“Trent!” they called as they walked by. I smiled to myself, having forgotten the bad boy appeal most girls saw in him. He tipped his head in their direction and then put his hand on my back to guide me inside. The trailer was small and cast in a yellow glow from the old fluorescent bulbs that hung from the ceiling. A tattered, stained couch sat directly next to the door and there were three boys each rolling a joint, trying to race one another to completion. I looked past them toward the kitchen and saw Ashley chatting with Blake.
It wasn't until I saw her that I realized how underdressed I was for the occasion. I hadn't bothered to put much makeup on before school and I was still wearing jeans and an old Rolling Stones t-shirt.
Ashley was decked out in a short denim skirt and a white lacy tank top. Her four-inch heels added to her height and when Blake straightened up after pouring her a drink, she towered over him.
He was just as I suspected: a guy in his late twenties with a slight beer belly and thick, gelled black hair. In other words, he looked like someone who shouldn’t have been partying with a bunch of high schoolers. As I stood, taking him in, Ashley looked up and spotted me. I braced myself for an awkward encounter, but her shock was quickly replaced with a giant smile.
“Lilah!” she squealed, stumbling in her high heels to reach me.
I laughed and reached out to help stabilize her as she all but fell onto me. “Hi Ashley.”
“I can't believe you're here! How did Trent talk you into coming? I thought you only hung out with Chase now.”
I rolled my eyes and released her arms.
“I hang out with whoever I want to, and tonight I'm here to see you,” I said, putting on a fake smile.
Trent tapped my arm and motioned toward the kitchen where Blake was still standing, watching my encounter with Ashley. I wondered if I’d interrupted something between the two of them.
“I'll go get us some drinks, be right back,” Trent said.
Ashley took the opportunity and tugged me toward the couch. The guys moved over for us and I let Ashley squeeze in next to them so I could sit on the arm of the couch.
Ashley took a joint from one of the guys and took a hit. She offered it to me but I held up my hand in protest.
“Here you go,” Trent said, appearing by my side with a red Solo cup in hand. He grinned wide as I took the cup and peered inside.
“What is this?” I asked, taking a sniff. There was a faint hint of alcohol but it wasn't too overwhelming.
“A rum and Coke. I went easy on the rum because I knew you'd give me hell,” he joked, bending down to take a seat on the edge of the couch.
I smiled and took a tentative first sip, relieved to find that it was mostly coke.
“Let's play King's Cup!” Ashley said, clapping her hands together with glee.
Blake pulled open a kitchen drawer to retrieve a tattered deck of cards and then tossed them over to us. Trent caught them midair, pulled open the box, and started to shuffle the cards on his lap.
Ashley brushed me up on the rules of the game as I finished my first drink. Trent stood to get me another one, but I held up my hand to stop him. I wanted the first one to settle in before I had any more. It hadn't tasted very strong, but I didn't want the rum to hit me all at once.
“I'll just fill it with water. You need a drink to play the game,” Trent whispered in my ear. I smiled and blinked, feeling a faint lightness in my head, probably from the smoke in the air. Water was a good idea.
When he returned, I took a few sips as people started drawing cards.
Ashley reached forward and picked up a two of hearts. “Two, you!” she said, turning and pointing to me.
“What does that mean?” I asked, trying to recall the rules she'd just explained. My head felt fuzzy and I tried to blink away the confusion.
“When someone draws a two, they get to point to whoever they want and that person has to take a drink with them. So drink up!” she hollered into my ear.
I gulped down some of the water, but as I pulled the cup away from my mouth the room spun around me.
“Trent are you sure there wasn't much rum in that drink?” I asked, looking up at him. The edges of his face were blurred and I squinted, trying to make him out in the fuzziness.
He smiled and shrugged. “Nope. Not much rum at all.”
I should have paid more attention to that grin, but it was my turn to draw a card. I reached out to grab a card off the top of the deck and everyone shouted. I blinked my eyes again, feeling the same dizziness overtaking me. When I moved to sit back in my seat, a sharp feeling of vertigo overtook over me.
I tried to tell Ashley that I had a headache and didn't want to keep playing, but the words came out muddled and slow.
“What the hell did you put in her drink, Trent?” Ashley snapped.
The last thing I remembered was the laughter of the three boys rolling joints on the couch. They sounded like a pack of cackling hyenas.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chase
Springtime had always let me down. The season had an uncanny ability to disappoint me and that year was no different, except for Lilah. That year I had Lilah. Lilah and a drunk dad.
Kimberly had called me twice during Physics and by the time I’d finally returned her call in the guys bathroom, she was frantic.
“Your dad was in an accident.”
“What?”
“A car accident,” she clarified.
I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror and asked the question that could forever change my life.