Reagan looked at Cath and frowned. Cath felt something sticky blooming again in her stomach. Maybe the scene with Professor Piper was coming back to her. Or maybe she shouldn’t have been dancing with her roommate’s boyfriend. “You should come,” Reagan said. She seemed sincere.
Cath tugged at the hem of her T-shirt. “Nah. It’s already late. I’m just gonna write.…” She reached for her phone out of habit and checked it. She’d missed a text message—from Wren.
“at muggsy’s. COME NOW. 911.”
Cath checked the time—Wren had texted her twenty minutes ago, while she and Levi were dancing. She set her phone on the desk and started putting her boots on over her pajama pants.
“Is everything okay?” Levi asked.
“I don’t know.…” Cath shook her head. She felt ashamed again. And scared. Her stomach seemed thrilled to have something new to twist about. “What’s Muggsy’s?”
“It’s a bar,” he said. “Near East Campus.”
“What’s East Campus?”
Levi reached around her and picked up her phone. He frowned at the screen. “I’ll take you. I’ve got my car.”
“Take her where?” Reagan asked. Levi tossed her Cath’s phone and put on his coat. “I’m sure she’s fine,” Reagan said, looking at the text. “She probably just had too much to drink. Mandatory freshman behavior.”
“I still have to go get her,” Cath said, taking back the phone.
“Of course you do,” Levi agreed. “Nine-one-one is nine-one-one.” He looked at Reagan. “You coming?”
“Not if you don’t need me. We’re supposed to meet Anna and Matt—”
“I’ll catch up with you later,” he said.
Cath was already standing by the door. “Your sister’s fine, Cath,” Reagan said almost (but not quite) gently. “She’s just being normal.”
*
Levi’s car was a truck. A big one. How did he afford the gas?
Cath didn’t want any help getting in, but the running board was missing—it was an especially shitty truck, she noticed now that she was up close—and she would’ve had to climb in on all fours if he hadn’t taken her elbow.
The cab smelled like gasoline and roasted coffee beans. The seat belt was stuck, but she still managed to get it buckled.
Levi swung into his seat smoothly and smiled at her. He was trying to be encouraging, Cath figured.
“What’s East Campus?” she asked.
“Are you serious?”
“Why wouldn’t I be serious right now?”
“It’s the other part of campus,” he said. “Where the Ag School is?”
Cath shrugged impatiently and looked out the window. It had been sleeting since this afternoon. The lights looked like wet smears on the streets. Fortunately, Levi was driving slow.
“And the law school,” he said. “And there are dormitories and a perfectly adequate bowling alley. And a dairy. Seriously, none of this is ringing any bells?”
Cath let her head rest on the glass. The truck’s heater was still blowing cold air. It had been a half hour now since the text. A half hour past 911. “How far is it?”
“A few miles. Ten minutes from here, maybe longer with the weather. East Campus is where most of my classes are.…”
Cath wondered if Wren was alone. Where was Courtney? Weren’t they supposed to be skinny-bitching together?
“There’s a tractor museum,” Levi said. “And an international quilt education center. And the food in the residence halls is outstanding.…”
It wasn’t right. Having a twin sister was supposed to be like having your own watcher. Your own guardian. BUILT-IN BEST FRIEND—their dad had bought them shirts that said that for their thirteenth birthday. They still wore them sometimes (though never at once) just to be funny. Or ironic or whatever.
What’s the point of having a twin sister if you won’t let her look out for you? If you won’t let her fight at your back?
“East Campus is just so much better than City Campus in every way. And you don’t even know that it exists.”
The light ahead turned red, and Cath felt the tires spin beneath them. Levi shifted gears, and the truck rolled to a perfect stop.
*
They had to park quite a ways from the bar. This whole street was bars, block after block of them.
“They’re not going to let me in,” Cath said, wishing Levi would walk faster. “I’m underage.”
“Muggsy’s never checks.”
“I’ve never even been in a bar.”
A dozen girls spilled out of the doorway ahead of them. Levi grabbed Cath’s sleeve and pulled her out of the way. “I have,” he said. “It’s going to be fine.”
“It’s not fine,” Cath said, more to herself than to Levi. “If it was fine, she wouldn’t need me.”
Levi pulled on her sleeve again and opened a heavy, black, windowless door. Cath glanced up at the neon sign over their heads. Only the UGGSY and a four-leaf clover lit up. There was a big guy sitting just inside on a stool, reading a Daily Nebraskan with a flashlight. He flipped the light up at Levi and smiled. “Hey, Levi.”
Levi smiled back. “Hey, Yackle.”