where have you been…have you been…” she had a twirl in her eye and she was stumbling. “YOU’VE been DRINKING..You told me you wouldn’t , just for tonight..”
Sabrina laughed. “ Ya, we’ve been upstairs…drinking…” and she started laughing as two guys took her by each arm and they all laughed and headed up the stairs. Obviously, she was already right in the middle of something else that I could not be a part of.
“SABRINA! GET YOUR ASS BACK DOWN HERE!!” But she was gone. Not only out of sight, but she was gone – like totally high or drunk or God only knows what she was doing.
I looked at Jonathan, mortified. “I’m so embarrassed. And so sorry.” I kicked the floor for a minute and looked up at him square.
“ That happens to be my best childhood friend. I’ve known her since third grade. We used to sleep over almost every weekend and she even helped me pick out my first training bra. We used to practice kissing on oranges and we had posters on our walls of our favorite bands that we would kiss goodnight. When we went to high school, we were put into different classes because she was always smart enough, but she wasn’t real smart; but she was always kind and she worked as hard as she could. We were still friends, but she started dating and didn’t stop. She got really wild and started getting a pretty bad reputation, but I didn’t care because I still thought of her like my sister. She would talk about the stuff she did on dates and I believed about half of it and didn’t pay attention to the rest.
But there was never any doubt that we would grow up together. Go to college, get married, have kids, go to each other’s birthday parties, and turn into old ladies together. Now, we are just on about step two of a hundred steps - in college. I thought that going off and really becoming adults would somehow help her to grow up, but I swear, she’s lost her mind.”
I looked up the stairs where I knew she was and continued. “ We don’t have the same friends, she like makes out with girls and guys, she goes out with people and will actually kiss guys before she even knows their names because she says that takes away the seriousness of it and that college is supposed to be fun. I don’t know what has happened to her, but…” I was rambling. Out loud. To someone who I had just met. Whose last name I did not know.
“No need to be sorry. It’s called college. It happens to lots of people. All of my friends went to colleges in Texas, so I’m not as lucky as you to have a friend here with me.” The silence got awkward.
“Do you want me to take you home?” I knew that he meant no harm and that he was truly being a gentleman. I don’t know how I knew, but I did.
His offer was sudden and unexpected, but I couldn’t leave Sabrina. I felt like I needed to stay, especially after seeing her in that shape. If something happened to her, I would forever feel responsible.
“Jonathan, if you don’t mind, I’m going to stay. I know it’s late. You go ahead – I guarantee that I’ll be fine. I just can’t leave without her. I’m going to sit right here, read my Kindle and wait until she shows up or I’ll go find her, OK?”
He hesitated. “I have to go because I have an appointment early in the morning, or I would stay. But, I’ll leave you here on one condition.” He reached into his pocket and got a piece of paper and pulled a pen out of thin air.
“ I’ll leave my number.” He started scribbling on the paper. “If you get into ANY trouble, feel uncomfortable or need anything at all, you call – any time, OK?”
I gratefully took the number. Somehow, it was comforting, even if he was a stranger.
“Thank you, Jonathan. By the way, what is your last name?” We both laughed. He held out his hand. “Hello, my name is Jonathan Sanders.” I paused.
“As in Sanders