Secrets & Lies: Two Short Stories(2)

B just grunted.

“I actually think that sounds awesome,” I said.

“Of course you do,” B muttered.

“The party’s tonight at eight. I figure we can go out to dinner first? Then maybe change at my house?”

“Sounds good to me.” I looked over my shoulder. “B… you in?”

She sighed. “If I have to be.”

“Great!” Jess exclaimed. “Then it’s settled. Tonight we’re going to par-tay!”

***

The party got boring fast.

Half an hour in, and I found myself sitting on the kitchen counter, drinking a beer and watching a few drunk boys play an impromptu game of hacky sack that was sure to end in disaster. Jess had run off, chasing Harrison Carlyle, who still preferred boys. The girl would never learn. I’d spent some time with B and Wesley after that, but I was starting to feel a little like a third wheel. At first it had been okay, chatting with some people from high school. But with most of them, I just realized why I hadn’t bothered to keep in touch over the past few months.

It was weird. Six months ago this party would have been the best thing ever. But now it just sort of felt like a rerun of my life. And reruns are the worst.

I finished my beer and skirted around the hacky-sack boys, heading for the cooler on the other side of the kitchen. I bent down and dug through the ice, looking for another can.

“Would you mind grabbing me one, too?” someone behind me asked.

“Yeah, sure. Just a second.” I found two cans of beer and straightened. “Here you go—OMG, hi.”

Toby laughed. “Hello, Casey.”

“I… wasn’t expecting to see you here,” I admitted. “You kind of surprised me.”

I hadn’t seen Toby Tucker since he gave the valedictorian speech at graduation back in May. He mostly looked the same—the same glasses, the same out-of-place-looking blazer. But he had a much better haircut now. Still, he didn’t look like the kind of guy you saw at a house party.

Toby dated B for a very short time senior year. I’d been really disappointed when they broke up, actually, because he was such a great guy. After graduation, he’d gone off to Harvard, and everyone just sort of assumed he’d be running for president one day.

“How are you?” I asked. “How’s school?”

“Pretty good,” he said. “Challenging, but that’s not a bad thing. And you?”

“It’s cool. Way cooler than high school.”

Toby nodded. Then, somewhat awkwardly, he asked, “Um… can I have my beer now?”

I looked at the can in my hand. “Oh, right. Here.” I handed it to him, shaking my head. “Toby Tucker drinks. Not gonna lie, it kind of weirds me out.”

“Only occasionally,” he said, popping the top. “And when I have a designated driver, of course.”

“Careful there. You sound a little like a PSA,” I teased. “So who’s your DD? Did you bring a girlfriend home from the Ivy League?”

“No, no. My DD is Jeanine McPhee. Her parents bought the house next to my parents’ so it’s just sort of convenient. And she never drinks at all, so it just worked out well that way.”

“Oh, Jeanine. I should probably say hi to her or something.”

“Yeah, I’m sure she’d like that. She—”

“Incoming!” one of the drunk boys yelled just as the hacky sack came flying at us out of nowhere. It smacked into Toby’s hand, spilling the contents of his can all over his too-dressy blazer.

“Oh, f*ck,” I said.

“Oh, dude,” one of the boys called. “Sorry about your jacket.”

“Great,” Toby muttered. “I’m drenched.”

“Come on.” I took the empty can from his hand and tossed it in the recycling bin. “You’re going to smell like beer all night, but we can at least dry the blazer off so you’re not dripping onto the carpet. I knew the minute those dumbasses started playing in the kitchen that something bad was going to happen.”

He followed me to the bathroom. I knocked a couple of times, then reached for the knob. It wasn’t locked, but it should’ve been.

Two people were seriously going at it. The girl was sitting on the sink, her skirt hiked up to the very top of her thighs. I didn’t recognize them, so I figured they were some of Angela’s friends from OHCC.

“All right, kids. Go do the baby making somewhere else. Some people actually need the bathroom,” I said.

Reluctantly, they left the bathroom, both cursing me in voices just loud enough for me to hear over the buzz of the party. I just rolled my eyes and gestured for Toby to go inside ahead of me. Then I shut the door behind us and started riffling through the cabinet under the sink, hoping to find Angela’s hair dryer.

“You really don’t have to help me with this, Casey,” he said.

“I don’t mind. It gives me something to do. Before I ran into you, I was getting pretty bored.”

“I can’t imagine this is much more exciting.”

“Here it is!” I said, triumphantly holding the hair dryer over my head and standing up. “And are you kidding? Fixing wardrobe disasters—even a little one like this—is anything but boring for me. Now take off your blazer.”