Iwas still a little hung over the next morning when my alarm went off. I texted Quinn that I was going in late to school, so she wouldn’t be waiting for me to pick her up, but she never responded. I worried about that for about ten seconds before I went back to sleep.
By the time I woke up again, it was after lunch. It seemed pointless to drag my ass into school for two classes, so I stayed home, planning to play the sick mom card that had given me so much wiggle room this year. I’d learned that all I had to tell them in the office was that my mom was still in the hospital, and my absence or tardiness was excused. It was like a get-out-of-jail-free card. Not that I wouldn’t trade that for my mother being healthy again, of course, but I figured I needed any break I could catch just now.
I’d just gotten a shower and was actually getting ready to go see my mother when the doorbell rang.Quinn, I thought. She’d gotten my text and was worried about me. I grinned a little, thinking that maybe she’d calmed down enough that I could talk her into another round of makeup sex.
But when I opened the door, it was Nate who stood there, leaning on the frame. I stared at him, frowning. He nodded to me.
“Can I come in?”
“Uh, sure. Come on in. Everything okay?” I shut the door behind him and trailed him into the living room.
“Yeah. I just wanted to talk to you.”
“Sure. Shoot.” I leaned against the side of the sofa, my hands in my back pockets.
Nate fixed me with a determined stare. “You remember back when you first starting going out with Quinn? I told you what was going to happen. I told you that you’d ruin her. You’d break her heart. And now you have.”
I shook my head. “Nate, dude, what’re you talking about?”
“It’s been coming on for a while. I see her getting more and more unhappy. She doesn’t want to go to your stupid parties. She hates your friends. But she’s trying to change, to be better for you. She’s turning herself inside out. But what are you doing? Going out and getting drunk every weekend? Not calling her, so she’s worried and upset all the time? And then you tell her not to write an article in the newspaper. The one thing that’s hers. You’re making her choose between who she is and who you want her to be. And so you know what she did? She got drunk with cheerleaders last night.”
“What?” I heard the words, but they didn’t make sense. “What’re you talking about?”
“Last night, Quinn called Gia around midnight and asked her to come pick her up at some girl’s house. She was completely wasted. Gia was afraid Quinn’s parents would freak out if she came home drunk, so she texted from Quinn’s phone that she was spending the night with Gia.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. Quinn missed school today. She told her mom that she thought she had food poisoning.” His lips thinned. “Does that sound like the Quinn we both know?”
I shook my head. “No. But she’s all right, isn’t she?”
“You mean, is she safe and not still puking? Yep. But nothing else about her is right anymore. This is the end, Leo. The last straw. You’re wrecking her.”
“No. She got drunk, okay? Kids do that all the time. Just because you don’t—”
“Quinndoesn’t. And you know, if she drank a little with you, had a beer, that’s one thing, but she’s drinking whiskey with girls like Trish Dawson—that’s totally different.”
“Trish Dawson?” I felt stupid, repeating everything he was saying, but it just didn’t compute. “Why Trish? How?”
“Maybe you should ask Quinn about that. But according to Gia, Quinn was upset about something you’d done, and Trish goaded her, and I guess one thing led to another.”
I felt like I was smothering. Quinn hated Trish. I knew that. Trish was always a bitch to her. And then abruptly, I had a flash of memory of Trish at Matt’s house the night before. I saw her through the haze of booze, lifting her shirt up to display her impressive rack. And she was asking me if I wanted to do my next shot off her tits.
I’d said no. I was sure I had. God, I hoped I had.
I stood up. “You know what, Nate? Get out. Go home. Get the hell out of my house. You don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re jealous because Quinn loves me. You’re jealous because it’smeshe wants. I got there first, and it’s killing you, isn’t it? Well, fuck you, Nate. You don’t know shit.”
“I know Quinn. I know you’re forcing her to change. For once in your life, Leo, think of someone other than yourself. Do this for Quinn.” He hesitated. “Quinn didn’t tell you about the scholarship from Evans, did she?”
I searched my memory. It sounded a little familiar, but ... “I don’t know. I guess not.”
“Ms. Nelson, the newspaper advisor, nominated Quinn for the scholarship. It’s huge, and it’s prestigious. If she won it, she’d get a full ride to Evans, for their journalism and media program.”
I remembered now. Evans was a small, exclusive college in Massachusetts, and when Quinn had mentioned it and the scholarship, I’d remarked that they didn’t even have a football team.
Maybe Nate had a point about my selfishness.
“It’s not too late, is it? For her to get the scholarship? I’ll tell her—”
