Lucky 33 (Love in the District #2)

20. Kirkland Brand Vodka

CHAPTER 20

KIRKLAND brAND VODKA

L aura had tried to calm Amy down from the moment she had arrived at the apartment. Amy was too deep in panic mode to be able to absorb information.

Laura rubbed her back. “Do you think you can handle listening now? I want to start by saying it’s not as bad as you think. I shouldn’t have phrased it like that. I did thorough research and got Jake’s opinion before telling you.”

Amy couldn’t focus, but she wanted to find out what Laura discovered. “I’m okay. I can do this.”

“I was able to find a record for Andrew Porter in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was convicted of a Class 2 misdemeanor.”

“You know I have no idea what that means.” Amy buried her face in her hands, holding back a wail.

“Essentially, it means that it’s a crime that can lead to a fine and local jail time.”

“What was the crime? This seems so unlike him.,” Amy said incredulously. Oh, here come the tears.

“I don’t have the details. Class 2 misdemeanors in Virginia are either related to aggressive driving or possession of drugs without a prescription,” Laura answered calmly.

She felt dizzy. Amy recalled Drew's conversation with Pedro at the 4 th of July party. She hadn't heard what they were talking about, but Pedro seemed twitchy, and she'd seen Drew hand him a little plastic bag. Drugs? It couldn’t be. He wouldn’t be dealing drugs at a congressman’s house, or at all. But Drew is surprisingly energetic all the time.

“Which was it?”

“I don’t know. I flew off the handle when I found his record, but Jake calmed me down. He explained that it was just one of those two things, and that if it was sealed, it probably happened more than seven years ago.”

“I can’t believe he’s a criminal,” Amy said, tears falling faster.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves." Laura said, as if sensing Amy's thoughts. "We don’t know that it’s your Andrew Porter. Also, neither of those possibilities is that awful in the scheme of things.”

“Then why did he go to jail, Laura?” Amy shouted.

Laura flinched. “We don’t know that he did. I jumped the gun with my text. We only know that an Andrew Porter in Charlottesville did. You need to talk to him yourself. I’ve gotten as much as I can from the internet, and Jake refuses to use his resources to dig.”

Amy sat in silence, unsure of what to do with the information.

Laura looked at her sympathetically, “You know that this doesn’t change who Drew is and everything you two have built. You don’t have the complete story. He’s been able to lead a full life since a conviction— if he is who the record belongs to— and universities don’t hire criminals and bad people. They do background checks.”

“I guess. But don’t you think this is a big thing to leave out?” Amy said, looking cautiously optimistic.

Laura shrugged. “Would you be willing to share something from your past that you’re not proud of?—”

"No—"

“Hey, let me finish. What if it wasn’t relevant to who you are today or what you’ve accomplished? ”

It might be how he makes up for his professor's salary and can live in this neighborhood.

“I don’t know. I assumed we were being fully honest with each other.”

“Let’s break this down. Forget any record, conviction, jail, or other outcomes. Would you be mad at him if he got in trouble for being an aggressive driver one night?”

Amy shook her head no.

“Now, how about if he had a friend who gave him some leftover pills, so he didn’t have to go to the doctor and get a prescription?” Again, no.

“But he did one of those so badly that he went to jail,” Amy insisted.

“You’re not making sense. There’s no doing something like those two options badly. You do it and get caught or not. You wouldn’t care if he didn’t get caught.” I don’t know about that, but I’ll let her continue. “ Why does the potential of him getting caught and having to pay for his mistake send you over the edge?”

Everything Laura was saying made sense, but Amy felt too overwhelmed by all the information to think about it rationally.

“You’ve made your case. I need to work through all this on my own.”

“I get it. Consider, though, that he didn’t lie to you. It was never relevant. He didn’t bring it up because it has no bearing on his life now or his love of you.”

Hmm . I wonder if what he got arrested for is truly in the past.

Amy stewed for a few days, wondering if Drew had been arrested for reckless driving. She wanted to be wrong about his involvement with drugs.

She paid close attention to his driving on their way to Costco to replenish Sparkle and Shine’s supplies, almost hoping the explanation for his record was that he was just a reckless driver. There was nothing beyond the typical city driving aggression. In fact, she was far angrier and more impatient on the road than he was. Her temper often got the best of her behind the wheel, but Drew’s didn’t from what she had witnessed. Even when clearly wronged, he would smile sweetly and say, “They’re in a hurry, Amy. I’m not.”

She thought back to their trip to Round Hill and remembered he'd behaved nicely on the highway and the country roads. It’s official: he’s a patient and safe driver. Annoyingly so.

Since there wasn’t evidence of him being a convicted aggressive driver, Amy figured he was either reformed or guilty of having drugs without a prescription. She had researched what drugs counted in this scenario, and they were all pretty tame. They were classified as Schedule IV drugs, which were drugs that had a low chance of abuse or dependency, mostly tranquilizers and sedatives.

But she couldn’t get past the fact that he had gone to jail. Well, he might have. And that he might have lied about it to her.

“You’re unusually quiet today,” Drew commented, pulling into the Costco parking lot. “Can I cheer you up with a hot dog and Coke? It’s the best deal in town. You know, the founder of Costco said, and I quote, ‘If you raise the price of the effing hot dog, I will kill you.’ That’s why it’s still so cheap.”

Amy laughed weakly. In light of what may be in Drew’s past, statements about killing were concerning. “Thanks for the background, Professor, but I’m good.”

“Oh, I know your weakness: churros. I’ll even let you get one to eat while shopping and one for the road.”

“No, no, I’m good,” she said, trying to sound convincing.

Drew felt her forehead to check her temperature and mimed listening to her heart. “You appear healthy, but I’m concerned about your lack of interest in reasonably priced junk food.” Why won’t he leave me alone?

“How about we get a cart this time,” Drew suggested. “I don’t have the patience to carry everything like you do. Also, we can’t get those giant muffins and a jug of Kirkland brand vodka without a cart.”

Amy nodded and followed him inside. Drew stopped and looked at her questioningly. “Hey. I was kidding about the vodka. I have higher standards than Kirkland.”

“Okay.”

“Seriously, Amy, what’s your deal? I’m worried. You’ve acted off for weeks.”

“I don’t want to argue in a Costco.”

“I’m not arguing. Also, that’s more of an Ikea thing.”

“Sorry,” she said quietly. “I’m fine.”

As they neared the Health and Beauty Aids section, Amy got an idea. “Let’s hit this aisle,” she said, perking up a little.

Drew looked pleased that she was acting a little more normal now. He steered the cart down the aisle as Amy searched for the sleep aids. “Here.”

“Sleep aids? You okay? Is that what’s wrong? You’re not sleeping well?”

Drew looked relieved, so she went with it.

“Exactly.”

He hugged her. “Okay then. Let’s solve this problem. I can’t have your beauty sleep disturbed. You need to keep making all the women jealous of your bright-eyed good looks.”

Amy couldn’t help but chuckle. Even when she was feeling down and suspicious, Drew’s playful self could disarm her. Hey. Pay attention. Rearm.

Drew must have noticed her return to seriousness. “Have I been snoring or moving around? I can figure out what to do about it or stay at my place more. I feel bad that you didn’t say anything before now.”

“No, no, it’s all me.”

“If you say so. I still want you to tell me if I’m the problem.”

Amy shook her head. “No, I mean it. You haven’t done anything to disturb me. It’s all my body being weird.” She paused, thinking of how to get back on track with her plan. “I’d love your opinion on what to buy. I want to relax and stay asleep but tend to be wary of anything with a sedative or tranquilizer effect. How about you?” Do you like sedatives and tranqs, Drew? Is that your vice? A little downer to even out the uppers?

“I sleep pretty well, so I don’t think about it. I’ve read good things about melatonin, though,” he said, shrugging. “Want to try that?”

She nodded and he threw a surprisingly expensive bottle of 500 melatonin gummies into the cart.

This was proving to be harder than she had hoped. She needed to regroup and try another approach later. He was either not guilty of anything, or he was very good at playing innocent.

For now, Amy did her best to rally and learn into the lack of sleep excuse so they could have a nice day together. She convinced herself for a little while that Drew wasn’t a former jailbird and that she was as happy and unsuspicious as she had been before.

It felt nice to pretend. They showed each other funny items and visited Drew’s favorite corn dog sample lady. They people-watched and made up backstories for the most interesting looking shoppers. Amy even gave in and accepted Drew’s offer to go to the front of the store and get churros for them to eat while shopping.

Amy and Drew picked up unnecessary items in bulk, along with the items she needed for Sparkle and Shine. This Costco haul was expensive worth it to be able to pretend for a while that she didn’t have a care in the world and that she had a perfect boyfriend who was magicked into her life by the all-knowing Universe.

What if I keep pretending until I forget about his record and his lying to me? The mind is a powerful tool; if I try hard enough, I can probably do it. Look at him. He looks like a Disney prince. That smile. Those eyes. It would be so nice to forget everything and enjoy being together.

The spell had to be broken at some point, but Amy relished her few hours of pretending everything was still perfect. Drew had semester prep work to take care of, so he dropped her off at her apartment after their Costco trip. She figured she could use some alone time to be with her thoughts, so that worked out for her.

Amy was already mourning their relationship. She was getting ahead of herself, but her mind didn’t rest when it came to making problems larger than life.

Amy thought back to the evidence that Katie had presented. It was easy to forget how unreasonable she had been in the past, but her friend was right, and she had a good memory of Amy’s foibles. This upset over Drew might be as unreasonable as assuming that sororities spent their time constructing an elaborate joke on one first year during recruitment. Her top houses had wanted her, no tricks about it. She ruined that. She could be meeting fellow sisters for brunches and going on alumni beach trips with them, solidifying the bonds of lifelong friendship.

Katie’s reminder about the offer to TA for Dr. Lindstrom stung. In hindsight, it really did seem silly that she would have assumed that her favorite professor, with whom she had a great relationship, would pick her only because she thought Amy was low-income.

That particular assumption had consequences. The professor had chosen students for a coveted internship later that semester, and she skipped over Amy. That probably wouldn’t have happened if she hadn’t slighted Dr. Lindstrom by telling her she didn’t want the TA position.

She had jumped to negative and unfair conclusions with the guys she had dated before, too. Assumptions hadn’t gotten her anywhere good, but she couldn’t stop herself. Now, history was repeating itself, and she wasn’t sure how to stop it before she ruined things with Drew without verifying Laura’s information on him.

Amy felt terrible. She reached for her phone and quickly wrote her friend a message.

Amy: I owe you a long overdue apology for how I treated you the last time we talked. I know you were trying to look out for me.

Katie: You were in rare form. Have you straightened things out?

Amy: Actually, I think I made things worse.

Katie: Amy. What happened?

Amy: I’ve been stuck on this idea that Drew is too perfect. So, I had Laura do some digging.

Amy paused. She was afraid that she was wrong and Drew wasn’t the Andrew Porter with a record. The timing and location worked out for it to be him, with his Ph.D. program and post-doc fellowship putting him in Charlottesville for long enough, but she wasn’t ready to accept that possibility.

Katie: Well? What did she find?

Amy: I think Drew’s been to jail.

Katie: What?!

Katie: For what?

Katie: Why do you think this?

Katie: Did you ask him?

I should have known this would result in a barrage of texts and questions.

Amy: I don’t know for sure, but it was a Class 2 misdemeanor.

Katie: What does that mean?

Amy: He got in trouble for either aggressive driving or possession of drugs without a prescription.

Katie: OMG, you had me so worried. Who cares about either of those? Everyone from here drives aggressively, and half the student body at UVA had Adderall without a prescription.

Amy: But no one went to jail.

Katie: So, they were lucky. You need to ask him.

Amy: And say what? I had my sister snoop around online because you’re too good of a guy?

Katie: K, so we’ll need to workshop that a little before you say something.

Amy: ??

Katie: I have an idea. Let’s make this month’s True Crime Night about your case. We’ll discuss this with Brit and get her thoughts. We can help you come up with how to ask the perp.

Amy: Katie!

Katie: You know what I mean.