Wind

• • F O U R • •

An awkward pause fell over us. I didn't know what else to say to her.

"You have to let me buy you a drink!" Kate finally said, placing her hand on my arm.

"Oh, I'm okay." I shrugged away from her without being too obvious about it. "I already have one." I picked up my water and took a sip.

She laughed. "Let me get you a beer."

Before I could say anything else, she called the bartender over and ordered us each a drink.

"So how have you been?" she asked once we were served.

"I've been good. Haven't been up to too much. I got a job working at the gas station. That's about it."

"That sounds interesting." Kate smiled at me.

It was anything but. I took a large sip of my beer, coughing as I set it down. My head flared in pain, but I ignored it. "It's all right. Mostly just pretty boring."

I passed my drink back and forth between my hands. Thoughts about earlier that night kept creeping into my head. Thoughts about Lydia. Thoughts about my car. I tried to silence them, taking another sip of beer. My stomach turned with nausea as I swallowed. I set the glass down and stared at it, avoiding any sort of eye contact with Kate. I'd take care of the car tomorrow. Right now, all I wanted to do was go home.

"Hey, are you okay?" She placed her hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, fine." I blinked quickly to clear my eyes and then turned to look at her, forcing a smile.

"Are you sure? Your head's bleeding a lot, Harper."

My hand automatically went up to my forehead, and my fingers came back with bright red across them. I grabbed a napkin from the bar and quickly wiped the blood away. "It's fine. Really. So what's living in New York like?"

She grinned, and her deep brown eyes glowed in the Cat Shack's dim lighting. "It's great!"

I finished my first beer as Kate described what her dorm room was like. Once I'd set the empty glass down, she ordered us another round of drinks.

I sipped that one while she talked about her classes. She was studying psychology. Or maybe physics. My mind couldn't focus on the conversation. It kept drifting as I tried my best to nod along to what she was saying. A fog swam in my head. I could see Kate's mouth moving and offered an occasional "cool" or "awesome," but my mind wasn't there.

She was describing Times Square when the bartender brought us another round. Kate or I must have ordered it, but I couldn't remember when that happened. He cleared three glasses from in front of me and two from in front of her. I wasn't sure when I'd drank the third one.

Kate began talking about the job she had lined up. My head spun, and I leaned against the bar, trying to balance myself. I realized I was already halfway through my fourth beer.

"So are you and Lydia still together?" she changed the subject suddenly.

My eyes snapped to her, and my hand automatically clenched into a fist around the napkin I'd been using to wipe blood from my face. I blinked, and my vision blurred. "Not anymore," I said between clenched teeth.

Her mouth slacked open. "Harper, I'm... I'm sorry. I didn't know." She placed her hand on my arm again.

"It's fine," I said. I turned from her. My eyes burned, and I blinked back tears. "It's fine." I put my hands up to the sides of my face and leaned with my elbows on the bar.

I felt her hand on my leg. "When did it happen?"

I mumbled something that I thought sounded like "today," and then I picked up my glass and took a drink.

"I'm so sorry. I know you two were together, what for..."

"Six years. She's moving to New York. Fuck, everyone fucking leaves me."

"Don't say that."

"Well it's fucking true." Her hand was still resting on my leg. I tried to inch away from her, but I couldn't without being obvious about it. "My parents did, you know that? They moved, too."

She placed her other hand on top of mine where I'd placed it on the bar. "I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing!" I snapped.

She finally pulled away at that, slinking back in her seat. I stared straight ahead of myself, taking another sip of my beer. I could feel her staring at me. I put my hands up to my eyes and rubbed them. The room spun beneath me. Nausea swirled in my stomach. "Please, just leave me alone," I said quietly.

She was silent.

A couple of minutes later, I heard the bar stool next to me screech against the floor, and then when I looked over after finishing another beer, Kate was gone. I should have left at that point too. I should have found someone to take me home, but unfortunately I did not.

• • •

"Harper!" a woman's voice shouted my name.

Lights spun in my vision. My eyes tried to focus on the figure in front of me. She snapped her fingers in my face. I blinked.

"Jesus, Price, how much did you fucking serve him?" The same voice again.

There was too much light. The floor moved beneath me.

"I didn't realize how drunk he was." A man's voice.

"Fucking look at him, he's out of his head." The woman's voice. She turned to me. She put her hand on my face. It was warm. "Hey, hey, wake up. Who did you come here with, Harper?"

"No one," I slurred.

"Did you drive yourself here?" A long pause. "Price, did Harper drive himself here?"

"I don't know."

"I can drive." I moved to get up from the bar, but my legs wouldn't hold me. I stumbled.

"You're not driving anywhere." The woman grabbed me by the shoulder and shoved me back down into the seat.

"I'm fine."

"Price, can you call him a cab or something?"

"I'm fine."

"Will they even take him? He looks like he's about to throw up."

"Then you'll have to take him home after your shift."

"Fine. Hey, Harper where do you live?"

"I don't have a home."

"Are you staying with Jeremey?"

"I don't have a home."

"I think he's been staying with Jeremey."

"All right, I'll take him in half an hour. Hey, Harper, can you just sit here? I'll get you some water." The man moved behind the bar and poured something into a glass.

"It's all right, don't worry about it. I can take him home," a third voice said. I recognized it, but I couldn't figure out how. "I'm his uncle."

I turned my head to face the source of the third voice.

Joshua.