Typical Friday-night invitation.
Eleanor stared at the bottle in her hand. This morning as she’d tried to leave Wyatt’s bed, he’d woken up, pulled her against him and whispered, “I’ll wait as long as you want, but you have to know I’m dying to be inside you.”
His words and the feel of his erection against her back had left her aching with need all day.
Friday night. A terrible idea to drink alone.
She took a drink and headed to the corner suite.
Why not drink with everybody else?
29
Eleanor
BLEACH. SHE SMELLED BLEACH. THAT’S WHAT THAT was. The acrid scent wrinkled Eleanor’s nose as she struggled to open her eyes. Why bleach? And … disinfectant?
“Eleanor? Are you awake?”
“No,” she answered.
“Eleanor, I’m Lisa. Can you open your eyes for me?”
“No. But I can open them for me.”
She opened her eyes. Bright lights everywhere. Bright lights, white tile, white sheets and lab coats. She closed them immediately.
“Do you know where you are?” the woman, Lisa, asked.
“Hell?”
“You’re in the hospital, Eleanor. Your friend thought you had alcohol poisoning.”
“Did I?”
“Yes.”
“Bummer.”
At some point last night she’d decided not to drink alone, but to drink with everybody else. Drinking had been her first mistake. The company she’d chosen had been her second.
Eleanor tried to sit up but Lisa stopped her with a gentle hand on her arm.
“You’ve got a saline IV in your arm. You’re dehydrated. Try not to move.”
“Are you a doctor?”
“No, I’m not. I’m with the rape crisis center. They called me.”
“Why?”
“The young lady who called 911 said she found a boy on top of you.”
“I’m gonna kill Katie.”
“Katie?”
“My freshman-year roommate. Women’s studies major. She’s the one who called, right?”
“I believe so, yes.”
“Sean and I were making out. Katie overreacted. She’s trained to overreact.”
“Sean who?”
“Sean, the drunk guy. I pulled him on top of me because we were both drunk off our asses and wanted to make out. I fell asleep in the middle of it. As drunk as he was he probably didn’t even notice. I think I puked on him.”
“Eleanor, many victims go through a denial stage—”
“Oh, my God.” Eleanor lowered her voice as her own words caused her brain to vibrate against her skull. “I am hungover. I am exhausted. I am dehydrated, and I need a ten-hour shower. And last night I was stupid. But I am not now, nor have I ever been, a victim of anything or anyone but my own bad decisions, okay? Now, I’m sure somebody got raped in this town last night. How about you go help her?”
“Eleanor,” Lisa said with an annoyingly soothing voice. “Please let me help you.”
“You can help me. I’m going to give you a phone number. I need you to call it.”
“I can do that, Eleanor. Am I calling your mom?”
“A woman named Sam will answer the phone. Ask for Kingsley. Tell him what hospital I’m at. Tell him I was brought in for alcohol-induced stupidity and, for God’s sake, tell him to please come get me.”
Eleanor closed her eyes and willed herself back to sleep. When she woke up again, she had a much firmer grasp on consciousness. She turned her head and saw a woman, about forty years old, sitting in the chair next to her making rapid notes onto some sort of form.
“Are you Lisa or did I dream that?”
“I’m Lisa. Can I get you anything?”
“Did you call that number?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“Do you want to talk about what happened to you, Eleanor?”
“I got shit-faced and passed out. I woke up puking.”
“Would you consent to a rape exam?”
“I must be speaking a foreign language. No means no, you know? No, I didn’t get raped. But do the test if it’ll shut you up finally.”
That didn’t seem to be the answer Lisa wanted or expected. Still, two nurses and a female doctor came in her room only minutes later.
The exam was over and done in a few minutes. She’d never had a pelvic exam before but knew what was involved. The speculum didn’t hurt, although it made her stomach feel weird. In ten minutes, she had her clothes on again.
“They’ll run some tests on the swabs they took, but they didn’t see any evidence of trauma. In fact, your hymen—”
“Is intact. And so is my brain.”
“It’s still possible … We’ll wait for the test results.”