"Okay, so if you don't want clothes or shoes or anything for Christmas, then what do you want?" Ryan asked me on our way to a Christmas party.
I laughed. "I don't know, I don't really care."
I saw Ryan look at me out of the corner of his eye. "You do, too." I smiled, and he said, "Fine, then if you don't tell me, I'll have to guess. Then you can't complain if you don't like it."
"Well, you know me well enough; I think you can handle it."
Ryan glanced over at me and smiled. "Famous last words…"
The party was at one of the basketball guy's girlfriend's house. Her name was Brinkley, and she was new that year. She lived on a lake, the same one Ryan sailed on, and her house was huge. Her parents basically gave her whatever she wanted in exchange for not having to be an active force in her life. When Ryan pulled into her driveway at nine o'clock that night, there were already a ton of cars there. Ryan grabbed my hand and we walked inside.
"Caroline!" I heard someone yell. I looked around and saw Tasha running towards me. She stumbled a bit so she put her hands on my shoulders. "Caroline," Tasha said again, "I really want to tell you something cool, okay?" She giggled. It was only nine and Tasha was already crazy drunk.
I smiled. "What is it, T?" Ryan laughed and walked into the kitchen.
"Me and Alex," another giggle, "just hooked up!" Tasha burst out into laughter. My face fell.
"Aren't you and Logan still together?"
She shook her head. "We broke up, silly!"
"You didn't tell me about that! When?" It wasn't like Tasha not to tell me something, so I didn't believe her.
"Today."
I still didn't believe her. "Is Logan here right now?"
Tasha snorted. "Yeah! He's over there somewhere!" She pointed to the kitchen, and then lost her balance and almost fell to the floor. She couldn't control her laughter now.
"Tasha, you're going to stay by me for a while, now, alright?" She nodded and I wrapped her arm around my shoulders. "I'm going to walk now."
"Okayyy Care."
I put my hand around her waist and started walking. Her feet didn't move; they dragged. Then she passed out, in my arms, in the middle of the front room. She got really heavy all of a sudden, so I had to set her down on the ground. "Shit, Tasha…"
"Need some help?" The voice was coming from behind me. I turned my head.
I lost my breath. "What the fuck are you doing here?"
Luke smiled. "I wanted to see you." He reached his hand out to me and touched my cheek. "I miss you," he whispered.
"Don't fucking touch me, Luke." I was scared. How did he know I'd be at this party?
"Don't be scared, Caroline. It's just me." There was a deranged look in his eyes.
My eyes searched for Ryan. Where was he? My breath was getting caught in my chest. I was panicking. I looked down at Tasha, wishing she would wake up. She didn't.
Luke grabbed me. "Look at me Caroline." I didn't. He pulled me up. "I said, look at me." I was still looking around for Ryan. He never leaves me for this long at a party. "Who are you looking for, Caroline?" I didn't answer. "Are you looking for your little boyfriend?" My fear elevated. Luke laughed. I screamed.
I heard someone run toward us. "Fuck." It was Alex. "Let go of her, man." When Luke held me tighter, Alex punched him in the nose.
Luke immediately let go of me. His hands shot up to his face. I backed away. My hands searched my pockets for my phone. I found it and flipped it open. My fingers shook as I dialed Ryan's number. Alex was still punching Luke, and Luke was fighting back. Ryan's phone rang and rang. His voicemail picked up. I called him again. No answer. I wanted to call the police, but I didn't want them to come to the party and bust everyone for having alcohol.
I felt a hand on the small of my back. I looked up and saw Ryan. His nose was bleeding, and there was a patch of scraped skin and blood on his cheek. "Oh, God, Ryan." He held me tight, and I closed my eyes and cried. We walked into the living room.
"Caroline, we have to call the police," he whispered in my ear. I shook my head. "We can put all the alcohol away. Do you want this guy to keep coming back?"
I shook my head again as we heard more guys fighting.
"Let's go get Brinkley."
He held my hand as we walked around the house, looking for Brinkley. We found her in the kitchen, along with Logan, Payton, and a few others.
"I really like your shirt, Caroline," Brinkley slurred. Great, I thought, how are we going to call the police at this girl's house if she's drunk?
"Thanks," I said nervously.
Brinkley giggled in response. "What happened to your face, Ryan? You're bleeding a lot." Another giggle.
"Caroline's ex-boyfriend is here," Ryan told her.
"Uh-oh, sounds like trouble!" Her voice was high-pitched and teasing.
"We have to call the cops."
Brinkley's face fell. It was like she instantly sobered up. "You can't call the police, Ryan, there are drunk kids here! We'll all get in deep shit! Especially me." Brinkley was panicking.
"Brinkley, this kid raped Caroline and he's been stalking her. We don't have a choice."
"Oh, God, oh, God. What are we going to do?" She started crying. "How does he know where my house is?!"
"He found Caroline's house, too. I don't know how."
Brinkley was seriously freaking out, and I realized that I was too. Adam, her basketball-star boyfriend wrapped his arms around her and kissed her hair. Ryan took his phone out of his pocket and dialed 9-1-1. He talked to the emergency operator about Luke and hung up two minutes later.