Page 44 of The Worst Kind of Promise
Upon my seriousness, she bursts into a fit of giggles, trying to contain them with the blockage of her hands. “N-nothing,” she says through her fingers, the blush on her chest carrying to the slope of her neck.
“Faye.” My tone hardens, bordering on dangerous territory. I can feel my body start to shake, but it’s not from rage. It’s from worry. Metric tons of worry large enough to fill up an entire cargo dock.
This isn’t your run-of-the-mill wasted. I’ve been to enough ragers to know the difference between drugs and drinks.
Even in the small space, she floats around on her tiptoes, humming to herself, clearly unfazed by the gravity of the situation. If it’s what I think it is and she’s taken some kind of drug, I’m not opposed to throwing her in the goddamn car and taking her to the nearest hospital.
I grab her harshly by the shoulders. “What. Did. You. Take.” The words all come out separately in a low growl.
She blinks a few times, flinching at my tone. “Why should I tell you? You’re just going to yell at me again.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose as frustration skewers through me. “I won’t yell at you.” I relax to the best of my ability, which is harder than I thought. It feels like there’s a permanently lit fire running rampant inside of me.
“Do you promise?”
“Yes, Prin—” I stop myself. I can’t call her that anymore. “Yes, Faye.”
Her cheeks rise with a beaming grin, and she motions with her hand for me to lean down so she can whisper in my ear. As I do, that peachy scent encases me, cloying, and for a split second, the neanderthal part of my brain overrides my rationality. But it fizzles out, taking with it any lingering carnal desire I have for her in this very moment.
“Marboly,” she whispers, her breath tickling the shell of my ear.
Marboly? What the fuck is that? Is that some new, intense strain of drug that kids are doing these days?
I draw back from her and shake my head. “Faye, I don’t—”
“It’s eucalyptic.”
“Excuse me?”
Even though I have a pretty limited vocabulary, I’m pretty sure what she just said isn’t a word.
“Eucalyptic! It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Kind of like I did before you went and broke my heart.” Her baby hairs are frizzing up around her blanched face from the humidity, her eyes glassy underneath the recessed lighting.
Ouch.
“Or is it eucaphoric? Maybe it’s that. Is that what koalas eat? Have you ever seen a koala before? They’re so cute, but I heard they can give you chlamydia. Would you hold a koala if it meant you got chlamydia? They look so soft.”
Euca…phoric?
I drill my eyes into her, thoughts whipping into action faster than my rebound time. “Euphoric?”
She thrusts her finger into my pecs. “Yes! It’s that! Oh my gosh. That was going to drive me crazy.”
For fuck’s sake. If I have to play another Guess the Word game with her, I’m going to lose my mind.
I wasn’t a very straitlaced student in college. I drank and smoked on the weekends, sometimes partook in harder drugs depending on the situation. And there have been more than a few times I felt pretty “euphoric” after popping a white little pill.
The thunderclap of my heart is the only noise I can hear over the whirring fan. “Faye, look at me,” I implore, using my index finger to gently pivot her jaw. She does as I say, following the heat of my finger, giving me a smile that sparks an ache in my chest.
“Did you take Molly?” I ask, trying to maintain some semblance of calm, even though I can feel my pulse pounding in my throat.
With a straight face, she considers me for a second, then giggles. “If I tell you, you need to keep it a seeecreeet.”
“Did. You. Take. Molly.”
“That’s what the guy said. I can’t believe I’ve never taken it before! It’s so much fun. And it looked like a bag of snow.” She flitters her fingers in the air, imitating snowflakes. “I love Christmas.”
I’m so enraged that the tremors have started up again, the muscles in my body binding tighter and tighter, sweat wetting the back of my neck. I can’t see or think straight. I’m not mad at Faye. I’m mad at whoever the fuck had Molly on them and gave it to her. No way in hell would Faye go searching for it.
