All I knew is that I was on a bed, making out with someone that smelled insanely good, presumably Jordan. We were kissing pretty intensely, and his fingers had just started pulling down the string on my bright purple thong, alerting me to the moment I was in.
Vampire or no vampire in my life, I hadn’t planned to give up my virginity to some guy who thought it was a good idea to pour too many shots for a girl. I know that a moment ago, kissing him had felt good, but it suddenly just felt wrong.
Before I could even push him off me, my pocket started to vibrate.
“You’re vibrating.” Jordan stopped kissing me, so I took the opportunity and pushed him off me.
“It’s my phone,” I mumbled.
“Ignore it.” He put his hand on me, trying to keep me in bed with him, but I shook him off and got up. The ground felt precarious under me, but at least I had taken off my shoes at some point so I could actually walk.
“I’ve gotta take this,” I said, but I just wanted an excuse to be away from him. Without even checking the ID, I answered. “Hello?”
“Alice?” Jack sounded confused. Just hearing his voice made my heart soar, and combining that with too much to drink, I started crying in relief.
“Jack!” I squealed. “Jack! I’m so glad you called! Oh, Jack!” I searched around the darkened room for a door, but I stumbled into furniture. “Dammit! Why is it so dark in here?”
“Why don’t you just come back in bed?” That was Jordan’s helpful advice.
“Because I just want to leave! Where is the stupid door?” I cried, and tears streamed down my cheeks now.
“What’s going on?” Jack asked, his voice tight with anxiety. Which made sense since I was sobbing and complaining that I was trapped in the dark, but really, I was just too drunk to find a door. “Alice? Are you okay?”
“No!” I stomped my foot. “I want out!”
“I’m getting the door!” Jordan said. Out of nowhere, a rectangle of light flooded the room, revealing the door.
“Thank you!” I smiled at him as I walked past, but he just nodded. As soon as he realized that I wasn’t going any farther, he lost interest.
“Alice!” Jack shouted, trying to get my attention. “What’s going on? Are you alright?”
“I don’t know!” I had to yell so he could hear me over the music and the chatter of the party. I plugged my open ear so I could hear him better, but he was still hard to make out.
“Where are you?” Jack asked.
“I don’t know!”
“Look, I’m coming to get you!” Jack decided.
“How do you know where I’m at? I don’t know where I’m at!” I tried to walk down the stairs and talk on the phone, and I stumbled into the railing and dropped the phone. When I picked it up, Jack was yelling panicked hellos. “Jack?”
“Alice! Go outside!”
I fought my way through throngs of people. I could hear Jack saying things on the phone, but I couldn’t understand them. It wasn’t until I’d finally made it out the front door and the sound dampened that I could hear him again.
“-need you to look around,” he was saying.
“You need me to do what?” I asked. I half-expected it to be some kind of magic trick, and Jack would already be waiting out front for me, but he wasn’t.
“You’re outside?”
“Yep, I’m outside, and I’m not wearing any shoes.”
“Do you see any street signs? Any landmarks? Anything to tell me where you are?” Jack asked.
“Um…” I scoured the area around me. I could hear the traffic from the highway and I saw a billboard a block away. “I think I’m right off of 494 by a billboard for 93X. Is that good?”
“Yeah, I can work with that,” Jack sounded relieved. “Just stay where you are. I’ll be there in a minute.”