S A R A

Ch 58

58

Everyone ended up back outside again. It was raining and dark this time and it seemed like the day lasted a year. If anything, then my lifetime sports training encouraged by my dad came in handy for this. This was a marathon.

He was smoking, we were smoking, everyone was smoking and trying to hide form the rain in the apartment overhead, trying to figure out where everyone was going next.

And, in tandem with the weather, he was acting slightly colder now.

"If you're tired you can go home," he told me after I said something there.

I paused for a minute, but then said;

"No, I'm not tired. Let's go."

This time it was him, me and one of his old friends from school in the car.

I did feel more awake now, as the car was speeding through the breezy lights outside of our little universe.

The friend was telling a story about how he followed Haden to a different city after grad school just so he'd have someone he knows there.

Somehow, I wasn't surprised in the least. Haden seemed to have that gravitational effect on people. Once you knew him, there was no forgetting.

As the conversation progressed, I said something funny and this friend laughed.

Saying more to Haden than to me, incredulously, she's funny, man.

As we were getting closer to our next destination, I wasn't fully sure what to expect. After the last two, surprises - to put it lightly, I was ready for anything.

But to my (disappointment? expectation?) lack of surprise, it looked like we were going to a place very similar to the one last week. We were driving into Brooklyn, and this looked like it was going to be another warehouse party or something else undercover I didn't know about yet but could guess to.

Again, he told me to go ahead. That he'll meet me there.

Now it was me who wanted to act cold.

There were less people we knew at this thing, and it seemed that it was mostly guys.

If the previous event was mostly color, this was mostly dark. And I wasn't sure if it was the fun kind.

I got my stamp, and getting inside, it was eerily similar to last week. But it didn't feel as new anymore.

Luckily, I ended up finding some people from the party that were already inside.

"Where's Haden?" One of them asked over the music.

I looked apprehensively to the door.

"He's coming," I yelled over the loud beats.

I decided the best thing to do now was to try and make the best out of the situation I was in. I tried to focus on the music and not think about what he was doing.

But after about 15 minutes, I was beginning to be worried.

I went to the bar, bought an overpriced water bottle, and sat on the perimeter of the dance floor. Observing the scene. Thinking how strange it all really was. Somehow, seemingly, meaning nothing and everything all at the same time.

I got up and took a few false turns to go find the bathroom. Finally, finding the corridor leading up to it, I wanted to get in a stall to check my phone – which you weren't really supposed to do in venues like this.

As this was a slightly smaller venue than the one last week, the peak already passed and there were less people there.

The bathroom, though, was the same as last week. One dark hallway lit up slightly in red and lined with stalls and sinks meant for both guys and girls.

There was one girl at the mirror, actually managing to fix her lipstick. I sighed and went into a stall. It was just past 4am, which would also explain why a lot of people already went home.

I was way more sober than I was at the first event, but still not totally sober at that point.

I dropped my phone on the floor, and feeling slightly frustrated and tired, I bent towards the ground to pick it up.

But, as soon as I did, I froze.

There was someone in the stall next to me and they were slumped down on the ground.

"Hello?"

I tried to get a better look, bending over more, and realized that this person was passed out cold.

I couldn't see the face, but it only took me a few moments to recognize the shoes.

Fuck. It was Haden.