10

Three bottles in, we were still there. I had no idea how much time had gone by the moment we were done with our fourth bottle, but we continued to sit there like we had our own space wherein time and the party and an on the run murderer does not exist.

We talked a bit about each other, but she didn't really say much. I noticed that she was so careful not to speak a lot about herself. All I know is that she was the same age as me, at the same school, with a few mutual acquaintances.

Halfway through her fourth bottle, she began to look drowsy.

"I kind of miss mom."

That reminded me of my parents at home. I hoped they wouldn't check my bedroom (like they've always done) because I wouldn't be there, and god knows how hysterical my mother would be.

"Why?" I asked. "Where is she?"

"At home."

"Okay? Go home, then, if you miss her so much."

"I can't."

"Why?"

"I was the one who left."

She was so drunk she was starting to talk a little about herself. I started to take advantage of that.

"You ran away from home?" I slowly grabbed her bottle away from her grip.

"Uh-huh," she said. "I'm staying with a friend right now. Sometimes with Douglas."

"Oh."

"Do you feel sorry for me?"

I looked at her sleepy eyes and her dry lips. "Not really. If you think you're doing well away from home, then . . . I mean, I understand how suffocating our homes can be."

She chuckles.

"Why did you run away in the first place?"

She looked at me, and it felt as though I was seeing her for the first time. Not at the cafeteria, not at the hallways while she hid her nose piercings, and not even in that bathroom when I saw her sitting at the corner with a lit cigarette between her lips. Astrid looked at me through her frizzy, pink hair, and it was like a gap had opened and I was able to look through her, although even for a little.

"I'm a difficult child, Clover," she said. She stretched her fingers before she rubbed her fingertips. "I'm just saving her the trouble of raising a ruckus like me. Besides, I function well on my own."

"Doesn't seem like it to me."

She looked at me and smiled. "Meanie. Now give me my bottle of beer."

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