Give Me You by Caisey Quinn

call out as my neck jerks forward and then back. One of the girls screams and before I can blink, O’Brien damn near jumps over the seat, practically taking Corin’s head off in an attempt to get his arms around Layla.
    I look back, confused at why he’s having another one of his major freak outs even though she seems fine despite a little shakiness.
    “You’re okay. It’s okay. I’ve got you. You’re safe,” he says to her, rocking her gently while Corin and I meet each other’s confused gazes.
    Before I can ask if they’re okay, I hear sirens. I look everyone over and O’Brien definitely got the worst of it. I have a small gash on my forehead and Corin is rubbing her neck but we’re okay. Landen is bleeding, maybe from the arm and maybe from the head, I can’t be sure with him all over Layla the way he is.
    A beige Suburban hit us and is still connected to O’Brien’s tailgate.
    “You need to get back in the driver’s seat,” Corin says softly, “before the cops think something majorly shady is going on.”
    She’s right, and I make a noise of agreement but Landen doesn’t detach from Layla..
    “Fuck it,” I say, sliding over into the driver’s seat. One little reckless op ticket won’t kill me or my soccer career. And clearly some major shit is happening between Layla and Landen at the moment so I take one for the team.
    Without another word, Corin climbs over the center console and buckles herself into the passenger seat. I shrug in her direction and she gives me a half-smile that pretty much says ‘our roommates are insane. What can you do?’
    “I’m sorry, baby. I’m so sorry,” we hear Landen murmuring over and over.
    “Not your fault,” she responds.
    I’m guessing the cops might have a different opinion, but now isn’t the time.

W e give the police our licenses and proof that Landen has insurance on his truck before going to the university medical center to get checked out. Skylar gets two butterfly stitches over the tiny gash in his forehead. Layla and I are given prescriptions for what basically amounts to extra strength Tylenol for possible whiplash.
    O’Brien on the other hand is beat to hell and back—something I think the cops noticed was odd for someone in the backseat, but they didn’t ask very many questions. Mostly they seemed to want to get the paperwork handled so they could get out of the rain. He has a gnarly looking cut down his forearm and nearly a dozen stitches by the time we leave. His truck was towed to the nearest body shop so have to take a cab back to the dorms.
    “Well, this was a hell of a first day,” Skylar says as we get out of the cab.
    Layla looks ready to collapse, which is apparently fine because Landen doesn’t appear to have any intentions of leaving her side.
    “Corin, would it be okay if, um, Landen stayed in our room tonight?” She turns to him before I can answer. “I mean, if you don’t mind.”
    “It’s cool with me,” I tell her before Landen can respond. “But don’t athletes have to check in or something at curfew?”
    “Yeah we do,” Skylar breaks in. “But I can call Dean or Mike and tell them what happened.”
    “Do that,” Landen says, pulling Layla closer.
    I’ll give him this much, he might not be the most well balanced person on Earth, but he obviously loves my roommate very much.
     

     
    I can tell that our AC is still out the minute we step into the stuffy dorm room. I cuss myself for not remembering to grab the damn fan.
    Landen tells Layla to shower and I glance over and see that she’s shivering. Maybe we don’t need the fan after being soaked in the rain.
    Once she’s safely ensconced in the bathroom, he turns to where Skylar and I are sitting across from one another.
    “Start talking, O’Brien,” I say, pointing a finger at him. “What happened tonight, that wasn’t anywhere in the vicinity of normal behavior.”
    Landen sighs and lowers himself onto the futon a few feet from Skylar. “She’ll