Free The Manga Girl by Lorenzo Marks Page A

him.
          “So are you okay now?” she asked.
          “Much better thanks. It might have been the drink.”
          “Yeah, I had way too much. Summer and Tanya had to practically carry me back to campus.”
          “That’s where you slept?” Nick said, trying to keep his voice even.
          “Just woke up. I’ve got a hangover from hell.”
          “So it was just you three?” Nick asked.
          “Yeah. Who else would there be?”
          Thank God! Nick could have screamed with delight.
          “I don’t know, I just…well are you coming home tonight?”
          “Of course, why wouldn’t I?”
          Nick silently punched the air.
          “I’m not moving very quickly at the moment,” Lucy said, “so I won’t be back for a couple of hours. Do you want me to bring Chinese?”
          Bring whatever you want, Nick thought, as long as you’re coming back.
          “Sure, that sounds good.”
          “Okay, I’ll see you later.”
          “Right. Um, Lucy?”
          “Yeah?”
          “I’m sorry if I abandoned you last night.”
          She didn’t answer right away and Nick wondered if she was smiling.
          “It’s okay,” she said finally. “I had friends with me.”
          “I know, but I feel bad about it.”
          Then Lucy said something that sent a delightful shiver up Nick’s spine.
          “It won’t happen again though, will it, Nick? You won’t leave me again?”
          “No, Lucy. Never again.”
          “Promise?”

      “I promise.”

Chapter Twelve
     
          Lucy had gotten a change of clothes at the campus - a loose, white cotton shirt, ass-hugging powder blue shorts, and black ankle boots. She wore her silky hair in bunches, which had the effect of making her look both delectably innocent and sluttish at the same time.
          She carried a bag of Chinese take-out and a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon.
          “ Kitchen or coffee table?” she chirped.
          “Right here will do,” Nick said from the sofa.
          She dumped the food in front of him and headed for the kitchen.
          “How are you feeling now?” she asked.
          “Good, thanks,” said Nick. What he really wanted to discuss was what had occurred after he had left the previous night, but he was still so ecstatic that he hadn’t lost Lucy, that he didn’t want to risk ruining it.
          “I’m famished,” she said, returning with plates and glasses. She kicked off her shoes and sat cross-legged on the floor and began peeling off the foil tops. As the air filled with the steaming aroma of beef, prawns, mushrooms, beanshoots and oyster sauce, Nick discovered that he too, was starving.
          Lucy spread out the cartons and handed Nick the bottle to open.
          “I’m surprised you want a drink after last night,” Nick commented.
          “I’m okay now. It was those cocktails that got me,” said Lucy. “What the hell was in them?”
          “The Long Islands? Gin, rum, tequila, vodka, triple sec.”
          Lucy picked up a prawn with her chopsticks and bit into it, letting a trail of pink juice run down her chin.
          “Jesus,” she said. “Whose fucking idea was that?”
          “Jason’s. Some people call it a date rape drug.”
          Nick glanced at her for a reaction but she gave none.
          “Cheers,” he said, handing her a glass.
          “In Japanese, you say ‘Kanpai’,” said Lucy as they touched glasses. “So when I got back to the table, you were gone,” she went on, dropping some strands of egg-noodles into her mouth. “I asked where you had gone but nobody would say. They didn’t mention anything about you being sick.”
          Nick pierced a mushroom on his fork, held it towards her, and Lucy clasped it between her