“Troy-James,” I call out to get his attention. Quickly, I walk over to him, still carrying Eden on my back. She is nearly strangling me, but I don’t mind.
“What’s up?” TJ says. He has a hand on the hip of each girl and he smiles at me, his gaze lazy.
“I need your apartment,” I say quickly. It’s a weird request, I know, but I’m begging him to help me out. “You’re still on Ocean Avenue, right?”
“Bro,” TJ says uncertainly. He glances at the girls he’s with, both of them leaning in close to him, and he seems indecisive. I have a feeling he may want the apartment for himself. “What are your plans, man?”
I nod my head back over my shoulder toward Eden. She hasn’t said a word since I picked her up, so I don’t even know if she’s still awake or passed out. “Sobering her up,” I tell TJ, and the expression I give him is pleading, hoping for sympathy. “Her dad’ll kill her if she goes home like this.”
“Dude, you’re kind of messing up my plans,” he mutters, widening his eyes at me. He makes a face and subtly nods to the girls by his side.
“My place is free,” one of them says, and suddenly, TJ’s features relax and he throws me the keys to his apartment without a second thought.
“Leave ’em under the doormat,” he says. He gives us no rules, and I manage to quickly thank him before he places his hands on the girls’ waists and guides them away.
I think I remember where the apartment is. It’s just across the street on the oceanfront, overlooking the beach, and I take a deep breath and begin to head in that direction. I never wanted to come to this party in the first place, so I don’t mind leaving with Eden. I need to sober her up as best I can and make sure that she’s safe.
“Why are we going to his apartment?” I hear her mumble into myshoulder after I’ve been walking for a while, leaving the party behind us. She’s still alert, which is a good thing. I really don’t want her to black out and fall asleep right now. “Why does he even have an apartment?”
“Because you’re just embarrassing yourself out here,” I tell her with a small laugh. I know the feeling, because I get way too drunk and embarrass myself all the time. That’s why I can’t get too mad at her. “And his parents are, like, millionaires. They bought him an apartment down here for his sixteenth birthday. Who the hell does that?”
“Millionaires,” she says, and we both laugh.
I continue away from the beach, but the music seems to follow us. We can still hear the party continuing without us, and I wonder if anyone will even notice that we left. They are all so drunk that they most likely won’t. That’s a good thing. The last thing I need right now is Tiffani racing around trying to find me, so I can only hope that she is too preoccupied by the music and the lights.
“You can put me down, you know,” Eden says, and she begins to fidget on my back.
“What, so you can get hit by a car? No way,” I say. I tighten my hold on her as we cross Ocean Avenue during a break in the traffic.
“You’re missing the rest of the party,” she murmurs, as though I actuallycareabout the damn party.
I don’t trust her enough right now not to do anything stupid, so I carry her all the way to TJ’s apartment building. When we reach the entrance, I let her down gently, and she seems even more unsteady on her feet than she did back at the beach.
“How are you feeling?” I ask as I shove TJ’s key into the lock. It’s stiff, so I have to fumble around for a few seconds until I get the door open.
Eden looks down at her shoes and pulls her sweater around her. “Embarrassed.”
I reach for her elbow and guide her inside the apartment building, shutting out the music from the party as I close the door behind us again. “We’ve all been there,” I say in an effort to make her feel a little better. We’re young. Getting too drunk and making a fool out of yourself is almost a rite of passage.
“Like you last year?” Eden says, and I stop dead in my tracks in the middle of the lobby.
I look back at her, taken aback by the suddenness of that accusation. How does she know? Someone told her what happened last year, about that bad trip I took. I don’t think she means to hurt me though, because she guiltily bites down on her lip as though she is wishing she never said it. For that reason, I decide to just move on without talking about it, shaking my head at her and reaching for her wrist. I pull her into the elevator and press the button for the second floor.
“206,” I say out loud as I double-check the apartment number on TJ’s keys. I never let go of Eden’s wrist, and I guide her along the hallway of the second floor and all the way to the door of TJ’s apartment. I unlock it and lead her inside. I have been in TJ’s apartment before, but only for a party.
It’s much different seeing it when I’m sober and when the place isn’t trashed. I forgot that he has these amazing floor-to-ceiling windows that surround the living room, overlooking the beach. I can see the lights of the pier, the Pacific Wheel flashing bright as the sun sets in the distance behind it. Eden must appreciate the view because she stands still, her gaze locked on the windows, completely entranced.
I walk over to the kitchen and fill Eden a glass of water, which I carry back over to her. “Here,” I say gently, keeping my voice low so that I don’t startle her too much. When she turns to face me, I force the glass into her hand. “Drink it. Now.”
Her smile is thankful as she presses the glass to her lips and gulps down the water. We were on the beach for over an hour in the heat, and I have a feeling she definitely didn’t stop by any of the refreshment stands to keep herself hydrated.
“Sit down,” I tell her, taking the empty glass away from her. I nod over her shoulder to the couch behind her. I’m not really sure what exactly I’m supposed to be doing, but getting her off her feet seems like a good place to start. I place my hand on her shoulder and lead her over, pushing her down onto the couch.
“It looks so pretty,” she murmurs as she focuses her gaze back on the windows again, at the picturesque Santa Monica in front of us. She sinks back against the cushions, and the sunset casts an orange glow across her face. “Doesn’t it?”
“Sure it does,” I agree as I walk back over to the sink again. I fill her another glass of water from the faucet and bring it back to her, drying my hands on my jeans. She is sitting cross-legged on the couch now, and I don’t really know what to do with myself, so I just sit down on the edge of the couch next to her. “You need to sleep this off,” I say as I watch her desperately chugging that water again. I’m trying to think of all the things people tellmeto do when I’m too drunk, and usually, I am forced to drink water and sleep. I don’t think it actually works, at least not for me, but I am willing to try anything with Eden. “Come on,” I say, gently taking the glass from her again and setting it down on the coffee table. I reach for her hand, interlocking our fingers as I stand up, taking her with me. Just in case she topples over again, I clasp her waist with my other hand. “You good?”
“Good,” she confirms.
