Adam
“I think we should do it.”
I stifle a laugh at how serious Cassie’s face is as she says it, how wide her bright green irises grow at the thought.
“Come on, aren’t you even a little curious?” she asks.
“I’ve done it before.”
“Oh…” She waves me off. “Well, you’ve never done it with me. And you know… I heard the sex when you’re high is…” She makes a chef’s kiss gesture with her fingers and lips, waggling her brows at me as I laugh again.
“Hey, no need to convince me. I’m in. Do you think you want to smoke it?”
She shakes her head. “Maybe a chocolate or gummy or something? And I want to just hang out in your dorm when we do it.” She blinks. “Or maybe my hotel room. I’m sure they don’t allow it on campus.”
“They don’t, but that’s not a rule that’s exactly strictly followed,” I add with a smile. “But okay, it’s a plan. When you come for Thanksgiving break, we’ll get you high.”
“And you. Oh! And we should load up on yummy Thanksgiving food and munchies for the occasion.”
“I’ll order from a restaurant, that way we don’t have to cook. And get some Twizzlers.”
Her eyes grow even wider. “My favorite.”
“I know.”
She sighs, leaning her chin on her hands as her eyes wash over me. “I miss you so much.”
“I miss you, too,” I say, and my chest aches with the truth of it. “Are you going out tonight?”
“Nah, I think Skyler and I are going to court that girl I was telling you about who I want as my Little. Skyler invited her to come hang out in the president’s suite, and we’re going to make her introduce us to anime.”
My brows shoot up. “That should be… interesting.”
“I’m actually really excited! The characters seem so cool.”
“You’re the biggest nerd.”
“And you’re obsessed with me.”
I sigh. “Also true.”
“What are you doing tonight? And where are you?” She looks at the scene behind me. “It looks gorgeous.”
I tap the part of my screen that makes the camera switch from facing me to facing my view and show her around. “I’m just hanging out in this little park on The Hill. The sun is starting to set over the mountains,” I say, showing her the orange glow in the distance. “See it?”
“It’s beautiful.”
“We’ll get up for a sunrise hike when you’re here,” I tell her, putting the camera back on me. “It’s even more breathtaking.”
“You’ll have to peel me out of bed.”
“Oh, I can be very persuasive when I want to be.”
She bites her lip against a smile. “I’m well aware of those particular talents of yours.”
I chuckle, leaning back on the blanket I’m on and propping my phone up against my water bottle so I can relax. “How is Skyler, by the way? I haven’t talked to her since…”
I don’t finish the sentence, but Cassie frowns, a heavy sigh leaving her that tells me all I need to know.
“She’s… I don’t know. Numb, I think. She barely talks about it, about him.
She’s just been focusing on the pledges and her last semester as president, talking to the girls who want to run for office, finishing up classes and making her plan for after graduation.
” She pauses. “Have you talked to Kip at all?”
“I tried calling him, but no dice. He texted me a few days later apologizing, and just said things were crazy busy in California right now but that he’d get back to me when he could.”
“Ugh! So he’s just living it up,” Cassie says, throwing her hands up. “Just being busy when he’s left Sky back here with a broken heart.”
“Babe,” I say with a smile. “I know you love her, but if I have my facts correct, Kip tried to make things right with her, and Skyler essentially said too little too late.”
“Well, he clearly didn’t try hard enough, then.”
I laugh, but before I can argue the other side of it again, I’m nearly run over by a frantic tornado of hair and arms and legs.
“I need your help.”
I squint up at the silhouette of the girl I ran into on my way to the Student Union last week, frowning in confusion.
“Now. Please. I don’t know what to do. She’s… she’s fucking wasted, and I think…” She swallows, running her hands back through her long hair, her chest heaving. “Please.”
“Who is that?” Cassie asks.
“I’ll call you back,” I tell her, and I end the call, jumping to my feet to grab the girl’s arms. “Okay, it’s alright. Just take a breath here and tell me what’s going on.”
The girl looks so different than she did the first time I ran into her.
Her tattoos are covered by a long-sleeve pink cardigan, a matching band in her hair, and she’s wearing long, slim, cream dress pants with small brown kitten heels.
Her makeup is subdued and natural, and the combination of it all is what made it so hard for me to recognize her at first.
“I’m an Educational Leadership Consultant for Delta Beta Gamma, and I’ve been here with the girls all summer and they’ve been working so hard.
They wanted to have a party at the house today and I…
I covered for them and let them and… there’s a girl, a young girl — freshman — she’s…
she’s really drunk.” She swallows, her blue eyes wild and animated.
“I have her propped up in the bed, but I’m worried she might need to go to the hospital. ”
“Let’s go,” I say instantly, and then in a flash, we’re flying up The Hill to the Delta Beta Gamma house.
The party is still raging when we run through, but we bypass all the games and shot taking and dancing, running up the stairs where it’s a little quieter. The girl guides me down a long hall, and then into a bedroom where the girl in question is propped up against the headboard.
Her head is lolled to the side, mouth hanging open, and there’s vomit on her shirt.
I cringe, rushing over to her side and taking her hand in mine before sweeping the hair from her face.
“What’s her name?” I ask.
“Martina.”
I nod, then start saying her name softly, shaking her gently until her eyes peel open like it takes all her strength to do so.
I know that feeling.
“Hey, Martina,” I say as soothingly as I can. “How are we feeling?”
“Mm…okay,” she slurs.
I nod. The fact that she’s responding is a good sign. “Just feeling a little drunk?”
She nods, making a horse sound with her lips before her head lolls back again.
“Stay with me for a moment, Martina,” I tell her. “I know you’re tired, but can you just talk to me for a bit?”
She sighs, but holds her head up, her eyes bouncing between mine.
“Good girl. Can you tell me how old you are?”
“Nineteen.”
The ELC curses from where she’s standing behind me, but I hold out my hand to calm her so I can focus on my task.
“What’s your major?”
She makes a sticking sound with her tongue and the roof of her mouth. “Accounting. But, youknowha?” she adds, holding up a finger. “I really wanna study litratrer.”
I smile. “Literature, huh?”
“Mm-hmm,” she says with an over-exaggerated nod. “I wanna edit booksh.”
“Who’s your favorite author?”
“I read romance,” she says, shaking her head. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“I like romance.”
Her eyes pop open. “Really?” Then she sighs, dropping her head back against the headboard. “I wish Josh liked romance.”
She pouts, and I relax a little more. The fact that she can remember names, that she’s talking to me, that her skin isn’t cold or clammy and she’s breathing normally are all very good signs that she’s going to be okay.
“Do you like Josh?”
“Sadly,” she admits. “But he’s oblivion.”
“Oblivious?”
“That,” she says, pointing at my chest.
I chuckle again. “Well, any guy who has your attention is a lucky one.”
She nods, but then I see her start to doze again, and I sit up from the edge of the bed, turning to the ELC who looks like she’s just killed a puppy.
“She’s going to be fine,” I tell her.
“Oh, thank God,” she says on a long breath. “What do we do? Should I get some Advil or water or?”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “We just need to get her lying on her side. Nothing but time can make her sober up — not food or water or a cold shower or any of that.” I glance back down at Martina and her stained shirt.
“If I step out of the room, do you think you could change her top? Just get her in something clean and maybe wipe her mouth a little?”
The girl nods, and then I step out for a few minutes until she calls me back in.
“Okay, let’s get her on her side, just in case she gets sick again.
We need to prop pillows and maybe bags or whatever we have around her so she can’t really move without difficulty.
And if you can, stay here with her and make sure she stays on her side.
Check on her every now and then. As long as she’s breathing normally, not too slow, and she’s waking up and answering your questions… she’s alright.”
When we get Martina situated, the girl slumps down in one of the desk chairs in the room, and I grab the other, sitting on it backward with my forearms perched on the top. I extend a hand for hers. “I’m Adam, by the way. Adam Brooks. I’m a Field Executive for Alpha Sigma.”
She takes my hand and shakes it gently before running a hand back through her hair again. It takes the pink band off when she does, and she looks at it begrudgingly before throwing it to the side and raking her nails over her scalp. “I’m Chandler. Chandler Simmons.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“I wish it was under better circumstances,” she remarks.
“You mean like when I ran you over last week?”
That makes her smile. “Even that was better than this.”
“Hey, I’m just glad I could help.”
“I am, too. They didn’t teach us this during training.”
“Really? I’m shocked. We went over it several times in mine.”
“Well, you’re a guy,” she shoots at me with pursed lips. “It’s acceptable for fraternity guys to get hammered. But as a sorority girl, you’re supposed to be a lady, to uphold a certain standard. They won’t even talk about what to do if a girl gets too drunk because it’s never supposed to happen.”
“That’s just na?ve.”
“Welcome to the patriarchy.”
I frown. “I’m sorry. But consider me here to help however I can.”
Chandler relaxes a bit, and then she smiles, her eyes running the length of me. When she finds my gaze again, there’s nothing but true gratitude. “Thank you.”
I nod, and then a slightly uncomfortable silence falls between us — mostly because I’m remembering the tattoos hiding under her sleeves, and the well-endowed breasts hiding under her cardigan.
“Well, I should get going,” I say, standing. “Need to call my girlfriend back and explain what happened.”
I think I see a flicker of disappointment in Chandler’s eyes, but it’s gone as quick as it came, and then she stands, too. “Apologize on my behalf for stealing you away. If she ever comes to visit, I’ll take you both out to make up for it.”
“It’s all good.” I clear my throat, heading for the door, but I pause at the exit and say, “See you around?”
Chandler nods on a smile, gives me a little wave of her hand, and then I’m out the door and pulling out my phone to call Cassie back.