Page 4 of You Were Invited
The feelingrose from her guts.
I really, really can’t…
She was done.
So very done.
She yanked clothes from hangers. Grabbed her toiletries from the master bath, shoving them deep into her duffle bag, along with her laptop. Her favorite throw blanket got snatched up, too. She put on her black jacket and black-rimmed glasses while wiping the snot from her nose, and flung open the bedroom door.
Four birthday guests in the hallway looked stunned to see her. A man–Tanner?— leaned an arm against the bathroom door. His cheeks were beet red.
“She was here?” someone she didn’t recognize said to yet another stranger.
“Well, I live here,” Annie awkwardly muttered. Nobody else spoke. They pressed their bodies to the hallway walls to let her pass by.
The bathroom door rattled. The door swung open.
“You ain’t changing my mind, prick!”
Tanner’s taller frame bumped into Annie as she slipped by, throwing her against the opposite wall. Her bag fell from her grip, tangling with her feet. Tanner’s hands grabbed her shoulders from the back as he mumbled an apology before a solid, meaty thud cut him off.
“Fuck, Rache!” Tanner turned to face the irate woman who’d exploded from the bathroom.
Annie rubbed her arm where it had hit the wall. She stepped to the side as Rachel drew back her balled fist and punched Tanner in the chest. When the two strangers in the hallway moved to intervene, Rachel waved her arms.
“Forget it,” she spat. “Find your own way home! It’s over!” As the woman stomped past, she shot Annie a withering up-down sneer.
The two strangers turned to Tanner. Annie stood against the wall for a few moments before her shock wore off. When the front door slammed, she took a deep breath and picked up her duffle bag.
An abandoned beer-pong table stood in the living room. Music thumped loudly, although someone had turned it down a smidge. Trash littered every surface. Someone had lost their entire supper on the kitchen floor; lettuce shreds, guacamole, and half a flour tortilla were scattered and smeared about.
Chris stood at the fridge, flanked by two friends. He stared back at Annie with glassy eyes.
His friends shared a look. One of them coughed a laugh.
Annie’s pale skin went red hot from forehead to collarbone as she stared Chris down. She hiked her duffle bag strap up over her shoulder.
As if pretending she’d vanished right in front of them, Christopher quickly opened the freezer. As he removed a bottle of chilled tequila, he quipped something that distracted his friends and made them laugh.
Right back to the fun.
With any luck, nobody would remember seeing her.
Quickly wiping a rogue tear, she turned for the front door.You coward, she thought.
She wasn’t sure if the insult was meant for Chris.
Or herself.
When she heard how loud the music was from outside, she cringed. Consoling the neighbors usually fell on her shoulders. She expected Chris to get an angry visit or two bright and early.
At least Rachel isn’t out here to jump me.
In the distance was the roar of a car engine. After pulling out her keys, Annie looked behind her vehicle.
She groaned.
Trapped.
