Page 48 of Under the Influence

Did I? Should I have called 911 first?

“Is she going to die?”

Mom pulls into a parking spot outside of the emergency room, “Probably not, babe. Let’s just get inside and find out what’s going on.”

We rush through the doors, but they won’t let us back to see her. The uncertainty is killing me, and I can’t help but pace a hole in the floor.

An hour later, Avery’s dad walks in. He’s on his cell phone and stalks past the reception desk like he owns the hospital. He doesn’t even acknowledge us. I would figure that he would go back and see his daughter, but I watch as he stops at the nurse’s desk and speaks with a doctor. He walks back out, still on his cell phone, stopping in front of me.

“She’s okay. She took too much of her medicine, but the levels aren’t too high, so they think it was an accident. They’re going to keep her overnight to watch her. I’ll be back to drive her home tomorrow when they release her. Thanks for calling me, Lexie.”

My mom doesn’t even get a chance to respond before he’s out the door. Are you serious right now?

Mom turns to me, trying to swallow her rage, “Let’s go check on her.”

We walk back past the doors and find the room, a nurse taking her blood pressure when we step in. It’s like a straight kick to my gut seeing her like this. Pale, broken, and wrapped in an ugly olive green gown. Her eyes look tired, and she even hesitates to make eye contact with me.

The nurse speaks up, “She’s still a little out of it, and she needs to sleep it off.”

My mom follows the nurse out to speak with her in the hall, and I can’t take my eyes off of Avery.

She could’ve died.

I sit down in the chair next to the bed, “I’m sorry about what I said on the phone this morning.”

She opens her eyes a little, slurring her words, “Where’s my dad?”

I grab her hand, “He stopped by, but he left again.”

Tears start falling from her eyes, and I climb up on the bed with her, pulling her into my chest.

“We can release a statement,” she slurs. “That we both decided it was best if we broke up. We can keep the press out of it so they don’t spin rumors.”

She’s obviously out of it, but her mind is on breaking up. My heart breaks a little bit that I let her down.

My mom walks back in, her eyes falling to Avery asleep on my chest, “She’s going to be okay. She should be back to normal in a few hours.”

I nod, Mom’s voice lowering to a whisper, “Carson, she’s not okay, is she?”

I shake my head, “I don’t know. I’ve been so distracted. I haven’t been myself, and things have been so weird with us lately. Fall prospect camps are coming up, and I just… I don’t know.”

She shakes her head, “Carson, you are a good boy. I know you just want what’s best for her, but it’s okay to think about yourself sometimes too. Maybe you both just need a break.”

Irony sets in when Avery’s agent walks in, probably following orders from her dad.

“Carson, this does not leave this room,” she warns. “If the press catches wind about this⁠—”

Mom turns her way, cutting her off, “She could’ve died, and you’re worried about TMZ?”

If anyone knows anything about bad press, it’s my mom. Her mother was an actress, a very famous one, and her dad was a hot-shot movie producer. She basically lived in the middle of a Hollywood scandal.

“I just want her to keep her sponsors. The second her follower count starts to go down, they’ll bolt.”

I should let it go, but I find myself struggling to remain quiet. “Shut up, Lindsay. You can tell Avery your damage control plan tomorrow. Right now, we don’t really give a shit.”

She rolls her eyes, “Fine. I’ll be back tomorrow with her phone and keys, and I already sent someone over to clean up the glass.”

Ha, figures. Her dad can’t be bothered with his own daughter’s problems, so he sends someone else to clean up the mess. I want to believe that this was an accident, but the more I dwell on it, the more I realize maybe I don’t know anything at all.