Emancipating Andie

by Priscilla Glenn

  He kept his eyes on his phone as he scrolled mindlessly through his contacts.

  And then he saw it.

  Tate, Colin.

  Would she have called Colin?

  Would she have gone there?

  She had been feeling so guilty about everything that happened earlier that Chase could see her doing something like that. He could picture her going to him, trying to make things right between everyone again, even though Chase knew it was a lost cause at this point.

  “Fuck,” he sighed to himself, taking a deep breath before hitting the button to call Colin.

  It rang five times before going to voicemail.

  Chase dropped his head back and brought both fists to his eyes before he began pacing the hallway in front of her door. He hated the feeling he had right now, this helplessness. He didn’t know what the hell he was supposed to do, but he needed to find her. That much was clear.

  Chase hit the button to dial Colin again, and this time it went to voicemail after one ring.

  “Son of a bitch!” he yelled, ending the call and heading toward the stairs.

  He had to go there. It was his only option. He couldn’t go back home until he figured out where she was and knew she was okay.

  He made it to Colin’s in half the time it would have normally taken him, so he didn’t really have time to focus on the stupidity of what he was about to do. Chase knocked on Colin’s door, and when it swung open, his friend’s face went from shocked to blank in the span of a second.

  “Is she here?” Chase asked.

  Colin stared at him. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “I don’t know where she is,” Chase said desperately. “Is she here?”

  Colin’s jaw flexed as he continued to stare Chase down. “Unbelievable,” he muttered before he went to close the door on him.

  Without thinking Chase threw his hand out, stopping the door, and Colin’s eyes glinted with rage.

  “Move your hand. Now.”

  “We had a fight.”

  A moment of disbelief overshadowed Colin’s anger. “And what, you’re coming here for sympathy? You really are a piece of work.”

  Colin went to shut the door again, and this time Chase slammed his hand against it with such force that it swung out of Colin’s hand and hit the wall.

  “She might be hurt!” Chase shouted, and Colin froze. “Please,” he said, his voice softening significantly and bordering on desperate. “Please…just help me.”

  Chase couldn’t decipher the expression on Colin’s face, but when he spoke, his voice was firm but controlled. “What do you mean she might be hurt? What did you do?”

  “I didn’t do anything,” Chase said. He explained what had happened in a rush, and Colin listened, his expression unchanging.

  Finally, after what seemed like hours of silence, Colin turned and walked into his apartment, leaving the door open.

  “Colin?”

  “I’m gonna make a call,” he said curtly.

  Chase took two tentative steps into his friend’s home, watching as Colin grabbed his phone and hit a few buttons before bringing it to his ear.

  “Tracey?” he said. “It’s Colin. Is Andie with you?” There was a silence before he said, “No that’s okay. If you hear from her, can you just have her give me a call? Thanks.”

  “Shit,” Chase said under his breath, running both hands up through his hair. “Where the hell is she?”

  Colin looked down at his phone for a second before he hit a few buttons again.

  “Hey, Danielle. It’s Colin. Is Andie working tonight?” A pause. “Oh. Well did she stop by the restaurant at all?” Another pause as Chase listened to the sound of his own heartbeat thrumming in his ears. “Alright. If she comes by the restaurant, can you ask her to give me a call? Thanks.”

  As Colin ended the call, Chase began pacing in front of the door with both hands fisted in his hair. There was nowhere else she could be that made sense. With her car still at his place. And her keys on the floor.

  He heard a strange rasping sound and realized it was his own breathing.

  Chase forced himself to stop walking as he bent at the waist, bringing is hands to his knees as he tried to calm himself down, and he noticed Colin staring at him with the oddest expression on his face. There was something else behind the anger in his eyes. Disbelief? Scrutiny? Shock?

  Whatever it was, he didn’t have time to analyze it. He grabbed his phone and started dialing.

  “What are you doing?” Colin asked.

  “Calling the cops.”

  “Chase, they’re not gonna do anything. She’d have to be gone for twenty-four hours.”

  “I don’t care!” he yelled. “I’m not just gonna sit here!”

  Colin stood, running his hand through his hair as Chase explained the situation to the dispatcher. Fifteen minutes later, there were two officers at Colin’s door: a middle-aged woman, and a man who looked to be in his twenties.

  Chase explained everything to them, about Andie leaving his apartment, about her car and her keys on the street, and how no one knew where she was.

  As the young man jotted a few things down on a notepad, the middle-aged woman quirked her brow at Chase. “What happened to your eye?”

  Chase licked his lips and glanced at Colin before he said, “It’s a long story.”

  “Mm-hm,” she said, turning toward the other officer and motioning with her head.

  “At this point there really isn’t anything we can do for you guys,” he said. “There doesn’t seem to be anything suspicious going on. People lose their keys all the time.” He glanced up as he closed the pad. “Give us a call if she doesn’t turn up within twenty-four hours.”

  Chase shook his head in disbelief. “So I’m just supposed to sit here?”

  “Can I ask what your relation is to the girl in question?” the middle-aged woman asked.

  He glanced back at Colin before he said, “I’m her boyfriend.”

  The woman nodded before she said, “And you?”

  Colin stared at her for a moment before he said coolly, “I’m her ex.”

  The corner of the woman’s mouth twisted up before she looked back at her partner. “And if you still want to report her missing in twenty-four hours, I would suggest you call someone who is of blood-relation to her and have them file the report.”

  Chase looked back and forth between them in shock, and the young guy said, “Unless you’re married, live together, or have a child together, we can’t accept the report from you. Besides,” he said, smirking at his partner, “this whole thing seems a bit off to me. Like maybe a couple of ex-boyfriends are trying to find a girl that doesn’t want to be found.”

  Chase opened his mouth to protest, but the woman held her hand up. “Have her family give us a call if she doesn’t turn up. Have a good night gentlemen,” she said, and the two officers turned and walked out the door, closing it firmly behind them.

  Chase stood there staring at the door with panic and helplessness battling for control in his chest. After a stunned minute he reached forward and yanked the door open.

  “Where are you going?” he heard Colin ask.

  “I’m gonna drive around until I find her,” he said, but before he could finish the sentence, he heard Colin’s phone ring behind him.

  He whirled around in the doorway, watching as Colin answered the phone.

  “Yeah,” he said. “What’s going on?” Colin glanced up before he said, “She’s there?”

  “Jesus,” Chase breathed, collapsing against the doorframe and closing his eyes.

  “Why? What’s wrong?”

  Chase whipped his head up. “What happened?”

  Colin held his hand up before he said, “Alright, I’ll be there in ten minutes.” He ended the call before he said. “That was Tyler. He stopped by Ripley’s to pay his tab from this weekend. She’s there. He said I needed to get down there.”

  Chase turned before Colin had finished his sentenc
e, running down the steps and out to his car, starting it before he had even closed the door. He was vaguely aware of Colin getting into his own car as he drove down the street and made a sharp left, but the only thing he could concentrate on was getting to Ripley’s so he could see with his own two eyes that she was okay.

  He pulled into an empty space at the end of the street that wasn’t meant for parking before he jumped out and walked swiftly down the sidewalk toward the bar.

  As soon as he opened the door, relief flooded through him like cool water through his overheated veins.

  She sat with her elbow on the bar, her chin resting heavily in her palm, and Chase was pretty sure her hand was the only thing keeping her head up at that moment. Her eyes were glazed and unfocused as her free hand sloppily played with the mess on the bar in front of her.

  The pile of discarded lemon rinds.

  Under any other circumstances, he would have smiled over her falling victim to his Lemon Drops once again, but the expression on her face was ripping his heart out. She had that little crease between her brow, and all he wanted to do was scoop her up in his arms and kiss her there until it smoothed away.

  “Are you gonna take care of her?”

  Chase hadn’t even heard Colin come up behind him. He glanced back at him before he looked at Andie again, her eyes falling closed for a beat too long before she opened them lethargically.

  “Yeah. I’ll handle this,” he said, taking a step toward her. He felt a hand come down on his arm as Colin gripped him forcefully, spinning Chase back around to face him.

  “No,” he said firmly, his eyes intense as they locked with Chase’s. He took a tiny breath before he said again, “Are you gonna take care of her?”

  Only this time, his meaning was clear.

  Chase felt the tension drop from his shoulders, and for the first time in a long time, he was able to look his friend square in the eye before speaking to him.

  “Yes.”

  Colin stared at him for a moment, the muscle of his jaw flexing as his grip on Chase’s arm loosened. With one firm nod, he released him fully before he turned and walked out the door, pulling it closed behind him.

  Chase stood there for a moment, staring at the dark wood and the brass handle without really seeing. He heard the sound of Colin’s car door slamming followed by the sound of his car accelerating as he took off down the street, and Chase closed his eyes and lowered his head, taking a deep breath before he turned back toward Andie. She was licking the sugar granules off an old lemon rind as she stared blankly into space.

  Chase walked toward the end of the bar, and as he approached her, her eyes slid over him and then away without the slightest sign of recognition. He took a steadying breath, thinking maybe he would be lucky and she’d be too drunk to remember she was mad at him.

  But when he stopped in front of her, she shook her head. “Go away, Chase.”

  “No.”

  Her eyes flashed to his. “Fine,” she said, picking up one of the empty shot glasses as she tilted her head all the way back, trying to drain the remnants of a shot she’d already taken. After a few unsuccessful seconds, she slammed the glass back on the bar. “Then I’ll go.”

  She turned away from him, grabbing her purse as she called out to the bartender. “Excuse me, Billy? Barney?”

  Chase stifled a smile. “His name is Bailey.”

  “Barney?” she called again. “Can I get one more of these?” she asked, waving an empty shot glass in the air as she tried to gather her purse with her free hand.

  Chase turned toward Bailey, shaking his head imperceptibly as he moved his fingertips back and forth over his throat, and Bailey nodded once before he said, “Sorry sweetheart. We already had last call.”

  “Fair enough,” she said before she turned and fumbled with the straps of her purse, trying to gather her things.

  “You know what you don’t know about me, Chase?” she asked suddenly before she yanked the purse off the stool and looked up at him. “I love Lemon Drops.” She shrugged flippantly as she added, “I do. I am a liquor kind of girl.”

  This time he couldn’t fight his smile. “I can see that.”

  “And you wanna know something else about me?” she said, standing from the stool with her bag. She teetered but grabbed the edge of the bar to steady herself before she turned to him. “I don’t want to talk to you.”

  She pushed past him as he said, “I can see that, too.”

  Chase watched her attempt to storm out of the bar, stopping every few seconds to grip the back of a bar stool before she continued. He reached in his back pocket and grabbed his wallet, throwing some money on the bar and saluting Bailey before he followed her out the door.

  After a few steps Andie stopped abruptly as she whipped around to face him, and he halted.

  “And here’s something else you don’t know about me,” she said, only this time her eyes were glassy with unshed tears. “I am not a terrible person.”

  Chase exhaled, his expression turning serious. “I know that.”

  “No, you don’t, and you suck because you don’t!” she said, taking a quick step toward him and poking him in the chest hard enough to send him back a step. “You said we were a match because we’re both terrible, and I’m not terrible!”

  Andie took a step backward before she continued, her voice trembling. “Because if I was, it wouldn’t be breaking my heart that he’s sad right now. If I was, it wouldn’t have been such a battle to let myself have you in the first place.”

  Chase’s chest instantly tightened at her words.

  “You’re right,” he said softly, taking a tiny step toward her. She immediately took a step back, stumbling slightly as the back of her foot slipped out of her high heel.

  “And I shouldn’t have to explain that to you,” she said dismissively, the words running together in places as she tried to get her foot back in her shoe. “I shouldn’t have to convince you that I’m good.”

  “You don’t have to,” he said, taking another small step toward her.

  “You should just know!” she yelled, whipping her head up as she lost her grip on the shoe, her foot still half out of the heel as came down on the pavement. She swiped the hair out of her eyes before she shook her head. “I don’t even know who you were back there. I hate who you were back there.”

  Chase nodded, taking a tiny step toward her. “Me too.”

  “Because you’re not terrible either,” she said, trying to get her balance before she pointed at him. “I wouldn’t feel this way about you if you were.”

  “Andie,” Chase said, and she shook her head.

  “Why do you act like an asshole if you’re not an asshole? Why do you act like that?”

  He closed the rest of the distance between them, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into his chest.

  “I don’t want you to act like an asshole,” she said firmly before she pushed him away. He took a step back as she added, “And I don’t want to be happy that you’re here right now.”

  Andie reached down to her shoe, her other arm flapping at her side as she tried to get her foot back in, and Chase stepped forward once more, steadying her before attempting to take her in his arms. She pushed him away again, but this time with less force.

  “And I don’t want to love the way you smell,” she mumbled before she reached back down. With a frustrated huff she ripped her shoe off and dropped it to the sidewalk, standing unevenly as she crossed her arms and lifted her chin, looking up at him. She was trying so hard to be defiant, but her eyes were all vulnerability.

  Chase stepped forward and bent down, scooping up her discarded shoe. On his way back up, he brought his arm behind her knees, knocking her weight out as he stood with her, cradling her against his chest.

  She gripped the front of his shirt. “And I don’t want to feel this way when you hold me,” she said, all the fight gone from her voice.

  Chase rested his chin on the top of her head as he walked towa
rd his car with her in his arms.

  “And I don’t want to be with you anymore,” she mumbled against his shirt.

  He tilted his head down, pressing his lips to the crown of her head.

  “Did you hear me? I said I don’t want to be with you anymore,” she whispered, tightening her grip on his shirt as she buried her face into his chest.

  “Close your eyes, Andie. We can talk more when we get home.”

  “Okay,” she sighed against him, and by the time they reached his car, her weight had fully settled in his arms, and she was out cold.

  He placed her in the car and buckled her seatbelt before he quietly slid into the driver’s seat, careful not to disturb her. But as he drove them back to his apartment, it became very clear that nothing short of an explosion would rouse her now.

  Chase pulled up to the curb in front of his building and walked around to Andie’s side, lifting her up and laying her over his shoulder to free one of his hands for his keys. He hadn’t taken two steps toward the front door before he heard a gurgling sound, and something warm and wet hit his back.

  He froze, closing his eyes.

  “Shit,” he said, just as another round of wet heat poured down his back, and he shifted slightly, bringing Andie down from his shoulder and holding her up with one arm while trying to pull her hair back with his free hand as she continued to vomit into the street.

  When he was sure she was finished, he picked her up bridal style and walked up the three flights to his apartment as quickly as he could while trying not to jostle her. As soon as they were inside, Chase laid her on his couch before going to the bathroom and removing his soiled shirt, tossing it into the tub. He was right about to rinse it out when he heard the same gurgling sound from before, and he grabbed the wastebasket and ran from the bathroom, dropping to his knees in front of her just in time for her to retch over it.

  Chase brushed the hair out of her face and whispered reassuring things to her, although she was clearly beyond hearing him.

  After several minutes Andie flopped back onto the couch, her arms splayed at her sides and her eyes closed, and Chase noticed the vomit on the front of her shirt. He placed the bucket on the floor and carefully pulled her arms out of the sleeves before cradling her head with one hand and pulling the shirt up over it with the other.