Hunter’s reply arrived a few minutes later.
Of course, consider it forgotten. But if you need to talk, I’m here.
Molly groaned. She refilled her water glass, then closed all the curtains so the living room was a dark cave. She curled into a ball on the couch and called Jake again, a seed of panic unfurling in her gut, but he didn’t answer. She stared at her phone, debated trying Nina next. Molly knew she should tell someone about last night. Her thumb hovered above the dial key for several moments before she changed her mind, tossing her phone to the other end of the couch. She just needed to be alone with her thoughts, at least for now.
Molly closed her eyes, the memory of the end of the night slamming her again. The air in the room hummed; even though her pounding head was a painful reminder that she was awake, she felt as if she were dreaming.
“Fuck,” she said out loud to no one. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.”
She must’ve drifted back to sleep, because when she woke to the sound of her ringtone, it felt much later. Only a smidgen of daylight peeked through the green flowered curtains.
Molly pounced for her phone, a fresh wave of disappointment crushing her when she saw that it wasn’t Jake.
“Hey, Neens.” Her voice was croaky.
“Molly. Jesus Christ. Did you see my texts? What happened to you last night? Are you okay?”
“Ugh.” Molly sat up, her head still pounding. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you earlier. I’m deathly hungover. I’ve been asleep. I’m okay, though. Why does everyone keep asking me that?”
“Because you were really drunk! I mean, we all were, but you especially. I just … I hadn’t seen you like that in a while, I guess. And we were all at Freehold—”
“We were at Freehold? God, I don’t even remember that, Nina.”
“I’m not surprised. You ordered us those gross blue shots, but Everly didn’t want hers, so you took two. We kept trying to get you to dance, but you wouldn’t stop talking about Hunter. And then you just disappeared.”
“Oh, Jesus. Who was I talking to about Hunter?”
“Just Ev and me. You were showing us pictures of his girlfriend on Instagram.”
Molly groaned. “Great.”
“And then you kept saying you were gonna call him and were talking about how wise and incredible he is—”
“Ugh.” Molly felt like she was going to be sick.
“And then you disappeared. Did you actually call Hunter?”
“No.” Molly hated to lie to Nina, but she couldn’t deal with explaining everything, not in her current state. Besides, she needed to talk to Jake first.
“Did you go right home?”
“Yes.” Another lie. “I passed out.”
“Ah. Well, if it’s any consolation, I feel like I got run over by a bus, too. Cash hasn’t gotten out of bed all day, except for Gatorade and pizza.”
“Mmm, pizza.” Molly’s stomach was grumbling. She should eat something.
“What a night, Moll. I can’t party like that anymore. Please tell me how we did that in college, like, five nights a week?”
“I dunno, Neens.” Molly sank back into the couch, pressed her palm to her throbbing forehead. “We’re old now.”
“Less than four years away from thirty. Weird.” Nina sighed. “You must be excited to see Jake so soon.”
“Yeah, well, he’s not picking up my calls. I’m flying to Munich on Wednesday morning, and he hasn’t sent me my flight information or anything.”
“Well, it’s Sunday. You should probably figure that out.…”
“I know.” Molly picked at the cuticle of her thumbnail, her irritation building. “He does this whenever he goes away. It’s, like, a privilege if I hear from him—from my own boyfriend—when he’s on tour. It’s like he doesn’t know how to use his fucking phone, and he always says it’s going to be different, and it never is.” She felt tears gathering in her throat. Her whole body hurt from emotional and physical exhaustion, from drinking seven different types of liquor in the span of four hours. Her stomach growled again; she really was starving. “Neens, I need to go find some food. I’ll call you later.”
After they hung up, Molly foraged the fridge for leftovers. She dumped a pile of cold sesame noodles into a bowl and tried Jake again. Voicemail picked up instantly.
“Jake, where are you? Please call me back. We really need to talk—I’m serious, it’s important. And you still need to forward me the travel itinerary for Wednesday. Just call me, okay? I love you.”