Page 14 of The Singing Trees
The next song was a slow one. Couples paired up and slipped their arms around each other. She closed her eyes and lost herself in the music. Her buzz was even stronger now, and she wished she could turn it down a few degrees.
She was flying when she heard a voice behind her.
“Want to dance?”
She turned to see the person who dared to invade her space.
The coastal preppie with an edge stood there with his familiar smile. “Annalisa in Wonderland. Or was it Alice?”
“You have got to be kidding me,” she said, wondering if she were seeing things that didn’t actually exist. Her words had certainly come out slurred, proving that her grasp on reality had slipped away.
He moved closer and said loudly over the music, “Three strikes and we have to go out, right? I think Fate has deemed us one dance.” He held out an arm.
She looked at it like a loaded gun pointed at her stomach and took a step backward. “No thanks.” What a cruel joke. No matter how charming he was or how drunk and stoned she was, Annalisa knew hewas nothing more than a sharp-and-deadly fishing hook dressed up with enticing bait.
Thomas lowered his arm and stopped his approach. “All right, well...I tried, Annalisa.” His piercing hazel eyes were almost too much to take. She had the urge to both hit him and kiss him.
“What else do I have to do to show you I’m not interested?” she said, hearing herself slurring more. A cloud of marijuana smoke floated by, making her feel even more stoned.
He took another step forward. “What was that? I couldn’t hear you.” He pointed to the band and leaned in, coming within inches of her face.
“I said...” She lost her thought, noticing an attraction to him, as if she’d let down her guard. After a long breath, she said forcefully, “I said you have to stop this. No matter how charming you might be, I’m not interested.”
He lit up, acting like a beacon of light in her own haze. “So you think I’m charming? Does that mean I’m wearing on you?”
“I think it’s just the...the alcohol talking,” she said, stumbling backward, bumping into people, the room spinning.
“Hey, are you okay?” he asked, sticking his hand back out.
She slapped it away angrily but then realized she’d turned her ankle the wrong way. As she fell, she saw him reaching for her. Her butt hit the hard dirt, and her head dropped back.
She saw three or four of him as he knelt beside her, saying things she couldn’t interpret. Strobe lights flashed above, and she saw the legs of dancers moving to the loud music, and then it became blurrier, turning into a wash of color.
Chapter 5
A RIDEHOME
Annalisa’s head spun, and she felt like she might throw up at any minute. She was conscious enough to know that Thomas had helped her off the floor and was carrying her out of the barn. With one arm under her back and another under her legs, he pushed through the crowd of people, who were all dancing to a fast-paced song that combined with the flashing lights to make Annalisa feel all the worse.
She noticed people turn to see what was wrong with her and heard Thomas speaking with someone, but she was beyond blitzed. When the cool night air hit her, though, she felt a wave of clarity. Thank God she was out of there. She wanted nothing more than to be home in bed.
“Where are you taking me?” she mumbled, wondering if she’d made sense.
Thomas was still talking to someone, something about getting her home. “It’s okay,” he told her. “I’m just getting you some fresh air.”
The sky looked like a swirling black hole, and she could feel her eyes rolling back. This had to be the worst she’d ever felt, and she just wanted it to go away.
He set her down on a patch of grass, and she saw that there were two of them. Or three, maybe.
“I need to go home,” she mumbled.
Thomas knelt beside her and asked a few questions, and none of it made any sense. She heard herself saying something about coming with her cousin Nino. He replied with more questions, none of them registering. She tried to speak but wasn’t sure anything was coming out at all.
He seemed to be asking the same questions repeatedly. Something about who she came with, what he looked like, what he drove. She felt her mouth moving to attempt an answer, but she was so close to throwing up that she closed her eyes and wished it all away.
She heard, “...get you outta here before you get into trouble for drinking underage.”
That sounded like a good idea, so she said, “I just wanna go home.”
