"I don't know why anyone thought this party would be a good idea. It's fucking cold outside," Gale mutters through the collar of his jacket. The start of a new semester is barely anything to get excited over - it's the middle of January and the wind blows silently with no regard.
"You didn't have to come," Thom grumbles, eyes fixed forward while walking down the street. "And the party is indoors, dumbass." He pulls his girlfriend closer into his embrace. Delly's a carefree and kind girl, Gale has always thought that she has her priorities in balance.
"No, don't worry Gale. It'll be fun, I know it."
"You don't know that, Delly."
"Sure I do, just you wait."
So he waits. When he gets to the party the music is already too loud for his tastes. But it's music he likes, or knows at least, so Gale's able to bob his head and sip on the beer Thom passed him for a while before he realizes he's not enjoying it.
Gale never lets himself have fun at these parties, and he honestly thinks that there's something wrong with him. He never really talks to other people, maybe cracking a few jokes or talking briefly about school. Otherwise, all he feels like is a transient, barely there afterthought, someone that no one would remember was at the party at all. It was already rather late into the night that they showed up, and it only takes an hour more to decide to grab his jacket and leave.
The air is as chilly as he remembered it to be when he steps outside. Gale stuffs his hands in his pockets and is ready to start walking, but not before he looks at a girl sitting on the floor of the porch.
It's her, the new girl with the blonde hair. Her hands are hiding in her sleeves and she looks distraught in some sort of way. Gale would've expected one of her new friends to be looking out for her, but she seems to be all by herself.
"Hey, are you okay?" he asks softly. Even though the music is much louder than his voice, the girl is still startled.
"Yes," she replies unconvincingly. "I'm fine, just a little nauseated."
She tries to stand up then, maybe to prove her point, but she just stumbles. Gale races over to support her body. He can tell that she's tired, maybe she had too much to drink but he doesn't remember her ever drinking inside the party.
"Woah," he breathes when she puts her weight on his body. She seems to be getting worse somehow, more lethargic as time goes by. "Okay, could you give me your address? Some way for me to get you home?"
She's still awake but unresponsive to his words. All she does in lean her pretty head against his shoulder and clutch onto his torso tightly.
Gale thinks for a moment, wondering what the best course of action is. There's no way he's leaving her here, all alone, feeling so ill. She's clearly tired and just needs somewhere to rest, so he doesn't bother with his thoughts for any longer. He clutches her tight and urges her to walk with him.
The walk from the party to his own house is not long. It's substantially harder when the temperatures are low and there's a girl staggering alongside you, but Gale pushes that out of his head and concentrates on holding her up. He feels her body warmth and can smell her lavender shampoo, and he wants to think that he's doing this for her simply out of the good in his heart but he knows that it's also because he thinks she's pretty.
"I'm sorry," he hears her whisper into his coat. Perhaps she feels guilty about making him take care of her.
"What are you sorry for? We're almost there." They reach his lawn after a couple of long minutes. He sees that the kitchen light is still on, he knows that he has it coming from his mother. "Okay, these are a couple of steps, okay? I got you."
They make it up the steps slowly and he holds her tighter than he did before, scared she'll miss one or stumble like before. The door is unlocked, and when he tries to open it slowly and silently, the old hinges still let out a long creak.
"Gale?" his mother calls from the kitchen. Gale ignores her and heads for the living room.
"Lie down here," he offers the girl, and she curls her body inwards on the couch with no hesitation. "I'm going to get you some blankets, I'll be right back."
He sneaks out of the living room and is ready to go upstairs and fetch the sheets before his mother calls him again.
"Gale, please come to the kitchen."
He lets out a sigh and is already trying to formulate excuses for why he brought home this girl. Hazelle Hawthorne is sitting at the kitchen table with a mug of tea in her hand. Gale doesn't even want to find out what time it is, it would only make him feel guilty.
"Ma, I told you, you don't have to stay up for me."
"I can't sleep if I don't know for certain that you're safe," she replies with nonchalance. Putting the mug down, she stands up and walks up to her son. "Have you been drinking?"
"No. I mean, I drank half a beer, but I'm not drunk."
"Are you lying to me?"
"No. Jeez, ma. Do you need to breathalyze me or something?"
Hazelle lets out an exasperated sigh, and then looks to the side. "At least you were quiet. I don't want you waking up your siblings so late this semester, do you hear me?"
"Yeah, okay, I don't really enjoy myself at these parties anyway."
They stand in silence for a little while, ignoring the elephant in the room. Gale knows that his mom worries about him the most, he wishes that she would trust him to make the right decisions. But if she isn't going to ask him about the girl on their couch, maybe he should just explain.
"She wasn't feeling well at the party, I don't know where she lives. So I had to bring her here. I'll wake her up in the morning."
"I've never seen her before." Their high school is small enough for most students to know each other, as well as the parents.
"She's new. I didn't think anyone else would take care of her."
Hazelle still looks angry, but she sees that there wasn't any other option. So she shrugs and nods hesitantly. "Alright, I'm not going to pry. Just make sure she doesn't vomit on my carpet or anything."
"I don't think she's drunk, but I'll line it with newspapers."
"Thank you."
"I just need to get my blankets first and bring them down here."
His mom raises an eyebrow. "You were going to give her your blankets? What were you going to use?"
"I don't know, nothing I guess. I can put on some layers."
She sighs again and laughs lightly. "Gale, you're too courteous, too… accommodating."
"I don't know what else to do."
"We have extra throws and blankets in my room, they're in the closet."
If his mom thinks that Gale's too accommodating, she should try looking in the mirror sometime. She's reasonable and wants everyone to be treated well, and Gale really doesn't know what he would do without her.
When he gets the blankets and a stack of yesterday's newspapers, she's already fast asleep. Even when he doesn't know her, his mind starts to wander about who this new student really is. She seems like a mystery to him, and Gale just wants to figure her out.
He doesn't bother with the newspapers. She isn't drunk, she's something else.
Madge wakes up with a clear memory of how she got here. She remembers the boy who supported her and lying down on his couch, but she doesn't remember the blanket draped over her body.
She sits up and plants her feet on the ground, scoping around the homey room. It smells homey, she doesn't know how else to describe it. There's a tangy taste in her mouth and her stomach still aches.
Apparently it's normal, to feel nauseated and sick during recovery. Madge thought that eating a slice of pizza would be fine, but sometimes her body refuses to accept the food. And then the one beer that she thought would be a good idea to drink hit her in ways she never felt before, everything was foggy and slow. She sighs and it comes out louder into the room than she anticipated.
There's a new toothbrush sitting on the coffee table for her, so she takes it and looks for a bathroom. There doesn't seem to be one on the first floor, so she ventures upstairs and slips into the one there.
It's an invasion of privacy, using the sink that clearly belongs to her classmate and his siblings. There are four toothbrushes sitting in a cup on the counter, and Madge can smell the bottle of aftershave next to it. It smells like pine and spearmint.
She brushes quickly and is ready to slip out unnoticed, before the door at the end of the hall opens.
"Good morning," her stranger grumbles. He's tall and he's handsome. Madge used to daydream about dark hair and broad shoulders, but she clears her mind and nods politely back.
"Good morning. I was just about to leave."
"Do you know where to go?"
Madge thinks, realizing that she has little idea where in town she is. She knows that she's close to the party from last night, but not much else. "I.. well, I took the bus to the party last night."
He nods. "Great, I'm taking the bus too, actually. Do you wanna walk to the bus stop with me?"
"Yes, please. My name is Madge, by the way."
"I'm Gale," he replies, and Madge won't forget his name even if she tries.
They head downstairs and he reminds her to be quiet and careful not to wake his family. It's still rather early for a Saturday, and Gale explains that the reason he needs to take the bus is to get to work.
"Where do you work?" she asks him when they get on the bus, sitting closely next to each other and ignoring the rumble and the noise of the public vehicle.
"I'm a lifeguard at the local pool."
"Oh," is all Madge can say, letting that information sink in. "I guess… I guess you're always saving lives then."
He laughs softly, and it makes her smile. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."
"Thank you for last night, I'm really sorry to bother your family or whatever."
"Don't worry about it, honestly."
Madge tries not to but she feels so bad about intruding on him like that. She notices that the hospital is coming up soon, and she decides to get off a stop early. No one at school really knows where she comes from, and even if she could probably trust Gale if she needed to, it's best if he doesn't find out.
"Where's the pool?" she asks curiously as she presses the stop request button.
"Three stops over."
"Okay. Well, I know where to find you then. Between your home, your school and your place of work," Madge jokes, making him laugh one more time.
"Yeah, okay. I'll see you around."
"Goodbye," she finishes, standing up and looking at him one more time before getting off of the bus.
It takes Madge ten minutes to walk from her "stop" to the hospital. The whole time, all she's thinking about is the boy. He's probably something to look forward too.
A/N: What do you think is going to happen? Reviews are very much appreicated. Thank you for reading!