CHAPTER ONE

 

I knew it was time to leave when Carly toppled over on her barstool and landed on the ground like a crumpled pretzel. I squeezed by the two guys at the bar who were helping her to her feet and hooked an arm in hers. I turned to the guys and gave them my best smile.

“I’ve got her from here, boys, thank you!”

They exchanged a glance and looked back at me. I wasn’t sure if they were deciding to protest, or if they were assessing whether or not I was sober enough to get her home safely. I prayed it was the latter.

When they gave me a curt nod and moved aside I thanked them again. I braced Carly’s weight on my right hip and wrapped her arm over my shoulder. As we wove through the bar we received a couple cat calls and some sympathetic glances from other girls sitting at tables. We’ve all had a night like Carly was having. Girls with low tolerances for hard alcohol and an uncanny ability to get in one last shot of tequila before close.

We stumbled out of the pub and out on to the sidewalk. Carly was giggling like a fool on my hip.

“You are the best,” she said, her voice slurring. “Like really, Veronica, the best.”

“Yeah, you’ll change your mind in the morning when I’m grinding coffee.”

“No I won’t, I love coffee. Will you make me coffee?”

“Of course.”

She resorted to humming under her breath as we crossed the street and hooked a right, heading for my apartment. It was just past midnight and the streets were starting to slow down to a lazy pace. The occasional car drove by and we walked by a couple out for a late night stroll with their dog.

As we headed further up the block and took a left, the lazy buzz of the busier street faded away to the quietness of my neighborhood. I listened to the hum of the street lights that flickered like unreliable fireflies above. The houses that lined the streets we duplicate three story narrow homes; all were painted in pale pastel colours that looked muted and old in the night.

As we came around the final bend and began to walk down the sidewalk of my street, the sound of voices fell upon my ears. There was a black sedan parked across the street. There was a man leaning on the hood with his arms folded. He wore an oversized sweatshirt that fell nearly halfway to his knees. There were three other men with him. Two were rough housing. At first I thought they were fighting, but when I heard their laughter my anxiety lessened. They shoved each other back and forth while the man leaning against the hood egged them on.

The last man stood separated from the others. He was lighting a cigarette and had an arm draped over the wooden fence of the front yard of the house they were in front of. The amber glow from his cigarette and lighter illuminated his face for the briefest moment, and I was certain that his eyes were watching Carly and me.

Carly mumbled that she felt like she was going to be sick.

“Now is not the time,” I said, “keep it together. We’re almost home.”

My plea went unanswered. She pitched forward onto the lawn of the house we were passing and puked her guts out on her hands and knees.              

I crouched beside her and put my hand on her back. I cast an uneasy glance behind us at the four men. We had all of their attention now. “I’m not trying to freak you out, Car, but we need to get out of here.”

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and looked at me over her shoulder. “I… I take it back, you’re not the best. I don’t want to walk anymore, just… just let me die here.”

Her drunken stupor had left her witless. I bit the inside of my cheek as she hurled again. Across the street, the men were huddled together and talking and pointing at us.

Worry bloomed within me and I wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of there. My hand on Carly’s back began nervously tapping her, to which she responded with an angry mumble and a clumsy swatting of my hand.

The men stepped off the curb and started across the street. The one at the back tossed his cigarette on the road and put it out with his boot. I watched them come, hopelessly trapped by those damn tequila shots.

They hopped up on to the sidewalk behind us. The largest one, the one who had been leaning on the hood of the sedan, came and stood beside us on the grass. “Your friend isn’t looking too good.” His voice held the drawl of ignorant confidence.

“I hadn’t noticed,” I quipped back.

He laughed and the others joined him. The worry that had built up in me was morphing into something more real: fear. I didn’t like this. Carly’s back heaved beneath my hand as she was sick again. A whimper escaped her lips as she sulked in her own misery, completely unaware of the threat that loomed over us.

“We don’t need any help,” I said, my voice loud enough for all of them to hear me. “You can go.”

The one who had spoken before splayed his fingers out wide to feign innocence. “Oh, calm down now girlie, nobody’s doing nothing wrong here. Don’t get your panties in a wad about it.” He elbowed the guy standing beside her and pointed his chin at me. “Pretty, ain’t she?”

I regretted the low cut top with cut outs in the shoulders. I regretted the red lipstick and the strappy heels that showed off my pink toenails. I shrank away from him. Carly looked up at me and followed my gaze over her shoulder and to the men.

She twisted all the way around and sank down on the grass. Her hand grabbed my wrist.

“You’re not bad either,” the man said, and the others chuckled some more. He crouched down in front of us and his hooded eyes lingered on me. “I must confess, you are exactly my type.” He rested his chin in one hand and licked his lip.

“If you come any closer to me I’ll scream,” I said, ignoring Carly’s tightening grip on my wrist.

He laughed again, apparently not rattled at all by my threat. “Definitely my type. You want to go for a ride in the car? We’ve got heated seats and some drinks in there. You could do a bump. What do you say?”

I shook my head. No words came to mind that would suffice to explain exactly how much I didn’t want to get in the car with them.

“What about your friend? Want to have a good time, sweetheart? We’re nice guys, I swear. We’ll just go a little ride. Get you feeling a bit better. What do you say?”

Carly was too paralyzed to offer an answer of his own. This only encouraged him. He moved forward and put one hand on my ankle. He traced his finger up the seam of my jeans and then tightened his grip on my knee. “I like a girl who has a bit of fire, but I don’t like a girl who doesn’t do what she’s told. Get in the car.” His snarl made me recoil.

He reached out to grab my wrist, but one of the men behind spoke up.

“Come on, man, let’s just leave them. The blonde is covered in vomit anyway.”

The man in the oversized sweater paused midway to me and looked back at the one who spoke. It was the one who had been smoking. He stood behind and slightly to the side, like he wasn’t really a part of what was transpiring. Both hands were tucked into the pockets of his jeans, his thumbs peaking out.

The one who reached for me stood and faced the other man. “Didn’t Lucas tell you we are very good sharers?”

The smoker shrugged his shoulders and I heard the leather of his jacket creak. “I’m not one for sharing, personally. I’m also not big on blacked out chicks. So let’s keep it moving.”

“Blacked out?” The man held his arms out wide and his sweater grew in size. “McCoy, who said anything about being blacked out?”

The one called McCoy shrugged again and turned away, stepping down off the curb of the sidewalk. “That’s what it looks like to me.”

This comment didn’t seem to sit well with the others. It ruffled their feathers. Their attention was no longer on me and Carly, but on McCoy, who had now turned his back on them and was making his way slowly across the street and back to the car. He paused, lit another cigarette, and looked back at all of us. “Are you all just going to stand there with your dicks in your hands?”

Apparently the answer was no. The two who hadn’t said a word the whole time followed McCoy out on to the street. The other, the one who made me feel like he was undressing me with his eyes, glared after them. He looked back down at me. “Maybe next time, sweet lips. Have a good night.”

Then they were gone. They loaded themselves into the car and started it up. I expected them to spin their tires and tear out of there in a chorus of loud music and hollering, but their departure was relatively silent.

I blew out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. Carly got unsteadily to her feet and I stood beside her. I brushed the grass and dirt off her pants and offered her my shoulder again to continue walking home.

She shook her head. “I’m totally sober now.”

We made it back to my house in record time. Relief washed over me when we locked the front door. I stood in the entrance of my place for several minutes before I pushed myself off the door and went to the kitchen. I brewed us a pot of coffee and we sat in subdued silence in the living room. I invited her to forgoe the couch and sleep in my bed that night. She happily obliged.