Chapter 4

Lacey woke up in mid-morning drenched in sweat and feeling rather gross. She’d forgotten how lousy the air conditioning was at Summer Lake. She lit a cigarette and took her first smoke of the day. She knew she should go outside, Abby was being a pretty good roommate so far, but Lacey was naked under the covers and felt lazy. She’d felt so sorry for herself the night before, being the only one in the group without an apparent partner, she wondered if it had sucked her will to live. Previously she’d have wanted to get laid to make herself feel better, but now she didn’t know what she wanted.

“What’s that smell?” Abby’s hoarse voice said from above. They’d kept the bunk beds and it felt like summer camp.

“Oh, sorry,” Lacey said, “I’ll put it out.”

“It’s okay,” Abby said, “I was just confused. Too bad I can’t smoke.”

“Miss Serious Athlete,” Lacey said. It was pretty easy to joke around with Abby. She liked that.

“You know it,” the redheaded girl said.

“Are you really gonna be in the Olympics?”

“I’m gonna try,” Abby said, “Probably not, but you’ve gotta try, you know? Aim for the stars, you might hit the moon.”

Lacey laughed. “I’m not aiming for anything.”

“That’s your problem then, gotta aim for something.”

Lacey sighed and took a long drag of her cigarette. “I guess you think I’m trashy ... smoking cigs, no goals in life, hooking up with boys...”

“You’re nice to me,” Abby said, “I think you’re a good person, Lacey Larue. Most girls are awful to me. They call me Raggedy Ann and hate my guts.”

“Well you’re nice to me too,” Lacey said. “Did you have a Raggedy Ann doll as a kid?”

“Nah, just Cabbage Patch kids,” Abby said.

“Me too! God whatever happened to those things? They were the hottest shit when I was ten, like, if you didn’t have one you might as well be dead.”

Abby laughed. “Yeah totally, I got caught up in the craze. I made my mom take me to a toy store to wait hours for a shipment we heard was coming, and I finally got a doll and this adult woman grabbed the box out of my hands, and my mom fought her right there in the store. Wow, now I’m the one that sounds trashy, but we got that doll.”

Lacey laughed. “Sounds like something my family would do. Your mom’s pretty cool then?”

“Not really,” Abby said, “I mean maybe she was alright then but she’s a hopeless drunk now. She’s in jail. I don’t wanna talk about her.”

“Okay,” Lacey said, putting out her cigarette. “We really do have similar families. Half my relatives have been to jail. I haven’t been yet. But I did shoplift my Cabbage Patch Kid.”

She put out her cigarette and climbed down from the top bunk naked as a jaybird. Abby averted her eyes awkwardly.

“Wait, weren’t you ten?”

“Yeah,” Lacey said, “We start young in the Larue family.”

Abby laughed. Lacey walked naked to her dresser and stepped into her underwear.

“So what are you doing today?” Abby asked.

“Work. Gotta make some dollar bills,” Lacey said.

“Me too,” Abby said. “Lacey, um, I’m glad we’re friends. I’ve never had a good female friend.”

Lacey blushed. She hadn’t really either, most girls thought she was a slut and hated her. “No shit? Well, you and your friends are total dweebs, but you know what? You’re the first people who’ve treated me alright at Summer Lake.”

Abby was on her side now, still under her sheets, looking out at Lacey as they talked.

“Well now let’s not turn this into a lezzy love-fest, I’m straight anyway,” Lacey teased, and Abby gave her the middle finger, but was smiling. “Are you gonna get with Nick?”

“I dunno,” Abby said, “I guess. At least I can beat him up if he gets fresh.”

Lacey cackled as she gathered up her dress uniform to start getting ready for work.

“Why’s it so hot in here?” Abby said, sitting up now, touching her pajamas in disgust, “I’m all sweaty and gross.”

“Welcome to Summer Lake, hun,” Abby said, “Anyway I gotta go work some fancy banquet. Time to start another lovely day!”

Eric lay on his bed late Saturday morning wearing just his boxer shorts. Nick was fluttering around the room getting dressed already. Eric had just woken up and thrown his covers off, finding himself drenched in sweat.

“What the hell?” Eric said, “It’s burning up in here.”

“Air conditioning seems to be on the fritz,” Nick said.

“Great,” Eric said, “For the whole resort?”

“Nah just for us of course,” Nick said, “The way the electrical is set up when there’s a full draw upstairs, it cuts off the unit that’s for the staff level first.”

That made sense to Eric, it was an older building, and supposedly every single room was booked upstairs for Memorial Day weekend.

“Well that sucks,” he said, “It’s my day off.”

Nick shrugged. “Welcome to Summer Lake,” he said, “It’s not even hot today, just without the AC it gets all stuffy in here since it’s a massive building.”

“Where are you off to?” Eric asked.

“There’s a luncheon for kicking off the summer season,” Nick said, “The most loyal guests all come for opening weekend. I guess it’s like an event to thank them for coming back or something. It’s a big deal around here. Anyway, I gotta do the sound.”

“One good thing about landscaping, they don’t want us working much on the weekends when all the guests are here,” Eric said, relaxing on his bed, his arms under his head, big hairy underarms and chest exposed.

“Make yourself at home, huh?” Nick said sarcastically.

“Don’t mind if I do,” Eric said, reaching over and pointing the room’s pedestal fan at his big body. He and Nick were like that old movie his grandfather liked, The Odd Couple. Nick was so neat and orderly, always fully dressed, hated bad smells and messy behavior, and Eric was just about the opposite. Despite that, they seemed to get along despite Nick’s whining.

“Thanks for coming to the concert and helping out last night,” Nick said eventually.

“No problem,” Eric said, “I’ve been enjoying listening to my cassettes on your sound system when you aren’t here.”

“Oh dear god,” Nick said sarcastically, “Don’t tell me you’re defiling my speakers with MC Hammer. That’s not even real rap music.”

“Whatever man, it’s fun to listen to,” Eric said, used to his roommate’s music snobbery by now. “What is real rap music then?”

“Public Enemy, but mostly because they have the balls to go political on MTV,” Nick said, “There’s lots of solid underground stuff, and NWA is good. But here’s one you might actually like.” He put on I Left My Wallet in El Segundo, the new song by A Tribe Called Quest. The lyrics told a ridiculous but funny story about a guy whose mom won a cruise so he took her car on a road trip and lost his wallet, and then there was something about a four foot tall guy in a sombrero ... usually Nick’s stuff was so pretentious but this song was funny.

“Hey I like this, but not as much as MC Hammer,” Eric said, and Nick sighed. He let the song keep playing in the background.

“So um, you and my sister...” Nick said.

Eric remembered now that they’d cuddled up at the concert the night before. “Yeah,” he said with a goofy grin, “Are you okay with that?”

“I guess,” Nick said, “I mean if you really want to saddle yourself with Esmie Sanchez. She’ll have you bowing and scraping all summer.”

“I don’t mind,” Eric said with the same grin. Being bigger than just about any other guy at Summer Lake, it had a way of making Eric feel comfortable saying his true thoughts and not being a poser. “A girl like that deserves it.”

“You’re so weird man,” his roommate said, “But to each his own I guess. You know um, you have to treat her right. She’s um, never had a boyfriend. And she doesn’t want to go very fast at all.”

“Oh, I know,” Eric said awkwardly.

“Obviously you can kick my ass physically,” Nick said, “But I have other ways of getting revenge if you hurt her. I know where you sleep, remember. Do you know what a guy like me is capable of with Nair, chicken feathers and superglue?”

Eric laughed hard, not offended by the threat since it was a brother defending his sister’s honor, the same as he’d do for Abby. “Okay dude, you don’t have to worry about a thing with me and your sister.”

“I believe you,” he said, “But you know, I’m her brother and all. I’ve gotta say this kind of stuff.”

“That’s cool, I feel the same way,” Eric said, “If you hurt Abby ... well, she’ll kick your ass herself, but then you’ll have to deal with me when she’s done with you.”

Nick laughed too. “You’re probably right,” he said. “She actually let me hold her at the concert last night.”

“So did Esmie,” Eric said. “It’s so cool that we’re gonna be dating each other’s sisters maybe. If Esmie says yes.”

“And Abby,” Nick said. “God I’m glad you’re as big of a dolt as me with women.”

“Hey who says I’m a dolt?” Eric asked.

“Well it’s obvious, you’re all fawning over her but can’t figure out how to just ask her out like one of these suave lifeguard type guys already would have done,” Nick said, “If they even bothered to date girls. But they can get laid without dating so they don’t bother.”

“Well I’ll never be like that,” Eric said, “And wouldn’t want to be.”

There was a knock at the door. Nick was fussing with his dress shirt that he had to wear for this sort of event, so Eric hopped to his feet and went over. He didn’t give much thought to his appearance and was still just wearing his white boxer shorts when he opened the door to see Esmie standing there in her concession stand uniform.

“Oh, sorry!” he said, “I was expecting my sister!”

“You greet her like that?” Esmie said with an impish grin.

“No, I er,” Eric stammered, embarrassed to death to be wearing just his boxers in front of this beautiful girl.

“Put some clothes on,” she said, walking into the room. “Hello, Nick. Off to work?”

“Eventually,” Nick said, sitting on his bed. Eric hurriedly put on sweatpants and a white T-shirt. “Did you come to see me, or Eric?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” she said with an obnoxious inflection, then added more sincerely, “Both, I guess.”

Eric sat on his bed and Esmie sat on Nick’s, which was of course neatly made already. Nick’s tape ended by then, so she said “Put on some music, Eric. Not my brother’s pretentious crap.”

Eric smiled and put on the radio to a pop station playing Like a Prayer by Madonna and left it. “This ought to annoy your brother,” he said, and Nick gave them the middle finger. He was putting on his shoes now.

“Oh I love this song, good choice Eric,” she said, then began to sing on key, “When you call my name, it’s like a little prayer. Down on my knees, I wanna take you there.”

“Whoa you’re a good singer,” Eric said sincerely. Esmie’s voice seemed so magical.

“Too bad the song’s an abortion,” Nick said cynically, “That’s the real reason why the Catholic Church was so mad at her.”

“I like Madonna,” Eric said, mostly to annoy his roommate as the song played on.

“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Nick growled, “Don’t you have to go to work, Esmie?”

“Not for an hour, relax,” she giggled, then said to Eric, “Listening to popular music literally raises his blood pressure 20 points, see how agitated he is?”

Eric laughed. “Abby’s the same way,” he said, “Thanks for coming to see me before work Esmie. I have the day off...”

“Lucky,” she said, “Although I guess you make up for it all week doing that sweaty landscaping work.”

“Yeah,” he said.

“Okay you two,” Nick said, standing by the door now, fully dressed, “Can I leave you alone?”

“Yes, Dad,” Esmie said with extreme annoyance.

“Uh, we could leave the door open,” Eric said awkwardly.

“Not like anyone here but me would try to stop things,” Nick said with a sigh. “But I guess I gotta go. Just don’t ... uh...”

“Nick, just go!” Esmie hissed at him, and her brother slid out, closing the door behind himself. “Sorry about him.”

Eric shrugged. “He’s just being a good brother,” he said, “He cares about you, huh?”

“Oh, very much,” Esmie said. “We have it uh, not so great back in Alabama. Especially him, since he’s a dork on top of being a Mexican, people are not very nice to us. But he looks out for me, like, when I’m getting it rough, he’s all sweet. And he makes sure I get good grades.”

“That’s cool,” Eric said, “Abby’s kinda the same with me. She’s the smarter one of us. But she brings out the worst in people so I have to fight guys who mess with her sometimes. But I don’t mind that one bit.”

“Awww and you’d fight guys who mess with me too, Eric?”

“Of course,” he said instantly.

“So are we going out then?” she asked casually.

“W-what?” Eric asked, stiffening his back and feeling the blood rush to his head.

“It’s a simple question,” she teased.

“I mean, um,” Eric said, fumbling for words, “The guy’s supposed to be the one who asks. But I’ve never had a real girlfriend. I mean I went out with a girl in middle school for a week and Abby got all mad, but me and the girl never even did anything except kiss in the school hallway once, but then she dumped me in a week and...”

“Eric, you’re rambling!” Esmie said impatiently, “Don’t leave a girl in suspense. Do you want to be my boyfriend or not?”

“Y-yeah,” Eric said, with that goofy grin. The guy really was supposed to ask the girl out, but what could he do? Esmie knew what she wanted and he found that intoxicating.

“Good, I want to be your girlfriend,” Esmie said sweetly. “See? It doesn’t have to be all complicated. Just answer me when I ask you questions.”

“Okay,” Eric said, already finding it relaxing to let Esmie take the lead. He had no idea what he was doing anyway, so why not let her since she seemed to know?

“Abby’s not gonna be mad now though, is she?”

“No,” Eric said, “I mean, in that case in middle school she thought the girl was a bitch. And Abby was not as uh, mature as she is now. We used to be a bit overly dependent on each other, and she was freaked out that I had a girlfriend.”

“Oh, okay,” Esmie said, “That’s kind of sweet, but I’m glad she’s not so dependent now.”

“I’ll still keep an eye on her, but...” he went silent as she scooted right next to him, their thighs touching.

“Kiss me, Eric,” she said softly.

“Your wish is my command,” Eric said, getting into the mood of it now. He leaned over quite a bit to reach her and then they were kissing. Her lips were soft, she smelled like strawberries. She was such a girl and he loved it. She let the kiss linger then slowly pushed him back.

“Mmmmm my boyfriend,” she said, putting her arm around him.

“My girlfriend,” Eric said with delight.

“Ewww you’re sweating!” she said.

“Uhh sorry, the stupid AC is out,” he said.

“Well fix it!” she said impulsively.

“Yes ma’am!” he said, hopping up, even though it was a ridiculous request since the air conditioning for a place like the resort was industrial in scope. “Uhhh, except I can’t, sorry.” She laughed and took his hand.

“Mmmmm, well, you might just make a decent boyfriend, Eric,” she said. “I have to get to work ... will you pick me up at seven when I’m off?”

“Of course, Esmie!”

He walked her to do the door and she let him kiss her one more time, then he watched her walk down the hall. He had half a mind to follow her to work to make sure nobody messed with her. Esmie was his girlfriend now. He couldn’t believe how fast it happened, but then again it was summer, lots of people “hooked up”, sometimes way more casually than this. They obviously liked each other, why shouldn’t they be going out? Still, he felt like the luckiest man alive.

Nick made his way to the grand ballroom through the main lobby, which was already crawling with old people. The ballroom room had a red and gold carpet, mahogany panel walls and a 20-foot high coffered ceiling with dozens of gaudy chandeliers lighting the vast space. Nick thought it managed to look opulent and tacky at the same time, so it was a perfect fit for Summer Lake. The temperature was good in here. Whatever the building’s air conditioning problem was, it was conveniently confined to the staff level, of course.

It was 11 and the event began at noon. The serving staff was still putting on the tablecloths, arranging the silverware and all of that stuff which took quite a while when they were preparing to serve 500 guests. Nick went into the equipment closet and began turning on the old sound system. He took his time, checking to make sure that nobody had messed with his configuration, which was a distinct possibility at Summer Lake. People in the front office were always thinking they knew better than lowly employees, and the equipment was so old and finicky that any changes were liable to mess up the whole works. It was the whole reason they’d brought him on as an engineer, but the Ballards had an odd passion for messing up their own carefully laid plans by meddling needlessly.

Looking at all the equipment reminded him of the outdoor show last night, sitting with his friends behind the console during the brass band concert. Such lame music, but he’d had a great evening. He had friends now. Even better, he had Abby. She’d let him hold her when the cold winds came across the lake. A girl had let him hold her, and not just any girl. The most amazing girl, who climbed into the heavens on a flimsy metal tower like it was nothing at all just to do him a favor. A beautiful girl, a smart girl. Abby Frank. Nick felt like he was the girl in the relationship, pining away for her like this. When he’d held her, he had been the cold one. She hadn’t even shivered when the crisp winds came off the lake.

“Hey are you jerking off on the job?” Nick jumped when he heard the voice, hitting his head on the console he was under. He looked to the closet door to see Lacey Larue dressed in the black slacks and white blouse that were the banquet server uniform. While she nominally worked at the restaurant, Nick knew the weekend events drew their staff from other places in the hotel, usually workers looking to pick up some extra money. Everyone here just worked for the resort in the end, so swinging over to another department was no big deal.

“Oh, hi Lacey,” he said, “I was actually daydreaming about last night.”

“Oh, so you were jerking off,” she teased.

“Shut up,” he said, but was in far too good of a mood to actually be offended. “Uh, did you need something?”

He’d thought of Lacey as little more than a pretty girl who didn’t want anything to do with him the previous summer, although if he thought about it, they’d never really interacted. He was aware of her reputation as a slut and hadn’t gone out of his way to talk to her. But Lacey and Abby were roommates and friends, and he didn’t see anything particularly bad about her now that they seemed to be in the same social group. Sure, she liked to joke around, but it wasn’t in a mean way. Unlike most people on staff she didn’t seem to care that he was Mexican.