“Awesome, thanks for the heads up,” the guy on the phone says, sounding pissy. “I’m leaving Kennebunk now, so I’ll seeyousoon.”
“Seeya,bro.”
Well, it seems like Jade has made quite an impression around here, and evidently, I’m going down with hersinkingship.
“Does your friend on the phone live near you?” I ask, wondering who this guy is and what Jade has done to piss him off. God onlyknows.
“No, the three of us have been friends since we were kids. My family spent the summers here, and he lives in Maine all yearround.”
“Well, it seems like a nice place to spend asummer.”
“Um,” Jared says, pointing over myshoulder.
I twist around, finding Jade leaning to the side, ready to fall off the rock, so I grab her arm and shake her out of her unconscious state. “Jadeeee,” I chirp. “You’re making a fool ofyourself.”
“Oh,” Cale laughs. “She does this every weekend at least once.” Jade and I had a good time in college—high school, too, but her drinking habits weren’t to this degree. I’ve seen her pass out like this less than a handful of times, and we’ve been friends since middle school. We were more of thelet’s drink until a cute guy appears, then make out with him until the alcohol wears offkind of party animals. Now, Jade’s engaged, though, so that’s not happening for her, and I’m currently on a self-imposed dating hiatus, which includes beer-goggle kissing. So, something feels off with her actinglikethis.
As Jade pulls from my grip, leaning away, I clench my other hand around her jaw and force her to open her eyes. “Look at me. Wakeup,J.”
Her brows lift first, and her eyelids struggle to follow. “Uhh,” she groans as her lids part enough so she canseeme.
“What is going on with you?” Iwhisper.
A smile presses into the corners of Jade’s lips, and her hands lift from her lap, then fall onto my shoulders. “I’m soooo happy you’re here, but I think I’m a littledrunk.”
“I can tell.” Jade falls into my arms, and rests her head on my chest. “Has she seemed upset or anything?” I asktheguys.
“I’m not too sure. She seems happy with her job, but I do remember her cussing out some guy named ... Chip, maybe? That was a month ago, though, and she seemed over it within minutes, but other than that, I can’t say I’ve noticed anything else. Jade has sort of been this way since I’ve known her,”Calesays.
“Yup, this is the only Jade we know,” Jaredfollows.
Chip. Oh no. I grab her dangling hand from between her legs and hold it up in front of my face. No, no, no. I gasp. “What? What is it?”Caleasks.
I hold Jade’s hand up higher and point to her left ring finger. “She was engaged to be married. The wedding is in September. This summer was supposed to be her last big adventure before tyingtheknot.”
“Without her fiancé?” Jared snickers and pinches at the bridge of his nose. “In any case, I don’t think there’s going to be a wedding inSeptember.”
“Did she mention what happened?” I did find it a bit odd that Jade chose to be away from Chip for the summer, but when she gets an idea in her head, she kind of runs with it, so I’ve learned not to question her every move. Plus, it was an awesome idea, and she wanted to do it with me. I’m sure once she marries Chip—if she does—our girl time will be chopped in half. So, I’m going to take what I can get from my bestie while I can, even if she is passed out on my laprightnow.
“We didn’t know she was engaged,” Cale says, soundingsurprised.
“Jade, how is Chip?” I ask her, shaking her shouldersabit.
“Chip can suck a dick,” she groans. “I told him I did.” She covers her mouth and snorts into her hand. “Ooooops. Do you suck a lot of dick, Julesssss? It’sfunnnn.”
Oh boy, okay. “I should probably get Jade out of here.” Except she just passed back out on myboobs.
“Typical Jade,” Jared mutters. I can’t blame them for not doing something more to help her. They didn’t know her until a month ago, and if they thought she was always like this, I’m surprised they still put up with it. No one likes the sloppy drunk girl in theirgroup.
“Jade, can you tell me where you live? Do you have a car here? Where can Itakeyou?”
“Home,” she barely manages to slur.“That is nothelpful.”
“She’s renting a condo down near Perkins Cove,”Jaredsays.
I turn my head, looking over at him. “Where’sPerkinsCove?”
“A mile or so that way.” He points in the direction we came from. Awesome. Either way, I have to get her to my car, and she’s no more stable than a rag doll at themoment.
