Chapter Thirty Five
It had felt like my lucky night.
"What time is Chris getting here?" Gordie was sweaty and breathless as we danced along to the pulsing music.
I took his hand and spun away and then back again, ignoring him rolling his eyes at me.
For the first time in a long time, I felt that my luck was changing.
I had scored a twenty dollar tip earlier in the day from a truck driver who had only bought coffee and a slice of pie. I was still grinning over a 98% math test I'd received on the Wednesday, largely due to Chris' tutoring. And I was at a party with Gordie and Violet, two of my favourite people. It was almost hard to imagine when Violet hadn't been around. She was honest and she was sweet and she loved Gordie to bits.
"So what time is he getting here?"
"He said about nine," I called back, raising my voice over the din. Chris was working late down at the junk yard.
"Well, it's almost ten." Gordie frowned, squinting at his watch. "Hey, happy birthday, Verno!"
As Vern Tessio danced nearer to us, Gordo put out an arm and pulled his friend in for a bear hug. As they yelled in each other's ears, Violet moved closer to me.
"Nina, I think tonight is the night."
We had all had a few drinks and were well on our way to merry, so it took a while for me to get it.
"The night for what? Ew, gross!" I made a gagging motion with my hand and Violet pushed it away and shot a meaningful look back at Gordie who was too engrossed in conversation with Vern to notice.
"Shh!" She said, although it was impossible for anyone to overhear with the music playing so loud. "I wanted to ask you though. Do I need to like, do anything, or bring anything?"
I knew full well that Gordie carried a condom in his wallet and that was already more information that I needed to know.
"Hell, no Violet. Just go with the flow and if it happens, it happens."
She nodded vehemently.
"It's going to. I can feel it."
I nodded back unenthusiastically before I wandered away from the make shift dance floor that was Vern's living room.
In the kitchen, there was a serious card game going on.
Teddy Duchamp was standing watching, his arms folded and his brow creased. I hadn't seen Teddy up close since the night at Irby's and while I felt uncomfortable, Teddy was clearly holding no such grudge.
"What's going on, Willis?" I had been about to walk away when I heard my name. Teddy didn't take his eyes from the table.
"Not a lot." I eyed the pile of cash on the table and raised an eyebrow. Teddy was a notorious gambler. "How come you're not in on this?"
"Got here too late," Teddy said in concentration.. "I'm in on the next game, though. You want a piece?"
"Maybe." I opened the refrigerator. "You want a beer?"
Finally, Teddy looked up and smiled faintly at me.
"Nah, that's for the mob. You want a real drink, check under the sink."
I did as he asked and came up with a bottle of whiskey.
"Okay if I have some?"
"Knock yourself out." Teddy handed me his paper cup, his eyes already back on the game. "Gimme a refill too, would ya?"
I came up with some coke from the fridge and poured me and Teddy a strong whiskey. He took a sip and gave me a wry grin.
"Damn, Willis. Hope you can handle your liquor as well as you pour it."
"I'll drink you under the table," I responded sassily.
Teddy let out his high pitched hyena laugh and slapped his thigh dramatically.
"Come on, then, slugger." He threw back his drink and slammed it onto the counter. "Stop with all the pussy mixers and pour us a real drink."
I threw back my own and reached for the whiskey again to fill us both a neat glass.
"Hey, easy tiger." I felt a hand on my arm and looked up into Gordie's amused face.
I screwed the lid back on the whiskey and passed the bottle to Gordo, who held the bottle at arms length to get a better look at it.
"Hey, you dont get to hand out my liquor," Teddy said to me with a frown. But then he laughed and punched Gordie in the arm. "You're lucky it's you, Lachance."
"Pass me a cup, Teddy." Gordie took a cup from him as Violet watched uncertainly. Gordie suddenly remembered she was there and rediscovered his manners, "You want a cup, babe?"
Gordie held out the whisky he had just poured himself but Violet shook her head.
I could already see her mind working. It wouldn't be much of a first night together if Gordie got drunk. Seeing this, I snatched the cup from Gordie, downed his and then mine consecutively.
"Hey!" Gordie exclaimed, while Teddy guffawed and laughed.
Before Gordie got a chance to say anything else, the card game came to an end.
"Right, outta the way!" Teddy said loudly. "Let a real card player take your money from you."
Teddy pulled up a chair as some of the other guys left.
"You wanna play, Lachance?"
Gordie still look annoyed about his drink. He took a look at Violet and then shook his head.
"Naw, I'm good."
"Pussy!" Teddy sniped. "What about you, Willis?"
I looked over at Gordie and Violet who were making eyes at each other and shrugged.
"Why not? Deal me in."
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I wasn't a bad card player. Teddy was pretty good although he wasn't much of a bluffer. You could see his good cards a mile off because he got this excited grin on his face.
The guy to beat was Terrence Mackles. He won the cash from the last game and he won two of the three rounds we threw in for. On the third game, I realised I had no dollars left, and the only thing in the pocket of my jeans was the crips twenty that I'd been tipped with the day before.
"Anybody got any change? Terrence?" I waved the twenty and indicated to Terrence's pile of one's but he shook his head and smiled.
"I raise the game to twenty bucks." He counted off twenty dollars and tossed them into the centre. "Come on, Christina, you're good for it."
"Twenty bucks?" Teddy echoed. He started digging through his pockets, then he borrowed five from Vern, but he was still three bucks down. "Nina? Lend me three bucks?"
"I dont have it," I said. It was the truth. The twenty was my last twenty in the world and I wasn't sure I wanted to bet it all.
"I got your three bucks."
Three dollars was laid out in front of Teddy and he grinned up at the person who had donated it.
"Chambers! Nice timing, man, where you been?"
Chris' hair was still damp from the shower and I gave him a look as he pulled up a seat.
"Yeah, where have you been?"
"Emergency at work," he said. "Had to recover a vehicle Pressman sold." He slid his arm around me easily and whistled at the pile of cash on the table. "In for the big time, huh?"
"I am now," Teddy slid the last three bucks into the centre of the table and the other two guys held their hands up and said they were out.
"Come on, Willis. You in or not?" Teddy demanded.
I could feel all eyes on me and at my hesitation, Chris hands slipped round my shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
"You don't have to."
"I'm in," I tossed the twenty into the pile.
"There's no shame in folding," Chris said loudly. "I wouldn't wanna be up against these card sharks for fifty cents." He leaned over and picked up a handful of cash letting it filter through his fingers. "It's only money."
I appreciated what he was trying to do but I wasn't backing down.
"Let's just play," I said. Terrence picked up the cards and started dealing.
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I lost the game. So did Teddy. So between us Chris and I were down twenty three bucks.
"That was the biggest tip I ever had," I complained as I got Chris and me a beer from the fridge. He had refused to touch Teddy's whiskey.
"You win some, you lose some, baby." He pulled me towards him and planted a kiss on my forehead before chuckling. "Why is it I always find you in the centre of some commotion?"
"Well, maybe if you had got here on time, I would have been with you and not gambling my money away."
"I'm sorry." Chris took the bottle I was struggling with and popped it open using the side of the kitchen counter. The lid landed neatly on the surface and he tossed it towards the open trash can.
He started to work on his own bottle, repeating the sequence and tossing the metal cap into the trash.
"You're a smooth operator," I commented, attempting to swig from the bottle and spilling a little down my shirt. Chris used his hand to wipe away the liquid and grinned down at me.
"Well, you're a little less smoother than usual. How many have you had?"
"She drinks like a fucking guy," Teddy said unhelpfully. I shot him a dirty look.
"Chambers!"
Chris held onto his bottle as Gordie grabbed him by the shoulders from behind.
"Christ, is everybody wasted?" Chris laughed, shoving Gordie back roughly.
"That's what happens when you turn up-" Gordie looked at his watch "two hours late! Two hours, man. You promised you were gonna cut loose with me tonight."
"I'm tryna work out which one of you I'm dating. You or her." Chris jerked his thumb at me and Gordie and I simultaneously gave him a shove.
"You better not have driven here, Chambers. You promised me you were gonna have a few beers," Gordie went on.
I noticed Chris' expression grow slightly uncomfortable. He wasn't a big drinker and I had never seen him drink more than one.
"I didn't bring the car, moron. But it looks like I might need it. I cant carry Nina and you both home."
Gordie just laughed.
"Hey, how you doing, Violet? You as wasted as these two?" Chris, as usual, went out of his way to be courteous. Violet shook her head.
"I figured someone better stay sober."
"Hey, I'm sober."Gordie put his arms round Violet and kissed her full on the mouth. Violet backed away, embarrassed, but Gordie wasn't put off. Chris waved them away with a laugh.
"So are you gonna come dance with me?" I slid my arms around Chris' neck, aware that I was leaning heavily on him. He raised an eyebrow in response.
"As long as you promise not to pour that beer down my back."
"Deal."
When we got into the living room, Vern had changed the record because he wanted to make out with a pretty brunette. I sighed as the tempo went from upbeat to slow but Chris slid his arms around me anyway.
"Hey, you know what song this is?" He smiled down at me.
"You're mine and we belong together
Yes, we belong together, for eternity."
Chris sang along and I realised he wasn't a bad singer.
"Sure. It's Ritchie Valens."
"That's not what I meant," Chris pulled me in closer and lowered his head so we were almost nose to nose. "This was our first dance. At school."
It seemed a million years ago.
"How could I forget? Your friend Lucy Rowe was giving me death glares," I remembered.
He smiled.
"I remember thinking if by some miracle Ace showed up, I was pretty much a dead man."
"So why did you ask me to dance?"
Chris spun us slowly, his hands tight around my waist.
"Because you were worth it."
I kissed him. I was drunk and clumsy but he was sure of himself, using his strong arms to draw me in and firm lips to take charge of the situation. When we broke apart, both of us were heated and breathing heavily.
"I feel like I'm taking advantage of you." He laughed awkwardly and I grinned at him.
"Maybe I don't care."
Somebody changed the record again and while Vern complained loudly, Chris and I let go of each other and picked up our dance pace.
I had never been with someone who was my friend as well as my boyfriend, who could make me laugh and make me feel as though I were having the best time without even touching me. But Chris was that guy. He made my stomach flip flop when he touched me dont get me wrong, but it was more than that with us. We had fun together. Ace would never have been seen dead dancing at a party, let alone slow dancing.
We were having so much fun that I didn't realise Gordie and Violet were missing so long. When they came back to find us, Chris gave Gordie a hard shove.
"There you are, man! You give me all this shit about coming along and then you disappear." The two of them moved into the hallway so they could talk without shouting. I was drunk and exhausted and slid down the wall to sit on the carpet. Violet sat down beside me and smiled. Her hair was a little messy.
"Ew, gross, you did it," I mumbled, burying my head in my hands.
Violet wrapped her arms around her knees in delight.
"We so did it."
"So how was it?"
"Amazing," she got a dreamy look on her face. "Did you love Chris even more after you did it?"
"Yeah," i responded, trying to push away the cheesy thoughts in my head. Truth was, I loved Chris more every day. Every time he asked me how I was, every time he listened to how I felt, every time he helped me with my homework.
Even tonight, what with turning up late, I couldn't be mad at him. How could you be mad at someone who treated you like a princess? How could you be mad at someone who you knew was late because they had stayed behind to help somebody? That was just who he was.
"I feel sick," I told Violet, scrambling to my feet. I pushed my way into the bathroom and then after deciding I wasn't going to throw up, I lay on the bathroom floor, appreciating the coolness of the tiles against my skin.
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"I knew I should have brought the car." I could hear Chris' voice then Gordie's.
"Oh, man up. You only need the car if you're not butch enough to carry her home."
"Well, poor Violet aint butch enough to carry you home. What about her, huh?"
"Where are we?" I opened my eyes to darkness all around us, Chris' arms looped under my knees and behind my back.
"On our way home, Nina," Chris' voice was comforting.
"I can walk," I said, struggling a little in his arms. It was cold and my legs ached. I had no idea when it was that I had passed out.
"You sure?" He couldn't keep the relief out of his voice as much as he tried when he set me on my feet.
Gordie snorted.
"Jesus, it's cold." My teeth were chattering almost as soon as my feet touched the ground. Without hesitation, Chris peeled off his sweater and gave it to me. I struggled into it, immediately soothed by his body heat, and he wrapped an arm around me.
"Couldnt we have bummed a ride off someone?"
"We did," Gordie said darkly. "Teddy was gonna give us a ride but Chris said he was too drunk to drive anywhere and hid his keys."
"He'll be thanking me when he's not wrapped around a tree tomorrow," Chris said.
"He was pretty drunk," Violet put in.
"Dont defend him," Gordie said to her. "He just made us walk three fricking miles."
Violet took Gordie's hand and whispered something in his ear. Whatever it was she said, he softened some and the two of them walked off a little in front, his arm about her. They looked good together, him tall, dark and lean, and her mousy, small and petite.
"Did he tell you?" I said to Chris.
Chris knew just what I meant.
"Yep."
"Grossed out?"
"Of course not. Good for him."
It was patently obvious to me in that moment that guys views were a world away from girls.
"You know what your problem is?" Chris took my hand. "You and Gordie are more like brother and sister than friends. He got weirded out the same way when we got together."
"I guess," I said. I suddenly realised that we were only a block away from Violet's house and stopped to take a look around.
"Did you carry me all the way from Vern's place?"
He shrugged, his broad shoulders nicely defined by his black t shirt.
"How else was I gonna get you home?"
"You could have woke me!" I protested. He smirked a little, as if remembering something.
"Tried that."
"I'm sorry."
He swung our linked hands between us and I pressed my face into the neck of the sweater I was wearing. It smelled like him. Of soap and deodorant.
"What you sorry for?"
"For getting wasted, for passing out. I know drinking isn't your thing."
He was quiet for a moment.
"I don't know if drinking's my thing. Guess I'm a little afraid to find out, what with the family genetics. The most I've ever drank was two beers. Won't touch the hard stuff. I've seen what it does to my old man."
I felt rotten then and he must have sensed it.
"But I had a great time with you tonight," he rushed on. "The dancing, spending time with you…you're sexy when you're drunk."
"You're sweet."
Chris wrinkled his nose at the word 'sweet'.
"Can I rephrase that?" Chris said "Because I meant to say you're mostly sexy when you're drunk. Lying face down on Vern's bathroom floor wasn't your sexiest moment."
"Hey!" I tried to yank my hand away but he held on, laughing.
"I'm still pissed about my twenty bucks," I said morosely.
"Don't be," he said. "It's not what you think."
"Huh?'
"Check your pockets."
I dug into my jeans and pulled out a crumpled twenty dollar note in amazement. I shook the money at him in question.
"Did you steal this from the stake pile?"
He looked sheepish but then shrugged,
"Hey, I couldn't see your tip money go to Terrence Mackles."
"But when did you-"
"Almost as soon as you tossed it in."
That made me a little mad. I narrowed my eyes at him and put my hands on my hips.
"How did you know I wouldn't win it back?"
He bit his lip and tried not to laugh at me.
"Babe, you suck at cards. Even when you're sober."
I made a grab for him but he danced out of reach, this time unable to stop the laughter escaping.
It started to rain then, a light drizzle that he seemed not to feel or see.
And that's how I always remember him best. In a damp t shirt, in the early hours of the morning, his face lit up like a kids.
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