She heaved one last time, a yellow liquid emanating from her mouth with a projectile force that finally began to slow.
Dear God, she thought as she steadied her upper half against the trash can. She pulled a bottle of water out of her purse, because she was resourceful like that, and used it to rinse out her mouth before spitting into the trash can. She then poured just a little on the back of her neck and her forehead to try to get herself cooled down. Hailey raised herself to a standing position ever so carefully, not wanting to induce another round of regurgitation. She thought about how all she wanted to do was be the hell away from here and this feeling.
Hailey had to start getting dressed. She made her way slowly back toward her purse, trying not to move too quickly to avoid causing another eruption. At least her purse was here, scattered among her clothes, and it looked like all her stuff was still in it.
She grabbed her clothes from the floor and broughtthem to the bed to change into. Hailey settled on the edge of the bed and its plush navy comforter, steadying herself over the memory of a wave of nausea.
Putting on her clothes was a slow affair. Hailey did her best not to make any sudden movements and slowly pulled on each article of clothing with delicate care.
When she finished dressing, Hailey grabbed her purse off the bed. Phone, wallet, even her chapstick, everything she came with was in there and she was surprised to see it. She slipped into her shoes and slowly made her way downstairs.
Hailey was lucky she didn’t run into Andrew on her way out. He must still be sleeping in. Then she reminded herself that nothing about this night felt lucky.
Let's get the hell out of here. She searched for a piece of gum out of her purse.Please don't be sick again. She slouched her purse over her shoulder and made her way to her car.
As Hailey drove away toward home, details from last night started running through her mind. She brought her hand to her head to cradle it with support when she noticed her arms were awkwardly sore. What could that be from? At this point, she wasn’t sure she even wanted to know. She just wanted to go home.
17
WHEN HAILEY WALKED INTO her therapist’s office the next afternoon, she was just starting to feel a little better from the worst hangover she ever had in her life.
“Hey, how’s it—,” Marley stared at Hailey, taking her in. “Are you feeling sick? You look so pale! We could have rescheduled.”
Hailey didn’t answer right away and slowly made her way to her favorite chair out of the two options available. They were the exact same type of chair, black canvas high back without arms, but Hailey refused to sit in the one on the right. It just felt wrong.
She lowered herself slowly onto her regular spot and pulled her legs in under herself, tilting her head back until she bumped the top of the chair. The room was brighter than she would have liked, but the running water sound machine in the corner was helping relax her. Therewasn’t much else in the room besides a tiny desk and a fern that was most definitely fake.
Hailey took a deep breath. “I somehow got more wasted two nights ago than I’ve ever been and I only stopped feeling like death like an hour ago. Now, I’m just tired and achy.”
“Geez, how much did you drink? Was this at that restaurant party you were talking about?”
Hailey picked her head up and took in Marley’s worried look. She had a reason to be worried. Alcohol isn’t exactly the best thing for depression.
“That’s the weird part. I only remember drinking like not even half a solo cup of lemonade with sweet tea vodka. I don’t understand why it hit me so hard. But, that’s not even the worst part.”
Marley’s eyes narrowed and brushed her hand through her wavy blonde locks, preparing herself for whatever was coming. “What was the worst part?”
“I slept with Scott.”
Her eyes growing wider by the second, Hailey could tell she shocked Marley. She let the silence fill the room so Hailey would continue. Therapists and their tricks.
“It’s the weirdest thing. I got my drink and I remember dancing with a few other people from the restaurant. Well, it was like I closed my eyes and when I opened them back up, everyone else was gone except Scott. I looked around and was so confusedhow they snuck out, and then I saw that I was in a different room of the house, some bedroom. Then I realized my top was off. Marley, I don’t even remember taking it off. How did I get so drunk? I’ve never blacked out before.”
Marley tilted her head to the side, taking in Hailey’s story. She was definitely thinking, but Hailey couldn’t be sure about what. Was she disappointed in her?
“Do you remember what happened after that?” Marley asked with a lot of caution in her voice.
“Parts of it? It was so weird. It was like I was going in and out of consciousness. Like, one minute we were standing with my top off, and the next second I was on the bed naked. I just felt the cold on my skin, I don’t even remember looking down. And then he was on top of me. I’m never drinking sweet tea vodka again. How could I cheat on Gage? I’ve never done something like that before. I didn’t even want to.”
“Hailey, think hard for a second,” said Marley, and the scared look in her face confused Hailey. “Did you make your drink yourself or did someone make it for you?”
She closed her eyes for a moment and racked her brain trying to replay the night’s events in her head.
“Oh yeah, I started to, but then Scott took over for me. Why?”
Marley leaned forward, putting her elbows on her knees and placing her notepad and pen on the tiny glassside table next to her.
“Hailey, I think he may have drugged you. That little amount of vodka has never hit you like that before, based on what you’ve told me. You’re notthatmuch of a lightweight for that little amount to make you black out.”
