Chapter 11

When Emma woke up, it was the late afternoon. Every sound, every beam of light made her head throb. She covered a pillow over her head.

‘So this is what a hangover feels like,’ she said into her pillow

Memories of the night before were hazy and she hoped that the parts that she did remember were just a dream. Her phone buzzed. She reached over to her bedside table and grabbed it.

‘Oh crap, twenty missed calls!’ She went through the unopened text messages in her inbox.

Tom

22-Mar-09 11:30pm

You bloody legend, you.

 CG She said yes :)

…and she has a good way of showing it ;)

Tom

23-Mar-09 12:40am

This has got to be the greatest

 night of my life. Hey where are you?

Tom

23-Mar-09 12:42am

Remind to thank you for being the

best friend a man could have.

Why is my jacket on the couch? Where are you?

Tom

23-Mar-09 12:45am

I can’t find you. PICK UP YOUR PHONE.

 Call me when you get this message.

Tom

23-Mar-09 12:48am

Emma, I had to break up my date

just so I could search Damon’s house

looking for you. You owe it to me to

CALL ME BACK.

Tom

23-Mar-09 12:50am

CALL ME BACK TO WIN $1 MILLION

Shah

23-Mar-09 1:01am

White boy walked in on me. EW.

He told me to txt u 2 call him. I told him

Ur probz gettn sum. He went all syko.

Wut did he expect?

U lookd hawt!

Tom

23-Mar-09 3:04am

Ok, so I woke up your dad and he checked

that you were in your room. I might not be over

your place for a while, I think he wanted to kill me.

Emma dialled Tom’s number. Tom picked up after one ring.

‘WHY DIDN’T YOU CALL ME.’

Emma moved the phone away from her ear, Tom’s voice vibrated unpleasantly through her ear and to the very core of her brain.

‘Please don’t yell, it hurts. I’m calling you now aren’t I?’ she said into the phone.

‘DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF WHAT I WENT THROUGH LAST NIGHT.’

 ‘I-’

Tom lowered his voice, but still kept his enraged tone.

‘First, everything was going great you know with the Californian girl on the couch. And then what do you know, I’m sitting on my jacket. The one that I told YOU TO HANG ONTO. Then I go and look for you everywhere and ring you two dozen times. So I’m thinking no, Emma wouldn’t be stupid enough to be upstairs would she? By the way, I know who Carlos is now and whose image of his ass will forever be embedded IN MY BRAIN.’

‘Please don’t raise your voice,’ Emma pleaded. Tom ignored her, continuing with his rant.

‘So then it’s the last room in the house I haven’t checked and it’s bloody Damon’s bedroom. I felt dirty even touching the doorknob. I end up pulling some guy off this girl thinking it was you. Then he gets all pissed and wants a fight, which by the way I won but it still doesn’t get rid of my black eye. Then some guy who is in the crowd watching the fight says that some girl in boots left with SOME GUY. ’

‘Tom-’

‘You’d think my night would end there but oh no. Eric, our only sober driver is missing so I get a ride with Carlos and Shah which was awkward, considering I saw them going at it soon before. Oh and then halfway there our car runs out of gas so we call a cab. Then we get kicked out because Carlos’ credit card is declined and I left my wallet in your bag. So I had to walk the rest of the way to your house so that I could wake up your dad to call the police at three in THE MORNING.

‘Tom-’

‘But it turns out you’re in bed and I am now on your dad’s hit list.’

‘TOM!’

‘What?’ Tom, being so determined to tell his story, for a moment had forgotten that Emma was on the other end on the line.

‘Are you done?’

‘Yes, I believe so.’

‘Good,’ she said and hung up.

Chapter 10

It was half past midnight now and the roads were almost deserted. Eric helped Emma into his car. He did up her seatbelt and went into the driver’s seat.
‘Hey Eric! Eric. Eric. Eric. Eric. Eric,’ said Emma.
‘Yes Emma?’
‘Can I touch your purdy hair? It’s so dark and purdy,’ she said. Without waiting for a reply she brushed though Eric’s hair with her fingers. Eric laughed and turned on the engine.
She fell asleep with her mouth gaped open on the whole ride home. When they had reached their destination, Eric gently nudged her.
‘Five more minutes, dad,’ she mumbled into the seat and flipped on her other side. Eric got out of his car and scooped Emma out of the passenger’s seat.
‘Can you walk?’ He let her slowly down on her feet. Emma wobbled like a calf taking its first steps.
‘Here, lean on me.’ He helped her to the front door.
‘No no no Dad would kill me if he sees me like this.’
‘Did you want to stay over my place tonight then?’
Emma snorted. ‘Oh yeah, that’ll put him at ease.’
‘Is there any other way of getting in?’ he asked and scanned the area
‘The ladder. It’s behind the bush.’
Eric piggybacked a drowsy Emma up the ladder and into her room. She aimed to fall onto the bed but only managed to get halfway there. She was sprawled on the carpet like an animal rug. Eric carried her the rest of the way, laid her on the bed and pulled her bed sheets over her halfway.
‘I am so drunk right now,’ she said dreamily
‘I know,’ said Eric who was sitting by her.
‘Why do you have to be around when I make a nut of myself? You must think I’m some crazy loser,’ she mumbled.
‘It’s not too bad…I like crazy girls,’ he said. He looked at his watch and remembered that he had to go back to the party to drive everyone home.
‘Goodnight Emma,’ he said. He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the forehead. But by then Emma was already sound asleep to notice.