for, liar

Chapter 20

Maddy is wasted. After the first 3 drinks, I finally gave up on drinking and dedicated my night to being her designated driver. Our cards are loaded with tickets from playing just about every game here. We're back at the bar now and Maddy's nonchalantly hitting on the bartender.

"Your drinks taste way too good for you to only have been here for a couple of months. You must be really experienced." She says all giddy and takes another sip of her margarita.

I'm going to vomit. Watching Maddy flirt is hands down the worst experience in existence. I'm not sure if it's worse because of how bad she is at it or because of how it almost always works since guys think she's hot.

"I just moved here, actually. I'm from California." He says.

"Oooh! SoCal? I lived there for 3 months!"

I swear she thinks it's the most impressive thing that she lived 4 hours from LA for a few months because her dad went there for a business trip.

He laughs and pushes his hair out of his face.

The bartender, whose name tag boldly says Damian, laughs and shakes his head. "No, I'm actually from Berkeley."

"Oohhh where is that?"

She's starting to slur her words. I wonder if he'll cut her off at some point.

"Closer to San Francisco." he responds flatly and walks off to help another guest.

She pouts and sips on her drink some more.

"You know you don't have to hit on every guy you see, right Mads?" I tease.

She sticks her tongue out and climbs off the stool. "Can we race now?" She spits and walks toward the neon colored plastic motorcycles.

"I don't want to race you while you're drunk. Then I'd have the advantage!"

She laughs and takes a seat in front of the screen. "You wish." She challenges.

Sometimes I really like drunk Maddy. She can be flirty, funny, and very entertaining. Other times she's just depressing and I have to be careful with my words so I don't bring out that side of her.

As the race starts I can already tell she's struggling to keep her balance on her vehicle. I laugh at her constantly chivvying herself back on the seat. She falls way behind in place and my character speeds past her. She must be really out of it because I'm usually horrible at this game.

With one lap to go, Maddy leans a little too far and falls right off onto the floor. She grunts and bangs her head up against the machine.

"Maddy!"

I quickly hop off and move down to the floor next to her. She sits up, rubbing her head gently and groans. Damian hops the bar and runs over to us. I don't know how he saw that from all the way across the room but I'm glad he was paying attention.

"Is she okay? What happened?" He asks, genuinely concerned.

"She fell and hit her head. She's a little under the influence if you couldn't tell."

His eyes shift to me for a split second but bury back onto Maddy.

"Let me go get some ice. I'll be right back." He hurries off to the employee room.

 I look at Maddy who is just staring blankly at the floor. "Maddy? Are you good?"

Some of the color drains from her face. She leans forward and pukes all over her clothes just as Damian is heading back over. So much for a fun girls night.

I groan at my shit luck. I'm kind of furious I let her drink that much knowing damn well it would be overboard within an hour. Damian gave us one of their first aid vomit bags and helped me take Maddy out to the car.

"You really didn't have to help me walk her but I appreciate it." I say and buckle Maddy's seatbelt.

"It's no biggie, really. I would definitely take her to the emergency room and make sure she doesn't have a concussion though." He suggests.

I nod and drag my hands down my face. Tonight was not supposed to end with me and Maddy stuck in the emergency room.

"Great." I mumble, more to myself than at him.

Damian pulls his hands from his pockets and holds out a small slip of paper.

"Could you give her my number when she's better?" he asks.

I raise my eyebrows and take the paper from him.

"I was going to give it to her at some point but didn't really get the chance. Unless I was totally misreading signs and she wasn't hitting on me back there."

I blush a little and giggle. "Oh, she was definitely hitting on you. I will give it to her in the morning. Thanks again for the help."

I shut the passenger door and walk around to the driver's side. Damian waves us off before returning back to work. Classic Maddy being able to get a guy's number even after hitting her head and puking all over the floor.

I shake my head and laugh to myself while Maddy sits in silence with her head up against the window. I doubt she actually has a concussion but I know it wouldn't hurt to take her to the late night clinic just in case. We get checked in and get settled in the waiting room. They're not as busy as I expected, which is good. The doctor comes out and takes Maddy back, who is thankfully more alert than fifteen minutes prior.

I stay settled in the waiting room scrolling through Instagram. It's dead quiet and I grow uncomfortable sitting here all alone. The last time I was at a late night clinic was when Ben and I got into a car accident on the way home from a concert junior year of high school. My dad was furious and confronted Ben on whether he had been drinking that night. I was sore and had a few scratches but nothing too serious.

The doctor comes out soon after I get lost in my thoughts to give me an update.

"Maddy doesn't have a concussion and you're free to take her home. Get some fluids in her and let her sleep. She'll be all good in the morning."

This was probably the quickest trip to the minute clinic I've ever experienced. At least something worked out in my favor tonight.

I help Maddy back out to the car and get her in. "You're going to sleep great tonight." I tell her.

She closes her eyes and leans her head back. "Thank you." she whispers.

"Anything for you."

I ruffle her hair and get in the car. I'm hoping I can sleep just as well too.

Revised;