Page 24 of Mostly My Boss
Nicki.
Putting it back on the nightstand, I got into bed and ignored it. Until it rang again. Then again. This wasn’t a I’m-just-checking-in-on-you call. I picked up the phone.
“What’s going on, Nicki?”
“Oh thank God, I was afraid you were asleep. You need to help me. Ethan is drunk and he’s not leaving until he talks to you.”
“Where are you guys?”
“Still in the Quad. He says he’s going to spend the night on the bench in solidarity for homeless people everywhere and only you’ll understand.”
Yes, because that made perfect sense.
“Put him on.”
There was shuffling as I imagined Nicki putting the phone to Ethan’s ear.
“Jules?”
“Ethan,” I said in the stern tone I used to use with John when he was drunk. “It’s late and cold. You need to go to your dorm now. You’re upsetting Nicki and it’s not fair to her.”
“Jules, you need to come. Please. I can’t…I can’t get my head straight. I need you.”
I closed my eyes, and a second later I heard Nicki’s voice in my ear again. “Julia, please just do this. He’s being so stubborn and it’s freaking freezing out here. He’s not going to move until you come get him.”
A hundred responses went through my head. It wasn’t my fault he got drunk. It wasn’t my problem that he was a stubborn drunk. A night on a bench would leave him stiff and cold but probably not much worse off. There was no reason I had to get up, get dressed, and go get his ass.
He wasn’t my responsibility.
Julia, please just go pick up your brother. He’s too drunk to drive. You don’t want him to get into an accident, do you? I can’t do it. You know I don’t like to drive in the dark. Your father always drove when it was dark
But Mom, I don’t even have a license yet!
It’s okay. If the sheriff pulls you over, he’ll know what you’re doing. It will be okay.
Because someone had to do it. Someone had to take responsibility.
“I’ll be there in bit.”
“Oh my gosh! Yes. Thank you! Should I wait until you get here?”
A question not a statement. “No, it’s probably really cold. And he’s in the Quad. It’s not like he’s going to get mugged.”
“Okay, because Dara is having people back to her room and I thought—”
“It’s okay, Nicki. You can go. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. I just have to get dressed.”
“You’re awesome. Okay. Thanks. He’s on the bench not far from where we were sitting.”
“Yep. Got him.”
I disconnected the call before she could say anything else. She’d done her part, now it was time to do mine. I got out of bed and got dressed.
Ten minutes later I was nudging his shoulder. “Ethan,” I said. Then I nudged him a little harder.
He grunted but this time he opened one eye. “You left me,” he accused. His words weren’t too slurred. Maybe just as much from the cold as from the booze.
“I was tired,” I lied.
