happen, and it worried me that she'd given up already.
Reaching out, I grabbed her elbow gently and pulled her to the side when we were out the door. “You’re terribly mad at me, aren’t you?”
She shook her head, “No not at all. I understand. I’ll admit I’m disappointed, but not mad. When is your next night off?”
“Tuesday.”
She thought for a moment and said, “With school being out, I have a part-time job during the summer, and I have to work that night. Maybe this isn’t meant to be.”
I took my left hand and softly grazed her cheek with my finger. She closed her eyes, and I felt her shiver at the touch. “You want this to happen as much as I do.”
She chewed her lip and dipped her eyes to the ground. “I do.”
I leaned down and brushed my lips against her cheek; not wanting to ruin our first kiss moment by hastily sharing one now. With my mouth close to her ear, I said, “I’ll switch shifts with Marcus for tomorrow if you can make it.” She nodded then moved away quickly to her car. I’d had an effect on her, and I liked it. When I called, Marcus was more than willing to cover my shift tomorrow night so he wouldn’t lose any hours.
Next night I sprinted downstairs to find my shoes when I found Angel lying on the couch. Normally this wouldn’t have been concerning if she weren't face down. Kneeling beside her, I moved her hair from her face and cough as I inhaled the fumes of whiskey trailing from her mouth, clothes, everywhere it seemed. Shaking her and repeating her name over and over was not helping anything. I struggled to lift her body off the couch; the dead weight was too much for me to handle alone. I rolled her over to her side, scooting her back against the couch for support. In the kitchen, I filled a cup with ice and water, gave it a few seconds for the ice to disperse its coldness before draining the water into another cup with no ice. She’ll thank me for this later; I attempted to convince myself as I threw the cold water on her face.
She jumped up screaming with fists flailing for a target. When she steadied, I said, “I thought you might be dead. How much did you drink?”
She flailed her arms in anger, “I don’t know. What’s it to you?”
Next to the couch I noticed two bottles of Jack Daniel’s whiskey. “Tell me you didn’t drink both of those by yourself.”
She stepped up into my face and said, “Of course not, I'd be dead. Now, get off my back, asshole. You’re not my dad, my boyfriend or my husband. You’re my fucking roommate. Learn your place, T.” Angel had never been this drunk or this hostile in the time I'd known her.
“I’m not going to take what you say to heart because I know you don’t mean it, Angel.”
She scoffed, “What if I do? Why don’t you move the hell out and take your brat sister with you.” Ouch. Luckily, Macy is staying with a friend tonight, or that would have hurt her feelings a lot. She and Angel have become very close since we moved here. Angel moved forward to leave the room and stumbled toward the ground. Before I could reach out for her, her head connected with the coffee table as she crashed to the floor. She screamed in pain. When she sat up, there was a gash with blood dripping from it.
“Shit,” I blurted, and then ran to grab a hand towel from the kitchen. When I pressed it against her head, I tried to stop the bleeding to see if it would need stitches. It looked superficial enough. She kept the towel held against her head while I went to get the first aid kit.
While I was at it, I called to cancel on Lanie, again. Once more, she sounded disappointed. She said she’d call me later when she had her schedule in front of her so we could pick another day, but it sounded like a blow off. While I took care of Angel, I tried to figure out a way to make this up to Lanie. I helped Angel get upstairs to my room where I had a first aid kit. She passed out shortly after I bandaged her head. She
Rebecca Hamilton, Conner Kressley