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My phone began to ring at that moment, so I flipped back over to my stomach to answer it. A pang of panic went through me when I saw Jayden’s name appear on the screen. Could he sense that I’d been thinking about him? It was kind of freaking me out.
Against my better judgment, I answered it and held it up to my ear. Immediately, the noisy and scattered background sound of a party in full motion came through the speaker. I grimaced and hoped this wasn’t some kind of butt-dial. My heart couldn’t take the strain of seeing his name randomly pop up on my phone during the night.
“Mandy?” Jayden’s voice chased away my worries about a butt-dial. “Are you there?”
“Hey.” I tried to sound nonchalant and cool, as if I hadn’t just been going over every little detail of the last hour we’d spent together. “What’s up?”
“You’d better get over here and pick your sister up. She’s not looking too good.”
I sat straight up on my bed, my heart beginning to race. “What do you mean? What’s going on?”
“I don’t know, but I think she’s been—” Cheers in the background drowned out some of his response. “—and she can’t walk. Her friends went to another party, but don’t worry, I’m keeping an eye on her. I won’t let her leave. See you soon.”
It didn’t matter that I only had part of the story or that Jayden hung up suddenly. I sprang into action, grabbing the keys to the van and my purse from the nightstand. Mom’s van did record time over to Savannah’s house. My heart threatened to burst the entire way over there, but somehow, I made it there.
Cars were parked all along the street and in the driveway, but I managed to find a spot right in front of the house. When I jumped out of the van, the sound of my name directed me toward the far side of the wraparound porch, where Jayden waved at me in the half-dark.
“We’re over here.” He waved again as I started toward him.
Despite my intense worry for my baby sister, my gut clenched at the sight of Jayden, still wearing the outfit from our date. He looked incredibly good, as if he hadn’t been tossing and turning all evening like me pondering the mysteries of the opposite sex. I, on the other hand, had shed my dress the moment I got home and changed into a hoodie with yoga pants. Despite my hopes, it still hadn’t wiped away the embarrassment of our last meeting.
“What’s going on?” I asked, scrambling up the steps to the porch and walking toward him.
He stood next to a swing that swayed gently back and forth. When I got closer, I could see someone sitting on it, their feet up on the bench and their arms wrapped tightly around their legs. The telltale sign of long wavy brown hair draped over her face clued me in on the location of my sister. And when she finally looked up at me, the goofy unfocused smile on her face also hinted at what Jayden had been trying to tell me on the phone.
“Mandy.” Charlotte spread her arms wide and nearly fell out of the swing. She staggered up to me and pulled me in a hug, giggling into my shoulder. “My favorite sister. My only sister. My second mommy.”
I glanced over at Jayden, a million questions fighting to come out of my mouth at once. He nodded with a concerned expression, as if he knew what I was thinking.
“They were doing shots of Vodka earlier tonight in the kitchen,” he said grimly. “I was out here on the porch and I saw your sister come out here to throw up in the bushes. When I looked for her friends inside, they were gone. I figured it was better if I called you.”
Charlotte grabbed my shoulders so hard it almost hurt and squinted at my face. The strong scent of her breath made me wince. “Sarah said they’d be right back. But I waited and waited and waited.” She pouted her lower lip and pointed her thumb at Jayden. “I wanted to go find them, but this guy wouldn’t let me. He’s so mean.”
“Thank you for stopping her,” I said, shooting him a grateful look as she released me and began dancing around.
Regret flowed through me. I never should’ve left her alone at that party. This was my job and I’d failed. Jayden shouldn’t have had to stop her. I should’ve been able to handle this on my own.
The corners of my eyes burned with unshed tears. “And thank you for calling me. I don’t even want to think about what could’ve happened to her if she’d left like this.”
“Really, it was no problem.”
His searing gaze remained glued to my face, even as a single frustrated tear escaped and trailed down my cheek. I hated crying. It was even worse to know that I was crying in front of Jayden Paul. I felt pathetic.
But then he reached up and softly wiped it away with the pad of his thumb, his touch was as shocking as a live wire to the skin. It was paired with an intense blue-eyed stare that made my insides burn. I gasped, the feeling jolting me out of my moment of self-pity.
Jayden couldn’t be touching me like that. All it did was make me think about the way he’d kissed my palm. And make me wish for more.
With confusion swirling in my gut, I tore my gaze away from his and turned back toward Charlotte. “I’d b
etter get her home.”
My sister was waving at people through the porch window, giggling madly behind her hand. I put my arm around her and directed her toward the steps. She stumbled, most of her weight falling on my shoulder. I would’ve collapsed beneath the unexpected load if another arm hadn’t wrapped around her from the other side.
Jayden gave me a tiny smile as he helped me walk Charlotte down the porch steps and over to the van. And when we got her through the sliding door and buckled into one of the back seats, the sight of the sliding door closing on my drunk baby sister only served to increase the panic and guilt building up inside of me.
“I don’t know how I’m ever going to thank you,” I said to Jayden, my voice breaking. “I can’t believe I let her come out tonight. I should’ve stayed at the party. I should’ve checked in more. I don’t know how I’m going to tell my parents about this. They’re already so overwhelmed with everything at the diner. My mom has this heart condition that gets worse with stress and she’s been counting on me to keep everything at home running.”
Jayden leaned down slightly, until our gazes met. A steady calmness shone in his eyes. “It’s going to be okay. I promise. I’ve seen worse. She’ll wake up with a wicked hangover, but she’ll be okay.”
