Aftershocks (18 page)

“He’s doing okay,” I said.

“I know,” Jack said, and we both just stared at each other.

After I’d gotten the cal from Wyatt a year ago, he’d caled Jack. He said we were the only two people that mattered to him anymore and the only ones who he knew would miss him, so he was caling to say goodbye. As soon as he said that I knew what he’d done. I could hear the defeat in his voice as his life bled out of him, and I was out of my house as fast as I could grab my keys. I drove like a maniac, al the while begging Wyatt to stay with me, but he hung up the phone. In his mind, he was already gone. Saying goodbye was his last order of business.

I figured he must have caled Jack right after me since he got to Wyatt’s house ten minutes after I did. The paramedics were already there. I’d caled them as soon as Wyatt had disconnected our cal. I knew he didn’t have much time. As I’d driven to his house, I’d caled him over and over again, but he never answered his phone.

As soon as Jack got to Wyatt’s house that night, he realized the severity of the situation and broke down in my arms. We’d held onto each other as they wheeled Wyatt out on a stretcher, unconscious, his wrists heavily bandaged, a blood bag pumping blood back into his body. He was tinged in red from the blood soaked water he’d been laying in, and I don’t think Jack or I would ever forget that image as long as we lived.

“I’m glad you’re here,” I said, reaching for his hand.

No one else knew what we’d gone through, so we’d been each other’s support while Wyatt had remained in the hospital, recovering and speaking to a therapist each day. And then while the kids at school spread rumors about Wyatt’s attempted suicide, sensationalizing it instead of understanding that it had been a cry for help from a guy who had been so wel-liked, Jack had felt like the only other person who understood what I was dealing with.

“Yeah?” Jack said. “I’ve been sort of wanting to talk to you ever since that day you ate lunch with us, but you never realy hang out.

You don’t have some colege boyfriend that you’re spending al your time with, do you?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m stil single,” I said, wishing that weren’t true.

Jack smiled at me. “That’s good news. I’ve missed you, good girl.” His arms moved around my waist, puling me close.

“What are you doing, Jack?” I asked, somewhat amused by his advances.

He smirked at me. “Wyatt asked me to take care of you this year. He said I needed to look out for his little sister. I’ve been doing kind of a shitty job.”

I removed his arms from around my waist. “Jack, you don’t have to take care of me. I’m a big girl.”

“What if I want to?”

“Okay, so I need to go find Connor,” I said then, stepping around him. “Good seeing you.”

“Can we talk later?” he asked, and I wasn’t sure if he realy wanted to talk or if he was looking for some action. I was not about to become one of the girls he used to numb the pain of losing his girlfriend.

“Yeah, sure. I’l see you later, Jack,” I said, knowing I had no intentions of finding him later. He was stil too much of a train-wreck at that point.

It took me a few minutes to find Connor. He was playing pool in the basement with Rich while Cameron mixed a drink at the bar in the corner. Rich saw me coming down the stairs.

“Hey Abby,” he said, as he took a swig of his beer, and I realized that he’d decided to acknowledge my presence again after a year of silence. I guess my friendship with Connor made me worthy of his attention. “Did you come to see me whip up on Connor in pool?”

Connor smiled at me. Cameron looked up from the bar where he was concentrating intensely. He gave me a short nod and returned to the concoction he was mixing. It looked like a lot of alcohol and not a lot of mixer.

“Hi guys,” I said, ignoring the fact that a few months earlier, the four of us had been in the same room together and hadn’t exchanged a word. I stil couldn’t stand Rich and Cameron, but I could be civil. When I thought of them the word douchebag always seemed to pop in there along with their names. It was the strangest thing. “Actualy, I need to talk to Connor, if that’s okay.”

Connor looked up from the shot he was lining up. “What’s up?”

“Um, it’s Lex. She wants to see you.”

“Did she finaly come out of her room? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, she’s good,” I said casualy.

“Okay, let’s go,” he said, placing his pool cue on the table. “Hey Cam, take over for me.”

“Man, are you ditching me?” Rich asked.

“Dude, she’s my girlfriend. Get over it.”

“Whatever. At least it’l give me a chance to beat up on someone else for a change.”

“In your dreams. I am the master!” Cameron’s eyes went wild as he grabbed his drink and came out from behind the bar with a flourish. “Have fun,” he said to Connor in a lecherous sort of way that made my stomach turn. “I saw Lex earlier, and she looked hot!”

Rich nodded, and a nasty sneer came over his lips. “Yeah, she had on this tight bra thingy. Man, it was like cleavage for days. I just wanted to motorboat those things until I couldn’t breathe.”

Connor turned and gave him a sharp look, but Cameron stepped in before he could respond. “Dude, that’s his girlfriend. Show some freakin’ respect.”

“Oh, sorry man,” Rich said, suddenly humbled by the look on Connor’s face.

Connor just shook his head and walked up the stairs with me trailing behind him, and I couldn’t help wonder again why he’d ever want to be friends with those assholes.

“So what’s up? Is Lex, okay, for real?” he asked.

“No, she’s not,” I said, giggling.

“What do you mean? What’s so funny?”

“Connor, she’s hammered,” I said, giggling again, not sure what was so funny.

“That sucks,” he said, suddenly very serious, and I wondered if Rich had pushed him over the edge.

I stopped laughing. “It’s not that bad. She’s been like this before. She’l be fine. She’l just have a raging hangover in the morning.”

“Where is she?” he asked, stil not laughing.

“I left her in her room.”

We walked upstairs to Alexis’s room, passing Faith and Sophia along the way. They were taking shots with some footbal players.

Great, I knew Faith wasn’t a reliable babysitter. I hoped Alexis hadn’t falen out the window.

When we opened the door to her room, we saw that she was fine. She was actualy passed out on her bed with her arms spread wide, and the now empty champagne bottle lay on the ground under her left hand where it hung off the bed.

Connor walked over to her, picked her up gently and puled her covers back. He laid her on her side and puled her comforter over her. He then found her trash can by her desk and placed it by her nightstand, so she would have something to throw up in when she would inevitably have to in the middle of the night. He kissed her once on the forehead, and then turned to face me, a dark look on his face. We walked out of the room together in silence.

As soon as we were outside in the hal, I turned to him to make sure he was okay.

He was shaking his head. “She couldn’t stay sober for one goddamn night,” he said. “She had to go and get wasted before I even got here. I can’t believe her sometimes. This whole damn party was her idea.”

“Connor, I’m sorry,” I said, taking in his tone. I’d never seen him angry before, but I couldn’t help think back to what he’d told me about his mom being an alcoholic, and I wondered if that was affecting his reaction to Alexis’s state in that moment. “Do you want to leave?”

“Would you mind?”

“Me? No! No, I’ve had just about enough fun for one night, thanks. We can leave anytime.”

“Good. Let’s go,” he said.

We walked to my car in silence. I didn’t know what to say to make him feel better, so I didn’t say anything as we got in. His gaze was fixed forward as he put on his seatbelt, leaned his head back and closed his eyes. I eyed him cautiously for a few seconds before he started to speak.

“I knew she was going to do this. I just knew it.” He didn’t sound angry anymore. He sounded hurt.

I felt so bad for him. I wasn’t used to seeing him this upset. This was a different side of Connor that I wanted to erase. It was his birthday. He should get to enjoy it.

“Okay, now the fun wil begin,” I said, changing subjects again, so he couldn’t ask any folow-up questions.

Connor raised his head from the back of the seat and looked over at me warily. “What are you talking about? You can just take me home.”

“No way. It’s your birthday, and we’re going to have fun.” I looked at my watch. “It’s only nine-thirty. It’s way too early to go home.

Let’s do something!”

Chapter
14

Connor laughed at me. Obviously I sounded just a little too excited. I was just glad to hear him laughing.

“What did you have in mind?” he asked skepticaly.

Oops, I hadn’t thought that far ahead. “Um, wel, we could go to a club. Since you’re eighteen now.”

“You’re not. How would you get in? Do you have a fake ID?”

I hadn’t thought about that. “Okay, we could . . .” I thought for a minute, before an idea hit me. “I’ve got it!”

“What?” he asked, expectantly.

“Nope, it’s a surprise,” I said, forming the idea in my mind. “First, we’l need to stop and get provisions.”

“Provisions? Why does that make me nervous?”

“No, trust me. This is going to be good,” I said with easy confidence as I started to back out of the driveway.

An hour later, we had swung by my house where I had grabbed a few things and headed to the only place that was stil open, a convenient store, to get everything else on my list. It had been slim pickings, but I’d thought I’d done wel. I’d made Connor stay in the car while I shopped. He just shook his head and laughed at me. He was skeptical about what we were doing, and as much as he tried, he stil hadn’t been able to guess my plans.

“Okay, seriously, Abbs,” he said, trying to appeal to me. “It’s my birthday. You have to tel me.”

I shook my head, and turned up the radio. “Your birthday was yesterday, so I have to do nothing of the sort. We’l be there soon enough.” He leaned back and fake-pouted. I laughed at him. “Don’t be such a baby.”

Twenty minutes later, he recognized where we were. As we passed the entrance, he turned his head around to look back at it again.

“Boston Colege?” he asked in confusion. “What are we doing here?”

“You’l see,” I said, smiling at him.

I folowed the signs that led me around the campus before I parked the car in front of the footbal stadium. I looked over at Connor. He stil had a questioning look on his face.

“I stil have no idea what we’re doing.”

“Good,” I said as I hoisted my tote bag and two grocery bags out of my trunk. I handed him the grocery bags and slammed the trunk shut. He walked beside me as we made our way toward the entrance to stadium.

“Have you been here before?” I asked.

“No, I haven’t. I’ve seen tons of games played on TV here, but I’ve never been to the stadium.”

“Wel, you are in for a treat,” I said. When we got to the entrance I walked right in.

“Where are you going? We’re not alowed in there.”

“Do you see anyone around to stop us?”

He looked around. The area was empty. “No,” he said, doubtful.

“Then, let’s go,” I said, as I taking his hand to pul him behind me, enjoying the feel of it in mine.

We hurried through the tunnel under the stands until we got to a break in the wal. When we walked out into the open air of the Boston Colege footbal stadium, beside me I heard Connor suck in a deep breath.

“Wow,” he said, turning around and walking backwards as he took it al in. “This is incredible.”

I smiled. “I figured someone who loves colege footbal as much as you would want the opportunity to toss the bal around on a real field. I know it’s not The Big House, but it’s the best I could do. Come on,” I said, puling on the hand I was stil holding. “The view wil be better from the fifty yard line.”

He folowed behind me, eyes wide, stil looking around. When we reached the middle of the field, I puled out the blanket I brought and spread it out on the ground. Connor sat down, and I sat next to him, so we were both facing the same end zone. He opened the grocery bags and puled out the food I had bought – beef jerky, a bag of salt and vinegar chips, a two liter bottle of Coke and a package of snowbals. It was a real feast.

He smiled at me. “Abby, this is great. You’re seriously the best,” he said as he reached over to pul me into a hug against his side. He kissed the side of my head, and I got tingles al over my body. He was so freaking affectionate sometimes. It was hard not to read into his not-so-innocent gestures.

We talked while we ate. When he picked up the snowbals to open them, I stopped him. “Wait,” I said, putting my hand on top of his and turning around to pul out something from my tote bag.

“Put this on yours,” I said, handing him a birthday candle.

He laughed. “You got me a birthday cake.”

I smiled at him as he pushed the candle into the center of the snowbal. He seemed to have forgotten about everything that had transpired earlier in the night.

“Do you have matches, so we can light it?” My face fel for second. I had forgotten to get matches. He reacted to my expression. “It’s okay. I don’t need to light it. I can make a wish anyway. See.” He held up the snowbal and pretended to blow out the candle before turning to smile at me.

I smiled back. “What did you wish for?”

“I can’t tel, or it won’t come true.”

“Oh, come on. That’s a bunch of BS.”

He shook his head. “Nope, this one’s private.”

I studied his face for a few seconds, trying to see if I could guess what he’d wished for, but he didn’t give anything up. He just plucked the candle out of the snowbal and held it up to me.

“Here, you can have the first bite,” he offered. I bit into the pink, coconut-covered confection. Connor took a bite himself and leaned back on his hand. “Abby, this is realy great. Thank you.”

“I’m glad you like it. I can be quite inspired when I want to be,” I said, smiling. “There’s one more thing, though.”