Alice spoke before Dane, “Explain what?”

“Gabriel made me do it. Well, he didn’t force me to leave her but if I had married her, I didn’t want to face the possibility of leaving her after so many years of marriage, just like he left Carla within seconds.” The way I was speaking in riddles confused them, yet it was the best I could do for being heavily intoxicated. “And now Carmen can’t stand me.”

It was shortly after I had stopped slurring my speech when I nearly passed out on Al’s couch. But before the night’s events caught up with me, Dane and Alice helped me stumble back into the bedroom as I collapsed on the bed. “Good night, Shane.” Dana whispered after removing my shoes and turning out the lights.

“Tell Carmen, I love her.” That was the last sentence I was able to slur before everything faded from red to black.

Alice-

“She’s out of it.” Dana wandered back into the living room, looking as depleted as I felt. “Now what?”

I reached for the remote control which was resting beside me on the couch before clicking on the television and offered Dana to sit next to me to which she tiredly accepted. “You know this whole situation is going to get worse before it gets better?” A simple nod was her only response and I turned back to watching TV. Of course when I realized it was another cooking channel we were watching, a question nagged at me in the back of my head; but I was scared for the answer. “So, how have you and Lara been?”

“We’re doing fine.” Her tone lead me to believe otherwise. “Other than the fact that she’s working later shift’s and I’m stuck at home being bored out of my mind because I no longer have a career in tennis.”

I always knew she missed the sport more than she let it show, but instead of pressing her about it, I attempted a lighter approach, “ You can have my job then, since I’m running out of things to talk about.”

She almost laughed but opted for a light-hearted smile instead; at least she was becoming notably relaxed. “After tonight, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of useful topics to discuss on your show.”

“True, true.” I conceited. However, the actual headache was trying to connect everything together.

There was one more thing I had been meaning to tell her, but never could. So I used the silence to finally say it.

“Dane,” She turned her head to look at me. “ I-”

Then the phone rang.

Being at a crossroad between admitting the truth and answering the phone, I chose to answer the phone since it would probably have less of a consequence. But I was wrong again. “Hello?”

“Alice, you need to get down to The Planet right now.” The line was fuzzy and Jenny was evidently worried as I stood up to get better reception, but her sentences were barely audible.

“Jen, I can’t hear what you’re s-”

“Carmen’s in trouble.”

I should’ve never asked if tonight could get any worse. “What’s wrong with Carmen? She said she was going home.” That’s when the line went dead. “This can’t be happening.”

“What’s wrong?” Dana was anxious and I was losing my mind.

“I don’t know exactly, but Jenny just told me to get to The Planet fast because Carmen’s in trouble.”

“I’ll drive.” She tried to take my keys but I protested.

“Someone needs to stay here with Shane.”

“She’s passed out; It’ll take a nuclear explosion to wake her up.” Dane opened the door after taking my keys. “Hurry up, do you want to get there fast or not?”

I ignored my thoughts about Shane’s well being and followed Dana out the door. “You don’t play fair.” She didn’t seem to care until I gave one more cheap shot. “ It’s no wonder how you won all of your tournaments.”