Chapter 3: Party

It was a Friday, two weeks before Christmas, and Joey dreaded the upcoming holidays. The year before he and Tess had been cooped up in their hospital room and they had missed the whole pre-Christmas excitement. It wasn't until they were driven to the Di Rosa estate that the fact registered in their heads that they would celebrate Christmas.

This year was different. They lived by themselves. There was no mother to bake cookies with them, no father who would complain about the size of the tree their mother picked. Uncle Vincent had invited them for Christmas day and common decency dictated that they accepted. However, they would spend the rest of the school break in their own home and largely by themselves.

They would both miss school. In class they were not alone. In class they were like any other students. Joey had asked for permission to continue some of the experiments in the biology lab, but of course it was impossible. Instead, Joey had purchased some used laboratory equipment on ebay and he was in the process of converting an upstairs kitchenette in their house into a small home lab.

That had become a bone of contention between him and Deirdre who claimed he was trying to get ahead of her. In turn he invited her to come over and work with him. He could see the conflicting emotions on her face but she had declined.

He was not sure whether to be happy about that or sad. Deirdre had built up an increasing distance between them. They did not meet outside the classes they had together and even there Deirdre was avoiding him. His efforts to be friendly were rebuffed and it became a common occurrence that she would contradict whatever he said on principle. He regretted the distance between them. In the first weeks of the school year he had come to appreciate her ambition, her knowledge, and her quick mind.

This evening he would be all by himself in their house. Tess was having a sleepover with a friend and Joey was contemplating going to a movie. He was not really looking forward to going alone. He was pleasantly surprised, therefore, when he was approached by Deborah Stevens as they stood in line in the cafeteria.

"Uh Joey, we're having an end-of-year party at our house tonight. My mom and dad are out of town. Care to come?"

Joey needed only a moment to decide. Normally he could not go to parties, not with Tess to look after. This was a rare opportunity.

"Sure, thanks. What should I bring?"

"Surprise us! Only no booze, no wine, no beer, 'kay?"

"No problem," Joey answered honestly. He had enjoyed the odd glass of beer in the past, but he could do without it. "I'm not much of a cook. Okay if I order three or four large pepperoni pizzas?"

"Sure, that'd be great. You know where I live?"

"Birch Road, right?"

"Yes, 1428, Birch Road. We start around eight. See ya."

"See ya, and thanks!" Joey answered. At least, this would give him a chance to meet some people.

After he dropped off Tess at her pajama party he drove across town to a small Italian restaurant, the Blue Grotto. They made the best pizza in town Joey thought, and he had ordered three large pepperoni in advance. As usual, Toni Minetti, the owner, handed him the pizzas in person. The Di Rosas had come to the Blue Grotto regularly and Toni chatted Joey up while he rang up the purchase.

"Hey, Joey, watcha up to? You hava da football team over?"

"No, I'm invited to a classmate's for a party. I thought I'd treat them to your famous pepperoni."

Toni handed Joey a small stack of business cards. "Here. Iffa dey ask where ya got'em from, giv'emma card."

"Will do, Toni. Give Anita a kiss from me."

"You rascal! Keepa your hands offa ma daughta. Sheesa good girl."

Still chuckling, Joey stashed the pizza boxes on the passenger seat and took off. It was a little before nine when he arrived at Deborah's home. He could tell right away that her father, klutz that he was, had to be rolling in cash. The house was huge.

Deborah was nowhere to be seen, but another girl in her clique, Mandy Something, crossed off his name from a list and waved him inside. He unloaded the pizza boxes on a large table that served as a buffet before he looked around. He knew most of the people. They were seniors from their school, plus a few select juniors.

There was a tray with glasses filled with Coke, and he helped himself to one. His eyebrows shot up in surprise. The Coke was spiked with rum. Hadn't Deborah insisted on no alcohol? Then he shrugged. If he kept to this single glass he wouldn't be in trouble.

He strolled around, greeting the fellow students he knew better. That done he decided to get a slice of pizza for himself before it became too cold. When he wiggled through the people and closer to the buffet he stopped in surprise. There was Deirdre. Then again, it wasn't her. Somebody had dolled her up. She was wearing a very tight tube top over a push up bra, with tight fitting black jeans. That wasn't so bad he had to concede. Her head was another matter. Her curly hair was hidden in a very tight bun. This showed off her ears which were glowing red, either from excitement or from too much Coke and rum. The heavy makeup on her face made her look more like a caricature, Joey thought, and from the smirks he observed on the faces of a few girls around her he knew some prank was in the making.

"Hi Deirdre," he said nonchalantly while loading a paper plate with a pizza slice.

Her ears seemed to glow in the dark when she recognized him.

"H-Hi, Joey. W-what ... I mean, I didn't know Deb invited you."

"It was a surprise, but Tess is staying with a girlfriend, so I was free."

Deirdre said nothing. Instead, she grabbed for a Coke glass and took a large gulp.

"You wanna be careful with the Coke, Deirdre," Joey advised her. "It's spiked with rum."

"So what?" she huffed, assuming the distant and aloof attitude that had been her trademark in recent weeks. "You're my boyfriend?"

Joey lifted both hands in a gesture of pacification. "Just wanted to warn you. It's your head, not mine."

He turned on his heel, leaving her standing. He wanted to have fun for a change, and he just had no stomach for her attitude. It was fortunate for him that he turned right in front of Liz Menotti, the only other Italian American in the senior class.

"Eh, Joey!" she greeted him. "Did you bring the pizza from The Blue Grotto?"

"Yes, we've known Toni Minetti for years."

"Great! I hear you unloaded your pesky sister for tonight. You hafta dance with me, Joey-boy. Show me some moves!"

She practically dragged him to another room where John Steven's designer stereo system was turned up to full blast. Joey had not danced in over a year, but Liz took the lead and soon he got his moves back. It helped that he was tall and lean. It helped that he was light on his feet. He and Liz danced for more than ten songs until the diminutive Liz pulled him off of the dance floor and over to the buffet.

They did not know it but their every move was watched by Deirdre Darling. She felt increasingly irritated when she was face to face with Joey Di Rosa and this evening was no exception. Deborah had invited her and she arrived a little early to help with the preparations. She had not quite entered the house when two of Deborah's friends shrieked at her, imploring her to let them help her find a more appropriate outfit. They had dragged Deirdre up into an upstairs bedroom, and they made her take off her less-than-exciting outfit and painted these black jeans and tube top on her body. Next they started re-doing her make-up, proclaiming that today would be the coming out of the new, improved Dee-Dee.

Intimidated and unwilling to offend her new friends, Deirdre had played along. When she became insecure one of the girls gave her Coke to drink. It tasted good, better than regular Coke, and in her excitement she emptied the glass. She did not notice the smirk that passed between her two helpers as they ushered her downstairs to join the crowd.

In spite of her new outfit she was mostly ignored. A few people smiled when they saw her, or at least that was what Deirdre perceived. Then, out of thin air Joey had appeared. She had not known he was invited and his presence threw her off. She had snapped at him for no reason at all and he had just turned his back on her. That hurt.

Then Liz Menotti appeared and dragged him off. She watched them dancing together and it made her angry. It was not a conscious anger born of a reason. The anger came from her subconscious. She felt irritation seeing Joey dance with Liz.

"Hey Deirdre!" somebody called.

She almost jumped. Turning toward the voice, she saw it was Mike Helmont, a classmate with whom she had not exchanged two words prior to this evening.

"Looking good, Deirdre," he smiled. "How you doing?"

"I ... I'm okay," Deirdre answered, not quite able to overcome her inhibitions.

"You want to dance?"

"Umh, sure, why not," Deirdre accepted.

Mike led her out on the floor and Deirdre began to dance hesitantly. She had taken ballet classes until she hit her last growth spurt at sixteen, but she had never danced to Rock music. After three or four numbers Mike led her off and towards the buffet. He gave her another glass of Coke and took one himself. Vaguely, Deirdre remembered Joey's warning about the Coke being spiked but she shrugged it off. Fuck him! She took a large gulp and then another. In no time at all she emptied the glass.

Quickly, Mike replaced her glass with a fresh one. Sipping their Cokes they strolled to an empty sofa and sat. Deirdre was beginning to feel the alcohol and Mike talked to her all the time. He talked of other students, his own football fame (he was a mere bench dweller with their school's varsity team), and of music (Country Rock). Already inebriated, Deirdre had trouble following his monologue.

She kept sipping the Coke, and after a while her head felt like it was packed in cotton wool. Mike kept talking, but Deirdre's response became less and less. Then somebody else sat on her other side and Deirdre recognized Mike's friend, Paul Burrows. He brought three fresh glasses, one for each of them, and Deirdre thought that his smile looked insincere. Nevertheless, she took the glass offered and sipped bravely.

She found herself laughing at some joke Mike (or Paul?) made about her tight jeans and wondered what was so funny.

"I need to go to sse bashroom," she declared in a lull. She tried to stand but fell back to the sofa.

"Whoa, Deirdre, let's help you. Wow, look at the lines! Deb said there's another bathroom upstairs. Let's get you up."

Assisted by Mike and Paul, Deirdre attacked the stairs to the second floor. They marched her up and then along a corridor. Just then a door opened. A guy came out and Deirdre recognized him. "Hey, Joey, wassup?" she managed to slur.

She saw bathroom fixtures behind him and wanted to go in there herself, but Mike and Paul steered her along the corridor.

"Hey, ssat's sse bashroom," she giggled. "I wanna peeee!"

"Quiet," Mike hissed. "We'll show you to another bathroom."

"What the fuck are you two up to?" a sharp voice pierced Deirdre's ears.

Joey had danced with Liz for more songs and then they chatted. She was cute as a button and fun all around. He snagged a bottle of untainted Coke from the fridge and they sat talking. After a while and with a rueful smile, Liz confessed that she was going steady. He was a college student and he would be home for the holidays in a week. Joey was slightly disappointed but he tried not to show it.

When their conversation hit a lull, though, he excused himself and went to look for a bathroom. He had to stand in line until Deborah came along.

"Hey Joey, having fun?"

Joey smiled. "Yeah, I got to talk to Liz. She's fun."

A worried look came over Deborah's face. "You do know that... ?"

"Yeah, it's cool. She wasn't leading me on or something. No really, I'm having fun."

"Great! Oh, you can also use the bathroom upstairs. It's up and the first door on the left."

She glided on and Joey decided to take her up on the offer of using the upstairs bathroom. Like the rest of the house it was plush. Joey had seen wealth in his great-uncle's house. The Stevens' house was going one step further or maybe one too far. Real porcelain soap dispensers, a toilet seat with gold inlay work, heavy terrycloth guest towels: all this was a little too much for Joey's taste.