Falling for Hadie (15 page)

Mariah grinned at us before Connor led her away into the small crowd of people dancing. As I watched Mariah snuggle up to Connor, I couldn’t help but smile. They made a cute couple and Connor seemed like a nice guy.

“Do you think he’ll ask her out?” Lana asked, her eyes trained on the pair.

“I really hope so. Otherwise she’s going to chew our ears off from the rant she’ll go on about him.”

Lana laughed, and then lowered her voice. “Everyone’s looking at you.”

Surprised, I glanced around and realized she was right. There were a few people here and there who were openly staring at me and whispering.

Feeling uncomfortable, I lowered my gaze and went to get more alcohol. I couldn’t figure out if they were whispering about the fact that I was Bennett’s ex or because I was at a party.

Either way, I wasn’t going to let it get me down. I would act like it didn’t bother me and actually enjoy myself for once.

And I would not think about either Bennett or Lincoln. Especially Lincoln.

Lincoln

Vines twisted around my legs and pulled me backwards as I struggled to free myself from them. I was trapped and there was no way for me to escape.

A giraffe trotted up to me, opened its mouth and started making a ringing sound.

What the hell? Since when did giraffes make ringing sounds? And since when did I hang out with giraffes? And why was I in a jungle, anyway?

My eyes flew open and I sat up, my heart beating erratically. As I glanced around the now familiar room, I realized that my cell was ringing beside me on the bedside table. The glaring red numbers of the clock sitting on it let me know that it was 11:07 pm.

Who the hell was calling me this late at night?

Groaning, I reached over and answered my cell without checking to see who it was. Whoever it was better have a damn good reason for calling me this late.

“Hello,” I managed to say, my throat raspy and dry.

My mouth tasted weird and I got out of bed so I could get a glass of water from the kitchen.

The first thing I could hear was a lot of noise in the background—loud voices mingled with some techno music I’d never heard of before. Was someone calling me from a party? Was it that field party thing?

“Liiiiiiiincoln!” a voice slurred excitedly from the other end of the line.

It took me a good few seconds to realize that the voice belonged to Hadie. And she sounded absolutely drunk. Like smashed off her face drunk.

“Hadie, is that you?” I asked, just to make sure.

It was hard to imagine Hadie doing something as irresponsible as going to a party and getting drunk. First of all, she’d told me that she didn’t drink, and second, she was so put together and mature that it seemed out of character for her to binge drink.

“Who else would it be?” She sounded annoyed. “Were you expecting someone else to call?”

“Um, no.” I ran a hand through my hair in confusion. “But I didn’t expect you to call me at eleven o’clock at night and wake me up.”

“Liiiiiiiiiincoln! You are such a boooore! Who goes to bed this early? We’re having such a greeeat time! Come party with us!”

I stopped in the hallway outside the kitchen; all thoughts of getting a drink flew out of my mind as her words sunk in. “Us? What do you mean by “us”? Who else is there with you, Hadie?”

“Lana was with me, but I don’t where she is now. And Ray’s busy making out with her new boyfriend.” Hadie giggled. “So I made two new friends, Trent and Corey. They’re getting some vodka and then we’re going to do body shots! You know what body shots are? I’m gonna be the body!”

My skin crawled as Hadie said this, and I hurried back to my room and started blindly searching for something, anything, to wear. Somehow, I managed to find a pair of jeans and a t-shirt in the darkness and pull them on before running into the kitchen to grab the keys to Dad’s car.

“Hadie, don’t you dare go anywhere with either one of those guys!” My voice was panicked as I rushed outside, the chill night air causing goose bumps to rise on my arms. Or maybe they were caused by the fear of what Hadie was about to get herself into.

“Lincoln, I don’t get you,” Hadie said, sounding tired. “First you’re all cold towards me, but then you’re super nice. Like that day at the lake when you looked soooo hot in that wet shirt, or like when you told everyone to leave me alone. But then at the diner you just went ahead and acted like a huge meanie for some reason. I don’t get you, I don’t get you, I don’t get…” Her voice became sing-song as she trailed off.

As she spoke, I was already speeding off towards the town, trying to recall landmarks so I wouldn’t get lost. I knew that once I found that bridge I’d know where I was. Hadie had said that the field was through the thick trees, so all I had to do was get through town and drive over the bridge and then wander around in the darkness and get eaten by bears. Were there bears in Iowa?

In the meantime, I had to keep Hadie distracted so she didn’t run off with those guys. I didn’t even want to think about what they were going to do to her. “Hadie, I’m sorry about yesterday. I didn’t mean to come across as a jerk.”

“Well, you did,” she said, a whine in her voice. “You were a big, mean, meanie, huge jerk.”

“And I’m really sorry about it. You caught me at a bad time, but I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. Will you forgive me?”

There was a pause on the other end of the line. “I guess, but I have problems with you. Big, big problems.”

“Yeah, like what?” I was on the main road of the town now and I knew the turn-off to get onto the long stretch of road that led to the bridge was somewhere on the left.

Passing a few shops, I finally spotted the road where I needed to turn and screeched around the corner, glad that Statlen wasn’t heavily policed; otherwise I would’ve been pulled over about five minutes ago.

“Like, do you have to always look so darn good? I’m trying not to be attracted to you, but you make it so hard. All I want to do is touch you and kiss you and…”

What the hell? Was she too drunk to realize what she was saying or was her drunken rambling actually true to how she felt about me? If her words were true then it was something I couldn’t let go of because I had feelings for Hadie too. Feelings that I shouldn’t be having for her.

I was supposed to be staying away from her; I wasn’t supposed to be getting close to anyone, but Hadie had found her way into my heart. At a time when I thought the world was cruel and hopeless, she had entered it. Now, I didn’t want her to leave.

“…And hold you and make out with you and…” Her voice trailed off again and I heard a guy’s voice in the background.

“Hadie? Talk to me!” I demanded.

“Lincoln…” She sounded unsure. “Corey said I have to get off the phone now. He said he and Travis have a surprise for me.”

“Hadie, don’t go anywhere with them! Do you hear me?”

“I’ll try…” she slurred before the line disconnected.

“Fuck!” The panic kicked in again, and I sped down the long, dark road, trees flying past me in a blur.

She had to be okay. I had to get there in time. It didn’t matter that she’d gone there and gotten drunk. The only thing that mattered was that she stayed safe. I didn’t trust any guys around her. Not when everyone was so against her because of her loser ex-boyfriend.

I couldn’t handle anything happening to her. I had to get to her before something terrible happened. I didn’t know why I was being so protective towards her or acting like her boyfriend when I knew there was no hope of it ever happening. Still, that didn’t mean that I couldn’t be a friend to her.

Relief filled me when I finally caught sight of the dilapidated bridge. As I drove over it, I saw that several cars were parked on both sides of the road and caught sight of a couple of figures standing near a truck. No doubt some people had hit their “drunk peak” and were now starting to leave.

I drove past the about ten cars before finding an empty spot and pulling into it. At first I’d wondered how I was going to find the field, but as soon as I jumped out of the car, I could hear music and voices in the near distance. Hadie had said that the field was a five minute walk through the woods, so if I just followed the noise I should be able to get there soon.

I ran through the darkness with no idea where I was going, except for the noise from the party acting as my guide. It was actually a lot easier to find the place than I’d expected and I didn’t lose my way. When I finally broke into the field, I nearly slammed into a couple making out right by the edge of the trees.

“Hey, watch it!” the guy cried, but I ignored him.

My eyes were already wandering around the field, trying to find any sign of Hadie. I couldn’t see her anywhere—only unfamiliar, drunken faces. Where could she be?

Eventually I did spot a familiar face. It belonged to Becky who was standing with a bunch of people and drinking out of a large plastic cup. I couldn’t let her see me or she’d tell Mom, but how was I going to find Hadie and avoid Becky at the same time?

“Lincoln?” a girl asked.

I turned back to look at the couple that I’d run into and saw that the girl was Mariah—she was straightening up and walking over to me. The guy with her looked thoroughly pissed off that she wasn’t paying him any more attention.

“Mariah, where’s Hadie?” I demanded.

Mariah smoothed back her hair and surveyed the field. “Last I saw, she was with Lana. Why? Did something happen?” Her tone had changed and she sounded worried now.

I ignored her question. “How much did she have to drink?”

“Um.” Mariah seemed thrown off by my line of questioning. “To be honest with you, I haven’t been with her for at least an hour, so I can’t really say for sure. Lincoln, tell me what’s going on! You’re scaring me!”

I turned to face her, her features barely visible in the shadows of the trees. “Hadie called me about twenty minutes ago. She was really drunk, like to the point where she was just babbling nonsense.” I conveniently left out the part where most of the babbling had been about her feelings for me. “There were two guys with her…Corey and Trent, and she said they were taking her somewhere to do body shots.”

Mariah grasped my arm, her nails digging into my skin. “
What! She’s drunk and alone with those sleaze bags? We have to find her now!” Her tone was desperate and it sounded like she was on the verge of a freak out.

“You need to calm down,” I said, holding her by the shoulders and looking her in the eye. “I need you to focus. Where could they have taken her?”

Mariah shook her head, sounding tearful as she spoke. “I don’t know, Lincoln! I really don’t know…I should never have brought her here when she was so vulnerable! I’m so stupid!”

Releasing my hold on her, I swore and kicked the closest tree as my emotions took control of me. I’d never been so desperate, so angry, so scared in my life. If anything happened to Hadie, I’d never forgive myself.

I had to find her, but how? I’d already wasted five minutes, and I didn’t know how much more time I could afford to waste. I had to get to her before anything happened.

“Trent has a truck,” someone said from the darkness.

My head shot towards the sound of the voice and I saw that it belonged to the guy that Mariah had been making out with moments earlier. I strode towards him, his words burning in my ears.

“Are you sure?” I demanded, my voice shaking from the frustration and anger I was struggling to contain. “Because I don’t have time to screw around looking for some truck. I need to find Hadie now.”

The guy nodded quickly and swallowed. “Trent has this truck that he always takes girls to so he can screw them. It’s probably parked somewhere on the road.”

“What does it look like?” I felt Mariah move beside me.

“It’s red.”

I had an urge to kick the guy. “It’s red? That’s the best you can do?”

Then it hit me. A red truck. I’d seen that truck when I’d first gotten here, and there’d been a couple of people standing by it, but the darkness had made it impossible for me to make out who they were. Had Hadie been with them and I hadn’t noticed?

Shit! I had to get back to the road!

The guy shrugged and glanced over at Mariah, looking hopeful. “So, um, do you want to continue where we left off…?”

“Shut it, Connor!” Mariah said, grabbing my arm as I started to leave.

We ran through the gaps in the trees, weaving in and out, as we headed back towards the road. I let Mariah lead because, frankly, I had no idea where the hell I was. I could no easily navigate my way through the dark forest than I could in the middle of the day. This place was a labyrinth that I would never figure out.

Once we broke out onto the main road, I doubled over and clutched my stomach, trying to catch my breath. My chest was tight and constricted, and I was completely out of breath.

I felt a hand touch my back. “Lincoln, are you alright?”

“I’m fine, just out of shape.” Waving Mariah away, I straightened myself up and looked around at the cars lining both sides of the road. “The truck, it’s back that way.” I pointed towards the bridge and we started running again; this time I ignored the sharp pain that was shooting through my body.