Little Miss Nosy

Chapter Seventeen: Easy to See

- Edited -

The clock struck midnight, giving the students of Summers High their cue to reenact their rendition of Cinderella. There were no horses turned mice or carriage turned pumpkin however; and instead a lot of already tipsy or drunk teens turned mad.

Trevor had to play the bad guy and throw out a couple of guys who couldn't manage their anger with the added factor of intoxication. Whether it be from a beer pong loss or too many deaths in Call of Duty, Trevor didn't want the liability of anything or anyone getting hurt in his house, and tossed them out.

Sometime after my falling out with Logan, someone turned the music up and shouted for people to move to the backyard. This effectively made retreating to the patio for some peace and quiet a no-go as the pool became a claustrophobic mass of bodies.

"It's okay. You're gonna be okay," I say soothingly to Carmen. "You need to get all that out of your system." I take an elastic tie from my wrist and put her hair in a high ponytail as she dry heaves into the toilet.

"God, it hurts! I'm gonna die. I overdid it and now I'm gonna die!"

"You're not gonna die! If Sara Sax can do a round on the keg stand before downing two shots of tequila and survive, you can too!"

A splash from outside interrupts Carmen's next puking fit. I glance out of the small window and down into the pool, now occupied by palm tree floaties and girls on boy's shoulders trying to knock each other into the water using foam sticks.

"Do you want to go lay down in Trevor's room?" I ask once she's gone five minutes without heaving into the bowl. Going home to her super strict parents in this condition isn't an option. As much as I consider Mr. and Mrs. Martinez to be next in line in terms of my own parental figures, I know bringing Carmen home to them, stumbling through the door and barely able to keep her eyes open, will only add fuel to the mental fire of whatever caused her to drink so much tonight.

"He's not gonna want me anymore." She leans her head back on the wall. The white light illuminates the tears smudged on her flushed cheeks.

"That's insane. I can't imagine a world where Trevor will never want you."

"I used to think the same. But things are easier to see once they're closer."

In all the years I've known Carmen, I've learned she's moderately philosophical when she's screwed up big time. Quick to anger, but slow to vulnerability. Like when she apologized for lashing out at Ashton all those weeks ago, I know it must've been eating her up on the inside. We never truly patched up the Jacob incident either. The first time I saw her after the fight was during first period calculus. I sat a surprise caramel frappuccino from Starbucks on her desk and before I could open my mouth to apologize, she cracked a joke about how I accidentally spilled hot chocolate on her during our first shift there a couple of summers ago. Still recovering from her last episode of vulnerability, I suppose. But that's why being friends with her has always been easy. She knew how to put an uncomfortable situation to rest.

"I was rooting for you guys," I say solemnly. Her eyes are closed, but she smiles. A very sad, heartbreaking smile.

A song with a heavy bass begins to play, causing the floor to vibrate beneath my butt. It reminds me that we're not just in Trevor's bathroom, which thankfully smells like lemons due to the plug in air freshener next to the sink and not like a sweaty locker room as I expect every jock's private bathroom to smell, but instead at a kickback turned rager.

I pull out my phone to text Logan, deflating a little as I see he hasn't texted once since I left him to do whatever with Bella one floor down. 'You ready?'