I was still sitting on the ground beside Nancy's car, and still feeling like I was going to be sick. Nancy had gone somewhere,

telling me she would be right back, and then adding a comment about me 'staying where I was'.

I heard grass crackling as someone walked up to me.

"There you are," said a voice, and a body sat down next to me, right smack dab against my side. Riley.

"I've been lookin' for you," he said, and slung an arm around my shoulders.

He shoved a wine cooler at me. "Here."

I shook my head. "I don't want it. I'm not feeling very good."

"Aw, come on," he said, insistently. "It'll make you feel better."

"No. Stop it," I said, trying to extract myself from his arms.

"You were just startin' to loosen up, and then that other girl had to drag you off, and bust up the fun," he said, tugging me closer.

I stuck my elbow in his side. "I said I don't feel good! Back off."

Maybe because I did feel sick, or maybe because my brain was fuzzy, but Riley caught me off guard, and as he grabbed

a tighter hold to me, we tumbled over to the ground, bumping my head.

I started to struggle then, but it seemed as if he had suddenly grown more than two arms. He was a very strong boy, and

I knew I was no match for him physically. I started yelling, and then when he started trying to unbutton my yellow lace shirt, I

sunk my teeth in his shoulder.

"Hey!" he yelled, and loosened his hold a little. I rolled away and started to get up, but he recovered and caught at my

arm, pulling me to my knees again. I was still struggling to get to my feet, hollering at him to stop, when, suddenly, he wasn't there.

I twisted around to look behind me, in time to see Guthrie land a punch in his stomach, and then, when Riley bent over, clutching at

his stomach, Guthrie gave him another punch in the jaw, and Riley went to the ground.

"Damn, man, what's your problem?!" Riley hollered up at Guthrie.

"My problem is, that's my sister," Guthrie said. "And she told you to stop."

I scrambled to my feet, and stood behind Guthrie, breathing hard from my tussle with

Riley, and hooking my fingers thru the back of Guthrie's belt loops.

Riley sat up. "Your sister, huh?"

"Yeah. My sister," Guthrie said, and I could hear the warning in his voice.

Apparently, Riley heard the warning, too, because he got to his feet, a little unsteadily, but he still managed.

"No little bitch is worth fightin' over," he said sullenly.

I felt Guthrie tense up, and, as he would have gone after Riley again, I reached for his hand, which was doubled into a fist.

"No, Guth, don't!" I implored.

"He's not gonna call you a bitch," Guthrie said fiercely.

"It doesn't matter!" I insisted, pulling on his arm. "Please, Guthrie!"

Guthrie looked at me, and I tugged at him again. "Please," I said again, softer this time.

"Alright," he said, and Riley, with a last look at Guthrie and I, made his escape, back towards the bonfire and his friends.

Guthrie turned to me. It was too dark for me to see every feature on his face, but I saw enough there to feel something

I'd never felt with him before. I felt embarrassed. And, worse than that, I felt ashamed. Maybe it wasn't so much what I could make

out in his face, but what I felt radiating from him. Guthrie and I know each other so well, that I knew what he was thinking. What he was

feeling. He was mad.

"Thank you," I said, really low.

"Thank Nancy," he said, sounding curt. "She's the one that told me where you were at. There's so many people here I wouldn't

have found you as quick, without her." He added, accusingly, "And what would have happened if I hadn't found you when I did? Could you

have fought him off?"

There were so many things I wanted to say to him, but he said abruptly, "Are you ready to go home now? Or do you want to stay

for some more of that fun you were havin'?"

Sarcasm from Guthrie is something uncommon, especially directed at me. I winced a little at his biting tone.

"I'm ready to go home," I said.

"Let's go, then," he said, and turned to stalk off.

I scurried to catch up with his long legs. "I have to find Lori first," I told him.

"Okay," he said. "But we'll look together. I'm not leavin' you alone here."

We were walking together, and I was slightly behind Guthrie, when I saw yet another familiar person heading our way. This one was blond.

"Oh, no!" I said, and Guthrie followed my gaze.

"What's Ford doing here?!" I asked. "Guthrie, did you tell-"

"Of course not," Guthrie interrupted me, irritated. "I came here as soon as I dropped Kristin off."

"Well, how did he know?" I continued. I clutched at the back of Guthrie's shirt in worry. "What if Evan's here, too?!"

Guthrie gave me a discerning look. "I thought you didn't give a damn what Evan thinks," he reminded me.

"He'll be so mad," I continued worrying, ignoring Guthrie's jibe.

I pulled at Guthrie's shirt harder. "I don't want Ford to see me!"

"Stop pullin' on me," Guthrie objected.

I had a fleeting moment of hope as Ford stood still, searching over the crowd. He hadn't seen us.

My hope was just as quickly dashed as Ford's eyes landed on us.

"Spotted," Guthrie volunteered. Unnecessarily, I thought.

Some of the worry that had been present on Ford's face dissipated at the sight of Guthrie. He moved quickly over to us.

"I didn't know you were here, Guth," he said, sounding relieved. "We thought Harlie was alone-"

"She was," Guthrie affirmed, selling me down the river. "I just got here. I got to worryin' about her, and came up here after I took Kristin home."

By revealing that, I surmised that Guthrie was really, really mad at me.

Ford turned to me, his expression unreadable. "You came up here alone?" he demanded.

"No." I hesitated. "I came with Lori."

"That's not what I meant and you know it," Ford snapped, sounding very un-Ford like. He leaned in close to me.

"You smell like a brewery," he accused.

I didn't think I smelled that much like alcohol, but I stepped back a little, and didn't contradict him.

"What's gotten into you?" Ford asked then. "Lying, and worryin' us like this?"

Before I could answer, Ford shook his head. "Let's just get home," he said, and walked away. Guthrie followed, and

therefore, so did I. I was walking so slowly that Guthrie turned back to order me to hurry up.

"I stepped on something," I told him, and Guthrie stopped walking and peered down at my feet.

"Where's your boots?" he demanded.

"Over by the fire somewhere," I told him, in a small voice.

"Har, for cripes sake-" Guthrie began.

"I know. I know," I said. "Just add it to the list of my crimes."

Ford came back to us. "What now?" he asked.

"She left her boots over there somewhere," Guthrie answered for me, gesturing towards the general area of the bonfire.

Ford looked at my feet as if he thought Guthrie was lying, or teasing, or just generally yanking his chain.

"I'll go get 'em." Guthrie said, and headed that direction.

Which left Ford and I, standing there alone.

Ford didn't say anything. He just looked at me, a look kind of a cross between sorrowful, and generally pissed off.

"Say something," I told him.

"Well, what do you want me to say?"

"I don't know." I thought a minute. "How did you know I was here?"

"Eddie called."

"He has a big nerve!" I said, getting huffy.

"He was worried about you," Ford said reasonably. "He was thinking you might get yourself into a situation

you couldn't handle on your own."

And that's exactly what had happened. But, as yet, Ford didn't know about Guthrie having to extract me from Riley's

clutches. I wanted to keep it that way as long as possible.

"He still shouldn't have called," I said stubbornly, but I said it quietly.

Then I saw Evan, charging our direction, followed by Nancy.

His expression was furious. He looked like, as the old saying goes, he could chew nails.

I stepped behind Ford a little, instinctively, even though I knew rationally, that Evan wouldn't get too rough in front of

so many other people.

"We've been worried out of our skulls about you!" Evan said.

He grabbed at my arm, and pulled me from behind Ford, giving me a hard shake.

I gritted my teeth to keep from saying 'ouch' or anything else. It hurt.

"You're in big trouble, young lady," he said, grittily.

"I can tell," I muttered, and he shook me again.

"Don't be a smart mouth," he said.

Even though there were lots of kids around us, acting the kind of stupid that comes with being drunk, there were still some

of them watching us with varying degrees of curiousity, sensing there might be something interesting to observe.

"Let's take this talk home, Ev," Ford said, and Evan took a deep breath, and reined his temper in.

"Yeah," he said. "Come on."

"We've gotta wait for Guthrie," Ford said.

"Guthrie's here, too?" Evan said, sounding exasperated.

"Just for the last few minutes, I guess," Ford said. "He was worried about Har."

"He can get in line on that," Evan said darkly, his hand still on my arm. "Where is he?"

"Retrieving our little sister's boots," Ford said.

"Oh, my gosh," Evan muttered, and stomped away in apparent disgust.

I stood there with Ford and Nancy, feeling awkward, and embarrassed. And sick. Very sick.

"Ford," I managed to say, before I clamped a hand over my mouth.

"Come on," Nancy said, and pulled me away from everyone, out into the field. She held my hair back as I

vomited, over and over, until my ribs hurt from it.

Finally, I was done, and I sank to my knees, feeling weak.

"You'll start to feel better now," Nancy said. "I wish I had some water for you."

"It's okay," I managed.

I hadn't known Ford was standing behind us, until Nancy spoke to him. "Ford, do you have any water in your truck?"

"Yeah, I think there's a thermos in there," I heard Ford answer.

"Could you bring Harlie a drink?"

I could Ford say okay, and then I was left alone with Nancy.

"Sometime you'll look back on this night and laugh," Nancy said.

I shook my head. "I don't think so."

"You will. It may not be for a long time. But you will." She pulled me up, and led me over to a nearby truck. I didn't know

whose truck it was, but she lowered the tailgate. "Sit down," she told me.

When I had, she sat down beside me.

"I only came tonight because I was mad at Evan and Ford," I said, without thinking.

"I've found that it's not usually a good idea to do something you wouldn't typically do, just because you're mad. It

usually comes back to bite you in the behind," Nancy shared.

"I don't think Evan will talk to me," I said.

"Oh, of course he will," she said. "He's been to a party a time or two in his life."

"I lied, though. My brothers don't like lies. And I could tell the way he was looking at me. Like he was so mad he wished

I would disappear, or something." All my earlier bravado talk with Lori seemed childish now. I did care what my brothers thought.

I did feel bad that they'd been worried about where I was.

"Harlie, what do you think of Evan?" Nancy asked, looking at me. "I mean, what do you really really think of him?"

I hesitated. "Well-"

"Let me tell you what he thinks of you," Nancy interrupted. "He's so proud of you that he could bust sometimes. He's always

talking about you. He just plain adores you, that's all."

I swallowed past the lump in my throat, not answering because Ford was there, handing me the thermos. I took a long drink.

The water was so cold. I don't think I've ever appreciated water that much before.

"Feelin' better?" he asked me.

I nodded, and saw that Evan was standing there, too, just behind him. Nancy hopped down from the tailgate and went

to stand beside Evan, clasping her fingers thru his.

Guthrie came thru the crowd, onto the fringes where we were gathered, one boot in his hand.

"I could only find one," he said, laying it on the tailgate beside me. "I looked all over, too. Some clown must have taken it."

"Why would anybody take just one boot?" Nancy said, shaking her head.

"I have to find the other one," I said, sliding off of the tailgate. As I would have went toward the bonfire area, Evan

caught my arm. "No, you don't," he said. "We're goin' home."

My emotions got the better of me, then. I didn't worry right then about being embarrassed. Or about being tough. Or

being right. Or about how Evan had warned Eddie away from me. I only knew I had to make him understand about those

boots.

"I have to find it, though! Those are the boots Brian bought me before the wedding! They're special! "

Evan looked unsympathetic. "Well, that's too bad," he said. "Guthrie looked. He couldn't find it. We're not gonna

stay around here all night lookin' for a boot."

I clutched at his arm, begging now. "I can't replace those boots! Please let me look, just for a few minutes, Evan, please!"

"Harlie, it's after one o'clock in the morning. It's been a hell of a day. We're goin' home," Evan said firmly.

I felt like crying. "But I have to find it! I have to!"

"I'll look around for it," Nancy offered, and though I was grateful to her, I still didn't want to leave without my missing boot.

"Thanks, babe," Evan told her, and they exchanged a quick kiss.

"And I'll find Lori and tell her you left," she told me.

"I'll leave no stone unturned, in the search for the missing boot," Nancy said, humorously, and even though I was

near tears, I also had the desire to giggle at her. Good grief, my emotions were all over the place.

I was still protesting about that boot, as Evan pulled me along the road towards Ford's truck, flanked by Ford, with Guthrie bringing up the rear. I stepped

on something, a rock, I think, and winced, pulling back on Evan so I could rub my foot.

"What's wrong now?" he demanded irritably.

"I stepped on something sharp," I told him, trying to stand on one foot so I could rub at the other one. "And my feet are cold."

"Well, what do you expect?" Evan said, without sympathy.

"Is it bleeding, or anything?" Ford asked.

"I don't think so," I said. "But thank you for caring," I told Ford, with significance.

"Meanin' that I don't care, huh?" Evan asked, in tune with my sarcasm.

I just rubbed my foot, and peered at him in the darkness, lit only by Guthrie's flashlight, and car lights as someone else approached

the party. "You're walking too fast," I muttered.

"Okay, fine," Evan said, and before I could react, he put an arm under my knees and picked me up. Then, carrying me, he started

walking again.

"This is stupid," I complained.

"I agree with that," Evan said darkly.

"I meant you carrying me is stupid. If you'd just walk slower-"

"I'd like to get to bed before two o'clock in the morning," Evan complained. "So if I have to carry ya, then I will."

As he walked, Evan started lecturing me.

"I don't know what you're thinkin', comin' up here. And sayin' you were goin' to the movies!"

"I was going to the movies. Then-" I hesitated.

"Then what? You decided to lie?"

"No," I said. "Not exactly."

"It doesn't matter, anyway," Evan said.

My temper came to the surface. "Oh, it doesn't matter that you told Eddie to steer clear?" I demanded with attitude.

Ford and Evan exchanged glances, and then Evan set me down. We were beside Ford's truck.

"Well?" I asked them both.

"That's not what we're going to talk about right now," Ford said.

Guthrie handed me my boot that he'd been carrying. "My truck's on down a ways," he said. "I'll see you

at home."

"Okay," Ford answered.

"I'm riding with Guthrie," I said.

"You can ride with Ford and me," Evan said.

"Just so you can yell at me all the way home?" I asked, mutinously.

"You better hope yellin' is the only thing that I do," Evan said, raising his voice.

I suddenly felt a chill go thru me. I looked at him in trepidation.

"Oh, go on and ride with Guthrie if you want," Evan said then, sounding as if he was at the end of his patience.

Even though I was still hurt about Eddie, and mad at them for saying anything to him, I decided maybe I should

try to fix things with Evan. Try to extract myself from the jaws of his temper.

"Okay, come on, Har," Guthrie prompted me.

"I'll go with Evan," I said quietly.

Even though I couldn't see, I knew Guthrie was more than likely rolling his eyes, at my indecision. "Okay, whatever," he said. "Let's

just get home."

I climbed into Ford's truck, sliding to the middle. Ford and Evan had a low conversation, and then Evan came around

to get behind the wheel. I looked out the door at Ford.

"Aren't you coming?" I asked Ford, not sure that being alone with Evan was the best idea for my safety.

"I'll ride with Guthrie. Give you and Evan a chance to talk," Ford said, and walked away with Guthrie before I could

protest.

I slid back over to the passenger side, pressing against the door.

With so many cars parked, Evan had to drive a little ways, and then turn around in a field, to go back the way we'd came.

It was silent in the truck cab, and I waited until we were on the main road before looking at Evan's profile, thinking

that he would say something. But he didn't. He just drove, one hand on the steering wheel, and the other arm trailing out the

window, in the night breeze.

I knew I should accept the silence and be grateful for it. But, after so long of it, I couldn't stand it anymore.

"When are you going to start yelling?" I asked.

"So you want me to yell at ya, huh?"

"No. I don't. But I'd rather have that than the silent treatment," I said, with certainty.

Evan shook his head, probably in disgust, but he didn't say anything. Again. Quiet. After a few minutes, as we passed

thru Murphys, I said quietly, "Eddie told me he won't go out with me."

When Evan didn't answer, I burst out with, "Why did you do that, Ev? It really hurt me."

"I was tryin' to save you from hurt, not cause it," he returned.

"Why are you so sure he would have done something to hurt me?" I asked.

"I'm not sure that he would. I just think it was the right thing to do."

And, because I knew that he genuinely meant that, and that he hadn't done it with a mean purpose, I sighed, and said, in dejection,

" It doesn't matter now, anyway, because he wouldn't want to date me anymore."

I could see Evan turn to look at me in the dark cab. He didn't say anything, but I assumed he was curious by what I meant.

"I yelled at him, and then I acted really dumb with that Riley kid. I don't think Eddie was impressed," I explained.

"What Riley kid?" Evan demanded.

"Just a boy that was there tonight. It doesn't matter. I learned my lesson about that, too."

"Did somethin' happen?" Evan asked, sounding panicky.

"No. Well, he tried. You know. The typical guy stuff."

After a couple of minutes, Evan spoke up. "I get worried about you sometimes, Harlie." He hesitated, as if gathering his thoughts.

"You're a real pretty girl. Guys are goin' to always be after you."

Before I could answer, he continued, "You're kind of quick on the draw. Impulsive. I just don't want you to get yourself into

a situation that goes south, and causes you any heartache. It scares me when you go off half-cocked and do stuff like you did tonight."

I thought over what he'd said, and I felt bad. I'd set out to worry him and Ford, and I'd accomplished it, alright. But I felt no victory.

All I'd done was hurt them, and make myself look immature in both his and Ford's eyes. And in Eddie's. Not to mention

getting mauled by Riley. And losing one of my precious boots.

"Are you going to tell Adam about tonight?" I asked. "Or Brian?" I literally felt shaky just thinking about it. Gone was the brave girl from

earlier, the one spouting off at the Dari Kurl about doing what she pleased, and to heck with what anybody else thought.

Evan was quiet for so long that I prompted him, nervously, "Ev? Are you?"

"I don't know. I should tell him, for sure. You ought to have your butt kicked."

I winced at his words. "You went to parties when you were my age, didn't you?" I asked.

"Yeah. But I didn't lie about it. And I was usually with Daniel, so we could look out for each other. And, anyway, it's different

for girls. You can say it's chauvinistic. But it's true. Girls have to be more careful." He sighed and then said, " And you drank a lot, too. Is

that bad for your diabetes?"

"I don't know," I admitted.

"Well, that's somethin' that you should know. You just really screwed up."

"I know I did." I sighed and then said, in a meek voice, "You could do it."

"Do what?"

"You could give me a punishment."

"I don't know about that," Evan said, sounding incredulous.

"You can lecture and yell almost as good as they do," I said, trying for a little humor.

"Huh," Evan said.

He was quiet for a while. We were nearly home, and I spoke up again, softly, " Please, Ev. I don't

want them to know."

"I'll think about it," he said, turning into our driveway, and I relaxed a little.

"Can I ask you a question?" I asked him, as he parked, and the lights of Guthrie's truck drove up behind us.

"What?"

"You're pretty serious about Nancy, aren't you?"

Evan shot me a look, his face lit up by the porch lights that he and Ford had left on.

"Why are you askin' that?" he said.

I shrugged, and then, sensing that he wasn't going to volunteer any information, I said, "No reason, really. She's just, real nice, is all."

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