One Year Later.
"Sam pass me some of that!"
"I think you've had enough at this point."
"Says you! Come on."
With reluctance, Sam slid the now almost empty bottle of Smirnoff to an impatient Jessica, who greedily poured a bit more into her already half full glass.
"This shot-" She announced, "-is for Amanda. She was an alcoholic. God bless her." With that, Jessica downed her whole glass straight. Her statement, though said jokingly and drunkenly, suddenly put a damper on the little party that was happening in Sam's room. All activity stopped for only a moment, but it was enough to be noticeable. Howard and Zoe, ever the angels, peered up from Sam's bed where they were on their phones and not drinking. Colt, who had his head in Sam's lap and was counting the money everyone had pooled for weed later that night, stopped counting long enough to close his eyes and sigh. Maria and Sam just rolled their eyes.
"You're drunk, Jess. Stop talking."
Jessica rolled her eyes back. "Whatevvvverrrr. I just think it's dumb that we're ignoring that it's the one year anniversary!"
Colt sat up quickly and Sam was grateful. Colt could be scary when he wanted and right now, someone needed to shut Jessica the hell up.
"Jessica. We're not ignoring it. We're just not talking about it. Shut up because you're depressing everyone." His tone was sharp and cold. Jess was taken aback, but before she could even attempt to respond she fell backwards and passed out. Everyone sighed with a hint of relief that she was most likely out for the night. Sam wordlessly rolled her onto her side and put a blanket on her body.
"Amanda wasn't an alcoholic." Everyone turned to see Zoe speak from the bed for the first time in a while. "Yeah, she liked to have fun but we shouldn't tarnish her memory by saying things like that."
Colt bit his lip and silently cursed Zoe for saying that. His eyes traveled back to his girlfriend next to him who he could already see was heating up. Great.
"Zoe, don't say things like that."
"Like what Sam? What did I say this time?"
Everyone braced themselves for the explosion. These fights had been happening more and more as the anniversary of that night came closer.
"Like what, Zoe? Her memory! Don't say things like 'her memory' because she doesn't have a memory! At least, we don't know! And until we know for sure don't write her off like we've given up on her!"
Colt gently put his hand on Sam's knee. "Sam, relax."
She sharply pulled her knee away. "Yeah, whatever." Sam reached for the Smirnoff and refilled her empty cup for the first time that night. Zoe could be so annoying sometimes. She claimed to be "realistic" but Sam didn't get it. The cops were supposed to be realistic. If Amanda's best friends didn't hold out hope for her, who else would? It wasn't their job to be realistic.
Everyone could sense the tension in the room. Colt felt his phone buzz and silently thanked god that he could diffuse the situation. "Come on, Sammy. Come cop with me."
Sam, glaring at Zoe for one last second, stood up with Colt's help and walked out of her room with him to go pick up their weed. Once Sam and Colt had left, Maria groaned. "God, she always has to do this. And on this night out of all of them!"
Zoe just shrugged. "It was a mistake. I know how she gets about it. I shouldn't have said anything."
Maria sat up straighter. "No, Zoe! No! You didn't say anything wrong. It's Sam who's holding on to this deluded idea that Amanda's still out there alive and well when we all know she's not. She's dead! She's probably been dead for a year. We haven't seen her in that long. It's the truth and it's not your fault that Sam isn't letting herself see it."
Zoe pursed her lips together and Howard stayed silent, staring down at his phone. They both knew Maria was right but Sam was their friend, and cousin! Sure she was wrong and she clearly had pent up issues but Maria was a little harsh. Maria could sense what they thought. "Oh, come on. You know I'm right. A lot of shit has happened since that night guys. Remember those interviews we had to go to at the precinct for weeks after it happened? All the shit that hit the fan? When we found out that Colt and Taylor were fucking each other and he and Sam broke up? They got back together! Yeah, it took a lot of time and stuff but they did it! Remember when Sam jumped Taylor outside of school and got suspended? Why do you think Taylor's not here with us? Oh yeah, because she transferred schools. She probably would have anyway given that she was basically on the verge of a mental breakdown. And Hector? Well who knows where the fuck he's gone. Last I heard he was shooting heroin with his new friends in LA. I dumped Jacob because I thought he got me pregnant but that really doesn't have anything to do with this that's just my shit- and Jessica dumped Ben as soon as he revealed his pent up feelings for Amanda, who was conveniently gone! So you mean to tell me, that after all this shit that we've all gone through together over the past year, that it was for nothing? That Amanda's alive and fine somewhere? No! She would have been found. She's not coming back. Things happened. She's gone and you both know it and I know it and Colt knows it and even Sam knows it. She won't admit it but she knows it."
Zoe and Howard stared at Maria in stunned silence. In record time, Sam and Colt arrived back in her room with their pot just as tensions were at an all time high. The couple sensed it as soon as they entered. It was like a steam room. You could cut it with a knife. Colt shook his head.
"Alright I'll roll. Everybody just chill," As if he could sense the words that had just been said. He began the process of rolling a joint while everybody mellowed out again. Jessica made a soft gurgling sound in her sleep which reminded everyone of her presence. Sam casually checked the time. After midnight. She couldn't help but feel a twang of sadness run through her. As she watched Colt's fingers crushing their pot and Zoe and Howard embracing on her bed, she couldn't help but reflect how much her life had changed in a year. A year ago at that time, Amanda was alive. She could still be alive, but Sam wasn't so sure, not that she would admit it. She reached over and squeezed Colt's hand briefly, without looking up from the floor. Colt lifted his eyes from their concentration and smiled, though Sam didn't see. He squeezed back for a moment and then went back to rolling. In a matter of minutes which included, Maria biting off her fingernails, Howard and Zoe engaging in over the clothes feeling, and Sam closing her eyes and almost dreaming, Colt had finished their joint.
"Howard, Zoe- are you guys smoking?"
The two shrugged. "Why not?" Howard agreed. Zoe nodded as well.
It was going to be a long night.
2:15 am
Sam was groggily awoken from her bed where she lay naked with Colt under the sheets after they had really quick but basically satisfying sex at 1:30 by the baring of her phone. Colt groaned and hid his head under a pillow. Sam quickly picked up the phone without looking at the caller ID, just to make the noise stop. Maria was knocked out on the couch downstairs where she had been since getting extremely cross faded from the bud and booze. Howard and Zoe were in Sam's mom's room since she was away for the week on a business trip.
"Hello?"
Now that the ringing was over, Colt lifted his head from under the pillow to hear Sam's conversation.
"Who is this?"
Colt furrowed his brow and tried to hear the other end of the call.
"Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god." Before he could whisper-ask who was calling Sam had hung up the phone and sat up in shock.
"Sam, what is it?" Colt sat up with her.
"It's- it's Amanda. They found her."
Colt felt his heart turn cold. He didn't know why.
"They found her?"
"Body. They found her body."
. . .
