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Elaine shrugs. “Well, he wasn’t your Colin at the time. He was just Colin.”
“You slept,” Daria says, her voice flat now, “withmyColin? Before I dated him?”
“Yeah, so? I didn’t know you’d end up dating him.”
“But,” Daria says, struggling for words. “If you’d told me, I would never have slept with him. You know how I am about that. How could you not tell me when I started dating him?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Elaine says. “It didn’t seem that important. It’s not like he was in love with me or anything.” She gives me a hard look.
I squirm uncomfortably. Is it wrong for me to date a guy who’s in love with Elaine? If she doesn’t like him, why does she care so much?
“I never would have gone out with him,” Daria says slowly, like she’s figuring something out as she goes. “He never would have been able to treat me like crap. I’d be a totally different person if you’d told me.”
“Whatever,” Elaine says, rolling her eyes.
“I need to think,” Daria says, jumping to her feet. She stares at Elaine for a moment, then looks pointedly at Chase. “I guess I shouldn’t expect more from you.”
His eyes go wide, and he shakes his head at her ever so slightly, the look of alarm on his face almost painful. Lindsey’s busy gaping at Elaine, as oblivious as her mother.
Daria spins on her heel and walks out. I shrug at Chase, whose mouth is on Lindsey’s hair but his eyes are on me, and then I grab two coats and follow Daria down the stairs. I thought she’d go outside for some air, but she’s in the den, raiding a liquor cart.
“Lindsey’s mom doesn’t know she drinks, does she?” I ask. I’ve never comforted anyone except Lily, and I have a feeling this will be more delicate than dealing with my six-year-old sister.
“Nope,” Daria says, popping the “p” on the word. “But she may after tonight.”
“What are you going to do?” I ask, a little afraid for Lindsey, and Chase, and even Elaine.
After carelessly rattling the bottles around to find what she wants, Daria stands up with a bottle of southern whiskey clutched in her hand. The glint in her eyes can only be described as insane.
“What does it look like?” she asks. “I’m going to get wasted.”
“Daria, don’t,” I say, reaching for the bottle.
She pulls away. “No,youdon’t.”
She turns and heads for the back door, but she leaves it open for gusts of freezing wind to blow in. I figure that’s her way of inviting me to join her. The patio light comes on, the cold white illuminating her like a spotlight. Snow is swirling around her, the wind blowing her hair around like whips. She reminds me of a painting of Medusa from our Greek mythology book we read last year. Daria tips the bottle up and starts drinking.
I grab the coats and hurry out, closing the door behind me.
“Here.” I hand her a coat and pull on the other one.
“Thanks,” she says, smiling and taking another swig. “SoCo?”
I take the bottle and take a small sip while she shrugs into the jacket I brought her. The liquor is hot and sweet as it goes down. I hand it back.
“Sorry I yelled at you,” she says, taking another drink. “You just don’t know what it was like. You weren’tthere. I’m not trying to make you feel left out, but you don’t understand.”
“So tell me.” I stuff my hands in my pockets and let her vent.
“Colin is the worst thing that ever happened to me. I cried every single day that we were together.Every day. Me. But I loved him so much, you know, I just couldn’t break up with him. It was like physically impossible.”
“Why?” I ask.
I cannot imagine Daria crying over a boy, even once. She’s so strong and confident and self-assured. She doesn’t need anyone. I can’t imagine her taking crap from any guy. She’s the one who would break someone’s heart, not the other way around.
“It’s silly,” Daria says, dropping into one of the deck chairs next to the pool. “I don’t even know why I care. This was all like a million years ago. Maybe I should just sleep with Preston. Nothing like a drunken mistake to make your old mistakes seem like they’re not so bad.”
“Would you really sleep with Preston?” I ask, wrinkling my nose.
