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“You just rest,” I said. “I’ll take care of it.”
Then I did something I never imagined myself doing in a million years. As Daphne closed her eyes, I began to brush out her hair.
Chapter Eleven
Daphne
The sun streamed into the room, waking me. I’d passed out and had forgotten to close the window blinds.
Ugh. I still felt kind of queasy, but at least my head had stopped pounding. I eyed the clock far away on my desk. Six a.m. Orientation stuff started at eight, so I should get up. I had a lot to do. My hair would be a ratty mass of knots.
I rose slowly and walked over to the mirror above my dresser to assess the damage. Hmm. My hair looked fine. A little messy from sleep, but otherwise fresh and silky with no knots. Before I had time to ponder how this had happened, I jolted when the door burst open.
“Hey, Daph.” Patty smiled.
“Oh, hi.” Patty hadn’t come home? I’d just assumed I slept through it, since I wasn’t sure anything short of a tornado could have woken me last night. This meant she’d spent the night with Sean. My tummy churned a little. I wasn’t judgmental by nature, but she and Sean had just met. She didn’t volunteer any information, and I didn’t ask.
Not my business.
“Ugh! I need a shower,” Patty said. “Then we’ll have time to hit the cafeteria for breakfast before orientation begins. You in?”
My stomach was still a little iffy, but breakfast would probably help that. Plus, there’d be coffee there. A definite plus.
“Yeah, I’m in.” I gathered my supplies so I could take a real shower, complete with shampoo. I was already in my bathrobe. I waited for Patty to ditch her clothes from yesterday and robe up, and we headed to the stalls.
No waiting, which was nice. Six o’clock in the morning was clearly not a popular time with college students. I shampooed my hair, still wondering at its freshly brushed softness. Then I scrubbed from head to toe. I still felt a little dirty from the previous night’s drinking. After my shower, brushing my teeth again was pure heaven! Finally, the last remnants of pink puke were gone from my body.
Never again.
How in the world did anyone become an alcoholic? I couldn’t see it. Not from this angle.
We dressed quickly in shorts and tank tops and headed to the cafeteria. The walk was slightly brisk, but this was September in Colorado. The day would warm up soon, and we’d be happy we’d worn shorts.
Footsteps sounded behind us.
I turned to see Ennis Ainsley and another guy hurrying to catch up with us. “Hi,” I said.
“Hey, Daphne.”
The bruising on his jawline brought the evening back in living color. “I’m sorry. Does it hurt much?”
“Nah. I’m good. This is Dirk. He’s in the room next to mine.”
“Hey,” I said. “This is my roommate, Patty.”
We all shook hands, and Ennis said, “You ladies want to join us for breakfast?”
“Fine with me,” I said. “Pat?”
“Sure. The more the merrier.”
Breakfast was definitely a good idea. Scrambled eggs were my comfort food when I wasn’t feeling good, and they did the trick. A slice of bacon and a cup of coffee rounded out the meal for me.
“This isn’t worth eating.” Patty threw down the slice of bacon she’d taken a bite of.
“We don’t have bacon like this in the UK,” Ennis said. “Unfortunate, because I think it’s delicious.”
“You should try the bacon we make on my farm,” Patty said. “So much better than this crap. Plus, we don’t cure it, so no nitrates. Those things’ll kill you.”
“What a way to go, though,” Dirk said. “Bacon is the perfect food.”
Ennis looked to me. “What say you, love? Where are you on the bacon debate?”
“I don’t really have an opinion.” Really, were we discussing bacon? This was college?
“Pick a side, Daph,” Patty said.
“I like bacon. That’s my side. I just don’t like thinking about…”
Patty laughed. “Daphne is a carnivore who loves animals.”
The two guys laughed as well. My cheeks warmed. They were making fun of me.
“Go vegan then,” Dirk said. “Save the bunnies.”
“I’m not against consuming meat,” I said. “I just want the animals to be treated with respect.”
“Hey, I totally respect the pig who gave up his life so I could have bacon,” Dirk said. “Life without bacon isn’t a life worth living.”
Ennis and Patty laughed.
And I decided I didn’t like Dirk much.
“I just mean I like the animals to be treated humanely while they’re raised for meat. I know you treat your pigs humanely, Patty, but most animals raised for meat aren’t treated that way.”
“If it bothers you, love,” Ennis said, “do something about it.”
“What can I do?”
“First off, stop eating mass-produced meat. You can buy from local ranches and farms.”
Dirk grabbed the remainder of my slice of bacon off my plate. “That means you don’t want this.” He shoved it in his mouth.
