Chapter Five
C urled under a homemade quilt on Jeremy’s leather sofa, Nickie began dumping the contents of our favorite local Chinese food into various bowls, while Jeremy set up the mini projector in his living room. His parents, big-time lawyers, had their law firm here in New York, so they typically worked late hours. That gave the three of us alone time while raiding their expensive cheese collection.
After several profanities from Jeremy, he finally got it set up, dimmed the lights, and popped in our all-time favorite movie.
“I told my parents to just mount it on the wall, but nooo,” Jeremy complained, stealing some of the blankets. “So, where did you run off to the night of SummerFest? You were missing for quite some time.”
I rolled my eyes at his shitty question. “You know where.”
Jeremy flicked my nose and said, “Bitch, tell me!”
Taking one of the many pillows on his couch, I hit him square in the face. “Stop doing that!”
Jeremy grabbed his pillow and turned it into an actual pillow fight. After several minutes of assaulting one another, he slung his arm around my shoulder and said, “So, did you fuck?”
I pushed him off. “No! God, we just made out.” Although, from a distance, it would’ve looked like we were about to or in the middle of it.
I loved Jeremy, but sometimes he wanted too much detail about my sex life.
“So, are you going to see him again?” he asked.
“Nah, I think that was a one-time thing. His whole ‘see you around’ was another indicator of that. Never got a chance to even ask for his number either.” I sighed.
“Ugh, men. This is why I’m making out with chicks most of the time.” He laughed.
I gave him a sly look and said, “Most of the time?”
“Men are confusing. At least you ladies are upfront about what you want.”
We laughed some more when Nickie came in with a silver tray of Chinese food. “What did I say about having fun without me?” She placed the tray down on the coffee table and handed us each a pair of chopsticks as she picked up one of the bowls overflowing with Lo Mein.
“Sorry, Jeremy asked me about the mysterious man I made out with at the club,” I said.
“Oh, so that’s where you went.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah. Surprised you realized I was gone.”
“Sorry, the singer held my attention.” She swooned.
Since that night, Josh had become Nickie’s official unofficial boyfriend for four days. The lead singer was known for open relationships but seemed to take a liking to my best friend, and this had become his first monogamous one.
I took another container piled with Lo Mein. “Either way, I made a promise not to get all committed. I don’t have the energy for the mind games.”
“So, he turned you down?” Nickie’s tone dripped with pity.
Jeremy slammed down the remote and ran from the living room. “Fuck! The wine!”
I stabbed the Lo Mein with my chopsticks. “No.”
She shrugged her shoulders and took a mouthful of food.
I bit my lip, trying my best to let it go, when I remembered the laced flask from that night. “By the way, what did you do to the drink that night?”
Nickie swallowed. “Mitch Lester gave me some of his good shit.”
“So, you have no idea what was in it?”
She shook her head, taking another big bite.
“And you trusted him?” Getting fun party drugs was one thing, but getting it from Mitch Lester was asking for a hospital visit or an early trip to your grave. The fact that Nickie would be so stupid as to trust that piece of shit had me livid.
Nickie rolled her eyes and put her food down on the tray. “Mitch’s stuff isn’t laced with anything heavy.”
I slammed my container down, the chopsticks flopping over and hitting the floor, staining the luxurious carpet. “Doesn’t matter. It could’ve been!” She had more trust in the city’s notorious drug dealer than her best friend since elementary school.
Jeremy rushed back with three glasses of wine. “I got the goods la—okay, which one of you bitches stained my mom’s favorite carpet?”
Nickie stood, her eyes turning into dangerous slits. “Jeez, Rem. Didn’t think it would be a fucking problem.”
My hands began to tremble, and the image of the creature crept around the edges of my mind. “It is a problem, Nickie! Mitch is known to lace his shit with the heavy stuff.”
She crossed her arms. “Since when? And why do you fucking care all of a sudden? Is mommy’s perfect little angel suddenly done with the party life?”
Jeremy stood inches from our heated bubble, watching our interaction escalate.
Clenching my fists, I gathered my belongings and made my way to the front door, completely over this conversation.
Nickie, on the other hand, wasn’t done and was the CEO of the last word. “Just because you’re going to an Ivy League school doesn’t mean you get to treat the rest of us like shit.”
I slammed the door shut and leaned against it, breathing heavily. A rush of panic went through my whole body, making my legs shake with fear.
Through the door, I could make out Jeremy’s angry words. “Nickie, can you not be a raging bitch for five seconds?”
“She started it!”
On wobbly legs, I removed myself from the area, finding comfort in the quiet elevator. Leaning on the cool, metal walls for support, the chill tamed the heat radiating from my body but not enough to stifle the irritation settling in my nervous system.
I tried to reason with myself, insisting that maybe it was all in my head. Maybe what I saw that night was the effects of Mitch’s party favors, a mere illusion of objects in an alleyway morphing into one of the most hideous nightmares from a horror movie.
Because we didn’t live in a world full of Goosebumps stories.
And I was too petrified to find out.