Call it Fate

Chapter Six: A Bucket of Cute Drunk Roxy

Dave's POV:

    It took Dave little to no time to hoist Roxy up the stairs and into the main living room.

    He laid her out on the couch, making sure her head rested squarely on a cushion, tilting her jaw just slightly to the side so that if she barfed in her sleep (like she was sometimes known to do – despite being an alcoholic, she could not hold her drink) she wouldn't choke on in.

    He brushed a bit of her hair out of her face before quickly rushing over to where Jane stood near the front door, awaiting new guests.

    "Jane." Dave said, breaking his normally calm tone. Immediately Jane noticed the difference, launching herself straight to her feet from her previous position of leaning against the wall.

    "Is it – Did Roxy . . .?" Jane trailed off.

    Dave nodded gravely.

    Jane was out of the hallway and into the kitchen before Dave could hardly even blink. When he peeked through the doorway, he found Jane leaning over a slip of paper, scribbling something on it in Sharpie.

    "What's that for?" he asked her when she put a piece of tape on the top and rushed to stand on the front step, sticking it to the door.

    "So that I don't have to keep letting guests in. It's not as polite as I would have liked, but it'll have to do." She said hurriedly, her words tripping over each other as she rushed back inside the house.

    Before she closed the door, Dave got a good look at what the note said; "Let yourself in! Through the kitchen, into the hallway, first door on the left; in the basement"

    Dave snickered despite himself; only Jane would leave direct instructions on where to go to get to the basement. He was pretty sure the thumping base was enough to alert any guests as to where the party was going on.

    Mercifully, nobody had decided to hang out in the living room yet, so neither of them had to shoo anybody out of their way. Either that or the sight of Dave carrying a rather intoxicated, possibly drugged, girl into the area scared them all away.

    Jane knelt beside Roxy and sighed, taking her best friend's hand in hers and squeezing it slightly. Dave sat down next to her, cross-legged and stroked Roxy's hair. He waited for Jane to say something, cry, slap Roxy to wake her up and scream at her or react in some way, but they were left shrouded in silence.

    Well, as much silence as there could be when there were about two hundred guests (how did the Egberts even know so many people?) all partying and dancing and swaying together downstairs to a rather interesting song.

    An undisclosed amount of time passed in which neither of them spoke at all. Dave felt the atmosphere surrounding them get awkward, but was unsure as to how to fix this problem.

    Fortunately, he didn't have to.

    "Isn't she so beautiful when she sleeps?" Jane whispered, rubbing her thumb over Roxy's knuckle.

    Dave kept silent, feeling like this was the sort of question that didn't require an answer.

    "I've always thought so. Especially when we were kids." Jane's voice started to get far away, like she was floating away. She paused for a moment. "Do you remember when she had all of that long, long hair?" Jane glanced up at Dave, a sad smile playing on her lips. Dave nodded silently, still trying to figure out if it was appropriate to speak or if Jane was still being rhetorical.