Wingless Book Series (book 1) (31 page)

Vanessa’s car came to a slow
crawl; I hurried to my feet running to her car. I tapped on the
window, opening the door, jumping in.

“
Dude, why are you on the side of
the road?” she said, looking confused.

“
It was easier to wait here. You
would have had to go through the gates and you need a sticker or
something I think,” I said, throwing my jacket in the
backseat.

“
Okay, but I still think it’s kind
of strange. You look like you escaped from prison or something,”
she said, looking me over.

“
It’s fine. Will you just talk
about something else now?” I said, turning up the radio.

We made our way into the old
school parking lot. It was easier to park and walk to where the
party was. And the party was at a sorority house-a sorority that
had been familiar with when I was at school. They had tried to get
me to join, but it just wasn’t my thing. I knew most of the girls
and, although they were all cool and nice, I never became anything
more than a casual friend of theirs.

Vanessa fluffed her hair, blowing
her bangs out of her face in a hurry.

“
Do I look alright?” she
asked.

“
You look gorgeous,” I said, not
caring to primp or anything. I did not intend to catch anyone’s
eye. Now that I was with Evan, it was so much easier to feel
comfortable around the opposite sex.

Being at a party with Vanessa
consisted of sticking with her the whole night, not chatting with
anyone in particular, and occasionally sneaking around to score
some liquor out of her flask.

“
Did you see Josh?” she oozed,
letting out a big sigh as we leaned against the wall. There were
hundreds of people packed into the two level old Victorian style
home. The music so loud I could barely hear my own thoughts let
alone much of what Vanessa was saying.

“
I think I did, not sure. There
are too many people here,” I said, holding my breath as someone
passed by me.

My head was starting to pound, and
it all was becoming less and less a good idea.

“
Here,” Vanessa said, jabbing the
flask into my side.

“
I can’t,” I said.

She didn’t hear me, she kept
jabbing. I rolled my eyes taking a long swig, the harsh taste of
vodka hitting the back of my throat. My eyes watered, I gave it
back to her. She smiled, looking pleased that the old Eve was
back.

“
Hey, let’s go out on the porch,
it’s getting a little hot in here,” she said, pulling her sweater
off, revealing a tank top that barely covered her
midriff.

It was a totally different look
than what she usually wore. And there was nothing wrong with it,
Vanessa had a killer body, but it was so not her. I guess if I had
been around, I would have known what she had up her sleeve, and
what the whole reason for this was.

Coming out onto the porch all eyes
were on the two of us. There were no girls outside besides us. This
was just my luck, having to fend off an attack, I thought. I
grabbed the flask out of her hand, downing what was
left.

“
You lush!” she slurred, starting
to do a stripper pole type of dance to the bad club music
blaring.

“
Nessa! Will you chill out?” I
said, trying to get out of the view of the guys gawking.

“
Come dance with me Eve!” she
yelled, whipping her hair around.

I started laughing, the music
catching me off guard. I did a little jig holding onto the railing,
we both laughed. I was never one for dance.

“
Yeah, Eve, dance with her,” a
tall guy said, coming over to me.

He was lanky with dark hair, his
bangs dangling in his face like Johnny Depp or something, which he
definitely was not at all.

“
I’m alright,” I said, crossing my
arms.

“
You don’t remember me?” he asked,
grinning.

“
No, I don’t. Sorry,” I said,
looking away.

“
I’m Chad. Your brother, Gray’s
friend,” he said, leaning against the railing himself.

Suddenly I remembered him. He was
the friend that was always playing baseball with Gray. It seemed
like forever since I had seen Gray.

“
Oh, okay,” I said, nodding my
head, trying to look like I cared.

“
Yeah, your brother said you moved
out with some kid of a mob boss,” he said laughing.

“
Weird,” I said,
shrugging.

“
Well did you?” he asked me
again.

“
I moved out,” I offered, flipping
my hair. Vanessa was dancing with this Josh character
now.

“
He said you don’t even talk to
anyone anymore,” he said seriously.

“
Not really, no. I will
eventually. You can tell him that if you want,” I said, feeling
sad.

“
Aren’t you a little young to be
moving in with people older than your brother?” he
asked.

“
Isn’t life too short to worry
about when it’s okay to do something or not do something?” I asked
harshly.

“
I guess you’re half right,” he
said, chugging his beer.

“
Half, huh?” I looked around, not
seeing Vanessa anymore.

“
Everything always seems better
when you’re young and rebelling. When you’re older you will realize
what was a mistake and what was worth it,” he shrugged. “Have a
good night, Eve. I’ll tell the fam hello for you.” He waved,
heading into the mass crowd inside.

I finally decided that
Vanessa was nowhere to be found. This really
was starting to make me wonder. I headed off the porch
surveying the best I could over the crowd for her and her drunken
dancing.

“
Vanessa!” I yelled.

It was pointless. I pulled out my
phone dialing her number. There was no answer. She probably
wouldn’t have even heard it if she was still there. I stumbled over
some garbage on the lawn feeling a little tipsy myself.

“
This is just great. I have no
ride and she’s nowhere to be found,” I griped out loud, making my
way to the parking lot to find the car.

The car was gone. I couldn’t
believe my eyes. The car was gone, no longer there. And it wasn’t
like Vanessa to ditch me, ever. My stomach slowly felt sicker and
sicker. I hunched over, almost hyperventilating.

“
Are you okay?” Chad asked,
putting his hand on the small of my back.

I flinched, standing up
straight.

“
Have you seen my friend?” I
asked, breathless and queasy.

Chad took a couple side glances as
if he was trying his hardest to look for her.

“
No, I can’t say that I have. Was
she your ride home?”

“
Yeah, she was. But it’s not just
that I’m worried about her,” I said, heading back up the
steps.

Chad followed behind me. It gave
me the creeps and was starting to get on my nerves at how
stalker-like he was becoming.

“
I can go check the bathrooms,” he
offered.

“
No. There’s no point, her car is
gone,” I snapped.

I held my head in my hands feeling
like the worst had happened. Any moment now Evan would be realizing
I wasn’t home, and I had just made things so much worse.

I ran back off the porch taking
off through the parking lot. Chad, realizing what I was doing, ran
after me.

“
I can give you a ride. Where are
you staying?” he asked half drunk.

“
No. I need to find her. It’s not
like Nessa to just leave.”

“
I can take you home. Maybe Gray
could help,” he said.

“
No!” I yelled, feeling sicker
now, knowing that my family would hear about this.

Chad threw his hands up. “Alright,
alright,” he said. His friends started hooting and hollering from
the porch at him.

I started walking down the street
trying to see if I would find Nessa anywhere. Maybe she parked the
car somewhere else, anything. I knew it wasn’t like her and this
was starting to worry me. She was wasted, and now I felt even worse
knowing that I let her out of my sight when she was drunk. My phone
buzzed in my pocket, my hand snatched it out in a flash hoping it
was Nessa.

“
Eve?” Ari’s voice
asked.

“
Huh?” I said,
feeling as if I was off in la la
land.

“
What are you doing?” Ari asked
with a little humor to her voice. A humor that I found sickening
right now.

“
Ari, I don’t know. I messed up.
Please don’t tell Evan,” I cried.

“
What are you talking about?” Ari
whispered.

“
I went with Nessa and she left
me. I can’t find her. I want to come home, but I need to make sure
she’s alright.” Tears ran down my cheeks warming my face in the
chilly night air.

I clutched the phone, slowly
walking down the street. Why did it matter if I was out in the dark
alone? It didn’t. I was totally and utterly in a bad
situation.

Ari paused for a long while.
I could tell she was trying to keep this under wraps, which meant
Kenny or someone was around who
could
hear.

“
I can come get you if you want me
to,” she whispered.

“
No. I need to find her. I mean,
yes, but let me call you when I find her. Can you make something up
for me? Where is Evan?” I blurted out, bawling like a
baby.

“
He’s not home. I just looked, the
truck’s still gone. Mark isn’t home, either. I can see his house
from here,” she said quickly.

“
What? That doesn’t even make
sense. He said he was doing yard work with Mark,” I said through
sobs.

“
I don’t know, maybe they had to
go somewhere. They’re not here, so maybe you can make it back in
time,” she whispered.

“
I don’t know. Let me call you
back.” I hung up, jogging around the corner, surveying every car
for Nessa’s with no luck at all.

“
Nessa!” I screamed.

It was no use. Wherever she was,
it was far away from here. And it made no sense.

I walked back to the
sorority house, sitting on the porch steps to try calling her phone
one more time. Something sparkled in the grass. I got up to check
it out and gasped as I realized it was her cell phone practically
underneath the bush by the trees. Her stylish pink cell phone, the
one she had saved for months to get. She didn’t care if it took
months to get it and had already gone
out
of style by the time she got it, but she was still proud to have a
high tech gadget to call her own.

I knew Vanessa wouldn’t ever leave
me alone, I knew this. Something wasn’t right, and I was feeling
sicker and sicker thinking she was drinking and possibly got in a
car with a strange college guy and took off. But it made some sense
to think she would. She was dancing with Josh and she’d had the
hugest crush him, on stoner Josh- with the tats and facial
piercings, for months and months. He was the typical punk to me. He
was in a band, enjoyed getting high and hanging out to skateboard,
he cussed like a sailor and drank like one too, but to Vanessa, he
was a rebel and he was hot.

I got off the porch, deciding to
do one more sweep of the area before I called Ari back so that she
could come pick me up. Walking down the sidewalk there was a great
deal of noise and yelling going on. It was a lost cause trying to
make sense of anything going on with so many people
partying.

I heard yelling and shouting
from so many directions and horns honking all over the place. There
were about ten to fifteen
people running
up and down the street shouting as well. Sometimes, when people got
drunk, they acted like morons.

I pulled my cell phone back out,
fumbling around for Ari’s number, and in a flash, was knocked to
the ground. I gasped, bumping my head on the concrete. I guess I
would learn the next time to watch where I was walking while on a
cell phone.

Someone pulled me up from behind;
I felt a little fuzzy gripping their arm as I steadied myself. When
I could stand on my own, I looked up in shock at who I was looking
at.

“
Evan?” I half yelled and
cried.

Evan’s face went white. He grabbed
my arm to keep me stable, because yet again my legs were ready to
buckle.

“
Eve, what are you doing here!” he
yelled at me amidst all the commotion.

“
Vanessa, she invited me to the
party. I told you that-“ I said, stopping in midsentence. There was
no point trying to cover up a lie with another lie.

Evan was so upset his face turned
bright red. “Let’s get out of here!” he yelled through the noise,
grabbing my arm and pulling me along.

I held onto the arm of his jacket
to keep steady as we sped through the crowd. We made it to his
truck in a flash. He propped me against the door, fumbling his keys
to get into the car.

“
Here, I got it,” Mark said,
appearing next to me.