Page 4 of Roped in Chaos
“To what?”
I push my thumb in between her brows to work out the creases.
“Stop looking at me like that,” I say with my thumb still on her face, “You’re gonna have to have Botox girl.”
She shoos my hand away before shooting a glare at me.
“Why is he making you go to Oklahoma?”
“To work on some stupid farm. It’s my grandparents’, but I leave the day after graduation.” Tears are running down my face as I continue, “I won’t be back all summer.”
I look up to see Hannah slack-jawed and staring at me.
“I know,” I cry. “No parties, no shopping, no friends.”
“No, no…it’s okay. We’ll, um, we’ll come up with a plan. We can’t let you go, no we’re not going to let you go.”
“But Dad?—”
“Fuck what your dad says. We’re going to come up with a plan. I won’t let you leave.”
I collapse against her and let her embrace me. I hope we can come up with something quick. There’s not too much longer before I’m forced to go.
“Maybe we can make some slide show to convince him? Like what we used to do to convince my parents to let you stay over in fifth grade.”
I contemplate the thought, but I shake my head. With me leaving so soon, we don’t have much time for much else though.
“He says he’s going to cut me off if I don’t go,” I sniffle.
She pushes me back up and runs her fingers under my eyes.
“Come on, babe. If you’re going to leave, we need to embrace every moment. Server!” she calls. “We need another two shots and some water.”
He nods and runs off to fetch our order.
“You’re right.” I sniffle. “We need to have fun while I still can. It’ll probably take me a year to recover from Oklahoma, I wonder how many showers I’ll have to take to get the dirt off.”
She chuckles, and the server returns with our shots.
“Cheers to making the best of the next two weeks and being drunk enough that we won’t want to drink over summer. Oh! And to coming up with some bomb ass plan to make sure you stay with me forever.”
“Cheers,” I say, and we clink.
The DJ starts playing one of my favorite songs, and we run out to the dance floor. Bodies are grinding on one another, and I feel euphoric. The drinks keep coming, the bass keeps vibrating my soul…I throw my head back and embrace the way my body rumbles. I feel like I’m floating on a cloud. This is exactly what I needed. A night where I don’t have to think about anything.
Chapter4
Just Pretend
Esme
My tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth as I try to lick my overly dry lips. I groan and try to open my eyes, but the light coming through the crack of my curtains is blinding. My head is starting to pound, and someone keeps constantly ringing the doorbell.
“Go awayyyy,” I groan. Why the fuck isn’t anyone opening the door?
I flop out of bed and crawl to my mini fridge sitting in the corner of my room. It is placed here for this exact reason. Leaning against the wall, I fling the door open to get my jade roller and a sports drink. I twist the lid open and gulp down the white liquid. This flavor has always been a favorite, especially in a time like this. The cold drink was just what I needed and helps quench how thirsty I was, although I’ll need another twenty if I’m going to not be dehydrated any longer. Once I’ve downed the entire bottle, I start rolling out my face. The ringing is still going, and it’s doing nothing for my ever-growing headache. I get up and fling my bedroom door open. I keep my eyes closed as much as possible to block out all the light, letting my legs guide me by memory. I let my head loll whichever way it likes, my muscles too tired to try to keep it upright the entire time. I keep the cold roller to my face, open the front door just enough to see who’s standing out there, and squint my eyes to see who is bothering me at such an ungodly time.
It’s Hannah, and she looks worried.
