Rodrigo's Pizza Emporium

17

Diem Jones Greer woke up feeling worse than ever, in a room she didn't recognize, with a boy she did recognize sitting in a rather uncomfortable-looking chair.

"Adonis?"

Her voice came out more pained than she had intended, and Montgomery shot out of his chair, looking at her in concern.

"What's wrong? What hurts?"

She found his concern oddly attractive.

"Well, everything. Where am I?"

"My house. Do you need some ibuprofen?"

"Um, please. How did I get here?"

"You texted me last night and you were drunk, so I came and picked you up."

DJ felt her face heat up, and she nodded, gratefully accepting the water and ibuprofen he offered her.

"Sorry about that. I kinda had a breakdown at work when Ryan walked in, so Tony invited me to a college party to help me relax."

"Why didn't Tony take you home?"

"He got drunk, too, I guess. It's kind of hard to remember. I think I saw him grinding on some girl, or something."

"Oh."

Montgomery looked away, and Diem noticed a distinct tension in his posture.

"I'm sure he would've taken me home if he was sober."

"Yeah, I'm sure."

He held a certain bitterness in his tone that she hadn't heard before.

"It's fine, really."

"You could've gotten kidnapped, or murdered, or r-raped."

Diem looked away, glancing at her phone out of a lack of response, though she did notice him flinch.

"I-I'm sorry. But you showed up, and you saved me, and--oh god, I'm so screwed. My mom called me."

She played the voicemail, glancing up at Monty.

"Diem Jones Greer, get your ass back here. Your sister is saying you assaulted her boyfriend. What the fuck? I thought I raised a better kid, but I guess a mom can only do so much to correct such a fuck-up. Answer the fucking phone or I'm confiscating your car, and I plan to follow through. Don't fucking test me."

"Oh."

"Diem-"

"No, it's fine. I'd better get back."

He gave her a concerned look, but nodded anyways, grabbing his keys off of the nightstand and turning around so she could get her shorts back on.