Change of Heart - By S.E. Edwards Page 0,3
off and lets us in.
“So, what’s so important you needed to talk to me tonight?” I ask once we’re seated at a table. “And don’t you have class tomorrow? How much have you had to drink?”
Abby explodes into uncontrollable laughter. “Come on! As if I need to worry about class! Look at me! I’m hot!” She bats her eyes and flips her hair, then adjusts her skimpy halter top to expose even more of her cleavage. If this were any other night, I might even feel a little bit jealous. Abby is definitely more gifted than I am in the boob department.
The guy she’s with is still hovering near us. He hasn’t said a word, and Abby hasn’t introduced me, either.
“Abby,” I start, “you know I’m exhausted. Couldn’t this have waited until tomorrow?”
“Oh, no, no, no…” Abby protests. She looks around, and seems startled to find her guy still there. She reaches over and pulls him in. “Leave us alone, will you?” she screeches into his ear. “I need to talk to my roommate!”
The guy shrugs, puts his hands in his pockets, and walks away. I start to get a bad feeling about what Abby has to say. I sigh. “Just tell me whatever you want and let me go back to our apartment so I can pass out,” I say stoically.
“Well, Penn, that’s the thing.” Abby puts her elbows on the table, and leans toward me in a way that she must think makes her look more serious. Great. A serious drunk. That’s just what I need right now. “We… kind of have a problem with our apartment.”
“A problem? What do you mean?”
“Remember last week when you gave me cash for rent?”
“Of course. But what does that have to do with—oh, no. Abby, tell me you didn’t…”
The guilt that flashes on my roommate’s face seems so genuine that I almost believe it… until I remember all the times this same thing has happened before. “You did, didn’t you? You spent our rent on something else.”
“Oops,” she says meekly.
“Abby, we were two months behind already! The landlord is going to evict us if he doesn’t get that payment!”
She shrugs, seeming completely oblivious to the implication. “Money’s just money. Rent is rent. This…” she gestures around the crowded bar, “this is fun.”
“You’re drunk,” I spit, getting up. My disgust with her grows stronger by the second. I can’t believe she threw away our rent money. Again! I need to get away from this crowded place, somewhere to clear my head. “Talk to me when you’re sober. I’m not going to waste my breath when you won’t remember a thing I said in the morning.”
“Oh.” Abby’s voice becomes small again. “You’re mad, aren’t you?”
“No shit, I’m mad!” I push off from the table and spin away. Abby catches my arm.
“Wait, wait, Penn! I’m sorry. Really, I am. We can figure this out,” she pleads.
“How?” I ask, defeated. I let her pull me back down. “At least tell me you didn’t spend the money on something stupid like booze.”
She frowns at me like I’m a little girl. “No. I’m not sixteen anymore. I got something better.” She reaches into her purse and pulls out a little Ziploc bag. It’s full of colorful pills. She slides it across the table to me.
I catch it with a grimace and count the pills inside. There are eleven of them. “Drugs,” I say flatly. “You spent our rent money—my rent money—on drugs.”
“Not just any drugs,” Abby says. “That’s MDMA.”
I can almost cry. “Why, Abby?”
“Why? Why do you always have to be such a sourpuss, Penn? Don’t you ever want to party?”
I ignore the jab. “How many of these did you have tonight, Abby?”
“Oh, maybe two or three.”
“Two or three,” I repeat. My disbelief grows stronger by the second. “Mixed with how much alcohol?”
“I’ve only had five shots tonight,” Abby defends. “Thank you, mother.”
Five shots and it’s not even a quarter to ten. I shake my head at the absurdity of the situation.
“Here.” I fling the bag back at her. “I hope it was worth it. Because if we get evicted over this—”
“Oh, did I mention?” Abby giggles. “When I tried to go home before coming here, the funniest thing happened.”
A sinking feeling forms in my stomach. “What?”
“The key didn’t work.”
My mouth drops open. “What?”
“I don’t know, Penn! I used it like a regular key. I went to our door. And it just… didn’t work.”
“Oh my God.” I sink down against the back of my chair. “You don’t