If At First

Part 20 - Chapter 19

"Fitch" I repeated, "...Something to make me feel better..." Those words floated familiarly in the periphery of my memory. But then the entire evening suddenly came flooding back. "Fitch! He made me drink something."

"Yeah."

"And he hit me!"

"Yeah."

"A lot." Tears stung at my eyes. "Why did he hit me?"

"He was drunk and desperate and making some really bad decisions. Don't worry about it though," He smiled, "when Haven caught up with him he was repaid in full. Maybe with interest."

"How'd Haven know where I was?"

"I was going to let him tell you, but if you want to know, this is what I've heard:" He looked like a little boy cherishing the attention of someone about to tell a story.

"The short version." I insisted.

"Okay, so I guess Haven was supposed to give you some shoes after you came off a stage or something, right?"

"Yeah, I sold my shoes to raise money for his charity." I clarified.

"That's weird."

"Nana was supposed to give my spare shoes to Greenleigh."

"Okay, well he couldn't find you. Haven, I mean. I don't know where Greenleigh was. He looked around for you, thought you were with his brother or something, and then when he couldn't find you or Fitch, he started to get worried so he had someone make an announcement for you to meet him."

"I heard it. I was there, but I couldn't move."

"So Haven's aunt was at the party, and she recognized you as the one he'd been dancing with earlier, and when she heard that announcement she went and found him to tell him that she and her husband had gone out onto one of the terraces and thought she saw you getting sick."

"That was Haven's aunt and uncle?" I asked, mortified.

"And then there was a server who told Haven's brother Weston that he saw Fitch outside, and was getting rough with somebody. He had been ready to report it, but he ran into Haven first, and Haven asked if the guy had seen someone with your description. So he goes outside to check it out, but you were gone by the time he got there. Then somebody else said they saw someone in the woods so Haven and Greenleigh ran out to look for you. One of them heard you scream, and followed you into a park where Greenleigh said he saw Fitch's driver waiting with a limo." Andy's voice was getting excited, like he was talking about someone else. Someone who wasn't experiencing excruciating pain as a result of his story. "So Greenleigh runs after Fitch's car with the plate number and calls the police, and Haven heads back to the party to get his car, and somehow some chick named Georgia caught up with him and forced her way in with him. So they go to the docks, right, and Georgia's all, 'Poor Fitch!', and Haven said the only reason he let her stay in the car was that he thought she might, like, bring Fitch to his senses or something. Anyway, they get there, and Haven had it out with Fitch before he'd even untied his boat." He laughed to himself. "I know Fitch is a jerk and all, but I saw the look on Haven's face when he brought you to the airport, and I really couldn't help but feel bad for Fitch by the time Haven had gotten done with him."

"I only remember pieces of that."

"Well, yeah. He drugged you, genius."

"And how did you get here?"

"Right. Well when Doug called me to see if I was okay, I figured something was probably up. He said Haven had asked him to get me back to town, and when I told him that I was already on my way, he had me grab your bags from Nana's house, and meet him at some place called 'the Lodge'. And then from there I was supposed to pick up the doctor-guy and some awful dog, and meet Haven at the airport."