I catch Matt’s eye over Renee’s head. He doesn’t say anything, just stares back, but I know he’s thinking the same thing as me: at this point, we couldn’t hate Renee if someone held a gun to our heads.
“No one in this room is blaming you for anything,” I try to comfort her. “We all had a part in it.”
“It’s true,” Aaron added. “Jake especially is to blame, you know, with that whole Carly situation and all.”
I ball up my fist, ready to break his nose, but Renee laughed that beautiful laugh, and the air in the room became lighter suddenly. Easier. I want to trap that laugh in a jar and keep it for every bad day.
“How did you guys know I’d be there?” Renee asked. Her eyes meet mine briefly, then travel to Matt and Aaron. “Were you following me?”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Matt said, but under his gruff exterior, his tone was teasing. “Jami texted me. She said Jason had approached you guys earlier and asked you to go with him. Told me she was worried about it.”
“Oh.” Renee’s face falls, and she nods. “So it was a favor for Jami.”
“No, sweetheart.” I scoot forward in my seat and reach for Renee’s hand, and I think it surprises all of us when she takes it and doesn’t let go. “We went to the party because you were there. It was no favor for anybody. We ... we wanted to protect you if anything happened.”
“I guess it was good that you guys showed up then, huh?” Renee said with a small smile, dropping my hand to nibble anxiously at a fingernail.
“Eh, you could have taken him,” Aaron said, and Renee giggled. God, what a beautiful sound.
“Probably not, but thanks for the vote of confidence.” She slides to the edge of the couch to try and stand up, and three pairs of hands shoot out to steady her again. Matt secures her left, I get her right, and Aaron stays in front of her. We look ridiculous, I imagine, flocking around Renee like she was an invalid, but none of us make any move to back away.
“Honestly, you guys, I’m okay now,” she insisted, but her cheeks' waxy, pale complexion tells us otherwise. Her hands tremble as she stands, but she grips me with one of them and Matt with the other.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Matt asked. “You should stay sitting down for a while.”
Renee swallows and glances down at Aaron’s arm, where a wristwatch is secured.
“It’s almost two in the morning,” she mumbles, glancing at it. “I need to go home. Jami is probably worried sick.”
“I’ve already spoken with Jami,” Matt said. “She knows you’re here and that you’re safe. Besides, didn’t you ride to the party with Jason?”
“Yeah, so?”
“So,” Aaron cuts in. “How are you going to drive home right now?”
Renee furrows her brow, gaze switching between each of us. “Are you holding me hostage here?”
“No.”
“Of course not.”
“Why?” I ask. “Do you feel like a hostage?”
Renee sways where she stands and closes her eyes, looking like she might throw up. The bit of color that was left drains from her face, and Matt and I gently help her lower her body back onto the couch where she’s in no danger of careening face-first into the coffee table.
“You could sleep here tonight,” Matt said. “You need to rest.”
“I should be at home,” Renee mumbles, but her voice is far away as exhaustion overtakes her. She flung an arm over her eyes and took a deep breath. Aaron goes down the hallway for a moment and comes back with an extra blanket and one of his pillows. He hands them over, and Matt and I gently lift Renee’s head to rest it on the pillow, then cover her with the blanket. She was already asleep, her chest rising and falling gently with each breath she took. I wanted to touch her, to feel her beneath my fingers, but it was not the time. Not now. Not after tonight.
“Well,” Matt said, leaning back into his chair with a slight shrug. “This has been an interesting night, wouldn’t you both say?”
