I’m not sure how much time passes, but after what seems like only a few minutes, I hear Finn knocking on the bathroom door.
“Lizzy, you okay in there?”
I jolt upright, not realizing I was half asleep and sliding down the couch in the bathroom. This is another reason to add to my list of why Liz should never attend parties.
“Just a few more minutes.” I pull myself up and make my way back to the sink. My eyeliner is spread all around my eyes like a raccoon. My smeared red lipstick has left a stain around my lips, even after I wiped it off. I look like a French hooker. I attempt to clean myself up and gain the courage to face Finn. Maybe he won’t say anything, just like he did with my car, and we can let it go without speaking of it again.
Taking a deep breath, I push through the bathroom door. He’s leaning against the opposite wall with his arms and ankles crossed. He straightens when he sees me. Magically, his face is clean. Not fair.
“How are you feeling?”
I shrug. I don’t want to talk. Someone needs to save me.
I hear some commotion to my left and that’s when I see the girl from earlier approaching with two guys. The one on her right is big and stocky with a crew cut and a scowl. The other guy is short and Hispanic. He seems kinda nervous.
“Okay, Liz, I found some people,” Emerson states. “This big lug is Kel Williams and this cutie is… What’s your name again?”
“Sí,” he adds with a smile.
Emerson does a double take at him. “Anyway, we’re all ready to go.”
My eyes bulge. I forgot I had asked her to find more people. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I realize it was presumptuous of me. What do I say?
Finn crosses his arms and turns to face me. “Beth, is there something you’re not telling me?”
I clear my throat and fidget with my skirt. “I, umm… I may have mentioned to Emerson that you said you’d be fine driving more people.”
Finn’s brows furrow as he gawks at me. Turning back to face them, he smiles. “Could you give us a minute?”
Emerson nods, Kel rolls his eyes, and the other dude just continues to smile.
Finn grabs me by the elbow and leads me away from them. “You did what?” he whispers angrily.
“I… I’m sorry. It’s just, I felt like an idiot for drinking too much and for well, you know, and I didn’t want to have to face you and I met Emerson in the bathroom and she said I was lucky you gave me a ride, which I know I am. I’m so lucky. But then I remembered you said that you wouldn’t mind having more people in the car and it clicked that if more people were with us, I wouldn’t have to talk to you or explain why I’m such an idiot for throwing myself at you or for asking you to show me how you drive… your… um…
“And anyway, it just came out so I’m really sorry and if you don’t want to pick me up anymore, I completely understand because it was really rude of me to ask other people without asking you first and I know you’re a nice guy and you probably wouldn’t have made what I did awkward but I just couldn’t talk about it because I’m so, so embarrassed and so, so dumb and I wish I could go back and not do it, but I can’t because I saw you out there dancing and I don’t know what happened and I hate myself for being that way and this way.
“This is why I don’t do parties, or friends, or conversation in general because I always fuck it up and make things worse somehow.” I cover my face with my hands. He’s completely silent. I spread open a finger or two to see his reaction and he sighs and smiles.
“Okay then.” He turns and struts back over to the group, leaving me standing there with my mouth gaping.
He holds out his hand, shaking each person’s as he says their name. “Emerson, Kel and…”
“Sí.” The man smiles.
Finn pauses. “Ehh, me llamo es Finn.”
He smiles more brightly. “Me llamo Ernesto.”
“Ernesto,” Finn repeats. “Alright, is everyone ready to go?”
“This is okay with you?” Emerson questions.
“Any friend of Liz is a friend of mine. Liz needs to run and get her things. I’ll meet you all downstairs by the doors to the parking garage in say… twenty minutes?”
“Cool. We’ll see you there.”
Finn spins back to face me and holds out his arm. “Shall we go get your things?”
