Counter Lotus

Chapter 17

"Oh. Hey." He cleared the sleep from his throat. "You enjoy your first college party last night?"

Even while internally freaking out, I managed to sell my casual tone well. "Yeah, I loved it actually! Felt honored to see what college has in store for me this fall. Anyway, I was actually wondering if my wallet was there or if anyone found a wallet? I really didn't want to call and bother you. I just can't find it." What better excuse was there to call this early?

"Sorry, I haven't seen it. Maybe it ran off and eloped with some bedding of mine."

My heart jumped. The fish were biting easy apparently. "Oh, what do you mean?"

"Get this shit. Someone stole all the bedding in the guestroom. Comforter, sheets, even pillowcases. My girlfriend says it's my fault for letting friends of friends come to our parties that we don't even know," he sighed with an amused scoff. "But really, who the fuck would break a window and steal bedding?"

Oh, that's right. I forgot about the broken window. I had to assume that was how Peter got in – and how he got both me and the dead girl out of there too. It's not like he could have taken the stairs and maze of people without notice. Jesus, how in the world did he pull that off? Especially when there was a cop there too?

"Wait, someone broke a window too?" I asked in fake surprise.

"Yup."

"That's awful. Has anyone done shitty stuff like that before during your parties?"

"Nothing like that. It's really random. Like why the window and bedding?" he chuckled. "Someone must have just got super drunk and thought it was funny or just were stupid."

"That's crazy that happened. Yeah, I would try to regulate who comes to your parties from now on," I scoffed. "So did anything else go missing? Or did anyone see anything weird?" You know, like a dude single handedly hauling two limp bodies (one wrapped in bedding) out of a second story window?

"No. Trust me, we looked around and made sure nothing else or valuable was gone."

Hearing that was both relieving and disappointing. I wanted any reason to run to the police... but this only confirmed Peter's claim. He took all the bedding and made sure everything was unseen. Meaning there was probably no evidence and nothing unusual happened. Aside from some drunk weirdo stealing some bedding and smashing a window.

"That's awful! You would think someone, even a stranger, would have some respect for your home," I said in outrage, fiddling with my missing wallet next to me.

"Some people are just assholes. Like that stalker. That's not why you left early, is it? Zack and I noticed you were gone kind of early on."

"Oh no, I was having a great time! I just got a call, and it was kind of an emergency." Great, I needed a good excuse. "Yeah, um, my sister called and said that our house flooded, so I had to book it home."

"Wow, really?"

Ugh, why did I say that? If I'm going to lie, I need to switch it up. When dream-dude showed up at my work, I ran out of there because 'my house flooded.' It can only flood so many times before people compare notes or Liz and I have to pretend move.

"Yeah, this is actually the second time my house has flooded recently. Need to get that checked out. Besides that though, I had a great time."

"Even though you were stalked, your house flooded, and you lost your wallet?"

"Pshh, it was well worth it. Gotta look on the bright side," I chuckled, cutting myself off with a 'surprise' gasp. "You know what? That's funny, I actually just found my wallet."