Get dry clothes

“I could use something to wear,” you say.

“I’ll find you something,” Roxy says.

A few minutes later you’re wearing jeans and red and black flannel. These aren’t Roxy’s clothes; they must belong to one of the bikers.

You’ve left your girls unsupervised for too long.

Roxy catches your hand as you turn to go, but then she doesn’t say whatever she was about to. You get it. She wants to spend the night again. She likes you. She wants to be around you. But she knows that she needs to accept reality. Trying to go steady with a CCL girl isn’t going to happen.

You give her a kiss on the cheek and leave.

Downstairs, Kris is drunk, Lisey is drunk, and Karen is shitfaced. You rescue them from Alex, who you are sure was going to make a move on Kris, and herd them to the car. You can’t be bothered to get them into their coats, but they don’t even notice the cold.

You turn up the heat and head for home, but once you get into town, you start noticing street signs. Gurlberg is pretty quiet this time of night.

“Fuck it,” you mutter, taking a right. The others are too drunk to even notice that you’ve changed course. You pull up in front of Professor Austen’s house. To your surprise, there are no lights on inside. Not one. It’s late, but not bedtime… not when Professor Austen has so much going on in her life. Where else could she be? And what about Sissy?

You intended to confront her and demand to know where Sissy has gone, but if she’s not here, you can’t do that.

On the other hand, if she’s not here, you can do other things. You sense that there might be answers waiting for you in that house. But you aren’t alone.

Go in now, and risk the others getting in trouble if you get busted?

Or take the girls home first and come back?