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I press my fingertip against the clock that sits on Jamie’s bathroom counter. Isn’t that what we used to do when we were kids? See a row of the same digit on the clock, and you got to make a wish. What is my wish, I wonder, as I sink my nose into the thick gray scarf.
It smells like man.
Not cologne, how Elvie smells, but male. Like…pheromones. And how pathetic am I, standing in Jamie’s bathroom, sniffing some dude I don’t even know.
I sigh, a sound that echoes. Which kind of makes me laugh. I’m still smiling as I dial Elvie.
For reasons I can’t fully explain, I left the theater room, where Nic and Jamie were starting Forrest Gump, and went to my room to call Elvie. But I had to pee, and my bathroom didn’t have toilet paper, so I came in here to—
Oh yeah. I need to use the restroom.
I sit down as the phone rings, and then stand as I realize there’s no TP here, either.
I frown at myself in the mirror as the phone rings once…twice…three times before I’m answered by a male laugh.
“Elvie.”
He laughs again. My lips move into a reciprocating grin, until I hear him say, “Stop, babe.”
“What?”
He laughs again, and it’s his slow laugh. It’s his drunk laugh. “Sorry, babe.” He hisses, “Just a second.”
My pulse spikes, despite the alcohol still in my bloodstream. “Are you talking to somebody else?”
“Gwen? I can’t hear you.”
“I can hear you.” And the other two hundred people in the background. “Elvie, where are you?”
“I can’t hear you. Gwen?”
“Go somewhere else, Elvie. It’s too loud. If you can’t hear me, it’s too loud there.”
The line goes dead.
I take a deep, slow breath. My head throbs. Holy fucking hell. He dropped me. Elvie— He does this to his parents sometimes! It’s the faux dropped call. I invented that, at least in our world. I used to use it when my crazy Aunt Maurine would call, when we were sophomores.
Holy fucking shit.
I’m so distraught, I sit down and pee, without re-realizing there’s no toilet paper.
“ARGHHHH!”
So what to wipe with? I massage my temples. Sometimes there’s a hand towel on the counter… Nope. Not right now. Ugh. I could use a sock. Ewwww. Gross! I spot Jamie’s makeup bag. Hells yes! She sometimes has a little pack of Kleenex in her makeup bag, to blot her liquid eyeliner. I lunge up off the toilet, grab the bag, and—SCORE!
I finish taking care of business. By the time I step into Jamie’s room, I’m haunted anew by what just happened with Elvie. What the hell is going on with him? Is he seeing another girl? Or is he just drunk and surrounded by fan girls and doesn’t want to risk one of them saying something that would piss me off?
I wander into two other guest rooms, looking for toilet paper, then go upstairs to the home theater. I find Jamie by herself.
“Just you?” I ask, as I walk nearer to her.
“Oh.” She turns to me. “Yeah, Nic left right after you did. Apparently there’s some—” she drops her volume— “family drama. His mom or dad went somewhere. Something. He left in his car instead of walking next door. Which I know,” she rolls her eyes, “because I watched him from the window like a stalker.”
I smile. “See this scarf? I’m sniffing it.”
“Ohh, what does it smell like?” She leans closer, and I hold it up.
“Nope. All mine.” I inhale. “It’s man-smell.”
