Chapter Nine

Abby ran up the stairs as fast as she could considering her slightly inebriated state and barreled down the hall to their room. She frantically grabbed the doorknob and twisted only to find that it was locked. Locked. That meant that Laura was out. Oh gosh, that meant that she probably hadn't been there to tell Abby's mom anything if she had called the dorm number first.

Abby turned and ran down the hall to the bathroom and into one of the stalls, slamming the door behind her. She just made it before she began vomiting, both of her hands planted on the back of the toilet to hold herself up. She didn't think that there was anyone else in the bathroom with her, but at that point she was almost beyond caring as her entire body heaved with violent, wretching coughs. Once her stomach finally seemed to be empty Abby staggered back out of the stall and leaned on the sink for a few minutes. She turned on the cold faucet and splashed some of the cool water onto her face.

She still felt slightly queasy, and she recognized that there was a slight chance that Laura had literally just left and therefore could have still spoken with her mother, but she very much doubted that. Laura liked going out early and staying out late.

After washing her face once more and rinsing her mouth out, Abby stumbled back down to her room and fished her keys out of her purse to unlock the door. Her head still seemed a little fuzzy, but it wasn't quite as bad as it had been while walking back. She opened the door and stepped into their room, flipping on the light as she did.

Abby closed the door behind herself and then just stood there for a moment, leaning against it. A glance at the phone revealed that the little red light was dark. No messages. That was a good sign. She dropped her purse on the floor and sat down on the edge of her bed. For the moment her stomach felt better and she had calmed down significantly.

"Geez, it would have been a pretty nice evening if this hadn't happened."

"You got sick."

"Yeah, but I don't think that was from the drinking. I think it was all of this crap."

Abby leaned back on her bed and closed her eyes, her legs still dangling over the side.

"I need to either not care that they find out about this kind of thing, or make it so they will never find out, because I can't do this again. I just can't handle it. Too much stress for me. I just wanted to have a good time tonight. I just wanted to hang out with Nick for a while and let him know that I'm not a complete dork."

"And you managed to do that I think."

"Yeah but I had to leave early, and it was going so well."

"Yeah well, maybe you'll get invited to another party some other time."

"Maybe. I hope so. I was really, really, really, friggin' nervous but I did have some fun."

It wasn't terribly long before Abby's lingering concern was overwhelmed by drowsiness and she fell asleep still fully clothed and on top of her covers. Her sleep was deep, but not without dreams, and certainly not pleasant ones.

*****

The next morning Abby was startled awake by the blaring tone of her alarm. For a moment she couldn't remember where she was. When that passed a fresh wave of confusion rushed over her as she thought that it must be a weekday since her alarm was going off. Finally she connected with reality enough to realize that she must have forgotten to turn off her alarm for the weekend yesterday. A loud groan from the top bunk told her that Laura must have come home at some point during the night.

Abby slapped the top of her alarm clock and tried to sit up in bed. A throbbing pain stabbed through her head and she collapsed back down, clutching her forehead.

"What the hell! Geez, I must have a hangover. What the hell? I only had two drinks."

Abby sat up again, only this time a lot slower. She heard Laura turn over in the top bunk and she suddenly remembered all of the events of last night.

"Laura," she said aloud. Laura groaned. "Laura, did my mom call here last night?"

"What?"

"Did my mom call here last night?"

"No."

"Oh, good, thank you."

"Sure thing, now leave me alone so I can sleep."

"Ok, I'm sorry."

Checking one more time to make sure that her alarm clock was actually turned off this time and wouldn't sound again, further irritating her roommate, Abby rose from the bed and moved to her closet. She had a crick in her neck from sleeping with her head at a weird angle and her mouth felt a little cottony. With dismay she pulled the top that she'd borrowed from Cathy over her head and held it up in the faint light that filtered through their blind to inspect it. The shirt seemed to be wrinkled but un-harmed.

Abby hung the top in her closet. She would wash and iron it later, for now she just put it away. After taking off her shoes and pants, Abby slipped into her bathrobe and grabbed her shower stuff. Now she could remember everything that had happened the night before and she she also remembered that her parents were going to be there around noon to take her to lunch. Right now her priority was definitely to not appear as if she'd gotten drunk last night to her mom and dad.

A shower, mouthwash, and some breakfast were in order and after that she needed to clean up her side of the room and then mess it up just enough to make it look like she'd spent the night studying. Shouldn't be a problem.

*****

After her shower Abby felt a lot better than she expected she would. After a quick change of clothes, executed in the dark in order to not bother Laura again, Abby took her wallet and keys and left to get something for breakfast. She still didn't really feel hungry at all, but at least she wasn't still nauseous, and she figured that having something in her stomach might actually help.

As Abby sat eating some scrambled eggs and toast with strawberry jam she thought about Nick and wondered if he was cool with her leaving so suddenly last night. He seemed fine with it at the time.

"He did put his arm around me for quite a while when we were on the porch, and he held my hand for a little while as well. That's a pretty sure sign that he likes me I think. Maybe he'll invite me to a different party if his roommates and him do that kind of thing very often."

"You have to remember about all of this happening though and make sure that it doesn't happen again."

"Well I don't expect that Mom will be trying to call me every single Friday evening. If she did then I think I'd have to be honest with her and just let her know that I'm out with some friends and can't talk."

"Oh yeah, you think you'll tell her that, do you?"

"Well... Maybe not in those words exactly."

"What words do you think you will use then?"

"Oh hell, I don't know. It doesn't matter, I don't have to worry about that right now. I just need to worry about my school right now and making sure that I don't let anything slip about last night. Mom wouldn't be all that pleased with hearing about that over lunch I don't think."

*****

09-27-08

Mom and Dad should be here any time now. I've cleaned up some and Laura got up and went to lunch with some of her friends. Haven't heard from Nick, but I don't know what I expected. I mean, it's not like he's going to call me or something. He doesn't even have my number. Of course my number is on Facebook, and he is my friend on Facebook, so if he really wanted it he could get my number. I guess it would seem a little stalkerish if he just randomly called me up though.

A little bit ago some girl from down the hall came by and was asking if I wanted to go to lunch. I've like, seen her in the bathroom but I have no idea who she is. I don't know, maybe I should be more open, but it seemed a little bit weird that she just decided that she would ask someone who she's never spoken to before to go to lunch with her. Is it just me or is that weird? Anyway, I told her that my parents were coming to see me, so I couldn't go with her. I guess if she asks again I will go with her. I have no reason not to, except for the fact that it was a little strange. I guess she was just trying to be friendly though, I can't hold that against her.

I suppose that if I'm going to be going out a little now and then I should probably think about getting some new clothes that are a bit more appropriate for that type of thing. I thought that I fit in pretty well last night, but I can't keep borrowing clothes from Cathy. Of course, I could really be getting ahead of myself here. I don't know that I'll be going to any more parties. I mean, I hope I will be, but it's not a guarantee. So if I go shopping maybe just get one or two things for now.

Oh, Mom just called; she and Dad are just getting into West Lafayette and they're going to pick me up downstairs. This is the first time I will have been off campus since I moved here. That was like a month ago. Man I really hate not having a car around, even if it's just one that I borrow from my parents. Anyway, gotta go.

---------------------------

Word count: 1,721
Total word count: 15,185