Up & Out - Ariella Papa [93]
The last time Kathy’s sister came to the city she was very apprehensive about traveling by subway. The list I have for the dinner totals fifteen people. Some of these women work with Kathy and some are cousins coming in from out of town. It is a sort of girls’ weekend in the city for them. I think it’s probably best to keep the activities in Midtown, where the lights are bright and no one will have to travel very far from the safety of their Times Square hotels.
I like the control of planning the party and I’m probably the only one who has the time for it, but it’s a lot of pressure. I decide to just relax and go through the book until something pops out at me or inspires me.
I am almost done with the R section and carefully considering Ruby Foo’s when the phone rings. It’s Tommy. He’s very upset.
“Can you come to the hospital? St. Vincent’s. Jordan’s had an accident.”
The emergency room is hopping. There is no sign of Jordan, but Tommy is sitting with his head in hands. I sit down next to him and tap him on the knee.
“Hey.” He looks up at me. “Thanks for coming. Did you call Lauryn?”
“Not yet. I had to figure out what the hell was going on.”
“He was fucked up, punched his hand through a window. It isn’t pretty. Needed like twenty stitches. They got him in quick, because he’s losing all this blood. Also, they need to see if he got a concussion when he fell over. He chipped a tooth.”
“What a mess.”
“Why don’t you call Lauryn?” Tommy asks me.
“To confirm the fact that Jordan is a complete waste of life?”
“Fuck, Rebecca, just call her and quit your judgments.”
“Tommy, I don’t care what Jordan does with himself, but I hate the fact that I’m here so I can break the news to Lauryn.” He doesn’t say anything, so I get up and go outside to use the phone. Paramedics are bringing someone else in. It’s loud. I decide to walk down Greenwich Ave and cross over to Perry Street. I sit down on somebody’s stoop, lean my head against the banister, sigh and dial the number. She answers, sleepily, on the third ring.
“Laur, it’s me.”
“Shit, it’s late. I got to be up at five.”
“Are you alone?”
“Yeah, but not for long.” She starts telling me about her phone call with the coed. I interrupt.
“Jordan’s in the hospital.”
“Is he okay?” I hear concern in her voice. “Is he alive?”
“Yeah, he punched out a window, has a concussion, broke a tooth.”
“And I’m supposed to do what?” She starts to get emotional. “Haven’t I had enough of his shit?”
“Yes, Lauryn, yes you have. It’s just Tommy asked me to call you.”
“Yeah, well, Rebecca, maybe one of these days you’ll learn not to do what the assholes want.” I don’t deserve that and we both know it, but she is hurting.
“I also thought you would want to know. I didn’t mean to wake you up.” Neither of us say anything for so long that I think I lost her. “Hello?”
“I’m here, Rebecca, and I’m sorry. I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do from here. I don’t know what to say.”
“I know. Do you want me to call you with an update?” She lets out a sigh. I can hear her switching on the light, by her bed. I know I have condemned her to a sleepless night.
“Yeah.”
“Okay, I will.”
“Thank you. I mean it, Rebecca. I—” I hear a little sob that I know I won’t forget.
“I’ll call you,” I promise. There is a knot in my throat. I hang up.
Moments of clarity come at the weirdest times. It’s like being pregnant, you can’t just be a little pregnant and once you start to realize what’s been happening, you almost wish you didn’t. Jordan was sinking into a deep depression and he was trying to help himself out of it with various substances.
I thought of how he and Beth were MIA at the Fourth of July party. Maybe they’d been fucking, maybe they’d been doing other stuff. Shit! Any way you cut it, it kind of sucked.
Beth is in the waiting room with Tommy when I get back. She looks like