out cautiously.
‘It’s just me and Dex,’ I called back. ‘Luc, can you hold the door? We’ll be up in a minute.’
He grunted in reply.
Dex stopped in front of me as I grappled for words. I had no idea how I was going to fix this. ‘I’m so sorry, Dex. I … I just … You caught me by surprise. I think I’ve had more to drink than I –’
‘Sabine,’ he said carefully, hands still out like he was approaching a wild animal. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Yes, I’m so sorry …’
I was mid-headshake when he cut me off again. ‘Sabine, you’re bleeding.’
My whole body froze.
It hadn’t worked.
My mind flew into overdrive. What was I going to say? How was I going to explain this? Oh, shit – my hair!
‘I … I can explain –’
‘Here.’ He passed me a scrunched-up cocktail napkin from his pocket. ‘You must’ve snagged it.’
Stunned, I looked to where he was gesturing with the napkin.
The scratch on my right arm. The scratch!
I grabbed at my left shoulder frantically, patting it down, followed by my ribs. And then I went to town with the crazies and yanked up my dress to look at my thigh.
Nothing.
I ran my hands through my hair. Long. Normal.
‘Ah, Sabine? You okay?’
‘Oh, yeah. I, um, I bumped into a few things when I came down here. I was just checking I didn’t have any other scratches. You know, I, er … didn’t want to damage the dress.’
Dex nodded as if this sounded reasonable enough.
‘Sabine! Are you coming up?’ Lucas called out.
We started walking up the stairs. Dex was rubbing his elbow.
‘I’m really sorry, Dex.’
‘Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m sure I can think of a way you can make it up to me,’ he said slyly.
I looked at him and smiled. It seemed to satisfy him and I was glad – I couldn’t think of a single thing to say.
Lucas eyed me disapprovingly as I passed by. ‘I suggest staying out of the basement in future if you can manage it. It’s never easy to throw off a basement-girl reputation – even for you, Sabine,’ he said quietly.
In the kitchen Dex insisted on fussing over me, honourably tossing topless girl her blouse and telling her and the guys to get lost while he cleaned my arm.
‘It’s just a scratch,’ I said, uncomfortable with the attention.
‘So you keep saying,’ he said. I stared at him blankly. I hadn’t realised I’d said anything since leaving the basement.
I needed to regroup. This was my party and if I didn’t get it together it would be a disaster. And in this life I simply couldn’t afford the social downfall. Not after all the work I’d done to secure my reputation.
‘Dex, I’m …’ I started, straining for something to reassure him after my antics downstairs. ‘I … I’ve made some plans for graduation night.’
Dex kept working on my arm, but his eyes came up to meet mine. ‘Plans?’
‘Yeah, you know … you and me plans.’
His eyes widened. ‘Oh! I see. Plans.’
I nodded, blushing.
The corners of his mouth went up. ‘Plans sound good.’ He went back to his doctoring, putting a plaster on my arm. ‘You should probably get a tetanus check. You don’t know what you might have cut yourself on down there.’
I nodded just as Miriam came gliding into the kitchen.
‘Woah. You okay, Sabine?’ She paused in the doorway. Miriam doesn’t do blood.
‘I am now, thanks to Dex.’ I hopped off the counter and planted a kiss on Dex’s cheek, making a quick getaway before I had to divulge any more about the ‘plans’.
I slipped an arm through Miriam’s on my way out of the kitchen to cover my shaking hands. As we headed to the pool she proceeded to tell me in graphic, and unwanted, detail about her last thirty minutes with Brett. In my bedroom.
Some things are best left unshared.
Someone passed me a drink and despite still feeling sick and light-headed I sipped on it, claiming a layback chair at the head of the pool. The next two hours passed by in a welcome blur.
At last Lucas shut off the music.
No one seemed to mind, and I couldn’t have been happier to hear the pounding stop. Lucas launched into adult mode: patrolling, telling kids to get lost, checking that the drinkers weren’t driving. Then he simply up and left. That was Lucas.
I figured he didn’t want to stay behind and explain any of the night to Mom, who walked in about five minutes after he left, took one