“Who are you?” she asked airily.
“Emy.”
“Who?”
“Emery.”
She squinted for several seconds.“Who?”
“Your cousin,Ari!”
“Vixen, calm down.”
I felt Dennis’ hand on my shoulder and pushed it away. “I know you don’t remember who I am, but we’re going home.” I was trying to hold off the mood swing for as long as possible, but that was never a guarantee.
“Ooh,Emy. My favorite cousin. My best friend,” she cooed. “I didn’t recognize you. Go home without me. I can walk. Wait, but I don’t know where I am.” She giggled and reached for a card. “I lost beer pong. So bad. I lost two games. I’m just losing everything today.” She flipped the card and yelled in triumph when it was an Ace. “Waterfall!” She raised a massive glass to chug. Everyone else in the game cheered and followed suit.
“How much alcohol has she had?”
“A lot,” Sean said. “The girl can drink. I can stay with her, if you want.”
“I’m not leaving without her.”
“Without who?” Ari lowered the cup to peer at me.
“You.”
“Who?”
“I can’t deal with this right now.” I slammed my fist against the table as tears stung at my eyes. “I wanna leave.”
“I’ll stay with her,” Sean offered a second time.
“We barely fucking know you. I don’t trust you. I’m not leaving my drunk off her ass cousin with a stranger who doesn’t know boundaries.”
“She’s with friends, right?” He gestured to the several people who knew her, including the super nice one. It seemed at least two of the other less drunk girls were keeping a close eye on her. “Seriously. She’ll be fine.”
“Let’s go for a walk until you calm down and then we’ll come back,”Dennis said.
I stared at them both, trying to process what they were even saying. They waited for a response that never came. Dennis finally took my shoulders and steered me outside.“I don’t wanna go for a walk,” I mumbled.
“It might help.” He let go as we reached the sidewalk.
“I don’t want help.” I ran a hand through my hair and ended up grabbing a handful, then stopped walking and stared ahead.“I wanna go home.”
“Should I tell Sean to bring Ari so we can leave?”
“No. I wanna go home.” I set off at a brisk pace, partially to escape Dennis’ worried look.“Like home, home. Back with my mom and dad and that piece of shit we called a house. And that stupidcloset I used to play in while my mom shot up, and my dad and his knives.” I stopped talking as my throat constricted.
“Why are you so upset?”
I didn’t answer and walked into the street—Dennis yanked me back as a car flew past, its horn blaring and driver shouting. I stared after it. He dragged me the rest of the way across the street before dropping my arm.
“What’s wrong with you? What happened to the tough Vixen who would’ve cussed that guy out and tried to stab him?”
“I left my knife at home.” I smiled grimly as the first tear fell.“Maybe I should become a drug addict like my mom or go to prison like my dad, or just go back to dancing at clubs because that’s all I’m good at.”
Dennis stared at me and I stared back. When neither of us said a word, we started walking again. A couple of blocks later, we arrived at the park where we’d first met. We crossed the grass and I plopped down in the same swing I had been in on Halloween night.
