Just a Number(118)

Liz hooks her arm through mine, leaning against me as if to steady me. Thanks to my own rising blood alcohol levels, I stumble slightly under the unexpected shift in her weight. I’ve probably surpassed my limit, but my common sense is weighed down by all the alcohol I’ve consumed, and I tell myself I’m not even drunk.

“I have to peeeeee,” Liz playfully whines in my ear.

I laugh and shake my head. The action causes me to momentarily see double, but eventually Justin and Caleb come into focus. “We’re heading to the ladies’,” I inform them. “We’ll grab some more drinks on our way back.”

It takes Liz and me a few minutes extra to wade through the sea of bodies. Not only do our limbs move like we’re trudging through molasses, but also, no one seems to give two shits that we’re trying to break free of the crowd. We finally arrive, only to find a line-up leading to the stalls. On the other side of the bathroom is a uniformed line of women our age and older, leaning over the countertop and fixing their hair, makeup, and cleavage. There’s chatter between them all, but my hearing has been compromised by the loud music, so I’m not really sure what any of them are saying.

I lean against the wall as I wait with Liz for a bathroom stall. The bass from the music vibrates through the floor and up the wall until I can feel it in my bones. It’s soothing and somewhat hypnotic. I close my eyes for just a second, but a second is all it takes for me to see Owen and start to miss him all over again.

It’s irrational, but I start to wonder if he even cares enough to make the effort to come out tonight. I check my watch and see it’s almost midnight. Three hours have gone by since the last text. Clearly he isn’t coming.

A stall opens, so I head into it and do my thing. Liz is at a sink when I emerge, and she looks up at me through the mirror. “You okay, Amy?” she asks, her voice sounding a little slurred. She’s so drunk. Way more than me. Maybe she’s had way more to drink than me.

I turn on the water and start to wash my hands, looking at my own reflection. My hair isn’t nearly as perfect as it was when I left Liz’s earlier, and my lipstick is almost completely gone. I look a little less like a sexy rockstar and more like a girl who’s been partying the entire night. My eyes are a little bloodshot, and my vision is slightly blurred.

Okay, so maybe I’m a little more drunk than I initially thought.

“I’m great,” I tell her, smiling at her as she reapplies her lip gloss.

“You’re bummed he’s not here, aren’t you?” I look down at my hands as I wash them. “You could call him,” she suggests.

I shake the excess water from my hands before drying them. “Nah. It’s almost midnight. If he’s not still at the office, he’s probably at home in bed. I’ll talk to him tomorrow.” Forcing a smile to my face, I turn back to her. “Come on, let’s go grab another drink.”

Liz and I head to the bar to grab a beer. While there, we get roped into a round of shots with some college guys. Not ones to refuse a free drink, Liz and I comply before going back to our table. Justin and Caleb are sitting side by side, holding hands and canoodling, and Liz takes a seat next to Matt, who leans in toward her. He’s had as much to drink as the rest of us, and I can see in his eyes that he’s hoping to go home with Liz. I doubt she’ll refuse him; the two of them have been off again-on again since high school. I love her, but they both need to just get over themselves and figure their shit out.

Watching everyone get couple-y around me makes me slip into a drunken depression, so I sip my beer and look around the club. This doesn’t help. I miss Owen. Maybe I could slip out of here now and surprise him at his pl—

“Dance with me,” Justin says, grabbing my hand and pulling me from my stool. My mood has shifted substantially; just moments earlier, I was happy and having a good time, and now I’m sad again. The alcohol only amplifies these feelings.

I shake my head, not really in the mood. “Actually, I think I might head out.”

“I don’t think so!” Liz shouts, having overheard me. She pulls away from a dejected-looking Matt and runs around the table, taking my other hand. She and Justin both pull me toward the dance floor as Lady Gaga’s Do What U Want starts playing. At first, they dance around me, soon joined by Matt and Caleb. Liz pulls me toward her and places her hands on my hips, guiding me to move with her as she inches closer and closer. Her lips curl up into a sly smile, and I can’t help but mirror her expression. Her mission was to cheer me up, and it worked.

Soon we’re moving to the beat of the music, and my mood improves again. Liz and I are pressed up against each other, laughing and singing along to the song when a pair of hands ensnares my hips, and I feel a body behind me. I turn my head to see Justin, and I indulge him with a dance.