Page 118 of Wrecked

I feel around on the sheets and look back and forth, searching for an answer. “No.” My voice is slightly frightened.

“Oh my God!” Jessica cries. She leans forward and practically yells in my face, “I’m Jessica. This is Suzanne. We’re your friends.”

Suzanne looks over to Jessica and grimaces. “Don’t you think she’d want to know what her name is?”

Jessica nods. “Your name is Lee-uh,” she phonetically pronounces my name like I’m a foreigner learning a new language.

“Leah,” I repeat. “Who am I? Where do I live? What am I like?”

“You live with your parents, and you manage a bar in town,” Jessica says.

Suzanne chimes in, “You are in desperate need of a dye job, and you have a terrible sense of fashion.”

“I do not!” I yell.

Suzanne smiles.

“You idiot!” Jessica squeals, annoyed, pushing on my leg.

“Ow!” I grab my thigh, pretending I’m in terrible pain.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to—wait”—Jessica falls back to her chair and crosses her arms—“you have a head injury. Your legs are fine.”

I shrug and go back to lying on the bed.

Suzanne shakes her head and grins. “Nice to know you haven’t lost your sense of humor. We brought you real clothes.” She holds up a Vera Bradley duffel bag.

My body is still sore, but I’m able to move about better now that I’ve had that second nap. I push myself into a sitting position.

“No one knows a girl better than her friends.” I thank them and take the bag. My pajamas, brush, and makeup are in here. I put the bag at the foot of my bed and lie back on the reclined bad.

The two who are usually boisterous and chatty are unusually quiet. I know they want to know more than what they’ve been told by my mom or Emma or whoever it was that told them I was here.

With my hands clasped in front of me, I open up to my girls. “I thought I was going to die. I’ll tell you all about it, just not today. Right now, I’m trying to focus on the fact that I didn’t die. Adam came home just in time and saved me. Have you heard anything about him?”

They shake their heads.

Suzanne pulls her curly hair away from her eyes and adjusts her glasses. “We just got here.”

I nod and look down at my hands. Jessica places a hand on my leg. I look up to her beautiful face and sweet smile. Her lips open to speak and then close.

She opens and closes them again before I answer her question, “We’re together.”

She pulls her mouth in. I know what her questions are. She’s just being too nice in not asking them.

I look her in the face and wait for her eyes to look my way. “I’m sorry. I know you liked him.”

Her head lifts, and I finally catch her eye. She looks at me with a mix of betrayal and understanding.

“The other night at Velocity, when I left early, it’s been official since then.” I don’t say any more.

She stares at me. “I knew. I mean, I saw the signs. I just ignored them. We all knew there was something between you two,” Jessica says. Suzanne nods in agreement. “I get it.”

“I never wanted to hurt your feelings,” I say with the utmost conviction.

She grabs my hand and smiles. Her brown eyes twinkle a little. “I’m happy for you. For both of you.”

I let out a laugh of relief. That went so much better than I had feared.