Page 68 of A Slice of You

As we walked outside, my emotions were soon overtaken by the thought of where Martin might be. He had vanished, and no one bothered to look for him. Two athletic blokes, dressed in business attire, walked past, and I smelt their 1 Million cologne as the wind drifted in my direction. I overhead them laugh and caught their words about seeing a guy passed out in the bush across the road.

My immediate reaction was to go to the convenience store and buy a bottle of water, and so I did that, while Seb stalked off to the car. I raced across the road and found Martin instantly. He was lying on his side, covered in bark and weeping next to a pool of gin. I crouched down and placed my hand on Martin’s back, comforting him with nurturing pats.

‘Hi, Martin. It’s Naomi. I’m going to call you a cab, okay?’ I passed him the bottle of cold water, and he clutched it in his hand before cradling it to his chest.

He nodded with half-open eyes as he drooled and cried some more.

I dialled the cab and waited for it come, which took only six minutes, then escorted him with help from the taxi driver as he stumbled into the back seat. Martin leant his head against the window and weakly took small sips of water, then waved to me as the taxi took off. I waved too, then headed to my car parked behind the restaurant.

As Seb and I hopped into my car, I couldn’t help but feel guilty for leaving Deb’s birthday party, especially since I’d taken a shift off work so I could be there. Maybe the truth was my friendship with Deb was coming to an end. I just wasn’t enjoying myself like I used to. She had changed since drinking became her number one priority. My emotions were a complicated vortex, and each one would fight the other about what the right thing to do was. But even though I was grief-stricken and taking care of myself, a part of me felt as though I should’ve stayed for Deb’s sake. I’d broken our treaty to always be there for one another and couldn’t help but feel like the ditcher she was to me on her eighteenth birthday, when she left me in the club alone. At least she wasn’t alone, though, and I was only trying to protect my heart.

‘Seb, am I a bad friend leaving her like that?’ I yanked at a thread dangling from the bottom of my dress. It fell on the floor, and I let out a sigh.

‘No, you wanted to go. What’s the harm in that?’ His voice was nonchalant.

‘Well, would you leave Billy if it was his birthday party?’ I felt my stomach crumble with guilt.

‘Nope, I wouldn’t.’ He shook his head.

‘Exactly my point.’ I swallowed down my guilt.

He shrugged and looked out onto the street.

‘I feel horrible, but it’s becoming too much. She’s a raging alcoholic, and you’re right – it just triggers me too much. It gives me high anxiety thinking about if something were to happen to her, you know? What if she got liver poisoning and got really sick? I’d hate to see that happen, and I have no say in this. She doesn’t listen to me about it, and I’ve told her many times what I think about binge drinking and the effects I’ve seen it have on friends in the past.’

‘Hey, ease up. I sink bottles too.’

‘That much?’ I arched a worried brow.

‘I like to have a couple of drinks a day.’

‘Mmm, well, your drinking isn’t in my face every day for it to affect me.’ I looked at his brown eyes.

‘Anyway, babe, is it alright if I go out with Billy and have a boys’ night tonight? Please? He texted me, and I feel like chugging a few beers and playing pool.’

‘So, that’s the real reason you wanted to leave? Because you wanted to have aboys’night?’ My eyes widened with shock.

He didn’t say anything and fiddled with his seatbelt.

‘Are you serious?’ I asked as my sad eyes were now filled with annoyance.

‘Look, I’ll stay with you if you want.’ He looked out the window to the other cars in the car park.

‘Seb, I wantyou towantto stay with me. This has to be a mutual decision.’

He turned to me. ‘Babe, I’ll make it up to you tomorrow. Billy needs me. He has some stuff going on.’

I didn’t buy his line about Billy having some stuff going on, but I didn’t want to question him. If he wanted to leave, then he could leave. There was no use arguing about it.

‘Yeah, alright. I’ll drop you at home, then he can pick you up. I’ve got work tomorrow anyway.’ My voice was casual, and my face was too. Him leaving should have hurt me, but it didn’t.

‘You’re the best, Naomi.’ He leant in and kissed me on the cheek.

21

Midnight Drives

The only noises I could hear were the whirring fan above my bed, the crickets chirping outside, and the fluttering of bat wings flying through the night sky. It was just past 11pm, and Deb still wasn’t home, but I wasn’t worried. It was still early, and I didn’t expect her back until well after 2am.

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