Every five minutes I glanced at my phone in case Claudia texted but I heard nothing, so I sat through class, foot tapping impatiently, waiting for it to end. All I wanted was to hurry back to the apartment to check on my friends.
Finally, our professor dismissed us and I stuffed my notebook in my bag, preparing to run back to the apartment. However, Alex stopped me in my path.
He had attempted to hang out with me whenever he could. He asked constantly to tell him what was wrong, but I never confided in him. I knew he was frustrated but he kept at it, trying to be there for me even though I was a miserable asshat to be around.
Go figure.
“I called you this morning. You didn’t call back,” he said in greeting.
I winced apologetically. “Sorry. I’m not having a great day. I meant to call but…”
“Oh?” He held the door open and we walked outside into the cold November air. “I can help with a bad day.”
“How?”
“Waffles and chocolate milk.”
I laughed. “Not tequila?”
“Puhlease,” Alex scoffed. “That shit is for pussies.”
Chuckling, I nodded. “You’re right, that helped.”
“Charley!”
I blinked, jerking my gaze from Alex’s affectionate one to across the lawn. Hurrying toward me from the sidewalk was Claudia and Jake. The breath whooshed out of me at the sight of him.
It was like I was a recovering addict and I’d just taken my first hit in years. The rush of feeling that flooded through me held me frozen.
“Charley!” Claudia yelled again, running up the stairs toward me. Her eyes flicked to Alex. “Hey, Alex. Sorry, I have to borrow her immediately.” She grabbed my arm and hauled me down the steps toward Jake before Alex could even open his mouth to protest.
Her frantic behavior yanked me out of my Jake fog. “What’s going on?”
Jake shoved a hand through his hair. It was really getting long now. “Beck’s gone.”
“Gone?” I gaped at Claudia. “How did that happen?”
She shook her head, her chest rising and falling in shallow breaths. “He was fine. I mean, not fine, but he had some soup and he was sobering up. He wasn’t talking but he was sitting with me and I thought… anyway, he eventually said he needed some aspirin and we didn’t have any so I ran out for some and when I got back, Jake was there and Beck was gone.”
I rubbed her shoulder, trying to soothe her. “Take a breath. He can’t have gotten far. In fact…”
“In fact what?” Jake asked impatiently.
I ignored his tone. “My bet? He’s out somewhere getting hammered again. And since he’s only been here once before, it would make sense that he’d try to find somewhere familiar.”
Claudia threw her hands up in annoyance. “I’m so stupid. He’s at The Brewhouse.”
“I think it’s worth checking out.”
Some students were kicking around The Brewhouse but not a lot given that it was afternoon. The gorgeous, tragic-looking rocker certainly stuck out.
Beck sat on a barstool, head bowed, hand on his head, the other wrapped around a glass of scotch.
“He’s hitting the hard stuff,” I murmured.
“Wouldn’t you?” Jake said.
“I’m not really into numbing my pain with self-medication.”