“God, Cole,” Kate said, breaking the silence. “You’re such a pig.”
“That’s not what you were saying the other night,” he shot back, without looking away from me.
“Dammnnn!” Nick jeered, covering his mouth with his hand. All of the guys were snickering.
Kate said something back, but it was like my ears had popped, and I could hardly hear what she was saying. Cole was still watching me with a look that I couldn’t figure out, at least not with how my head was spinning. I needed fresh air. With some difficulty, I pushed myself to my feet.
“Jackie?” someone said, but the words were muffled, barely there.
Standing up, I realized that I was drunker than I’d originally thought. My head was throbbing as everything around me reeled. I made it to the door without falling over, even though my steps were unsteady at best. Turning the rusty handle, I pushed open the heavy door to the warehouse and stepped outside.
The pavement was uneven, broken up in chunks. As I made my way to the truck where I planned to curl up until everybody was ready to leave, I stumbled on a crack. Suddenly it was as if the earth had moved, slamming into me as I stood still, not the other way around. Laying face-first on the ground, I could taste a trickle of blood where I bit my lip, but I was too dizzy to feel the sharp bite. I rolled over onto my back and gazed up at the sky. The sun was lingering just below the horizon and the sky was royal purple, but the stars had already come out for the night. Never in my life had I seen so many clear, sparkling dots against the dark canvas.
It was then that I finally let the tears flow. I wasn’t crying because my knee was surely torn up and bloody. I wasn’t even crying because of Cole. The tears were for the people I missed. I wanted to hear my sister laugh at this horrible situation, my mom to yell at me for my bad behavior, and my dad to hold me tight as I cried.
The warehouse door slammed shut as someone followed me outside. The crunch of the gravel warned me of their approach, but I continued to stare up at the sky, water slowly leaking from my eyes. For the first time since arriving in Colorado, I didn’t care if someone saw me cry. I was too worn out.
“Jackie, are you okay?” I couldn’t see him since he was standing behind me, but I knew it was Cole.
“The sky looks like diamonds,” I said instead.
“It does,” he answered. His hand appeared above me, held out to help me up. I tried to lift my own hand to put in his, but it was just too heavy and my head was really spinning now. The diamonds above me were a blur.
“I like it down here,” I told him, letting my hand fall back down at my side.
“Okay.” Cole sat down beside me, and then, when we were closer and he could actually see my face in the dark, he added, “Is that blood?”
I winced in pain as he brought his sleeve up to my face and gently wiped the trickle away.
“Tripped,” was the only word I could get out.
“I’m sorry, Jackie,” Cole said then. He gently pulled me close to him, cradling my head in his lap.
I didn’t know exactly what he was apologizing for. It could have been for convincing me to skip school and drink, something I had never done before. Or it could have been for kissing me. Whatever the reason, it didn’t matter.
“I want to go home,” I said softly.
“All right,” he said, pushing back my hair. “I’ll take you.”
But he couldn’t. Not really.
***
There must have been a pothole in the road, because the truck lurched forward and I fell off the backseat, snapping awake.
“Shit!” I heard Cole say from the driver’s seat. “Knew I should have buckled you in.”
“It’s like a roller coaster,” I giggled as I let my head roll back.
“Jackie, can you do me a favor and just stay right there on the floor? I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“Coley, don’t worry about me,” I told him. “It’s really comfy down here.”
The windows were rolled down, letting in the cool nighttime air and a chorus of chirping crickets. My toes and fingers tingled, and I smiled to myself. I was trying to remember how everything ended up so dizzy, but I only saw flashes of strange faces, an old building, and…a kiss?
The truck hit another hole, making my stomach jump.
“You good?” Cole asked.
No. My happy feeling was without doubt gone. “Nuh-uh,” I said, as my insides turned. “I think I might throw up.”
A few choice words hissed out of Cole’s mouth, but he pulled over to the side of the road. I heard the car door slam and then Cole was helping me out. As I emptied my stomach into the bushes, he held back my hair.
“Is that it?” he asked when I stood up and wiped my mouth. “There is a strict no-puking policy in the truck.”
“All better,” I told him, before trying to stumble back to the truck.
“Well,” Cole said, “your stomach might be empty, but you’re definitely not sober.”