Page 74 of Absorbed

“She’s gonna be sick.”

Stacey saw an open area in the trees and stumbled toward it. No one followed. Her foot caught in a gopher hole, twisted, and she fell to her knees. Scrambling up, she moaned profanities, but managed to get behind a tree before she vomited. A half-dressed couple backed away from her. She threw up three times, then rested her cheek against the trunk of the tree and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

The tree’s bark felt sharp on her face. Her ankle hurt. She reached down to rub it and winced.

She pulled herself up and turned to face the house, bracing herself against the tree. She scanned the blurry scene trying to identify a familiar face. The only people she recognized were Kristi Carpenter and Jason Temple.

Maybe Kristi can help me find Melissa.

The noise of the party was gone. A sharp pain pulsed between her temples. Stacey realized she was sitting low to the ground and leaning against something hard on her right. She blinked and saw bricks. Asphalt. Concrete. Lifting her heavy, throbbing head, she looked around. An unfamiliar street with a few cars. She was sitting on a curb. Her legs and hands were dirty. Her ankle ached.

Feeling warmth on her back, Stacey looked left. Gabe was seated beside her. She raised her hand to her pounding head.

“You done?” he asked, pulling his hand away from between her shoulder blades.

“Done?”

“Puking?” Gabe stood. He was glaring at her. “If you’re done, we should go.”

Stacey looked around. The brick she was leaning on was the edge of a planter. Under ice plants was a foamy puddle. She felt the bile rise in her throat.

“When… did you…get here?” Stacey wished her eyes would focus and her head would stop swaying so the world could stop spinning around it.

“I’ve been at the party for a couple of hours. You were…busy,” he whispered, annoyed.

“Where’s… Ma-lissa?” Stacey was hiccupping. She covered her mouth, afraid more vomit was about to come up.

“How the hell would I know?”

“Tiff-ny?” She propped her elbow on the wall and tried to hold her head still with her hands. Her head kept slipping and bobbing. “We’re staying at Dez-ray’s house.”

“It’s one o’clock in the morning, Stacey. I didn’t see anyone from the pool at the party.”

“It’s… what time?” She squeezed her eyes hard to get the pain to stop.

“ONE. A.M. You were doing shots and smoking pot with Kristi and Jason and a bunch of their friends when I got here at eleven. Martin called me. I don’t see your car. I don’t know where Desiree lives. And I’m not about to take you around to knock on doors.”

Gabe said a lot of words. It took a minute for Stacey to absorb them. She forced her eyes open and looked up. He had a red mark on his cheek and his lip was bleeding. She reached up as if to touch it but it was too difficult. He leaned away and her hand fell to her side.

“What… hap—ned?”

“You seriously have no idea, do you? Trent-fucking-Severson happened. He had his hands all over you. You were clearly out of it. He never should have… You know what? Never mind. Just get in the car.”

Gabe pulled Stacey to her feet, and pain shot through her ankle. Her leg gave out. Gabe caught her like he’d expected it to happen. He wrapped an arm around her waist and held her up, leading her to the passenger side of his car.

“Don’t. Puke!” he said, as he shut the door.

Once behind the wheel, Gabe rolled the windows down, and reached across to attach Stacey’s seatbelt.

He steered the car away from the curb. With every turn, Stacey felt more nauseous. She rested her face on the side of the window frame, grateful for the air blowing in. She kept her eyes closed and tried to sleep.

The next thing she knew, the car was stopped and the dome light was on.

Stacey lifted her head and opened her eyes. The dashboard clock said 1:35.

Porch lights came on to her right and Stacey squinted to look in that direction. Between long blinks Stacey tried to figure out where she was.

Gabe walking back toward the car.

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