Page 95 of So Thirsty

“Are you?” Naomi asks.

“Can you give us a minute?” For once I’m not the buzzkill.

I get dressed as Henry stacks the cushions back in the corner. He kisses me again before opening the door, where Naomi waits, standing with her arms crossed and her eyebrows raised.

“Hey,” I say.

“Hi there.”

Henry nods to Naomi, then bows past us, leaving us alone outside the storage room.

“Well, well, well. What’s going on here?” she asks. She seems more suspicious than excited, more annoyed than anything else, so I hold back on any girlish divulging.

“Nothing,” I say. “Just woke up.”

“Where did you go last night?”

“For a walk. You sent Henry to check on me.”

“No, I didn’t,” she says. “I went to go after you, and he said he would.”

“Really?”

“I mean, he said to leave you alone like you asked. When I pressed, he said he’d go. Make sure you were all right.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

She shrugs. “If you’re upset about the gas station, we should talk about it. Don’t freeze me out.”

“If? If I’m upset?”

“I get it. It was bad. But—”

“Do you remember what you said to me last night? In the van? Or were you too drunk off that guy’s blood?”

She cocks her head. “What’d I say?”

Either it’s a great act or she really doesn’t remember. If she doesn’t remember, I won’t repeat it. “Let’s just leave it in the past.”

“Tell me. You’re obviously still mad.”

“What else do you not remember about last night? Do you remember what you did to that woman’s face?”

“Yes, I remember. What do you want me say? I was out-of-my-mind thirsty because you didn’t share. You always find a way to make it my fault.”

“Because it—” I cut myself off.

“Because it is? Is that what you were going to say?”

“No,” I lie.

She sighs. “I get it. I was the one who made plans with Ilie, and now here we are. It’s on me. I own that. But you also have to understand, if I didn’t push you, I don’t know if you’d ever do anything.”

I open my mouth to argue, but I have nothing to counter with.

“You can’t put all the blame on me. I didn’t know any of this would happen. I was trying to do good by you. To help you because you refuse to help yourself.”

“Yeah, thanks. This was so helpful.”