25. Nolan #2
“Let us know if you need help,” Corey says as Hannah starts belting out song lyrics in the backseat of my truck.
“Is now too soon to call?” I ask.
Corey grins. “Good luck.”
We arrive at the house with two bags of take-out twenty minutes later.
“I think she’s asleep,” Hadley says, reaching back to poke Hannah,
I open the back passenger door, realizing, sure enough, Hannah’s passed out, her cat ears lopsided.
I free her seat belt and heft her into my arms. “Can you carry your tacos inside, Cutlass?”
“On it.” She salutes me, making me think of Grey.
Hannah is dead weight as I carry her inside and up the stairs to her bedroom with Hadley behind me, whispering in a voice too loud to constitute a whisper. I set Hannah in her bed and Hadley removes her shoes and headband before covering her with blankets.
“I’m going to go for a walk,” Hadley says.
“Now?”
She wiggles her body in a sideways motion. “I need to move. My whole body feels…” She weaves her fingers together into a fist. “Tight. Too tight. I need to move.”
“I thought you wanted tacos?”
“Walk first. Tacos second.” She turns for the door, not waiting for me to follow her.
I catch up with her at the bottom of the stairs. “Want to change out of the cat costume first?”
“I’m a lion. A lioness,” she says, pulling the door open and heading out into the night, leaving me to make my own decision.
I scramble to lock the door and catch up with her. “Where are we going, Cutlass.”
“I didn’t drink enough to be drunk. But I kind of feel drunk.”
“You’re high, Cutlass.”
She swings her head to me, eyebrows furling. “I’m not high. I didn’t smoke. I don’t smoke.”
“You had an edible.”
Her eyebrows lower with confusion and then soar high on her forehead as her eyes grow wide.
Something rumbles in my chest, a sense of protectiveness and rage unleashed by her reaction.
“I’m high?” she asks.
“Who gave you the edible?” I ask. “Was it someone on the soccer team?”
“I really don’t think they’re your enemies,” she says. “I mean, maybe the guy in the room next to yours. He sounds like he might hate you, but the others…” She shakes her head.
“What did you eat? Do you remember who gave it to you or what they looked like?”
Hadley laughs. “It’s so weird. It’s like my brain is saying stop, go, stop, go—like that game we played as kids.
Did you play that? Traffic light? This is not what I expected.
” She holds her hand out in front of her, stretching and contracting her fingers.
“Am I going to be okay? How long does this last? Is Hannah okay?”
“Who gave you the edible?” I demand, my voice gruff with the anger I’m barely managing to hold onto.
“Let’s fight about it tomorrow. How long will this last?” She trails her hand up her arm and then back down.
“I have no idea. I don’t know how much you had.”
“My body feels good.” Her eyes slide to me, emboldened by her high, and heavily contoured with makeup that makes them masterpieces deserving of every memory I’ll have of her going forward.
“Maybe we should go skinny-dipping again. There’s a lake over here.
North Carolina should be called the state of lakes.
How did Minnesota get that name? Everywhere I go here there’s a lake.
” She turns, taking a marked trail beside someone’s house.
The moon is bright and heavy in the sky, helping the lampposts light the trail.
“We’re not going skinny-dipping, Cutlass. Not here. Not tonight.”
She pouts. “Why? I bet swimming naked would feel sublime right now.” Her fingers graze the length of her arm again, and then her chest.
“Because you’re high.”
“How high am I? Are my decisions impaired or am I just less inhibited? What if we had sex?”
“The only way I’m willing to test that theory is if you want to call Luke and tell him you don’t like him because he’s boring as hell and talks too much.”
“That’s not why I don’t like him.”
“He’s boring.”
“ I’m boring.”
I shake my head. “You’re not boring, Cutlass.”
“Why don’t you like him?” She stops in the middle of the path, facing me.
“Is this permanent?” I ask, reaching for her hair which is currently filled with blonde streaks.
“Because you like blondes?”
I raise my eyebrows with a silent question.
“Janelle.” Contempt fills her tone and eyes.
“Sounds like I’m not the only jealous one.”
She points at my chest. “You are jealous.”
I wrap my hand around hers.
“Why don’t you date people? You could get any girl you wanted.”
“Let’s go, Cutlass.”
“That’s right. Big game tomorrow. Are they all big games? I feel like every week everyone’s saying it’s the big game.”
I grin. “When they want us to win all of them, they are.”
“Am I a bad kisser? I mean, was I terrible the first time we kissed? Is that why you didn’t kiss me again for so long?”
I take a step back, digging my free hand into my hair. “You’re full of questions.”
“I got lip gloss all over you,” she says, closing the distance and painting around my lips with her finger, making my face tingle and warm. “Messy, slobbery kisses are gross. Why has no one told me that I’m a terrible kisser? Why haven’t you told me?”
“Because you’re not. Not even a little.” I tuck a strand of her mix-colored hair behind her ear. “You need to sleep this off.”
She stares at me for a long moment. “Will I remember this tomorrow?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know.”
“If I don’t will you tell me pumpkin cookie?”
“Pumpkin cookie?” I ask.
She nods.
“Was that the edible?”
“It tasted terrible.” She shakes her head and then releases a long sigh. “I’m ready to sleep.”
Katie’s in the living room when we get home, her smile faltering when I follow Hadley inside and becoming a scowl when Hadley admires an orange pillow like it’s the Mona Lisa.
“We could be designers,” Hadley says, looking at Katie. “We’re good at this.”
“You got her drunk?” Katie doesn’t hide her fury.
“You’re a good boyfriend,” Hadley says, pointing at Carsen. “Did you ever casually date?”
Katie’s accusing eyes tear into me.
“She’s high.”
“Oh, God,” Katie shakes her head. “Nolan, she could get arrested. It’s not legal here. What were you thinking?”
“He didn’t. He won’t.” Hadley shakes her head. “He won’t even kiss me in front of people.”
Katie’s attention flicks from her to me, rage consuming her features. “What in the hell’s going on?”
“Hannah and Hadley went to a party with Ethan tonight and ate edibles. They called, and we went and got them.”
Katie looks behind me at the door. “Where’s Hannah?”
I point upstairs. “Already in bed. This one insisted on taking a walk.” I nod at Hadley.
“Dressed as a cat?” Katie asks. “Where were you? Aren’t you freezing?”
“ Lioness ,” Hadley corrects her.
Katie looks at me beseechingly. “Is she going to be okay? Are you sure it was edibles? What if it was date rape drugs? Should we be taking them to the hospital to get their stomachs pumped?”
“She said they ate pumpkin cookies,” I tell her.
“Willingly?” Katie asks.
Hadley crawls her fingers up Katie’s arm. “You’re really warm.”
“I have no idea,” I admit, regretfully.
Katie shakes her head and turns to look at Carsen. “Why don’t you go home? I’ll stay with her tonight. I have no idea what’s going to happen.”
“I can watch her,” I say.
Katie shakes her head. “She’s one of my best friends. I’ll watch her.”
I watch them ascend the stairs, hating every fucking step Hadley takes away from me.