Page 64 of Places We've Never Been

“Norah said shut up,” Willow said.

“Give me my phone back,” Dylan said.

“Willow, find Leena, okay?” I said.

“I took a picture of the boy you drew. I’m sending it to you.” The phone beeped in my ear several times. “This isn’t my phone.” She laughed and then she was gone again.

I gnawed on my lip and stared at my dark screen, my own hazy reflection staring back at me.

“There’s nothing you can do,” Skyler said.

“Should I call her parents? I can call her parents for real.”

“You’d do that?” he asked. “You’re not worried about what the group would think about you for that?”

“I’m worried abouther,Skyler. That’s all I care about.”

“Then yeah, call her parents.”

I opened my phone again when it rang in my hands. I answered it, seeing the name scroll the screen. “Leena?”

“Hi. What’s going on?” She sounded perfectly sober.

“Are you at Kyle’s party?”

“Yes.”

“I think someone might have slipped Willow something. Or she had too much without realizing it.”

“Oh no,” Leena said.

“Can you get her home?”

“Of course I can. I’ll take her back to my place first and feed her. I’ll text you when we get there.”

“You don’t have to leave now.”

“It’s boring anyway.”

“Thank you.”

We hung up and the tension poured off my shoulders.

“Feel better?” Skyler asked.

“Yes. Apparently I needed a hero twice today.” I nodded to my phone on the table. “Thank you.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Youdoknow those words.”

I lifted one corner of my mouth. “Sometimes.”

Skyler shifted to slide off the table.

“Hey.” I lightly brushed my hand on his arm and he stopped and met my eyes. “I’m sorry for what Dylan said…and Willow. I’ve never called you my soul mate; she was drunk. Although, to be honest, we’ve been calling you demon since my house when you didn’t come in right away.”

“Fair enough.”

As my tension eased, the last several minutes sank in. “You really think I care more about my reputation than my friend’ssafety?”

“I don’t have much to go on. Instagram isn’t a very good judge of character.”

“Fair enough,” I said, even though, like earlier today, it hurt.

“Should we get back to the movie?” he asked.

“Yes.” Was it too late to take back mythank you?