Page 17 of Don’t Forget Me

“Come on, the wine is amazing here.”

“We have an early meeting tomorrow.”

I never imagined that it would be me who would be begging Camille to stay at the bar longer, but I hated everything about myself that evening. I wanted to drink until I couldn’t remember my own name.

Camille glared at me, and I groaned. “Fine.”

I stumbled to my feet, toppling my unfinished wine glass over the table linens. “Oops. Miriam’s gonna get mad.”

Camille gasped. “Let’s go before she realizes it was us.”

“Good idea,” I whispered. I scanned the vast dining area of The Black Orchid. People chattered and ate their prestigious Scottish meals. I hadn’t spotted the black-uniformed employees, nor my ex-boss. “We’re in the clear. Let’s go.”

Our heels clicked as we rushed out of the back door. Miriam would surely burn us alive if she knew we spilled red wine over her white linens. The splashes of the burgundy drink reminded me of scarlet paint splattered on a canvas. That’s how I felt. Splattered on a broken canvas. My heart broken in me.

I laughed, condensed breaths leaving my lips as I leaned my head back, staring up at the starry evening.

“What’s got you laughing?” Camille said with a contorted smile. Her face seemed more like a clown's than a woman's. It would’ve been scary had I not been intoxicated, or maybe it was funny because I was drunk. Which made me laugh even more. I let out a raspberry blow.

We continued to skittle through the stoned streets of Edinburgh, cackling. People would glance at us with furrowed brows. Until my heel got stuck between a brick of the sidewalk. I pulled out my shoe from the crevices, twisting my ankle in the process. I fell to my knees, my stockings ripping.

I hissed when I felt a sting running down my thighs and hands. My palms were covered in hot crimson.

“Lys? You okay?” Camille asked, her azure stare ran wild. She’d been leaning down, holding onto my bloody hands.

“I’m okay. Just help me up.”

“Are you good to walk?” she questioned, leaning down to examine the scrapes on my knees.

I nodded. “I should be fine. Let’s just get home.”

“Alright,” she trailed off. Camille remained close to me, her arms wrapping around me as I took a step forward. But I only doubled over in pain and into her embrace. “What’s wrong?”

I yelped. “My ankle. I think I hurt it.”

“Let’s get you to the hospital.”

I leaned on my other foot as Camille neared the sidewalk, waving an arm for the incoming dashing cabs. A few moments later, a black cab stopped at the edge of the sidewalk. Camille guided me into the back of the car. “Novamed Hospital, please.”

“On it, pal.”

The ride to the hospital was a haze as the lights of the city blurred past me. I didn’t know if it was my heartache or the liquor that caused the illusion.

Perhaps going back to The Black Orchid was a bad idea. It only reminded me of the nights I spent there, dreaming about seeing him in class the next morning. Or the day that I had to serve a table for him and Zack. The conversations that followed after that day.

Before I knew it, my ankle was being examined by a series of nurses and doctors. It’d been wrapped up in a bandage. Being drunk definitely hindered my memory, because I don’t recall much after that. Or perhaps my depression had been too great for my own mind to process.

“Make sure to drink this.” The nurse handed me a water bottle.

The icy and wet feeling of the water bottle made it slip from my hands. I struggled against the cap of the plastic bottle. At that point, I knew that I was still inebriated. I sighed, looking over to Cami, who was curled up in a chair. If I had learned anything in my three years of friendship with Camille, it was that she didn’t sleep at night. She died, and only resurrected the next morning.

It would be of no avail to try and wake her for help.

As if he were an angel sent from the Heavens above, a ginger-haired man appeared by my door. He knocked softly, tentatively stepping toward my curtains.

“Do you need a hand with that?” he questioned.

“Please?” I extended the bottle to him. The redhead gave me a wide grin as he ripped off the cap and held it out toward me.