“Nah, it's fine.” The guy assured her. He smiled at her, which made her feel slightly better. “I need to take a break anyway, I can literally feel my brain turning into mush. My name’s Ben by the way.” 

“I’m Liv.” 

“Nice to meet you, Liv.” Ben said. “So other than getting an unwanted beer shower, how’s the rest of your night been?” 

“Terrible.” Liv said before she could stop herself. She didn’t want to bare her soul to some guy she had just met in a closet, but it's not like she had any friends of her own she could talk to. “I shouldn’t have come to this party.” 

“Why do you say that?” Ben asked, frowning. 

“I wanted to be spontaneous and get out of my comfort zone for a bit.” Liv explained. “Sometimes I just feel like I don’t belong here, like I don’t know how to interact with others, like people aren’t interested in me. I tried to put myself out there tonight, and now I’m hiding in a closet.” 

“Look, I get it.” Ben closed his laptop and scooted closer to Liv. “Making friends in college is hard. But you can’t let this one experience set you back. You gotta get back out there.” 

“I can’t.” Liv shook her head. “I just can’t, it literally looks like I peed my pants.” 

“Do you want my pants?”  Ben asked suddenly. 

“What?” 

“Do you want my pants?” 

“I’m sorry, what?” 

“DO YOU WANT MY PANTS!” 

“No need to shout. I heard you the first time.” Liv looked at Ben and wondered if he was drunk too. “I’m just so utterly confused right now, you’re offering me your pants?” 

“Yes.” 

“Why?” 

“Cause yours are drenched in cheap alcohol.” Ben said. “If you don’t want them, that’s fine but I’m just offering because if I were you I wouldn’t wanna be walking around in wet pants.” 

“But if I take your pants…then you wouldn’t be wearing any.” 

“I have boxers underneath. Lucky for you, I actually remembered to do laundry this week.” 

“But then you’re going to be walking around in your boxers all night.” Liv pointed out. 

“I have no shame in my body.” Ben proclaimed proudly. “Besides, this wouldn’t be the first time I left a party pantless.” 

Liv stared at him, absolutely baffled by his offer and a little suspicious that he was trying to play a prank on her. “You just met me like 5 minutes ago. I am basically a stranger to you, and you’re just gonna give me your pants?” 

“Well, I’m not exactly giving them to you, you’re just borrowing them for the night.” Ben clarified. “I would like to get them back at some point. Don’t worry about that now, we can text and coordinate a drop-off.” 

“This is so weird.” Liv said, shaking her head. “Normal people don’t just give strangers their pants.” 

“Well, we’re on a first name basis now so I’d argue that we’re a little bit more than strangers.” 

“I don’t think I’ve offered to share my pants with anyone, not even my sister.” Liv muttered, more to herself than to Ben. 

“So you’re saying you don’t want the pants?” 

Liv looked up and studied Ben’s eyes. Even though he was a stranger, she had to admit that he was the nicest person that she had talked to in the last month. “I’ll take the pants.” 

“I knew you’d come around.” Ben grinned and stood up. Without missing a beat, he slid down his pants and handed them to Liv. “No one in their right mind would pass up dry pants.” 

“Thanks.” Liv said as she grabbed the pants and tried her hardest not to stare at Ben’s lower half. “I really do appreciate this.” 

Ben turned his back to her, and Liv quickly peeled off her damp jeans and put on his pants. It was such a relief to get rid of the feeling of wet denim pressing up against her skin. His pants were a little big on her, but they were dry and that was all that mattered. 

Ben turned back around and gave her a giant grin when he saw her. “It really pulls your whole outfit together.” He grabbed a random sweater off the floor and tossed it to Liv so that she could tie it around her waist and use it as a belt. 

“Anna Wintour wishes she came up with this outfit.” Liv laughed. She imagined that she looked absolutely ridiculous wearing the oversized pants and the striped sweater belt but it didn’t bother her at all. In fact, she actually felt a lot better than she had 10 minutes ago. 

“Come on,” Ben said, walking up to the closet door and pulling it open. “I’ll introduce you to some people.” 

“What about your paper?” Liv asked. 

“Screw the paper, I’ll just turn it in late.” Ben was about to step out, but he stopped and gave her a reassuring look. “We don’t have to go back out there if you don’t want to. We can just hang out in the closet if that’s what you want.” 

“Nah, let’s rejoin the party.” Liv said, feeling excited for the first time ever about meeting new people. “I’d like to meet your friends.”