Almost Perfect - Brian Katcher [78]
Sage danced from foot to foot. “I’m sure she’s fine. C’mon, it’s late.”
“We need her to let us back in the dorm. Laura?” I called to the nearly empty front hall. “Hey, Laura?”
Sage opened her purse and pulled out a plastic card. “Laura gave me her ID. It’ll get us back into the building.”
“Why do you have it? How’s she supposed to get back in?”
And then it hit me. Laura didn’t need her ID because she’d be spending the night somewhere else.
I began to quake. “Mike’s a dead man.”
Sage placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Your sister’s a grown-up, Logan. She likes this guy.”
“Will she like him when his jaw’s wired shut?” I looked around for a weapon. There was a paddle embossed with the fraternity’s logo hanging on a wall. It was no Louisville Slugger, but it would have to do.
Sage leaned down until we were eye to eye. “Do you want your sister to be happy? Or do you want her to be some kind of nun so she can live up to this Polly Pure image you have of her?”
“That second one!”
“Logan …”
I deflated. Sage was right. “C’mon, let’s go,” I whined. Laura and I would have a long talk later.
The night air was almost cold. I shivered in my short-sleeved shirt. Sage and I said goodbye to the man loudly vomiting into the bushes and trotted toward Laura’s dorm.
We didn’t say anything for a while. The sidewalk seemed to wiggle and jerk suddenly, and I lost my footing more than once. Sage giggled at my staggering.
“Logan,” she said as we approached the dorm. “Thanks. Back at the party, when those guys had me. It could have been bad.”
I grew about a foot. “If I hadn’t stopped them, someone else would have.” I gave a modest laugh.
“Well, I was afraid I was going to have to deck one,” said Sage, not ironically. “Or show off my chest.”
“Hey, only I’m allowed to see that!” I replied without thinking at all. Sage made no response. She simply swiped Laura’s ID at the entrance to the dorm as I blushed.
The lobby was totally deserted, a buzzing exit sign making the only noise.
“I guess this is where I say good night.” I felt exhausted, and the prospect of sleeping in the garbage on Brian’s floor did not relax me.
Sage pouted. “Not just yet, Logan. Come back to Laura’s room and have a soda with me.”
I ducked into a communal restroom and washed my face, wishing I hadn’t left my toothbrush in Brian’s dorm. When I returned to Laura’s room, the door was locked. Sage opened it when I knocked.
In the short time I was gone, Sage had removed her makeup and changed into an enormous T-shirt that came down to her knees. She had her hair bunched into a ponytail that emerged from the top of her head, like an eighties pop star. She handed me a bottle of cola.
“Meeting me at the door with a drink in hand,” I lamely quipped. “Nice.”
“Do you want a real drink? Laura has some wine coolers in her fridge.”
The thought of more alcohol, even girly alcohol, twisted my stomach. I chugged the soda in under a minute, and Sage passed me another. I felt much less light-headed.
Sage sat down on Ebony’s bed. Though there were two empty chairs in the room, I half collapsed next to her. The overhead light was off, and the only illumination came from Laura’s desk lamp and the glow of the parking lot lights through the window. We sat there, side by side, leaning against the wall, not looking at each other, not speaking, our bodies just barely touching.
“Logan, why didn’t you leave with that girl?” Sage asked out of nowhere.
I shrugged. “I didn’t want to leave you there.”
She frowned. “I’m sorry. You didn’t have to do that.”
I repeated myself. “I didn’t want to leave you.” It was the truth. I’d enjoyed playing that dumb drinking game with Sage more than I would have enjoyed groping for kisses with Erin.
Sage squirmed and readjusted her position. We were now leaning against each other. I laid my hand on hers, which was lying on her bare thigh.
I knew it was time to leave. I knew I should creep on over to Brian and Paul’s dorm room, and try to sleep as they played video games all night. But for some