I woke wedged between a coffee table and Tucker’s unyielding form. We appeared to be in a sun-filled living room and the couches and arm chairs and rugs were piled with sleeping bodies. How undignified.
I went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror and washed my face, trying to get all the makeup smeared under my eyes off. I sat on the toilet and wondered to myself, what happened last night? I looked down for a moment and—
Little flashes. Tucker spinning me around and laughing. Laughing loud, a deep-bellied laugh. Someone asking “Where’s Luna?” and feeling a little surge of panic. Stumbling on entangled limbs when I opened the bathroom door. And lastly, laying down in the softest floor I’d ever encountered at the end of the night.
Someone barged in. “Shit—sorry!” I stood quickly.
“No, Ashley. It’s fine. I was just, um, thinking.” She stood there in the doorway for a minute, looking at me like I was fascinating.
“Only you, Jenny, would ponder existentialism with a guy from last night’s party snoring in the tub.” Automatically I glanced over. Oops.
“I, um, missed him. So what’s…Ashley?” She ignored, leaning over and snapping her fingers in the guys face.
He woke with a start. “Well, darlin’, aren’t you just a dream come true.” He leered through his hangover and the suggestive pictures drawn on his face in Sharpie.
“Good morning, Chad. Get out. I have a crying girl who needs the facilities.”
“Aye aye, cap’n!” He gave a half-hearted salute and wobbled out of the bathroom in his boxers, rubbing the back of his neck. Ashley shook her head.
“He's mighty cheery for someone who partied the night away. So are you, actually,” I said.
“Oh, I didn’t drink,” she said. When I blinked, surprised, she shrugged. “James was here and I get…affectionate. Didn’t want to risk a moment of weakness. Not like my girl Gwen.”
“What did Gwen do?”
“You mean who did Gwen do.” She shook her head again, this time disgustedly.
I blinked again. “Oh, then you were, um, serious about the bathroom. I’ll just—yeah.”
Ashley waved her hand. She left then suddenly poked her head back in. “Hey, Jenny. I’m not sure if this is too much to ask, but—er, can you get us a ride?”
“A ride? Like a ride home?”
“No. A ride to Planned Parenthood. She needs Plan B like now. God, my friends are stupid.”
I thought it over really fast. “Yeah, lemme just…grab Tucker and we’ll—"
“Oh. No, it’d be better if we didn’t tell anyone. Especially a boy. Hold up, I’ll be right back.”
I scrambled up and crept through the living room and grabbed my purse and a little plastic bag with some random clothes. And there were my shoes. When I headed back to the bathroom I found Ashley leaning on the floor outside the wall, looking grim.
“She insisted on a shower,” she said. “Something about feeling gross.” She looked down and away. I knew that emotion. Shame.
Without a word I turned back around and snitched $4o from Tuckers wallet just in case and searched for directions on his iPhone. I hesitated, then grabbed his keys.. I went back towards the impromptu baptism, gripping Tucker’s keys tighter, and knew he’d understand. I was driving that nameless girl to the damned clinic.
