Chapter 16: Confession

"Warren, heads up!"

Warren took the pass, looked up, and went over his opponent to put the ball in the hoop.

"Nice pass, Rick."

"Of course."

The party at the Kenney's was just getting started, and a group of them had taken over the basketball court for a little three-on-three. Warren was teamed up with Rick Kenney and their neighbor Jack Houle, while the opposing threesome were the brothers Kittredge, Matt and Kevin, and Rick Kenney's best friend, Darren Volauskas.

Mo was holding court at the picnic table with Cheryl and Christine. Mo and Rick's sister, Tina, was there with her best friend Kate Rinelli. Lisa Nevin, who lived next door to Warren, was sitting in a lounge chatting with Len Gallagher, who lived next door to the Kenney's. More people were on their way.

Matt lobbed a pass to Darren. He went up for a shot, and Warren swatted it away. Rick corralled it.

"Damn," said Darren. "Since when did you become a shot blocker?"

"Just lucky, I guess," grinned Warren.

Rick brought the ball back in-they were playing half-court-and passed it into Warren. Warren was covered by Darren, so he made a nifty bounce-pass to Jack, who laid the ball in.

Just then, the gate to the yard opened, and in entered..."CRASH!" as everyone yelled it at once.

He was accompanied by Alison.

"Damn, I feel like Norm on Cheers," Crash grinned. "Oh, look, HOOPS!"

"Go in for me," Warren offered. "I need a breather."

Warren went over to the picnic table, where Alison was saying hello to everyone. "Yo, Ally, what's up?" greeted Warren as he sat next to her.

"Hiya, Studley." Alison teased. "How's the love life?"

"Couldn't be better."

"Yeah, if you like sluts," Cheryl whispered. Warren heard her but ignored it.

"I heard," Alison continued. "I'm glad. You happy?"

"Delirious."

"Good. She coming here tonight?"

"Yup. Should be here any minute."

"WHAT?" Cheryl was incredulous. "Sophia Daniels is coming here?"

"I told Warren to invite her," Mo said quietly.

"WHAT? Mo, you are nuts." Cheryl was beside herself. "You're letting her in your yard?"

"Yeah, well, she lets you in, so obviously the standards aren't all that high," quipped Warren.

"Shut up. Mo, what were you thinking?"

"She's Warren's girlfriend. Warren is my friend. Everybody is always welcome to bring friends, and especially boyfriends or girlfriends to my parties. You know that."

"Oh, yeah?" Christine interjected. "You weren't all that open-minded about the little slut when we were talking about her at lunch the other day."

"What?" asked Warren.

Mo looked embarrassed. "Yes, Warren, I confess. We were discussing your girlfriend at lunch the other day, and I said some things that weren't very nice. We all did." Mo looked at Cheryl and Christine. "I found out later that she heard every word."

"Dammit, Mo!" exclaimed Warren.

"I know, I know. Sorry, Warren, but she does have a reputation, and it's not a good one."

"I would think that a friend of mine, which you are supposed to be, would cut my girlfriend a bit of slack, reputation be damned."

"That's what she said. Although she was nicer about it." Mo smiled. "She grabbed me at lunch the next day. Told me that she really loved you, that I shouldn't be worried, and that she's not using you."

"She's not."

"OK. And she was right-she's your girlfriend, you are one of my best friends, I should cut you guys some slack. That's why I told you to invite her. It was a nice conversation. I may have misjudged her-I'm willing to find out."

"Thanks, Mo," Warren said.

"Oh, yeah, thanks a whole hell of a fucking lot, Mo." Christine interjected.

"My party. My invites," said Mo quietly.

Meanwhile, a car had pulled up out front. Sophia got out and looked around hesitantly. A woman who was out getting something out of the car saw her.

"Can I help you, dear?"

"Is this the Kenney residence."

"Yes it is. I'm Sharon Kenney. Can I help you?"

"Hi. I'm Sophia Daniels. I was looking for Warren Kelleher."

Mrs. Kenney smiled. "Sure, dear, follow me. I'll show you where they are. Are you a friend of Warren's?"

Sophia smiled. "His girlfriend, actually."

Mrs. Kenney smiled in surprise. "Really? I didn't know Warren had a girlfriend. That's wonderful, he's such a nice guy."

"He certainly is."

Mrs. Kenney led Sophia into the yard, and over to the picnic table.

"Hey, look, Juliet found the place!" Warren exclaimed.

"I sure did, Romeo," Sophia laughed. They shared a kiss. "Hi, Maureen." Sophia said.

"Romeo? Juliet? I think I'm gonna be sick," Cheryl whispered to Chris.

"Hi, Sophia," smiled Mo. "I'm glad you came."

"Hey, Ally!" Sophia exclaimed. "Where's Crash?" Ally laughed and pointed towards the basketball court.

"Hiya, Crash!" Sophia shouted.

"Hey, gorgeous, where you been all my life?" shouted Crash. Sophia just giggled, while both Ally and Warren mock-glared at Crash, who faked an innocent look.

"Whozzat?" asked Rick." I thought Ally was your girlfriend?"

Crash laughed. "I'm just kidding. Ally is my girlfriend. That stunning creature is Sophia-Warren's girlfriend."

"You're kidding," said Jack.

"Nope."

The basketball game came to a halt, as the guys looked at Sophia. "Hey, Warren!" Matt shouted. "You didn't tell us your girlfriend was a complete, total, knockout!"

Warren laughed, as Sophia blushed. "Now you know."

"You're a lucky guy," shouted Jack. Sophia just blushed even deeper, as Chris whispered to Cheryl, "Just wait, Jack, you could get lucky with her, too."

"Why aren't you playing?" Sophia asked Warren.

"I was. Then Crash came in, and I needed to take a breather. Now if I go in, the sides will be unequal."

"Let's both go in."

"You play?"

"Used to. I was always pretty good."

"Let's go." They joined in, Warren with Rick's team like he was before and Sophia with the other team, over the protests of those guys. "How could can she be? She's a girl!" They quickly found out that she wasn't too bad at all. She could shoot, and at one point she picked Crash's pocket, turned around, and fired in a three-pointer.

"Jesus Christ, getting my pocket picked by a girl."

"Serves you guys right. How good can she be, she's a girl, my ass." Sophia teased

"Just tickle her next time." Warren advised.

"Yeah, right. You'd kill me. Ally would really kill me."

Warren laughed. "Too true."

Sophia had the ball, and tried to go up for a lay-up, but Warren was guarding the basket. He tried to hold his ground as Sophia slammed into him, but he went down in a heap, with Sophia on top of him. Sophia looked at him, and, instead of getting off of him, snuggled into his chest.

Crash cracked up. "You guys all right?"

"Yeah," Warren said, while Sophia laughed.

"OK!" said Rick, as he stood over them, making some sort of mock-referee motions with his hands. "That'll be a technical foul for MOLESTATION! Two shots for the lucky guy on the bottom of the pile." Everybody cracked up at that.

The girls at the picnic table were watching this. "Jesus, how disgusting," Cheryl was saying. Christine nodded agreement. "Why doesn't the little slut just boink him right there on the court?"

Ally overheard this one. "Y'know what?" she said. "I don't usually say anything out of respect to Mo, but, Cheryl, you've always been a nasty little shrew."

"Who cares what you think?"

"You don't care what anybody thinks, except your robotic little buddy over there," Ally spat out disgustedly, pointing at Christine. "You don't care about Warren. You don't care that Mo and Warren are friends, and that Warren and Sophia truly love each other, and that Mo-since she's Warren's friend-is trying to make this whole thing easier for them. You don't care about any of that. All you care about is how many nasty digs you can get in. And you're supposed to be friends with Mo, and you don't care about what an uncomfortable position you're putting Mo in-Mo's too damn nice to say anything, but it's certainly plain to me that you've put her between a rock and a hard place."

"Yeah, well, Mo knew how we felt about that slut when she invited her here."

"Maybe," Mo finally spoke up, "but I mistakenly thought you'd have a little class about it."

Cheryl sputtered, and started to say something, but the basketball game was breaking up, and the players, including Warren and Sophia, were making their way back to the picnic table.

"Whew!" Sophia exclaimed. Warren handed her a Coke. "Thanks, dear heart. I needed this." She took a sip. "Oy. I can't remember the last time I worked up such a sweat."

Warren got a gleam in his eye. "This morning, with me."

"Oh yeah!"

"That's disgusting! Do we have to hear the details of your little sex life?" Cheryl spat out.

Sophia cracked up. Warren just looked at her blankly, and said, "Actually, I was talking about ice skating."

Cheryl stared blankly. "What?"

"Ice skating. We're skating together, and we did so this morning. Sophia used to be an ice dancer, and since I was always a singles skater with crummy jumps, she persuaded me to take up ice dance, and to take it up with her. And we were working hard today, and worked up a sweat."

"Yeah," Sophia agreed, "but it's a lot easier to make that sweat go away when you're working in a cold ice rink."

Mo smiled at them. "So you guys are skating together? That's really cool."

Sophia smiled back. "Yeah, I really missed it. I hadn't skated in a couple years. Luckily, I didn't forget much. We're going to use the next year to train and stuff, and, a year from September, we're planning on competing, see how we do."

"Excellent!" added Ally.

"We gonna see you in the Olympics some day?" asked Crash.

Warren laughed. "Well, anything's possible, but most skaters that get that far train a hell of a lot more than we have the time to do. Considering we just started skating together, however, it's gone swimmingly well."

"How cozy," spat out Cheryl. "How positively cozy. So Sophia has limited getting her body all sweaty to the confines of ice rinks?"

Sophia just laughed at her. "Not hardly. There's basketball courts, too." She smiled at Warren. "And a few other places I can think of."

"I thought I said we didn't need to hear details about your sex life, slut." Cheryl said.

Sophia stopped laughing, and looked down. Ally looked like she was going to slap Cheryl, but Warren took over: "Geez, Cheryl, I think we should give you all the details. You could take notes. And then you'd have a reference, just for the odd chance that someday you might find a guy stupid and or desperate enough to give you a sex life that doesn't involve your right hand and a cucumber!"

Mo got all wide-eyed, and said, "Warren!" but there was a slight smile on her lips. Crash and Ally fell on the floor laughing, as Sophia looked at Warren with a huge smile. Cheryl was, of course, indignant. "I don't have to sit here and take this from you!"

"Good," Warren said. "Don't sit there. Scram. Good bye. Do Svidanya. Don't let the fucking door hit you in the ass on the way out. On second thought, do let the fucking door hit you in the ass on the way out."

Cheryl sat up straight. "You cannot tell me to leave. I am Mo's friend. I was invited here."

"Yup. I was, too. And so was Sophia, who has sat there and taken your abuse-and we've heard every word of it-and not said a thing. And she wouldn't, out of respect for Mo. Something you apparently have none of. Come on, Soph, let's leave these two hyenas to their cages." They got up off the picnic table and wandered over to the chairs on the grass, finding Lisa, Len, Tina, and Kate holding court. There were a few chairs left, but Sophia and Warren grabbed a seat on the grass. Crash, Ally, and most of the crew from the basketball game joined them. Cheryl and Chris were left alone at the picnic table, along with Mo, who really was caught between a rock and a hard place.