“O-kay.” Lana’s voice was suddenly farther away. “Let’s go. If she pukes, I don’t want to have to see it.”
“She’s gonna be all right, though?”
There was shuffling, a creak. “The goat got you invested?”
“It didn’t hurt.”
She snorted. A moment later, the door shut.
Lana’s instincts were spot-on: It wasn’t long before I needed the trash can. Ugh. After, I curled up in a ball and made various promises about never drinking again. Eventually I fell asleep. When I woke up, it was dark and noticeably cooler.
I managed to sit up—God, my head was banging—then patted my pockets in search of my phone. No luck. Maybe it was with my shoes, which I was also missing. I turned as slowly as I could to the door, where my flip-flops, flecked with grass, sat neatly side by side.
I slid my feet off the bed, then took a few tentative steps to the door, which creaked again as I opened it. It was a straight shot down the hall to the screen door, the porch beyond. I could see Lana and Ben sitting on the steps.
“Hey,” I called out. “Have you seen my phone?”
They both turned. “Look at that,” Lana said. “It lives.”
Ben held it up. “Right here.”
I made my way down the hallway and outside, with the kind of careful steps I associated with a person who was totally in control. “Thanks.” When he handed the phone to me, it was sticky.
I had multiple messages from Marisol, and missed calls from my dad and Nalini. I swiped over to UMe, where Colin had posted a picture of himself on a surfing simulator.Riding the waves,he’d captioned it. He’d dumped me and gone surfing?
“You might want to drink some water,” Lana advised. “If you can hold it down. Actually, maybe do it somewhere else.”
I ignored this as I stepped around them, heading down the steps. My signal remained weak: On the grass I had two bars,closer to the water, three. Also, I was really thirsty.
Just then, I felt the dock bounce with footsteps. Someone was coming up behind me. Then a bottled water appeared at my elbow.
“Go slow,” Lana said when I took it. She took a big step back. “I’ll be over here.”
I unscrewed the top, taking a tiny sip. So far, so good. “Thanks.”
“Sure.” She sat down on the dock, stretching her feet out in front of her. She wore a ring on one big toe. Her ankle had a thick outline of a star. “Want some advice?”
“Is it also about drinking water?”
She nodded at my phone. “Don’t call him.”
“I wasn’t going to,” I said. She arched an eyebrow. “I was just checking his socials.”
“To torture yourself?”
“He’ssurfing,” I said.
“Because he’s an asshole. He dumped you over video call, right?”
“He’s not an asshole,” I muttered, loyalty like a reflex.
“See?” She pointed at me. “Exactly why you should stop chasing him. Your heartbreak is warping your judgment.”
“Why are you so invested in this?” I demanded. “You don’t even know me.”
“True.” She thought for a second. “But I do know Kasey. In fact, she’s been really good to me. So I can’t just sit here and watch her niece pull the emotional equivalent of walking out in traffic. That would makemean asshole.”
“Well, we wouldn’t wantthat,” I said.
