Read Harmless for Free Online Page B

thanks and he covered them up.
    “Emma?”
    “What?” she mumbled.
    “Where are you going to sleep?”
    “Right here.”
    “Should I …”
    “Just go, Anna.”
    “But …”
    “Good night.”
    Owen smiled at me. “Good night, Anna.” He did have a gorgeous smile.
    I backed slowly out of the room and retreated to the darkness of the empty den, until I woke up in the middle of the night and came back into the living room, where I saw what I know I saw.

Emma
    I woke up in my clothes. I guess I put them back on in the middle of the night, but I couldn't be sure. Everything was a blur, a pounding, achy, uncomfortable blur. I remembered how bold I'd felt the night before and I didn't know where that person had gone. I felt tiny. My circle reduced to an insignificant dot. I was Alice in Wonderland. I'd gone and drunk the Drink Me bottle; now I was lost in a strange and lonely world and I couldn't quite find my way out of it.
    I threw up in DJ's parents' bathroom, twice, but that didn't help much. I couldn't purge the night away. I looked in the mirror. Curiouser and curiouser. I decided to take a shower and try to wash away the absent look on my face and the smell of sick. That didn't quite do it, so I put on some of DJ's mom's lotion and a squirt of her perfume.
    We all went out to a diner for breakfast. I ordered scram-bled eggs but after one bite I knew I'd made a mistake. I pushed them around on my plate and drank my water instead. I sat at one end of the table with Anna and Mariah. DJ and his friends were at the other end, talking and laughing and eating a seemingly endless supply of pancakes. We just sat there quietly, Anna, Mariah and me, as if we were alone, as if we had no interest in what was going on at the other end of the table.
    Outside the diner, Owen waved goodbye to me, but he didn't come any closer than the length of a lime-green station wagon.
    DJ dropped us off at the same spot by the river where he'd picked us up the night before. He told Mariah he'd call her soon and then he sped off.
    We sat down on some rocks.
    “So, girls, how'd it go last night?” Mariah asked.
    “It was really fun,” I lied. It was a pathetic attempt at a lie, but I couldn't seem to muster up any of my newly honed lying skills.
    “It was really fun? Come on, Emma. You're not getting off so easily. Tell us everything. What's up with you and Owen? Oh my God, he is so ridiculously hot.”
    “Nothing really. We made out for a while. I don't really remember. The whole night is kind of a black hole.”
    Anna was staring at me with her eyes narrowed. “What's that supposed to mean?”
    “You know, Anna. A black hole. A void. A vacuum. I drank too much, obviously. Give me a break. My head is about to explode. Do I still smell like beer?”
    I leaned into Anna so my shoulder was under her nose.
    “No. You smell like some nasty-ass cheap perfume,” she said. I'm not quite sure why, but it made me feel good to see her smile just a little bit.
    “And that's it?” asked Mariah.
    “That's it.” It's over. That's all, folks.
    Mariah turned her attention to Anna. “What about you and Brian?”
    “Gross! God no. He slept on the floor. I was already on the couch. I didn't even know he'd come into the room until he woke me up with his crazy snoring. I had to put two pillows over my head.”
    I could see Anna was telling the truth. Anna always told the truth.
    I was eager to get home. Back to my house. My bedroom. My family. I was tired. And despite my shower, I felt filthy. I took out my cell phone and looked at it. No calls.
    We started walking home. Mariah turned off to go toward her house and Anna and I had about another six blocks before we parted ways.
    “So are you into him?”
    “Owen?”
    “Duh.”
    “I don't know, Anna. Whatever. It was just a fun night.” Her smile disappeared. She looked kind of wounded. I felt bad, but on the other hand, she couldn't expect that just because we'd been friends since third grade I