Page 85 of The Only Seconds that Matter
“This is Victor.”
“Oh good, it really is you.Johnny has you in his phone asV,” came a woman’s alto voice on the other line.“Wasn’t sure if it was you or his ex Vanessa he never deleted.”
“Uh, who is this?”Victor had to ask.
“Sarah, Johnny’s friend.You remember me?”
“Right, of course.”She sounded a little different on the phone, but now he recognized the smokiness of her voice.“Is Johnny okay?”
“Not really.That’s why I’m calling.Sorry to call so late, but I’m having a party at my place tonight and Johnny insisted on coming even though I told him he shouldn’t.Of course he got real fuckin’ drunk and started some shit with my brother’s friend, so he’s now passed out in my bathroom.I’m actually kinda worried about how much he drank.He was throwing up so I put him in my tub, but he’s pretty unresponsive and I think he needs to get his ass home.I’d take him but I got a buncha drunk ass people at my house right now and I’ve already kicked out two people for smoking meth, so I don’t want to leave the place unsupervised and have the neighbors calling the cops.”
Fucking Christ.As much as Victor thought about telling Sarah to deal with it on her own—it washerparty andherbooze that got him in this situation—he was already sliding off the bed and reaching for his pants.
* * *
Sarah lived in a modest modular home on the outskirts of town, some place with lichen-spotted metal awnings and landscaping out front that hadn’t been touched since last spring.The front yard was packed with parked cars, and Victor could hear the music from half a mile away.He parked as close as he could manage and headed up the tire-gouged lawn to the front door, which had been perched open despite the near freezing temperatures outside.He understood why that was once he got inside, because packing at least thirty people into your small house tended to make it pretty toasty.
When he squeezed himself into a hallway with fake wood paneling, a woman with long bangs careened out of a bedroom and suddenly grabbed him with both hands.
“Oh myGod, Hunter?Is that you?”
“Huh?”
“You lost so much weight!You’re socute!”She reached up and pinched his cheek, then giggled and leaned on him for balance.
Victor smiled awkwardly.“I think you have me confused with someone else.”
Another woman came stumbling out of the room behind her, latching onto her and yanking her away.“Anne, you dumb bitch, that’s not Hunter!”
“It totally is!”Anne objected.Victor gave them an impatient nod before squeezing himself past them and continuing down along the hallway.He opened two doors before he found a bathroom, and it was in a state for sure.The shower curtain rod had collapsed, taking with it the shower curtain, which now sat in a pile on the bathroom floor.Several empty bottles of liquor were piled in the sink, and someone had thrown up in the toilet and forgotten to flush.Johnny’s long body was tossed in the tub like a neglected doll, one leg hanging over the side and the other folded against the cracked tile at an awkward angle.
For a second Victor wondered if he was dead, so he walked over and checked his breathing.Johnny’s complexion looked a little gray and there was still some bile dried in his three-day beard, but at least his lungs seemed to be functioning.Victor straddled the side of the tub and lightly patted Johnny’s cheek.
“Hey,” Victor said softly but firmly.“Johnny?”
Johnny groaned and his head rolled to the side, but that was about all he could manage.It was better than nothing.Victor rose to a stand and grabbed a towel hanging from a rack over the toilet.He wet it in the sink, then used it to wipe away the mess Johnny had made across his face.
“You’re such a fucking idiot,” Victor growled, slapping Johnny’s face a little harder this time.“Johnny.Johnny!Necesitas despertarte o te mataré, hijo de puta.”
Johnny jolted, and his eyes wobbled open.For a second recognition flashed across his face and he started to say something, but it came out as an unintelligible mumble before his neck lost its strength and his head fell back against the tile with a thud.Victor realized there was no way he was going to be able to pull Johnny out to his truck by himself.He needed help.
Victor strode out of the bathroom and down the hallway to the living room, where most of the partygoers had congregated.The music was so loud that it was hard to hear himself think, and the lights didn’t help much in distinguishing one person from another, but he finally spotted Sarah through the glass of the patio door.He pushed past a few sweaty bodies until he was able to shove the patio door open and tap Sarah on the shoulder.When she turned, she had a joint in one hand and a cup of beer in the other.Nice to see she was so worried about her friend.
“Vic!”Sarah said with a relieved smile.“You’re here!”
“I need your help hauling Johnny out to my car.”
“He still passed out?”she asked as the guy with the trucker hat she’d been talking to laughed.Victor didn’t know what was so fucking funny about the situation.
“Obviously,” Victor ground out between clenched teeth.
“Alright.Wayne, hold my beer.Lemme go deal with this.”
“He was fun while he lasted,” Wayne said with a shrug, and if Victor was more confident in his ability to throw a punch, he might have.Clearly everyone here thought this was some kind of joke, which is why they called him instead of an ambulance.
Victor felt his temperature rising as he squeezed past giggling revelers on his way to the bathroom.He wasn’t sure who he was more mad at: Johnny for getting himself in this situation or everyone else for letting him.
Sarah bowled her way into the bathroom and over to the tub where Johnny was still sprawled out.Instead of slapping Johnny awake, she filled up a plastic cup sitting on the sink with water and splashed it on his head.Johnny gasped and tried to sit up, only to lose his balance and slide lower into the tub.Sarah grabbed the collar of his shirt to haul him back up.Johnny let out a long whine of protest and swatted at her to release him.
