What My Best Friend Did Read Online Free Page B

take this outside?” she says firmly. “We don’t want to upset Gretchen.” And that freaks me out even more; Gretchen just lying there, listening to everything we’ve just said. I very willingly move quickly into the corridor and the nurse pushes the door closed behind us.
    Tom waits and I try to explain again. “There were pills lying on the floor and—”
    “What sort of pills?” he asks, like he’s already afraid of the answer.
    I swallow and then clear my throat. “I don’t know. There was a bottle of whisky, mostly gone. I’ve no idea how many she took, she was unconscious.”
    “Oh shit!” he says, stepping back and raking his fingers up through his hair. He takes another pointless step right and then back again. “Oh shit, Gretchen!”
    “I called an ambulance,” I say quickly. “They arrived and said she was breathing. We went to the ER first and then they moved her here. She’s in a coma!”
    Tom shakes his head lightly, as if he can’t quite absorb what I’m saying, as if it doesn’t make any sense at all.
    “They won’t tell me any more until Bailey arrives.”
    At the very sound of his name, a flash of intense dislike and anger flashes across Tom’s face.
    “Do they know where he is?” he asks tightly. “Have they tried to call him?”
    I nod. “Madrid—I’m pretty sure he’s on his way back though. He must be by now.”
    “How did they know he was there?” Tom frowns.
    “I told them,” I confess. “He called me earlier this evening. He was supposed to be going over to see Gretchen but he missed his flight or something. Or it got delayed, I don’t know. He called her to say he wasn’t going to make it and she was drunk, really drunk. He asked me if I’d go over and check on her after work. So I did …” I peter out. I’m feeling really hot again; I can feel sweat collecting and pooling on my spine and my top starting to stick to my back.
    “And …?” he says, waiting.
    I take a deep breath. “She was unconscious in the living room. It was pretty obvious what she’d done.”
    “Shit!” Tom looks at me. “And they won’t tell us anything until he gets here?”
    I shake my head. “Only stuff like, ‘she’s stable,’ that kind of thing. No detail.”
    Tom looks furious. “But that’s absurd! Have you said that to them? What did they say?”
    I feel sick. “I didn’t know what to say, Tom, I just came with her and …” I falter under his demanding gaze and raise a shaking hand up to my head. “I can’t think straight. It’s all happened very quickly and—”
    “OK, OK—Alice, I’m sorry,” he cuts across me, stepping forward,taking my hand. “I didn’t mean to sound so fierce.” He takes a deep breath. “I’m just very fucking angry with him.”
    He waits and I try to steady my breathing.
    “Still …” He sighs, eventually. “At least she is stable.” Then he falls silent for a moment while he obviously toys with the unimaginable, horrific alternative, because seconds later he says, “We should be in there, with her,” and makes for the door.
    “Just a minute,” I call, utterly desperate not to go back into that room now that I’m out of it. “I need a moment to get myself together.” I lean on the wall—well, it props me up, actually—and Tom waits heavily next to me, looking suddenly devastated and very confused.
    “I can’t believe she did this,” he says. “I mean there were no signs, nothing at all. In fact she seemed”—he glances at me and picks his words carefully—“pretty happy. I’m sorry—is this too hard for you?”
    Yes it is, it’s practically impossible. The most horrendous situation I’ve ever found myself in in my entire life.
    I shake my head. “I’m OK,” I say, but the words are more of a whisper. I find that my head is starting to hang, my eyes fill again and I am weeping, tears splashing on the squeaky hospital floor. He moves to hug me, but a nurse turning into the corridor and approaching us