Echo Bridge

Chapter 9

The Rivalry Revelry dance was held in the conservatory that extended off of the science wing of the schoolhouse. Every plant in the conservatory was decked out in tiny white lights, and banners in navy and red—the school colors—hung from the ceiling. When Ted and I arrived, all my nerve endings were electrified. It was like every opening night I'd ever experienced rolled into one ball of emotion. I was anticipating two things: First, Lexi dosing Hugh's bottle of whiskey. I had no idea how she was going to manage it, let alone what might happen once the stuff kicked in. Second, sleeping with Ted again for the first time since Hugh had attacked me. I wasn't sure I was ready, but I also knew I couldn't put Ted off any longer without a reason, and I felt more confused than ever about telling him that his best friend was a psycho.

Before the dance, Ted took me to our reservation, at a sleek French restaurant in the Financial District. I ordered escargot and tried to look sexy licking garlic butter off my lips, while Ted teased me for eating snails. We hadn't even had our salads yet when Ted's cell phone rang. He pulled it out and looked at the screen.

"You're kidding me." I stared in disbelief as Ted looked at me and shrugged, holding up his phone like he couldn't help it.

"Just one sec, babe," he said, standing up as he answered the call. "Dude," he said into the phone, walking toward the door of the restaurant. I narrowed my eyes at him through the plate glass window, but Ted wasn't looking at me. I felt like everyone else was, though, like I was the girl who gets dumped spectacularly and publicly at the start of a romantic comedy. I pushed the last snail around on my plate.

"I'm so sorry," Ted said, when he slid back into his chair a minute later.

"I can't believe you did that." I picked up my Pellegrino and tried to look as icy as the glass felt.

"Babe, Hugh got pulled over by the cops on his way to dinner. With Molly in the car and everything. Don't tell me if it was Melissa, you wouldn't have picked up."

"If it was Melissa, I wouldn't know, because I wouldn't have picked up when she called me in the middle of our date." I grit my teeth. "Wait. So what happened?"

Ted chuckled to himself and tore a roll in half. "You can't ask me for the story and still be mad that I took the call."

"Just tell me." My pulse pounded in my ears. Grieves had said something about getting Hugh pulled over, but what if he'd lost his license? If he didn't make it to Revelry, Lexi would miss her chance to set him up.

"The truck has a taillight out from when he backed into that stone wall in the parking lot last week. And you know how Belknap is; the cops didn't have anything better to do, so one of them pulled him over."

"So what?" I masked my relief with boredom. "You came back in here like it was some kind of emergency."

"When the cop ran his license, a DUI popped up." Ted leaned toward me, getting into his story. "But Hugh's never been busted driving drunk. I don't even know if he's ever driven drunk."

"Oh, come on," I said. "He's hardly a paragon of sobriety."

"Yeah, but he usually just passes out on the nearest couch. He doesn't go careening around. He loves that truck too much."

"A Lexus SUV is not a truck," I muttered. I was worried that "the guys" Grieves had referred to had done their job too well. "Did he get arrested?" Maybe that would give the college athletic recruiters pause, anyway.

"Nope," Ted grinned. "He had two center court tickets to the Celtics game next week in his glove compartment. He gave them to the officer, and the officer told him and Molly to have a good night."