Buying Beth (Disciples 3)

“Fuck you,” Amanda snarls.

“Lindsey,” Sophia drawls out with annoyance. “Can we not do this right now? Let’s just get to the car and go home, okay? I’ve heard enough bitching tonight to last me a year.”

Lindsey mutters something under her breath but nods her head.

Amanda gets one last, “Bitch,” in and then we fall into an uncomfortable silence.

To say tonight hasn’t gone the way we expected it to go is a gross understatement. It’s been more than a year since I’ve hung out with Amanda and Lindsey, and they’ve either grown more stuck up and nasty over the year or I just never noticed it before.

“Do you feel like you need to puke again?” Sophia asks Amanda once we reach the car.

Amanda shakes her head no, so we all pile into the car. Lindsey and Sophia help Amanda into the back, and I climb into the front, taking the passenger seat.

Once Sophia has Amanda secured in her seatbelt, she climbs into the driver’s seat and starts up her silver Lexus. The headlights beam out, lighting up the entrance of The River Waters, and I find myself trying to peer through the window to catch another peek of Johnathan. The place is packed now and the music is booming. I can feel the bass of the jukebox vibrating the car from here.

Sophia pushes the shifter into drive, and just as we start rolling forward, Amanda cries out, “I’m going puke again!”

Sophia hits the brake and we all jump out of the car. There’s a mad, fumbling rush to help Amanda out of her seatbelt, and then she stumbles out of the car.

Bending over, Amanda begins to dry heave and I have to turn away, feeling my own stomach start to weaken.

“Here, don’t get it in your hair,” Sophia says softly, and I glance over to see her pulling Amanda’s long, brown locks back for her.

“Fuck, tonight is never going to end,” Lindsey grumbles and reaches into the car, grabbing her purse off the backseat.

Lindsey begins to dig around in her purse, and I just stand beside the car awkwardly as we wait for Amanda to stop puking. I’d help, but Sophia seems to have a handle on it.

No reason to add my own puke to the mix.

“You know,” Lindsey says, looking up at me as she fishes a pack of cigarettes out of her purse. “You’re a lot quieter than I remember.”

“I am?” I ask as she withdraws a cigarette and pushes it between her lips.

“Yeah.” She bobs her head up and down. “You used to be a lot of fun. Now, you’re turning into a mute or something.”

She lights the tip of the cigarette and then takes a long drag. Tipping her head back, she exhales a cloud of smoke into the dark sky and asks, “Want a hit?”

I shake my head and glance to the side as a pair of headlights light up the dark night to my left.

A white, unmarked van cruises past us and all the little hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

“Hey? How’s it going?” I call out to Amanda and Sophia as I watch the van reach the end of the street and come to a stop at a stop sign.

Maybe I’m just overly paranoid, but I don’t like the looks of that van. There’s nothing about it that screams rapists and murderers on the inside, but it’s made me suddenly aware of how vulnerable the four of us are standing out in the dark parking lot like this.

I look around, searching for anyone else around us, but everyone must be in the bar.

“I think she’s almost done,” Sophia calls back as Amanda starts to heave again.

The red brake lights of the van are joined by a sudden flash of white as the van starts to reverse back down the street, heading straight for us.

“Oh shit,” I cry out, all the little alarm bells going off in my head. “Hey, we need to go!”

“Maybe they just need directions or something,” Lindsey says with a shrug and takes another drag off of her cigarette.

“What’s going on?” Sophia cries out from the other side of the car as the van squeals to a stop. The two back doors fly open.

“Get in the car!” I scream and dive into my side.

“Shit!” I hear Lindsey curse and see her fumbling inside her purse as I slam my door shut.

“Get in! Get in!” I yell, but Lindsey seems to be too focused on getting whatever she wants out of her purse.

“Fuck you!” Lindsey screams as I watch a dark mass appear in front of her.

Fuck, I’m the only one in the car, and I can hear Amanda still heaving as Sophia tries to push her into the backseat.

Lindsey screams again as the black mass moves closer to her, grabbing her. With a surge of adrenaline, I push open my door as hard as I can, clipping the black mass.