Page 37 of Echoes of Us

“You’re disgusting,” I say, shoving past him.

I have got to find Emmaline.

Chapter 40

Emmaline

How embarrassing. All night, Devan has been giving me drink after drink and trying to get me to make out with him. He knows I hate PDA, so of course I kept shoving him off even while drunk. The final straw was him trying to lead me into a spare bedroom. I pulled my arm away and he stormed off.

I spent a few minutes outside to cool off before going to find him. I found him, alright. He was making out with Sally Barnes on the couch for all to see. I can’t believe he would cheat on me. Even worse, he did it with our rival school’s lacrosse captain in front of everyone. I ran upstairs and locked myself in the bathroom to escape the stares and laughter from everyone around me watching everything unfold. I tried to find Mills, but her phone is dead, and Teagan never answered. I will just sit in this bathroom until I am sober enough to walk home.

A soft knock sends a jolt up my spine, “Go away.” The knock gets louder. “This bathroom is occupied!” I scream.

The door opens. I go to push it shut, but Teagan’s head pokes around the door. The moment I see her, the tears I have been fighting finally spill over.

She bends down, taking my face into her hands. “Hey Em. Can I take you home?” she asks softly, wiping tears from my cheeks as they fall. I couldn’t speak through the tears, so I just nod.

“Come on. Sean is downstairs waiting to take us home.” She takes my hand, helping me up. I sway as I try to stand. Damn, I didn’t think I was this drunk.

She wraps her arm around my waist to steady me. “I got you,” she whispers into my ear. I lean my head on her shoulder and let her guide me out of the bathroom.

The car ride is quiet except for my soft sobs. Teagan sits in the back with me and some other guy. She watches me the entire drive, occasionally wiping away my tears. My phone vibrates and I see two texts and three missed calls. One text and one missed call is from Mills. The other text and two missed calls are from Devan.

Without reading either text, I hand my phone to Teagan, “Can you tell Mills I’m home and I’ll call her tomorrow? Then just turn it off, please.” She nods, sends the text, and then turns it off. She leans forward and slips my phone into her back pocket.

“Hey, princess?” Sean begins. “Whoever you need us to take care of, you just let us know. Me and the guys will make him wish he never knew you.”

“Yeah,” the one to my left nudges my arm, “kids from the projects can take you soft rich kids any day.”

The smallest smile escapes my lips.

“Let me go first to see if your parents are up,” Teagan says as we enter the front door. I nod as she silently walks down the hall.

She comes back a few moments later, motioning for me to follow. In the living room, Dad is in his chair snoring under the lamp with a book in his lap. He always tries to wait up, but the man can’t stay awake past ten if he tried. I smile through my tears and hold onto Teagan as we go upstairs.

In my room, Teagan begins to go through my drawers. I still can’t bring myself to stop crying. She hands me a set of PJs and turns her back to me so I can change. It’s odd that she does that. It is just PJs, right? Maybe she still thinks I am a prude from the morning she answered the door half naked.

She turns back after a few minutes and says, “If you need anything, come get me, okay?” She pauses and meets my eyes. “I am sorry he did that to you. You didn’t deserve that.” She turns to leave.

“Wait…” I start, “…Can you… stay with me?” I finish. What am I doing? She looks at me like I am insane, so I try to save face a bit. “You know, in case I get sick or something.” What the hell, Emmaline? Of course she isn’t going to stay with you.

She doesn’t answer for a few moments but nods and walks toward me. Oh, shit. She said yes. She turns on the lamp and then goes to turn off my overhead light. I crawl into bed and face the wall. I feel her crawl into bed behind me and face the other way.

“Teagan?” I ask after a few minutes.

“Yeah?” she answers.

“What happened to your mom?” I ask softly.

A few minutes of silence pass. I am about to apologize for asking when she begins, “My mom was a great mom. She loved me more than almost anything. She tried her hardest to do good by me…but drugs came first.” She pauses. I roll over to face her; she does the same.

“We lived with two of her friends she met in NA and usually things were chill. They just had this cycle that if one was sober, they all were. If one was on drugs, they all were.” She sighs heavily. “It was really toxic, but when it was good it was good. Until one of them started dating this guy who was bad news. He…would come over to give them stuff and all three of them were like, obsessed with him.”

Another few moments of silence pass. I hear her breathing increase, so I reach over and find her arm under the covers. I run my hand down to her hand to give it an assuring squeeze.

“Earlier this year, he pissed off another drug guy in the area and the guy retaliated. He wanted to take him out, so he controlled selling in our area. I used to hear the boyfriend laugh about it with my mom and the others. The other guy set the house on fire in the middle of the day. The idiot didn’t even check to see if our roommate’s boyfriend was there. Mom and the other two died in the fire and both guys disappeared.” Her voice began to shake. “I walked home from school and found the house in flames. An hour or so later, my Aunt Beth picked me up and that was that.”

We sit in silence for a while again. “I’m sorry you lost her and I’m sorry you went through all of that. You deserve to be someone’s priority.” I put my forehead to hers. “I’m also sorry I have been a part of any additional pain you’ve experienced.” She sniffles. I drop her hand to wipe the tears I know are flowing down her cheeks. I have an urge to hug her, well I guess hold her since we are laying down.

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