Chapter 3 - Road Trip

This chapter describes how our fun turned dark when a coed is nearly raped.

By our second semester, Marietta and I had moved in together and I had ditched my sorority for being too ordinary. We still went to frat parties but I wasn’t monitored by a restrictive code of conduct that included no ecstasy, weed, acid or getting too drunk.

We were always too drunk and Marietta supported our habits. My parents had “cut me off” for throwing parties the summer before I left for college. They had gone to Africa for three months and after one particular rager, my neighbors came over and photographed the kegs, open jars of mayonnaise, and vomit stuck to the drapes.

When my parents returned, I had already left for college. My sister had unceremoniously dropped me off at my dark, basement-level dorm room. The second my parents returned from their trip, my neighbors revealed the photographs. The parties had punctuated the summer as one of the best and freest of my life and one of the lowest points in my parents’ lives. There had only been one rule before they left town and I had broken it: “No parties. Someone could die of drunk driving.”  

So as punishment, my parents “cut me off,” which meant they paid my tuition, housing and funded my meal card but no money for fun. The money I had been freely given and expected, I finally realized was a luxury. I was lucky, very lucky. But at the time, it still seemed cruel and unforgivable. How dare they only pay for room and board meanwhile Shawanda, my assigned roommate, worked part time and went to school part time. She had no support, at least not until she started writing checks out of my checkbook without me knowing. But most of them bounced anyway.

So instead of actually trying to earn money on my own, Marietta and I bartered. She would use my meal card for food and laundry and then buy our supplies, a 12-pack of Miller Lite each. We would lug our 12-packs across fraternity row from party to party. It wasn’t pretty as we ballooned past the freshman 15 to the second-semester super-size me.

This trading partnership worked until my parents and I finally made up in the spring. When I apologized, the money began to flow again. I was back to being spoiled with plenty of money for fun and most importantly, for road trips. Those were harder to swing on a meal card. Athens, GA, here we come.

That spring, we decided to visit Marietta’s friends at the University of Georgia. We drove down with our two suitemates - Ashley and Leila, both daughters of Navy captains and childhood friends. Their families had moved around the world in parallel. They were more like sisters that shared the same history and experiences without the genes to match. Ashley mirrored  exactly her most recent hometown of Virginia Beach. She was tanned and surfer-styled. Leila was freckled and preppy. They were the only friends I’d kept from my one semester in a sorority.

“There’s a big party on Saturday night and it might get kind of wild,” Marietta said as she glided her white Thunderbird out of the dorm parking lot.

“What does that mean exactly?” Ashley asked. It was too late now, we were on the road.

“They are going to take ecstasy.” Ashley rolled her eyes and Marietta lit a Benson Hedges extra long.

“Can you roll down the window some more please. We are suffocating,” Ashley said.  

“Doesn’t that drain your spinal fluid or something weird?” Leila asked.

“We did it all the time in Atlanta. It was fine.” Marietta said.

“Have you done it Beatrice?” Ashley asked.

“Only since I met Marietta.” Everyone laughed. “It was really fun.”

“I don’t know. That scares me,” Leila said.

“Yeah we may not do it,” Ashley said glancing at Leila.

“We’ll see,” Marietta turned up the Black Crows on the radio. “I know these guys from Atlanta you know.”

“Yes we’ve heard.” Ashley said.

“Ha.” Marietta cackled. “The lead singer is so hot. One of the best nights I have had in bed.”

Saturday night we ended up in a prefab condo furnished with Jennifer Convertibles and pillows from last year’s Spiegel catalogue. Marietta’s friend, Carrie, wasn’t in school, she had a job at a boutique where she got a 50 percent discount on clothes. There were no shared dorm rooms or meal plans. She had a matching dining room set, wine glasses and credit card debt.  

Most of the two dozen people at the party were in their early 20s. There was no talk of school or frat parties but instead of concerts and late nights at bartending jobs. They were dressed in club clothes, not a Gap label in sight.

At 9pm, Marietta refilled my white zinfandel for the fourth time and passed me a cheese plate laid out with chunks of colby, cheddar and colored toothpicks.

“He was supposed to be here at 8,” she whispered for the tenth time. We were losing hope of a drug-fueled evening.

“Can she stop obsessing?” Ashley whispered in my other ear. I was secretly counting the minutes too. The one time I had done X before, it was was, well, pure ecstasy.

Through the sliding-glass door, we watched Leila’s 5-foot-2 frame teeter from too much wine. Lance, a DJ and friend-of-a-friend, was staring into her pale blue eyes. Men loved Leila. She was like a deer, huge round eyes and something you couldn’t help but be attracted to.  

Lance reached out to touch Leila’s ringlets. “We need to go save her,” Ashley said as Leila recoiled slightly.

“So what do you study,” Lance asked.

“Biology.”

“Do you like it?” He leaned closer and put his arm along the balcony railing almost around her.

“It’s ok,” she slid her hands into the pockets of her khakis.

“Biology huh? Do you learn about how animals have sex?” he laughed.

“Gross, leave her alone.” Ashley said as she opened the door.

“I am not bothering her,” He said as Leila looked down at her feet.

“Maybe if that’s what you study, I could have gotten into college,” he said.

“We are studying cells at the moment. It’s not that interesting.”

“You’re interesting,” he said. “Really interesting, interesting in bed I’ll bet.”

“Dude, go away.” At 5’10”, Ashley towered over the Lance and her Tommy Bahama tank top showed off her muscular arms.  

“Look b***h,” he leaned toward Ashley and Leila’s eyes widened.

“Helllooooo, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me one second,” Marietta slipped between them. “The guy is on his way.” She clapped her hands and dramatically tossed her sparkly gold scarf around her neck.

“Thank God, maybe the X will loosen ya’ll up.” Lance said.

“Get out of here,” Ashley said.

“I’ll be looking for you later,” he pointed and looked straight at Leila. She looked away.

“He’s an a*****e,” Marietta said. “Just ignore him.”

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang and a chubby guy in a Depeche Mode T-shirt followed Carrie back to the bedroom. He was in and out in 60 seconds. Marietta and Carrie emerged holding a red lacquer tray with 20 white pills so small you could barely grasp them between your fingers.

“It’s time!” Marietta sung.

Everyone circled around and slid a tablet off the tray. Everyone but Ashley and Leila.

“You guys need to try this. It’s really fun. I swear.” Marietta turned to Ashley. “It won’t hurt you.”

Leila looked at me. “Are you doing it?”

“I am,” I said. “We took some a few months ago and walked all over campus. It was really fun. Like it should be.”

“We did this same batch last weekend,” Carrie added. “Everyone was fine.”

Marietta put her hands on Leila’s shoulders and looked her straight in the face.

“It will make you feel like you have never felt before. You will love everyone!” She threw her hands up in the air wide. Her excitement was contagious. “It will make you feel so alive.”

Leila grinned, “I don’t know.”

“You’ll even think Lance is a nice guy,” she laughed.

“I doubt that,” Ashley said.

“You do not want to miss this experience,” Marietta said and Leila teetered again, loose from the wine.

“Ok.” and she took the pill from the tray.

“Oh God,” Ashley rolled her eyes and took one too.

Marietta and I took ours and clinked our glasses.

For the next three hours, we blasted Big Country, the Connells and Johnny Quest. We ran from room to room petting each other and declaring our love of all things.

“I feel incredible,” was repeated like a mantra. We did feel incredible. It was the highest I had ever been. We spent hours evaluating the quality of the drug trip. These pills were “clean. pure. good. perfect. pristine. ” They were real ecstasy, not speed mixed with something.

“How are you feeling?” Marietta would ask.

“Amazing,” Ashley said.

“Elated,” I repeated as Marietta flitted off to the next gaggle of people.

Ashley and I hugged and plopped on the couch, I ran my finger along the ruffle of my dress, the fabric was silkier than anything I’d ever felt. Ashley separated the strands of her hair, explaining she never realized how unique each strand of hair was. We continued to drink but it seemed to have no effect. The X was overpowering every other sensation.

Marietta swung by every few minutes to check-in. “How ya doing! Tell me what it feels like.”

“Like surfing a wave in Hawaii” Ashley said. “And I don’t surf!”

“It feels like the man you’ve had a crush on for 10 years finally declaring his love for you,” Marietta said.

“I feel full,” I said. “Complete. Satiated.” The energy crescendoed.

“Where’s Leila?” Ashley asked.

“I haven’t seen her,” I said.

“S**t. We need Leila!” Ashley darted towards the back of the condo. I followed.

We found Leila in the bathroom face down in the toilet, vomiting.  

“Oh God,” Ashley said. “Marietta! Get in here.”

The four of us crowded into the bathroom.

“I don’t feel good.” Leila said. Ashley held her mass of hair while she heaved.

“I am sorry Leila.“ I said.

“It’s ok. I may go lie down.” We handed her a glass of water and tucked her into the back bedroom. Marietta shooed everyone out but Leila. “It’ll pass. You don’t want to waste your trip. We’ll come check on you in a bit,” Marietta said as she pulled the hollow door closed.

But we didn’t go back and check on her. Not for another few hours.  

The drugs peaked shortly after that. The feeling was overwhelming. Not sexual but warm. It was hard to imagine ever not loving the people in that room. We embraced and told each other how amazing, wonderful, gorgeous, kind and full of potential we all were.

“We will all do great things,” we agreed. And we believed it. At least until the drunkenness took over the euphoria.  

“Whoa,” Ashley said and we sank back into the couch.

“We’re coming down.”

The fabric of my dress no longer seemed so soft. Marietta was sitting on the rug now, one-by-one dropping the glass beads she had extolled as having magical powers into a purple velvet pouch.  

The beginnings of a headache was settling in. Someone switched the CD to the Smiths signaling our universal change of state.

“Where’s Leila?” Marietta asked.

“I guess she’s still in the bedroom.” Ashley answered.

“Let’s go check on her,” Marietta said.

We opened the door to the bedroom and in the sliver of light we saw Lance’s back.

He was on his knees at the edge of the bed.

Leila’s eyes were closed. Her arms were flopped to either side.

His head was between her legs.

“What the hell are you doing?” Marietta demanded and shoved him off the bed. He hit the wall hard.

“Jesus. She likes it!” he said.

Leila didn’t move. She was completely passed out.

“You f*****g a*****e,” Marietta drew her leg back to kick him but he rolled on his side and jumped up. Ashley and I were paralyzed.

He knocked Ashley against the other wall as he darted out of the room and the apartment. Gone.

“Leila, Leila, wake up.” Marietta lifted her up in a sitting position and she came to.

“Are you ok?” she was dazed.

“Do you remember Lance coming in here? Do you remember what happened?”

“I couldn’t move,’” and she started to cry. “I felt like I couldn’t move.”

Ashley glared at Marietta. “Jesus.”

Leila sobbed and no one asked any more questions.

“Please don’t tell anyone,” Leila said.

“But do you even know what happened?” Ashley asked.

“Please don’t tell anyone. Please don’t tell anyone. Please don’t tell anyone.”  

Eventually, Leila fell back to sleep and we climbed into the bed together while Marietta fell asleep on the floor.

When the sun came up, we left without saying goodbye.

We drove the 6 hours back to Raleigh in silence.  We never hung out with Ashley and Leila again. When we passed each other in the dining hall, we all looked away.  

Author's Note

Most interested in knowing if this is something you'd keep reading. Is it completely boring? Is the structure too much telling and not enough showing? Do you get a feel of who the characters are?