Page 185 of Happy Hour

I stood there with my hands on my hips. “What the fuck is all over us?”

“Huh?” she eluded as though she didn’t hear me correctly.

“Don’t huh me. Why does my room smell like a distillery and why are we all sticky?”

“It...was an accident.” Her eyes were wide with panic. “I swear.”

“What do you mean it was an accident?” I scorned stepping closer to her. Trying to be intimidating, I held up a hair brush as though I would smack her with it.

“Okay...I climbed in your window...I was a little drunk.” I gave her a skeptical look. “All right, I wasverydrunk.” She admitted. “I wanted to celebrate with you so I brought some champagne.”

I sighed heavily. I knew where this was going.

“Then I realized that you couldn’t drink...so I opened the bottle and it sprayed everywhere. I tried to drink all of it so you wouldn’t be mad at me and then I don’t remember after that.” Emma smiled. “I mean...Ididdrink an entire bottle of champagne, by myself. I have no idea why we’re all sticky. Maybe it’s from the champagne, but I can’t be sure. When I woke up I was underneath your bed.”

I shook my head again. “What am I going to do with you?”

This was like the time Jameson and I caught her with beer on her sixteenth birthday. She was so afraid Jameson would tell Jimi and Nancy, which he never would, that she drank a 24-pack of beer, by herself.

She puked for ten days straight.

I wasn’t about to let the little twit get away with this though so we spent the next four hours cleaning up my room. We then realized we missed the race and our cell phones. I found mine in Logan’s room, with nineteen calls to Europe.

It’d be a miracle if I allowed those little shits to see seven.

After telling him this, my threats going nowhere, I made my way into the living room to check the race knowing I missed the majority of it.

Watching the highlights, nausea rolled over me reading the headlines across the bottom of the television.

“NASCAR Winston Cup driver of the Simplex Shocks and Springs number nine, Jameson Riley, has been air lifted to Pocono Medical Center after a post-race crash that involved him and Darrin Torres, driver of the Wyle Products number fourteen. Jameson, who won the race, was doing a burnout in the tunnel turn when Darrin crashed into him, on the driver’s side. NASCAR has declined to comment on the incident stating the crash is currently under investigation. Darrin Torres, after being treated for minor injuries, walked away from the wreck declining to comment as well. There have been no updates as to Riley’s condition.”

Like a slap in the face, they then showed the crash, over and over again, as they debated how it could have happened.

There was nothing left of his car.

The video showed Jameson’s car coming out of the tunnel turn after doing a burnout, the next thing you saw was Darrin’s car smashing into the side of him, atfull speedcoming out of the straight stretch.

“Oh god!” Emma choked running for her cell phone.

I could hear Charlie and then Andrea yelling for me but I ran to the bathroom just in time to reach the toilet.

I didn’t realize that Charlie was holding me until I felt him take my hand. “He’s alive, Sway.” He assured me forcing me to look at him. “They air lifted him to the hospital.”

I felt paralyzed, numb, my body shaking with each sob.

Emma’s voice broke through the pain; I turned in Charlie’s arms.

Reflecting my own, her face was blotchy and red, tears streaming down her cheeks. Our worst fears for the situation we tried so hard to control, came true.

“Sway,” she reached for me. “Wes is coming to get us. He will be here in two hours. We need to get to Olympia.”

“What did Alley say?” I asked Emma once we were on our way to Olympia.

Knowing myself, I knew I needed to be on the way to see him before she told me what happened or else I wouldn’t have had enough sense to function.

Emma took a deep shaking breath; it wasn’t easy for her either. “Alley said he was doing his victory lap, did a burn out coming out of the tunnel turn and then Darrin hit him. Spencer saw Darrin coming around the track and tried to warn Jameson but he’d already unhooked his radio. Apparently Spencer was one of the first ones to the car afterwards.” Her tears spilled over once again. “His belts were loosened, but he at least kept his helmet on.”

Charlie turned up the news radio when they announced information on Jameson. Since everyone else was with him, it left us relying on them calling us to find out his condition or the media.

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