Chapter Eight

After a while just hanging out, and having very slowly finished her first drink and gotten started on the second thanks to Nick, Abby felt comfortable enough to actually move around the party a little. She was still not brave enough to jump right in and start talking to people, but she was able to grab a seat in the living room to join the small group of people watching someone else play a video game. Just about all of them were loudly giving tips and instructions, probably to the detriment to the players. After a while, Abby even got drawn into it, and when the players rotated and she was asked if she wanted a turn, she hesitated for a moment, and then went for it.

"Why the hell not?"

It briefly occurred to her that she might do horribly, but she pushed the thought out of her mind. It didn't matter. None of these people cared. They were there to have a good time, to to scrutinize her and her video game playing skills.

After a while Nick came by the group in the living room. He leaned over to speak to her over the music and loud conversation.

"Hey Abby, how's it going? Having fun?" Abby smiled up at him and nodded.

"I am having a good time."

"Good. I'm glad to hear it. Do you want to come out on the porch with me?" Abby felt herself blush a little.

"I think he does like me!"

"Sure, let's go." Nick smiled and took her hand to help her off the couch. He lead her back through the hallway and through the kitchen to the back door. Outside half a dozen people sat around on lawn chairs on the dark, enclosed porch. At least a couple of them were smoking and all of them seemed to have something to drink.

The night was warm, but not unbearably so and it was nice to get out of the noise for a little while. Nick sat down on a bench against the house wall and pulled Abby down next to him.

"What's up guys?" he said to the people on the porch.

"Hey Nick, how's it going? Who's this?"

"This is Abby. We have a class together."

"Cool."

For a while Abby just sat quietly beside Nick listening to him talk with his friends about random stuff. She felt warm all over and she realized that her thought processes seemed fuzzy and almost a little bit sluggish. She recognized it as probably being due to what she was drinking, but the smoke on the porch was also a little bit heavy and she wondered what it was exactly that Nick's friends were smoking. Soon she had a chance to find out.

The guy that was sitting a couple of feet from Nick lit up what looked like a fresh joint. He took a long drag and then offered it to Nick. Nick accepted the joint and took a couple of quick puffs before holding it out to Abby with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh shit. Don't take it. No, just take it. No, don't. Just act like you did it. Don't. You'll look lame. Can't."

"Um, no thanks. I'm...good for right now."

"Ok." Nick passed the joint back to his friend and took a drink of his beer. He draped his other arm around Abby's shoulders. For a moment she sat stiff, secretly delighted, but not sure exactly what to do next. Finally she took a sip of her drink and then leaned against him a little. She had begun to feel drowsy and sitting there quietly with Nick's arm around her really felt very good.

Eventually Nick decided that he wanted to go back inside and Abby went with him, leaving the smokers on the porch. Indoors the air was significantly clearer, but the noise level hadn't decreased at all and it seemed even louder after the relative quiet of the few people on the porch. Suddenly under the music Abby heard a faint tune playing during the half beat moments when the music lulled slightly and realized that it was her cell's ringtone. She pulled it out and experienced a brief moment of panic when she saw that it was her mom calling her. She wound her way as quickly as she could to the front door and ran out onto the grass to get away from the noise.

"Hello?"

"Hi sweetie, how are you?"

"Oh hi Mom, I'm fine, how are you?"

"We're good. I won't keep you, I know you said you have a lot to do tonight. I just wanted to let you know that if it's still ok with you, your dad and I will be coming up to see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah that's fine. What time do you think you'll be here?" asked Abby, trying her hardest to sound casual.

"Oh I don't know. Probably around noon or so. We could go to lunch together."

"Alright, sounds good. Guess I'll see you then."

"Excellent. You have a good night sweetie. What's all that noise anyway?"

"Frick!"

"Oh that's just Laura watching TV."

"Oh, ok, well we'll see you later then. Love you."

"Love you too, Mom. Have a good night."

"Alright, bye."

Abby closed her phone and gave a sigh of relief. For a moment when the phone had rang she had, albeit illogically, thought that somehow her parents had found out about her going to the party.

"Oh gosh, what if they had decided to go ahead and come up tonight?"

For a moment Abby stood on the lawn and calmed her breathing. Suddenly another scary thought elbowed its way into Abby's mind. What if her mother had tried to call the dorm room first and no one had answered? What if she had called the room and Laura had told her that Abby wasn't there? Abby suddenly very much regretted blaming the noise on her roommate watching TV. Why the heck hadn't she thought to say something more vague? Oh gosh, oh no.

Abby's stomach was immediately sick again. She'd been found out, she just knew it. Her limbs felt heavy and she finally realized that she was drunk as the contents in her stomach roiled. For a moment she thought that she was going to throw up. She swallowed repeatedly and moved to the front steps to sit down. She leaned over and put her face in her hands.

"Oh gosh, they're going to kill me." By this point Abby was positive that her mom must have called her dorm room first and had probably spoke to Laura.

"Maybe she didn't call the dorm. Maybe Laura wasn't there even if she did. She usually does go out on Fridays. Just about always." She had to get back. She had to find out if Laura had spoken to her mother.

"Please, please, please..." Abby stood up and opened the door to the house. Nick was on the couch talking and laughing with a small group of people. Abby walked over and bent down to speak to him.

"Hey Nick, listen, I need to get going. Um, something came up."

"Yeah? Well I'm sorry to hear that. Hope you had fun," Nick smiled up at her.

"I did, I really did. Thanks a lot for inviting me. It was great hanging out with you."

"Sure thing. You going to be able to make it home ok?" asked Nick. Abby nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I'll be fine. Anyway, have a good night. I guess I'll see you in class."

"Yep, talk to you later," said Nick.

Abby slipped back out by the front door and began making her way back towards campus. The apartment building lined streets had long since grown dark and she walked quickly. She could clearly hear parties going on in several of the houses that she passed and for some odd reason she felt very vulnerable.

"You're fine, just get back to Windsor. You're fine. What do you think? Someone's going to rape you right on the street here?"

Her stomach still felt sick and her knees slightly weak. She couldn't stop thinking about what she might or might not find out once she got back to her dorm room.

"Come on now Abby, even if Mom and Dad did find out that you went to a party, what are you afraid of? What are they going to do? Ground you? You're in college now."

"I'm not afraid, I just...I don't want them to be disappointed. I guess I was a little bit stupid to go to this alone. I mean, nothing happened, but I suppose it could have."

"Well it didn't, so nothing to worry about. Lesson learned. If it's that big a deal then just don't do it again. Simple as that."

"Gosh, I hope they don't yell at me."

As she crossed State St, Abby very nearly stepped right into a car. The guy in the driver's seat, another student from the looks of it, yelled at her out of the open window.

"Watch where you're going you moron!"

Abby felt a flush rush up her neck and burn on her cheeks and she walked faster.

"Get it together Abby."

She cut between the buildings on campus and passed Beering and the parking garage on University Street. Ahead of her a group of about a dozen people had just crossed the street from Beering and were singing the theme song to "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" a cappella. The funny thing was, none of them appeared to be drunk.

At that moment Abby very much wished that she hadn't drank anything that night herself. She quickened her stride once more, determined not to debase herself so much as to start throwing up on the sidewalk. Oh gosh, did she wish that she had told Laura not to tell her parents where she was.

"I didn't know that this would happen. I couldn't have known. And besides it's not like I would ask Laura to lie for me anyway. There's no way on Earth. I don't want her to think that my parents still babysit me or something."

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Word count: 1,705
Total word count: 13,464