Page 85 of Absorbed

Stacey exhaled. “Hewasmy best friend.”

“What’re you gonna do?” Desiree asked.

Stacey shrugged. “Transfer? Drop out? Never show my face in town again? What can I do? I made an ass of myself. Everyone thinks I’m a total slut.”

“It’ll blow over.” Melissa tapped her elbow against Stacey’s. “Freshman year I got called fish fingers for like a month after Steve Santos told everyone he fingered me at a party. It was the first time I got drunk, but I wasn’tthat drunk. Steve made the whole thing up. He was mad because he tried to kiss me and I rejected him. Anyways, I was completely humiliated, but he was more popular than me back then. No one believed it wasn’t true.”

“How’d you get everyone to stop calling you that?” Stacey asked.

Melissa triumphantly lifted her chin. “I hooked up with his best friend, Casey Anderson, and toldhimto make it stop. Worked great: Casey treated me like a queen for over a year.”

“I don’t plan to hook up with any of Trent’s friends, no matter what he tells everyone about last night.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” Desiree said.

Melissa and Stacey stared back, confused.

“Why?” Stacey asked.

“Because Chad was still there when Trent woke up.”

Stacey crossed her legs and leaned forward. “What happened?”

“Chad said Travis came in after the fight, and was totally pissed when Chad told him what he’d walked in on. Travis found a big permanent marker—you know the kind to mark moving boxes with—and wrote RAPIST in all capitals on Trent’s forehead. They got a bunch of guys together in the garage, and woke Trent up, telling him that if he ever did anything like that again they’d all beat the shit out of him. And Chad made sure Trent understood if he told anyone anything bad about you, or Gabe, he’d personally tell Coach Bob what happened and get Trent kicked off the baseball team.”

“Oh my God!” Stacey wanted to cry with relief. “Chad is my hero!”

Desiree touched Stacey’s foot. “We all love you, Stace. No guy should do anything to you when you’re drunk. Besides, Chad knew I would’ve dumped him if he hadn’t helped you somehow after everything he saw.”

“Next party, we definitely won’t let you drink so much,” Melissa said. “And we won’t leave you alone with any guys unless you specifically tell us the name of the guy you’re into.”

“Thanks. Really. But there won’t be a ‘next party.’”

“Well, we’ve got your back. No matter what,” Desiree said. Melissa nodded in agreement.

Tears welled up in Stacey’s eyes. “I never thought…you might be some of the best friends I’ve ever had. Thanks.”

“Your friend Gabe deserves a medal,” Melissa said.

Stacey hated that her mom was right. It would have been dumb to quit. Maybe it wasn’t too late to fix things with Gabe, either.

Stacey rushed home, dropped her duffle bag beside her bed, and dialed Gabe’s number.

“Hey.” He sounded annoyed.

Her voice quivered, “Hi… Thanks for… bringing me home last night.” She twisted her fingers in the phone cord.

“Umm hmm.”

“I heard what happened. I feel terrible you had to take care of me like that.”

“Yeah…” Gabe exhaled. “It sucked.”

“I’ve done a lot of really stupid things lately.”

Gabe didn’t respond. Stacey could hear the television in the background.

Is he even listening?

---