Nate's voice came to me as if through ten feet of water.
"Cara? Cara?"
Inside my head I screamed for help, but my body wouldn't respond.
I heard a chuckle through the ten feet of water. "Wow ... you are so high." He tucked the comforter of the bed around me and leaned down to whisper in my ear. "Enjoy it," he said.
I felt him lean back on the pillows, and heard him open a bag. The smell was intense: potato chips. I felt very alone, stuck inside my head next to him. But then he reached over to gently pet my forehead and hair, over and over.
It was nice.
It made me feel a lot better.
I completely zoned out.
When I regained consciousness, the room was pitch black. My mouth felt like a big fluffy guinea pig had died inside it. Nate was next to me, fast asleep.
We were both fully dressed. This was good.
Something was beeping. I followed the sound to my purse and opened it to find my phone.
Its clock said 4:30 a.m.
Oh no.
The beep meant I had messages.
I had a lot of messages.
First, texts from Claudia wondering where I was. Then voice mails that grew more and more frantic until the most recent one of the bunch.
"Cara, it's Claude. It's after four in the morning. Where the hell are you? I'm freaking out! Why didn't you give me Nate's number? Was there an accident? Did something happen at the club? I can't find anything on the Net. I don't know where you are, I don't know what you're doing, but it's crazy late and I'm..."
I had never heard Claudia like this. She sounded awful, like she was on the verge of a complete breakdown. I couldn't believe I'd done this to her.
"...I'm ready to call your parents, I swear it," her message continued. "I'm really scared, Cara. Just ... if you get this, just call me, okay?"
My parents? She was going to call my parents?
Panic ran through me. I checked when she'd called. Ten minutes ago. Oh my God. Had she actually called my parents?
I was glad I had Claudia on speed dial. My hands were shaking so hard, there was no way I could have handled ten digits.
Please don't let her have called my parents. I know I deserve it if she did, but please-please-please don't let her have called my parents, pleeeeease...
Chapter Sixteen
She hadn't called my parents—but that's only because I had miraculously beeped in before she'd dialed the last two numbers.
"Cara, where are you? Are you in the hospital? Tell me which hospital you're in. Were you in a car accident? Are you still on the side of the road? Do I need to call nine-one-one? Were you abducted? Did you just now escape? Are you bleeding? Are you dressed? Did Nate ... did he survive? Let me come and get you. I'll come get you and I'll call the police."
Claudia was sobbing. I couldn't blame her, given the horrific scenarios she'd built.
"Claudia, it's okay," I assured her. I whispered so I wouldn't wake up Nate. "I'm fine. Nate's fine. There was no accident and no abduction. I'm at Nate's house and I'm fine."
"You're at his ... Tell me you didn't have sex with him. If you scared me like this to have sex with him, I'm going to slaughter you. No, first I'm going to make you tell me every single detail, then I'm going to slaughter you."
"I didn't have sex with him. Let me just come to your house. Does your mom think I'm there?"
"Depends how many Sominex she took. She'd have to believe you were in severe gastric distress and unable to come out of the bathroom for about five hours."
"How many Sominex do you think she took?"
"Double dose, with her Xanax. She believes it. Just know if you were a guy, I'd be castrating you."
"My balls are yours. I'm so sorry, Claude. I'll be right there."
I hung up. I was seriously thirsty. I found the water bottles Nate had brought up last night, but they were empty. I'd have to wait until I got to Claudia's. No way was I going to try to navigate this place.
I grabbed my bag, then looked over at Nate, still fast asleep on the bed. Even rumpled and unconscious, he was beautiful. I wondered what would have happened if I hadn't lost the ability to move last night. I wondered what would happen if I crawled in next to him right now ... woke him up