Two

WE LEFT THE GALA a little after nine and the limo drove us to an over-eighteen club near the University of Washington. The music was good with a popular local DJ spinning the tunes. No alcohol was served so the club could handle underage partiers. All the way there, Melody and I were trying to reach Lissa to see how the kids were doing and if we were needed. I was pretty much ready to ditch everyone and just catch a cab to the hospital. It was driving me crazy, not knowing what was going on.

“Maybe we should just go over there,” I said to Melody. “God, I hate not knowing how Damon and Drew are or what’s wrong. Why did they have to take them to the emergency room?”

“Oh, lighten up, Tony,” Bree broke in. “We’re supposed to be partying. They’re not your kids, after all.”

“You’re really a bitch, you know, Bree?” I shot back at her. “I’m not interested in listening to you put down the people I love. Shape up your attitude or go home.”

“Listen, you little prick. I’ve been playing the game and waiting my turn. If you’re not interested in me, maybe I should tell the athletic director a little more about your lifestyle and parties. I’m sure he’ll be interested in the new talent’s ability to represent SCU.”

“Listen to yourself, Bree! Jesus. The man is your father. He’s the athletic director, not your pimp.” That earned me a slap across the face, and it stung.

“Bree!” Sonia yelled. She grabbed her friend by the arm and dragged her away from me mouthing something at me over her head that I couldn’t understand. At least she was gone. My face hurt.

“Really, Dude?” Thor said to me. Shit. Was he going to get on my case now, too? “That was awesome. Somebody’s needed to take her down a peg for a long time. Welcome to SCU.”

“Thanks, I think,” I said. Melody reached up and kissed my cheek.

“I’m not doing anything tonight to ruin our night with friends,” Melody whispered. “But next time I’m alone with her, I’m going to kick her freckled ass into the next county.”

“I’m not justifying her or anything,” Thor said, “but I think she might be on something. She’s not acting normal, even for Bree. She’s a pushy slut, but she’s not usually that crass. Something must have set her off.”

“She’s just realized what different worlds we live in,” Amy offered. “Aside from her being hot for Tony, we’re probably as much to blame as her about polarizing things. She’s an athlete and we’re artists. This was the first time she saw what Tony’s art world really looks like. Sunday it was just a guy partying with a bunch of naked girls. She’s trying to get him back there.”

“Wow! Are you studying psychology, Amy?” I laughed. It was good to have friends around me, especially when I was feeling bad about causing a scene. I knew she didn’t mean anything.

“You need to add a ‘u-s’ in that word and then you’ve got it right.” I wasn’t getting it and looked at her strangely, I guess. “Pussychology,” Amy laughed. “I’m making a career of analyzing as many of them as I can.”

We all laughed and I was thankful that Amy was there and that we were mostly all friends. We were finally at the head of the line to get in and Sonia and Bree returned to stand opposite Thor from us. Bree refused to look in our direction, but her mascara had run and there was a black streak on her cheek. I gave Melody a squeeze, took a deep breath, and walked over to Bree.

“I’m sorry I snapped at you, Bree,” I said. “I can’t blame you for not understanding a weird situation.” I reached up with my handkerchief and wiped the smudge off her face. She looked at me and her lower lip started to quiver, but she kept the tears back. “Friends?”

“Thank you,” she said softly. She reached up and patted my cheek where she’d hit me. “Sorry I can’t wipe that off.”

Well, that was as good as it was going to get for tonight. We got into the club, got sodas, and danced. I could see that we weren’t really an integrated group any more. Amy joined Bree, Sonia, and Thor on the dance floor and the four seemed to trade partners regularly if partners were called for. Most of the time, it was just everyone dancing together. Amy was working hard at comforting Bree. Hmmm. Was Sonia intentionally trying to get between them?

Melody, Allison, Kate, and Sandra were with me. Kate looked like she was in heaven when she was dancing with Melody or with me. In fact, neither Melody nor I missed exactly how heavenly she looked. There might have been just a little more touching and brushing against each other than the dances called for. But she looked like she was near heaven even when she danced with Sandra and Allison. It was nice to see her having fun.

Melody and I checked our phones every few minutes for messages. Between the pounding bass of the music and the crowd noise in the room, it would be impossible to either hear our phones or feel them vibrate. At midnight, we called an end to our little prom and asked our limo driver to take us the long way home, whatever that was. We had an hour left on the rental and were determined to use it all.

It was bittersweet. My freshman year was over. Classmates that I’d met just nine months ago were now my lover and friends. I had another lover sitting with her ex-husband and two kids in a hospital. A cute student from Kansas had become a close friend. Two cheerleaders and a Norse god were friends from a new school. It was hard to remember why I’d been so depressed just a few weeks ago.

Sonia would be returning home to LA. Her plan was to spend the summer in the surf as she had done for the past several years. Thor was planning to visit his parents and then join Sonia. We were, of course, all invited to come down to visit.

Bree was staying put. She’d sobered up and was quiet in the car, but said she usually helped her dad during the summer when he went out to recruit athletes who had not yet committed. Most of it would be in the Northwest because SCU simply wasn’t big enough to draw athletes from further away. Being a Division III school wasn’t much to brag about, but the program was growing and she was determined to do her part.

“And no, I don’t recruit athletes by fucking them,” Bree said. “We just talk and, if they come to visit, then they know someone who will show them around. I’m not always a slut.” Melody was still pretty pissed at her, but even she tried to be enthusiastic about Bree’s job.

Chapter 3 »