“Who said?” Ellery asks, setting both paper clips on the desk. “What’s hard?”
Brooke snickers. “That’s what she said.”
It looks like nobody gave Brooke the heads-up about tonight being a dry party. “Do you want some water?” I ask, holding out my untouched bottle.
Brooke takes it from me and unscrews the cap. She takes a greedy gulp, spilling some water down her front, before handing it back. “Thanks, Malcolm. You’re so nice. The nicest person in your entire house. By a lot.” She wipes her mouth on her sleeve and focuses on Ellery. “You look different. Are those your real eyes?”
Ellery and I glance at each other and we both suppress a laugh. Drunk Brooke is kind of entertaining. “What are you doing down here?” Ellery asks. “Do you want to come upstairs?”
“No.” Brooke shakes her head vehemently. “I need to get it back. I shouldn’t have … I just shouldn’t have. I have to show them. It’s not right, it’s not okay.”
“Show them what?” I ask. “What happened?”
Sudden tears spring into her eyes. “That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? What happened?” She puts a finger to her lips and shushes loudly. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“Is this about the pep rally?” Ellery asks.
“No.” Brooke hiccups and holds her stomach. “Ugh. I don’t feel so good.”
I grab a nearby wastebasket and hold it out. “Do you need this?”
Brooke takes it, but just stares listlessly at the bottom. “I want to go home.”
“Do you want us to find Kyle?”
“Kyle and I are over,” Brooke says, waving her hand as though she just made him disappear. “And he’s not here anyway.” She sighs. “Viv drove me, but I don’t want to see her right now. She’ll just lecture me.”
“I can give you a ride,” I offer.
“Thanks,” Brooke slurs.
Ellery stands and plucks at my sleeve. “I’m going to find Ezra. Be right back.”
I crouch next to Brooke after Ellery leaves. “You want some more water?” I ask. Brooke waves me away, and for the life of me I can’t think of what to say next. Even after living with Katrin for four months, I’m still not comfortable around girls like Brooke. Too pretty, too popular. Too much like Lacey.
Minutes crawl by, until Brooke draws her knees up to her chest and lifts her eyes toward mine. They’re unfocused and ringed with dark circles. “Have you ever made a really bad mistake?” she asks quietly.
I pause, trying to catalog what’s going on with her so I can frame a good answer. “Well, yeah. Most days.”
“No.” She shakes her head, then burrows her face in her arms. “I don’t mean regular stuff,” she says, her voice muffled. “I mean something you can’t take back.”
I’m lost. I don’t know how to be helpful. “Like what?”
Her head is still down, and I have to edge closer to hear what she’s saying. “I wish I had different friends. I wish everything was different.”
Footsteps approach, and I stand up as Ellery and Ezra poke their heads into the office. “Hey, Mal,” Ezra says, and then his gaze drops to Brooke. “Everything okay in here?”
“I want to go home,” Brooke repeats, and I offer a hand to help her to her feet.
She revives a little when we get outside, and only needs occasional steadying as we make our way toward my mother’s Volvo. It’s the nicest car we’ve ever owned, courtesy of Peter, and I really hope Brooke doesn’t throw up in it. She seems to be thinking the same thing, and rolls down the window as soon as Ezra helps her into the passenger seat.
“What’s your address?” I ask as I climb in behind the wheel.
“Seventeen Briar Lane,” Brooke says. The far edge of town.
The twins slam the back doors and I turn to face them as they buckle themselves in. “You guys are right around the corner from here. I’ll drop you off first so your grandmother doesn’t worry.”
“That’d be great, thanks,” Ellery says.
I back the Volvo out of its spot and head for the exit. “Sorry you had to leave the party,” Brooke says, scrunching down in her seat. “I shouldn’t have had anything to drink. Can’t hold it. That’s what Katrin always says.”
“Yeah, well. Katrin doesn’t know everything.” It seems like the thing to say, even if she was right in this particular case.
“Hope not,” Brooke says in a low tone.
I glance at her before pulling onto the main road, but it’s too dark to read her expression. It sounds like she and Katrin are fighting, which is weird. I’ve never seen them on the outs, maybe because Brooke lets Katrin take the lead in everything. “We weren’t planning on staying anyway,” I reassure her.
It’s a quick trip to the Corcorans’ house, which is dark except for a single light blazing on the front porch.
“Looks like Nana’s asleep,” Ezra says, pulling a set of keys from his pocket. “I was worried she’d be waiting up. Thanks for the ride, Mal.”
“Any time.”
Ezra opens the car door and gets out, waiting in the driveway for his sister. “Yeah, thanks Malcolm,” Ellery says, slinging her bag over one shoulder. “Talk to you soon.”
“Tomorrow, maybe?” I blurt out, turning to face her. She pauses, her eyes questioning, and I freeze for a second. Did I imagine that I almost kissed her in the basement, or that it seemed like she wanted me to? Then I plow ahead anyway. “I mean—I could call you, or something. If you want to, you know, talk.”
God. Real smooth.
But she gives me a full smile, dimple and all. “Yeah, definitely. That sounds good. Let’s talk.” Brooke clears her throat, and Ellery blinks. Like she’d forgotten for a few seconds that Brooke was in the car. I know I did. “Bye, Brooke,” Ellery says, climbing out the door that Ezra just exited.
“Bye,” Brooke says.
Ellery shuts the car door and turns to follow her brother up the drive. She passes Brooke’s open window just as Brooke sighs deeply and rubs a listless hand across her face. Ellery pauses and asks, “Are you going to be okay?”
Brooke shifts to face her. She doesn’t speak for so long that Ellery frowns, darting concerned eyes toward me. Then Brooke lifts her shoulders in a shrug.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” she says.