Letters to Nowhere(50)

“Too much?” he asked.

I touched his face with both my hands, my fingers gliding along his skin, tracing over his jaw. Had I really been on a balance beam only hours ago? Had this day really started with a morning workout and a drive to my house to get my car? It didn’t seem possible to have so many big moments in such a short amount of time.

“The whole tongue thing is a little weird to me,” I admitted.

“It is weird,” he said thoughtfully, then a malicious grin spread across his face and he dove forward and licked my cheek.

“Ew!” I wiped off my face with the back of my hand, laughing too hard to yell at him. “Nasty.”

His eyes danced with amusement. “I’m just breaking you of your germophobia.” He used his coat sleeve to wipe my cheek off a second time, then leaned in and gave me another kiss on the mouth. “Seriously though, sometimes my body gets ahead of my brain and you just have to stop me, okay?”

I felt like I was floating on a cloud of gorgeous blond boy with his super sweet perfect words.

“Jordan? Karen?” Stevie’s voice came from the back door area.

We broke apart quickly, but Jordan held on to one of my hands.

“I think Blair went a little crazy with the Kool–Aid mix,” Stevie said.

“Uh oh.” I immediately dropped Jordan’s hand and pushed past Stevie, heading back into the house. “Where is she?”

Stevie pointed to a door nearby. “Bathroom.”

I knocked on it once before opening it halfway. Blair sat on the floor, head hanging over the toilet, puking up purple liquid.

Jordan leaned over my shoulder, to get a closer look. “Oh, this is not good.”

I slid into the bathroom along with Jordan and Stevie, then I swept Blair’s long black hair off her neck, holding it up for her. “Get a wet towel for her head,” I ordered to whichever one of them would respond. Jordan started sifting through the cabinet under the sink and Stevie dove into the linen closet, coming up with a pink washcloth.

Once Blair stopped heaving, I reached out and flushed the toilet. She collapsed onto the floor, clutching her stomach and groaning. I sat beside her and Stevie pressed the washcloth to her forehead.

Jordan leaned over her, assessing the situation. “Damn, I should have never let her out of my sight. My dad is going to murder me. How much did she drink?”

“Apparently too much,” Stevie said.

Jordan rolled his eyes. “Let’s just get her out of here. She can sleep it off at your place.”

Stevie and I helped Blair sit up, then Jordan bent over and scooped her off the floor, easily carrying her out the door and into the car. Before going outside, I grabbed Blair’s purse and coat. In the car, I managed to get a seat belt around her, but her head flopped over into my lap. I let her stay like that while Jordan climbed into the front seat and Stevie into the driver’s seat.

When we got to Stevie’s apartment, Jordan picked Blair up again. Her head flopped around, but she opened her eyes for a minute and smiled lazily up at him.

“I didn’t puke on you, did I?”

Jordan laughed. “No, you didn’t.”

“Good.” She closed her eyes and passed out again.

“Put her on the couch,” Stevie directed once we were inside.

Jordan laid her down and found a blanket to toss over her. Stevie retrieved a bucket just in case Blair barfed again and I got a glass of water and Advil ready on the coffee table for when she woke up.

“Do you think Coach Bentley’s going to notice?” I asked Stevie, referring to our Saturday morning practice tomorrow.

“It’s only ten thirty now,” Stevie said with a sigh. “Kinda pathetic, huh? We didn’t even make it until eleven.”

Jordan laughed. “Yeah, totally pathetic. You guys are such wimps, you never do anything risky.”

“Practice isn’t until ten tomorrow,” I said. “Hopefully that will be enough time for her to recover.”

Stevie clapped her hands together and headed toward the kitchen. “I’m gonna make something to eat, anyone else hungry?”

Jordan stood there scratching the back of his head. “Maybe I’ll call one of my friends and get a ride home.”

“I thought you were staying here tonight,” Stevie said.

He is? That was news to me.

Jordan looked extremely uncomfortable all of a sudden. “Maybe that’s not such a good idea.”

Stevie spun around, hands on hips, competition face on. “Oh come on, it’s not like it’s any different from every other night for you two. Besides, I had only hoped a tiny bit that you’d hook up with me and not Karen tonight, but it was more of an afterthought than a real goal.”

My jaw literally fell open. Did she actually just say that she had planned to hook up with Jordan?

Jordan looked just as shocked, but he managed to speak before I did. “Well…I hadn’t really planned on hooking up with anyone, to be honest…”

I covered my face with my hands. I couldn’t help it. “Oh my God, this is awkward.”

Stevie burst out laughing. “Clearly I didn’t explain myself well enough. I just meant that I’m ready to do the whole being a real teenager thing while I’ve still got a few months of it left, and Jordan was right in front of me, so naturally, I’d go there first, but I don’t have feelings for him, so if you do, Karen, I’m okay with that. I promise. My main concern right now is not getting in trouble with Coach Bentley by sending you home after drinking or having one of your wasted friends come and pick you up.”