In the Middle of Nowhere

by Julie Ann Knudsen

  As Tessa and I started toward the back of the house, Mr. Johnson stopped us. He tapped Tessa on the shoulder and pointed to a wicker basket he was holding.

  “You know the drill,” he smiled.

  Tessa smiled back and dropped her car keys in the basket before continuing on her search for Rocky.

  I pulled on her sweater. “Hey! How we gonna get home?”

  Tessa stopped and lectured me. “Willow. Chill. Don’t worry about that now. Let’s have some fun first.”

  I rolled my eyes and figured I had no other choice but to stay with Tessa and follow her lead because I had no idea about what I was supposed to do next.

  • • •

  After walking around for what seemed like an hour, Tessa and I finally stumbled upon Rocky and his entourage hanging out in a room with a pool table and arcade games. Tessa pinched his very nice butt and he twirled around to greet us.

  “Hey, Tess! What’s up?” He kissed her cheek. “Glad you could make it.”

  Tessa grabbed his hand and held onto it. “I wouldn’t miss one of your kick-ass parties for the world.”

  Rocky looked at me as I hung behind Tessa like a baby monkey clutching on to its mother’s back for dear life.

  “Who’s your little friend?” he asked.

  I wasn’t sure if I liked that he said “little.” Did it mean I looked young, too young to be there or was it a compliment, like I was little, meaning skinny? I quickly reasoned it was better than if he had asked her, who is your “enormous” friend.

  Tessa turned to me. “Rocky, this is Willow.”

  Rocky checked me out, from head to toe, and nodded his approval. He stuck out his hand.

  “Nice to meet you, Willow.” His eyes sparkled when he spoke and his smile lit up the whole room.

  I shook his hand, which was very big and sweaty. “Nice to meet you and thank you for having me.” I sounded like a dork.

  I couldn’t believe that I was not only staring at “The God” for more than a few seconds, but that I was actually exchanging words with him, too. I could feel my face beginning to get hot. I closed my eyes and tried to think of something sad so I wouldn’t embarrass myself in front of this perfect human specimen. My dad’s face popped in my head and could feel myself cooling off, but not for long.

  “So, where do you go to school?”

  Rocky Johnson was talking to me again.

  Before I could answer, Tessa jumped in. “To our school, you big idiot,” she said as she punched Rocky in his muscular shoulder.

  He grabbed his arm and pretended to be hurt. “Ow, you little pisser. That hurt!”

  Tessa leaned into him. “If you play your cards right, I’d be more than happy to hurt you even more later.”

  Rocky threw his head back with laughter as Tessa looked at me and smiled.

  I half-smiled back, feeling really uncomfortable.

  Tessa scanned the room. “Hey, Rock? Where’s the bar?”

  “Behind the kitchen. My parents just built an addition especially for it.”

  Rocky looked at me. “Want me to get you ladies a drink?”

  “No, thanks,” Tessa answered. “It’s cool. I’m gonna head over there and check it out myself.”

  Tessa turned toward me.

  “Willow, why don’t you stay here and talk to Rocky about how much you love our school and I’ll go and grab us both a drink.”

  Tessa and Rocky stared at me. I felt completely on the spot. There was no way I was going to let Tessa walk away and leave me alone. With him.

  “No, that’s okay. I’ll come with you. I need to use the bathroom anyway,” I lied.

  “Suit yourself,” Tessa said before turning and walking toward the glass-paned, game room doors.

  Before I followed her, I turned to smile at Rocky as if to say thanks, but he was already engaged in a conversation with all of his oversized football buddies. They looked like a band of gorillas, as they horsed around and slapped each other on one another’s backs. I guessed everybody acted like members of the animal kingdom once in a while.

  CHAPTER

  NINETEEN

  Something was vibrating and hitting me in my temple over and over again. The room was dark and it hurt to open my eyes. The vibrating came again. I didn’t know what it was and sat up to find out. Immediately, my head throbbed and felt as if someone whacked me on the side of it with a sledgehammer. As I closed my eyes and laid back down, I smacked the back of my head on something very hard. I forced my eyes open. Once they adjusted to the darkness, I turned around, looked behind me and found myself staring at an ornate, golden metal headboard.

  I didn’t own an ornate, golden metal headboard. I quickly shot up and looked around. Where the hell was I? I was confused at first and then my memory came flooding back to me. I was still at Rocky’s!

  The vibrating came again and was hitting me in the shoulder this time. I looked down and realized it was my cell phone. I picked it up and answered.

  “Hello.”

  “Where the hell are you?” Tessa demanded.

  “I have no clue.” I looked around, saw a lamp next to me and switched it on. The light burned my eyes. “I’m in a room with giant-sized red and gold flowered wall paper and a big white chair in the corner.” My head throbbed.

  “That doesn’t help me, Willow. Get your ass outta there and meet me by the front door,” she snapped and hung up.

  Slowly I climbed off the pretty bed, where I had crashed, and straightened the fluffy comforter. I left the bedroom and tried to find my way around the maze of winding hallways so I could meet up with Tessa. My head felt like it was going to explode with every step. I never would have thought that anything could hurt worst than a migraine, which I had had a few times in the past. But this special kind of headache did.

  I finally found the front staircase and wobbled down it, holding on to the railing for support. Just as I reached the bottom of the stairs, Tessa joined me in the foyer and held two large water bottles in her hands.

  She pushed one toward me and whispered, “Here. You’re gonna need this.”

  Tessa grabbed her keys out of the infamous wicker basket and traipsed out the front door. I followed her as I tried to unscrew the top to the water bottle. Even that was proving to be too much of an effort so I gave up and just positioned the cold, plastic bottle across the top of my pounding forehead.

  • • •

  Once inside Tessa’s car, I had a million questions for her. Before I could even ask one of them, she turned to me.

  “You look like shit.”

  I stared at her in disbelief. “You don’t look so hot yourself.”

  The car reeked of alcohol, but I wasn’t sure if it was Tessa, me or both of us.

  I was finally able to pry off the water bottle cap and took a huge gulp. I couldn’t believe that I stayed overnight at Rocky’s house and that my mother had no idea. I assumed she didn’t know I was gone because I hadn’t had any missed calls or texts from her. She definitely would have called me a million times if she had realized I wasn’t home.

  I finished the huge bottle of water and felt some relief. I was ready to start firing away at Tessa.

  “Why didn’t you tell me ahead of time that we had no choice but to spend the night over there?”

  “I didn’t really think about it.”

  I was dumbfounded. “Didn’t think about it! Well, did you think about how I was going to explain it to my mother when I never returned home? When I was never even supposed to be going out in the first place, leaving my brother alone!?”

  Tessa got defensive. “How was I supposed to know that? You didn’t tell me you were babysitting.”

  “Whatever.” I laid my head back and closed my eyes.

  I thought out loud. “Now I’ve gotta sneak back into my house. If I get caught, I am beyond screwed.”

  “I’m not,” Tessa offered up.

  “Why not?”

  “I told my mom I was sleeping at your house,” she said
, matter-of-factly.

  I sat up and shot Tessa a dirty look. “Why didn’t you tell me that before we went out?! I would have told my mom that I was going to sleep at your place.”

  For once, Tessa was the rational one. “Think about it, Willow. I must know your mom better than you do. Would she have let you spend the night at my house? She’s never even met me.”

  I knew she was right, but I was still pissed.

  “That’s not the point. I wouldn’t have gone to Rocky’s in the first place if I knew it was gonna turn into a slumber party.”

  Tessa smiled wryly and hit me in the shoulder. “Admit it. You had a great time.”

  I rolled my eyes and turned away. Even that hurt my dehydrated brain. I couldn’t answer Tessa at that moment, even if I had wanted to. I didn’t want to admit it, but I couldn’t remember a darn thing that happened at Rocky Johnson’s party. No wonder they were legendary.

  • • •

  I stood at my front door and fumbled with my keys. I was more nervous now than when I had walked out the night before. I needed to be quieter than I had ever been. I checked my cell phone. It was only 6:30 A.M. Both my mother and brother should still be asleep.

  I gingerly opened and closed the front door behind me. Thankfully, the house was still and quiet. I tiptoed up the stairs, carefully maneuvering around the floorboards that tended to squeak the loudest.

  I made it into my bedroom, closed my door and finally breathed a sigh of relief. I was safe. I stripped off my clothes, rolled them into a ball and shoved them underneath my bed. I would wash them later, unsure of whether the stench of alcohol was coming from my clothes or my pores.

  I climbed into bed and gulped down the rest of an old water bottle that sat on my nightstand. I didn’t care that it tasted horribly. I couldn’t believe how crappy I felt. So, I thought to myself and concluded; I was in the throes of my first real hangover. I had never gotten drunk before in my life, ever!

  One time when I lived back in Mass, Gabby stole two of her mother’s wine coolers and we experimented by splitting the bottles between the four of us. They tasted good, but none of us felt any differently after drinking them. Maybe it was because we didn’t drink enough, only half a bottle each, or because we had just chowed down on all sorts of junk food beforehand. Either way, I was totally unprepared for getting drunk, really drunk, for the first time. It shouldn’t be called a hangover, I thought. It should be called a deathover because I felt like I was going to die.

  At first I couldn’t even remember what I drank; beer, vodka, a rum and Coke? I had no idea. As I lay in my bed, I tried to recall the events from the night before. Most memories were foggy, but I tried my hardest to remember.

  I remembered arriving at Rocky’s house, Tessa surrendering her keys and meeting Rocky. Tessa and I made our way toward the kitchen and into the addition behind it. The bar room resembled an authentic, old English pub with dark, mahogany paneled walls and an ornate, tin metal ceiling. The lighting was low, so we had to walk slowly through the crowd.

  Tessa order two beers and handed me one. I sipped it and didn’t like the taste at all, but didn’t let her know because I didn’t want to seem un-cool.

  I remembered drinking another beer and then another one. Tessa and I went back to the game room and hung out with Rocky and his friends. From what I can remember, we played pool with the guys and actually had a good time. That’s where my memory started to get fuzzy.

  As I turned over in my bed and snuggled underneath my covers, I thought hard about what had happened. I remembered bits and pieces of the rest of the night. I think Rocky took me by the hand as I followed him up a staircase and into a bedroom, not the bedroom I woke up in, but another one. We sat on the edge of the bed and talked. He complimented me, said something about my eyes being pretty.

  Rocky had said that I had a nice body, too, as he felt his way up the inside of my shirt. I remembered panicking and jumping off the bed. I also remembered telling him I thought that I was going to throw up. He came back with a small trashcan and handed it to me. I cringed to myself as I remembered throwing up violently into the fancy garbage can. When I finally stopped, I wiped my mouth with the back of my sleeve and looked around the room. Rocky had vanished.

  I left the room and made my way into the foyer. I had to get outta there. I wanted to find the basket with the car keys and drive myself home. What the hell had I been thinking? Not only did I not know how to drive, I was drunk and thought nothing of stealing Tessa’s car. No wonder people did stupid things when they were drunk. Intelligence and common sense stayed at the bar as soon as you took that very first sip.

  I recalled walking, actually stumbling, around the foyer looking for the keys and being intercepted by Mr. Johnson. By this time his face was blurry to me, but I remember him saying that I couldn’t drive home or anywhere, that there were plenty of beds in the place and to go find one.

  That’s how I must have ended up in the flower room. I was completely mortified once I remembered what had happened to me. What was I going to do on Monday at school if I ran into Rocky or any of the other kids who were there? Did anyone else know what had happened to me? Hopefully, like me, they were all too gone to remember.

  Even if they weren’t, I doubted any one of them would have cared about my wild night. I hoped this would be the case and that no one would be gossiping about Tessa or me. If it were possible, I would have gone back in time and stayed home, bored and alone, with my brother. I pulled the covers over my head and wished I could have been stricken with a convenient case of amnesia for the rest of my life.

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY

  I must have fallen asleep for quite a while. I woke up to the delicious smell of bacon and maple syrup. Why was my mom making such an elaborate breakfast, I wondered, or was I simply in the middle of a dream? James and I usually had to fend for ourselves and would settle for a quick and easy bowl of cereal.

  I rubbed my sleepy eyes and realized it wasn’t a dream. My head was still pounding even though I had gotten up at some point, taken a few aspirin and gulped down a gallon of water. My whole body ached, too. As I lay there, I was, once again, horrified and embarrassed about the night before. I couldn’t believe I went to a party at Rocky Johnson’s house, got groped by him, threw up in a trash can and passed out somewhere in his mansion. The whole thing was so unbelievable, I started to chuckle.

  I rolled onto my side and faced my nightstand. I studied my favorite snapshot of my dad and me. I remembered posing for the picture. It was at Christmastime and my father and I wore matching Santa hats. He was so handsome with his thick, chestnut hair and twinkling, dark blue eyes. I knew the picture was taken right before he died because it wasn’t until then that he had grown any facial hair. My mom would tease him and tell him that when she kissed him, it felt like she was kissing sandpaper. My dad would laugh and grab her around the waist and try to rub his goatee all over her face. She would scream and try to get away while James and I laughed at their silliness.

  I decided to get dressed and head downstairs. Although I was suffering from a hangover, the aroma was too much to resist. Maybe some greasy and fattening food was what I needed to feel better.

  James, as usual, was parked in front of the television eating a stack of pancakes. I went into the kitchen and watched as my mom placed a heaping plate of steaming bacon on the table. She spotted me.

  “Well, good morning, sleepy head!”

  Why the heck was she so cheerful? And why was she all dressed up and wearing her favorite lime-green apron that I hadn’t seen in years?

  “Would you like some pancakes, bacon or both?” she asked as she poured some batter into a frying pan.

  Slowly I sat down. “I’ll have both, please.”

  I was about to ask my mom what the special occasion was, but didn’t have to. Just then, someone slammed the bathroom door shut very loudly. My mom and I turned toward the kitchen doorway just as Brian ducked under it to join us.

>   “Well, good morning, Willow!” he beamed.

  He had a newspaper tucked under his armpit and looked as if he had just rolled out of bed. Brian was usually dapper, but his shirt and pants were all wrinkled and his hair was a complete mess. It quickly dawned on me why my mother was going through all this trouble to make such a fancy breakfast. I cringed as the visual filled my mind. I thought I would throw up whatever contents were left in my shrinking stomach right then and there. Mr. Brian Roberts had slept over our house, in the same bed, with my mother!

  • • •

  Somehow I managed to wolf down a ton of pancakes and bacon, despite the fact that I had to do it in the presence of my overly flirtatious mother and her “lover.” Ewww … just the word “lover” made me want to regurgitate all that I had just eaten.

  My mother stood over the stove. “Bri-Bri, would you please hand me the spatula?”

  Brian grabbed the spatula off the table and pretended he was going to spank my mom with it.

  My mother shot him a look and motioned over to me. Yeah, yeah, I got it. Brian was into spanking. Ewww … again, I almost lost it.

  Luckily I was able to keep my food down and felt better almost instantly. My headache subsided and I had a little more energy. I cleared my place at the table, excused myself and headed upstairs to my room. I was going to spend the day in bed, catching up on my homework and also on my sleep.

  I emptied my backpack and spread my books and folders all over my bed. I decided I would take a nap after I finished up my Social Studies paper. I grabbed my computer and was about to type up my bibliography, but decided I would quickly sign onto my MyWeb account and check out other people’s pages. Tessa’s didn’t show any activity from the night before, but there was a link posted on her wall with new photos.

  I clicked on the link and immediately recognized that the pictures had been taken at Rocky’s on Saturday night and were posted by one his friends, Josh. I wasn’t friends with Josh, but was still able to view the photos.