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“You listen here,” Mr. Darling says, grabbing the bottle and putting the cap back on. It was on the cart the whole time. The urge to laugh bubbles up inside me.
“And you listen good,” Mrs. Darling goes on. “First of all, we will not have a couple of drunks in our home, corrupting our daughter. Secondly, you stole that liquor from the cabinet, and we will not tolerate a thief in this house. Thirdly, it is inexcusable for you to be outside carrying on at this time of night. What will the neighbors think, that our daughter has wild parties at all hours?”
At this, Daria starts giggling uncontrollably. I think of the parties Lindsey has taken me to, and I look at Daria in hysterics, and I can’t stop the laugh from bursting out of me too.
“This is impossible,” Blair huffs, turning to her husband. “We’re wasting our breath on these two.”
“I’ll take them home,” Mr. Darling grits out, glaring at us like he’d debating driving by a bridge and tossing us off.
Mrs. Darling places a soft hand on his arm. “Don’t risk your neck driving in this weather. Not for these hooligans.”
He stares at us, his jaw clenched. “Your parents will be getting phone calls tomorrow morning. I want you out of here first thing.”
“Now, I want you to march up the stairs and go to sleep right now,” Blair scolds us.
Mr. Darling escorts us up the stairs, marching us along like naughty children, which I guess we are. The tension is so thick I can barely hold back from bursting into inappropriate laughter again.
We make it to Lindsey’s room and her dad taps and swings open the door. I have a flash of blind panic that he’s going to see Chase, but he’s nowhere to be seen.
“Lindsey, here are your two ‘friends,’” Mr. Darling says, like he doesn’t believe she could actually care about scum like us. “They decided to help themselves to the whiskey while no one was looking. This will be the last time they will be staying under my roof.”
Lindsey looks appropriately shocked as she looks from Daria to me.
“Daddy, I’m so sorry,” she says at last, leaping up and throwing her arms around his neck.
“It’s alright,” he says, stiffening but patting her back. “It’s not your fault.”
“It is,” she wails. “I brought them over. I’m so sorry!”
“I always tell you to be careful about the company you keep, don’t I?” he reminds her.
“Yes, Daddy,” she says, stepping back from their embrace. “I’ll do better next time. I promise.”
“Good,” he says, kissing her forehead. “Now get some sleep. We have a long day tomorrow, and my little girl needs her beauty rest.”
“Okay,” she says. “Goodnight, Daddy. I love you.”
He gives her an adoring smile, and she waves and smiles demurely before she closes the door. Then she spins on us, her eyes flashing with fury instead of oozing with the sweetness she showed her dad.
“How could you?” she hisses.
Chase’s head pops up on the other side of the bed. He has a big grin on his face, like he just got away with something, which I guess he did.
“I’m sorry,” I blurt out. “I didn’t mean to get you in trouble. I didn’t mean to ruin your party.”
Elaine sits on the bed, the triumphant smile on her face saying she thinks we’ll be permanently shunned from Lindsey’s circle now, and she’ll get to be her only friend, just like she wants.
I throw my arms around Lindsey, not caring that I’m pathetically begging her forgiveness. I have the platonic version of how Daria said she felt about Colin—like I’d do anything to make Lindsey smile and say we can still be friends.
“Are you kidding,” Chase says, bouncing across the bed towards me. “This is the best party I’ve been to in ages.”
“I’ll do damage control,” Lindsey says with a sigh, disentangling my arms from around her. “It’s okay. I never get in trouble. But y’all probably shouldn’t come over for a while.”
“Then we better make this count,” says Daria, stepping around us to Elaine. She pulls back a fist and decks the bitch.
For a second, no one moves. Even Daria looks stunned by what she did. Elaine grabs her nose and mouth with both hands, gaping up at Daria with shock and fear.
“You bitch!” Elaine howls through her hands. “If you broke my nose, I will sue you for every dime your shoddy little family owns.”
