What should have been a fifteen-minute walk actually takes thirty because of the number of times we’ve had to stop. I had to hold Annie Laurie’s hair back when she threw up in the bushes. Not once but twice. Carter ended up having to carry her the last ten minutes, all the way down the long, awful flight of stairs back to Martin.
I swipe my room card to get us inside the building. Carter’s still holding Annie Laurie—like a baby—and I’m holding the door open for them, when, unfortunately, Tara Giles and her mother walk out. My heart sinks down to my toes when I see them. Tara lives closer to the elevator on our floor and we’ve become pretty good friends. She’ll not be all that surprised about Annie Laurie, but it’s her mother I’m worried about. She’s a Pi Phi advisor.
I do the only thing I can do. I smile and say hello. Tara is friendly—she’s always friendly—and her mother gives me a warm grin. I pray she doesn’t hold this against me. If only she could smell my breath she’d know. I haven’t had a thing to drink all day, except three measly sips of a mimosa back at the Whitmores’ Grove party. As we’re walking through the lobby I realize I’m anything but inconspicuous. I may as well have a look-at-me sign pinned to my dress. The whole way up on the elevator I keep envisioning Tara’s mother’s face. I try interpreting her thoughts. But it’s futile. And stupid. Besides, there’s nothing I can do about it. What’s done is done.
Once upstairs, Carter places Annie Laurie on top of her unmade bed and within moments she’s fast asleep. Their room is a disaster—half-empty cups all over the place and clothes strewn over the floor. Such a contrast from the first time I saw it.
“I’ve seen her hammered before, back in high school, but never like this,” Carter says.
I can’t take my eyes off her. Is it anger? Is it pity? Or even sorrow I’m feeling? I honestly don’t know, but whatever it is the emotion is super strong.
Carter’s looking at her, too, probably feeling… I don’t know what the heck he’s feeling. “How much has she had? I mean, look at her,” he says. “She’s, like, passed out.”
“I’m not really sure.” I look at my phone. “Ellie said she started around nine and it’s quarter after three.” And kickoff was fifteen minutes ago.
“Has she taken anything else?”
“I have no idea.” His question reminds me of her Adderall prescription. I look over my shoulder. “There’s a pill bottle over there.” I point toward her vanity.
Carter moves over and picks up the bottle, reading the label. I watch him unscrew the cap and empty a few pills into his palm before slipping them inside the pocket of his pants. He looks straight at me. “She’ll never miss these.”Then he screws the top back on, places the bottle down where it was. “Thank you, Annie Laurie. You just made me a hundred bucks.”
Something inside me stirs. I want to ask him how he’ll sell the pills, but I don’t.
“So, do you want to walk back with me?” he asks.
I look over at Annie Laurie. She’s looks horrible.Just like my mother.“I do, but I feel like I need to stay with her.”
Carter sighs, stretches his neck from side to side. “Look, Cali, I’d stay with her, but all the pledges have to be at the House before the game ends. We have a big party tonight and we’re required to help the band set up. If I’m not there I’m screwed.”
I’ve heard about what happens to fraternity pledges if they mess up. I don’t want that for Carter. “It’s all good. Really.” I’m sure he feels bad that I’m not going to the game now, so we look down at our feet, then out the window, over our shoulders, anywhere but at each other.
Finally he moves toward the door. “I guess I’ll see you later. Sorry about all this.”
“It’s not your fault. Thanks for helping. I’m sure she’ll be calling you when she wakes up.”
Chuckling, he opens the door. “I’m sure she will. See ya, Cali.”
I wave, then watch the door shut behind him. Now everything is oddly quiet. It’s never like this in the dorm. No music. No laughter. I can’t even hear Annie Laurie breathing. It scares the crap out of me to think she might not be breathing. So I go over and put a finger under her nose. When airflow warms my skin I’m relieved.
Becoming more and more resigned to what I must do, I sit down in the desk chair, the gorgeous, linen-covered desk chair with Annie Laurie’s fancy pink monogram on the back. Her pill bottle is right in front of me. I can’t take my eyes off it. Or stop picturing Carter’s hand shoving the pills inside his pocket. So I pick it up. Rolling it around inside my palm, I hear the tiny pills clinking against the side of the plastic. Something inside urges me to unscrew the top. I could make money, too. Money that I need. Desperately. Carter made it seem so easy. There are plenty left inside. Would she even miss them?
I slam the bottle back down. Am I crazy? Why would I want to risk everything I’ve worked for? Willing my idiocy away, I dig inside the pocket of mydress for my phone. My thumbs fly across the keys in a text to let Ellie know what’s going on, and to tell her I’m afraid to leave Annie Laurie this way.
Right away she texts back:It’s okay. I’ll think of something to tell my parents. I feel so bad, Cal. I’m sorry you’re the one who had to take her home.
Don’t worry.Smiley face emoji.I’ll be fine. Enjoy the game. See you soon.Three heart emojis. That’s my final text.
Annie Laurie’s phone is dinging like crazy, but I ignore it.
The TV remote is atop their upholstered coffee table. After searching through what seems like a thousand channels I finally find the game. Sinking into their fancy gray and white sofa, the colors of the gloomy sky out the window, I find comfort as I wrap their furry throw around me and watch my Ole Miss Rebels take down the Wofford Terriers.
TWENTY-EIGHT
WILDA
While Haynes and I were at the Whitmore party, Ellie had texted me to say she and Cali would meet us in front of our regular gate at two thirty, a half hour before kickoff. Ever since she was little, Ellie has loved watching the pregame activity down on the field: the cheerleaders, our superb band—the Pride of the South—and the Rebelettes.
On the way to the stadium, as Haynes and I dodge hundreds of other hurried fans desperate to be seated before kickoff, I can swear I hear someone calling my name. Between the sound of the band playing inside and all the cheering outside it’s hard to know for sure. I stop briefly to look around, but don’t see anyone, so I catch up with Haynes and we keep striding toward the gate.
