Episode 687: Sweet Caroline

She hadn’t relaxed much since that first night when she’d found Jesse collapsed in the hallway at the movie theater. Why had she thought a Halloween party would improve anything? How had she convinced herself that she would meet some cute boy would cross her path and make her forget all about Jesse? No boy was that cute.

So there she stood on the outskirts of a party, thinking only of him, wondering how he was doing, wondering if she should have said something to someone by now or if she’d overreacted, if she’d lost her boyfriend for no good reason.

Caroline kicked the wall with the bottom of her foot; mad at Jesse, and mad at herself, just plain mad.

"What did that wall ever do to you?" A tall blond all-American boy approached her, dressed as a baseball player. Actually, he didn’t strike her as that boyish. He was definitely older than she was, by a year or two, his shoulders, his swagger, everything said so.

Caroline didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t really good at flirting. It hadn’t happened that way with Jesse. But being with Jesse was upsetting; he upset her, so maybe she should at least try to talk to someone else.

"I-" She still didn’t know what to say. Her phone rang and she apologized for checking it, though she wasn’t sorry for the interruption until she saw the caller’s name. It was hard to forget about someone, to stop worrying about them, if they wouldn’t leave you alone.

"Boyfriend?" Blond guy asked as she glared at the phone.

"Ex. He keeps calling."

"I would, too," blond guy said.

Before Caroline knew what was happening, blond guy snatched her phone and answered for her. "She doesn’t want to talk to you. It’s over. It’s done. It’s-" Blond guy handed the phone back to Caroline. "It’s some little kid. He’s practically crying."

"Little kid?" Panic hit her. "Nate?" She said into the phone.

"Jesse collapsed. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do."

Neither do I, Caroline thought, join the club; it’s awful to be a member. But she didn’t say that. She shivered. "Tell me where you are."

"The park. Near the fountain. He won’t let me call anyone else."

"I know. I’ll be there. I’m close."

When she pocketed her phone, the boy next to her noted, "you don’t look good. I have a car. I can drive. I’ll drive you."

Episode 688: Punishment