Matter of Trust
I didn't know what to say. I had to keep it all under wraps like I promised Ace, but I didn't want to lie to Chris either. I slumped down onto the sofa in the living room with my elbows on my knees and prodded my forehead with my thumbs.
"Cass?"
"I've got some... problems I need to sort out, and it might take some time."
"What kind of problems?"
I looked up to see a fraught expression on his face. "I don't want you to worry, Chris."
"What's he done?"
"This isn't Ace's fault."
"What was he doing here then?"
"He's gonna help me get through this. I hope. He's offered me a way out - the only way out. And I have to take it."
"Ace doesn't do good deeds out of the kindness of his heart."
"I know that. Boy, do I know that. But... I wouldn't expect him to. Just don't worry, OK? You need to concentrate on yourself right now and focus on your schoolwork. You've gotta trust that I will sort this out myself."
Chris sighed and sat down on the sofa beside me.
"How's school?" I asked.
"It's OK. I got an A in history."
"Wow, way to go!" I said, ruffling his hair. "Hearing that just made my day. I'm gonna need perking up a lot over the next few months, so you'd better get back to it."
"Well, I can't work on an empty stomach," he teased back.
"I'll get us a snack."
Cooking for him, helping him with his homework and chatting about trivial stuff that had nothing to do with anything were all good ways of avoiding making the dreaded phone call. Every time he said he should leave, I'd find another excuse to keep him there. It wasn't until he began to worry about staying out too late that I finally let him go.
I sat by the phone and looked at the clock - it was almost 7 pm. I assumed they'd be getting anxious to hear from me. I ran over what I would say to them in my mind several times but just couldn't make myself pick up the phone. By 8 pm I was so keyed-up about it that I just wanted to get it over with. I picked up the receiver and dialed.
"Carl," said a deep, smoky voice.
"Hello, it's Cassie."
"Cassie. Where can we make the pickup?"
"I'm sorry but... I searched that house from top to bottom. The money... it wasn't there."
"Oh. Well, that is a problem."
"I can get it, though," I said, trying to sound optimistic. "I just need some time."
"How much time?"
"Is... three months OK?"
"Three months? We've been waiting long enough as it is."
"I know. But I really am doing my best right now."
Carl paused. "Look, Cassie, I like you - I really do. But, if you want an extension, you'll have to pay interest."
"Of course. I understand. How much?"
"Look – I'll go easy on you. A third all up."
"An extra ten thousand dollars? But that's-"
"A very generous offer. Usually it would be ten thousand a month."
I breathed deep to calm myself. "OK – I can do it." I was trying to sound convincing, but making promises that I might not be able to keep made me feel sick.
"We'll be expecting monthly payments. Just let me work that out. $13700 every month. Don't forget that the original amount was 31K."
"How could I?" I muttered.
"Listen to me, Cassie - I had a hand in convincing Diego to set you a light punishment for if you can't do this, but he could always change his mind and make the consequences far more... severe. Don't tempt it. Get that money any way you can."
The phone went dead.
-2-
The next five days were hell. I didn't hear a word from Ace - not even a phone call. Nearly a week of my first month was up and I'd managed to save a grand total of $20. I tried to play things legitimately by asking the banks for a loan, but they wouldn't give me one on my wage. And I would never ask Rose and Violet for money even if they had it, which they didn't.
My chances of getting out of this mess fully rested on Ace, and I was beginning to wonder if he told me he would help just so he could drop me in it.
On the Friday, not long after I'd got home from work, I heard the low rumble of a V8 pull up outside. I bolted out there to be met by Ace rising up the steps with two boxes of beer stacked in his arms.
"Miss me?" He pushed his way past and set the boxes down on the breakfast bar.
"Where have you been?" I asked hastily.
"Outta town on business."
"They granted me the three months but want monthly payments with interest. Over thirteen grand a month, Ace. So, I hope you've got a good plan up your sleeve because-"
Despite the tension and desperation in my voice, Ace seemed to ignore me and headed outside again. "Are you even listening to me?" I asked, rushing after him.
"Gimme a hand with this lot." He leaned over the side of the '49 and hauled up another stack of beer boxes. I peered into the car to see the back seat laden with about 15 dozen beers.
"What's all this for?"
"Can't have a party without piss," he shrugged.
"You've got to be joking."
"These ones in the bathroom," he said, pushing the boxes at me.
"The bathroom?"
"Just do it."
"You can't have a party here. Why can't you have it at your place?"
"Because it's all set to roll."
I gasped in outrage. "I can't believe you didn't even ask!"
"Considering the fact that you're fucked without me, I guessed you'd say yes."
"So, you can still help me?"
"Baby. Stop stressing the fuck out. We'll get the money."
I sighed and rubbed at my overtired eyes. The worry grew greater with every day I wasted, and I'd hardly slept all week. It was all getting to be too much.
Ace set the boxes down on the step and then reached into his car to pull out a bottle of Jack Daniel's. "You said you like the hard stuff, right?"
He'd remembered my favorite brew. I was utterly amazed by that because he never looked like he took any interest in anything I said unless it was going to benefit him directly. It had been months since my last stiff drink and, after the week I'd had, I could sure go for one.
"Get a few swigs of that into you," he said, handing me the bottle. "You gotta relax and learn to trust me. If I say it's all gonna work out just fine, then it will. Like this party."
"God..." I rubbed my forehead with my fingers. "OK, how many people?"
"I only invited a few."
"A few? With all this?" I gestured at the beer-laden car.
"Word gets around. You gotta be prepared."
"OK fine," I conceded. "You can have it here but under strict conditions. You have to promise me that you'll clean up afterward, repair anything that gets broken, replace anything that gets stolen and have everyone out of the house by midnight."
"Two."
"Midnight."
"Come on, Grandma. No good party ends before two."
"Fine! Just keep the music low."
Ace pushed the boxes at me again, and I rolled my eyes as I took them.
"Bathroom," he said.
After helping him haul all the boxes inside, we stocked the fridge and unpacked the rest into the bathtub after he emptied a few bags of ice into it. A second fridge – I thought that was an ingenious idea.
"This is a lot of beer," I said as we looked down into the packed ice. I was sure Violet's neat and petite house was about to be trashed by drunken madmen.
He roughly ruffled my hair. "Don't you worry your pretty head about it. I got it all under control."
"You better," I muttered, brushing my hair back out of my eyes. "I don't wanna spend the next week scrubbing puke stains out of the carpet."
"What did I just say? I got it covered. Why are you always such fucking stiff?"
"I am not a stiff."
"We'll see about that, won't we?" He headed out the kitchen and I eagerly followed, knowing just what he meant by it.
The living area of the tiny cottage is open-plan style with only a breakfast bar to separate the kitchen from the living room. Ace pulled up a stool on the living room side while I dug through the kitchen cupboards. When I first moved in, I found some expensive-looking French crystal shot glasses that I assumed belonged to Violet's husband before he died. Usually, I wouldn't have trusted bringing something like that out before a party, but I didn't have any others.
"Be careful with these," I told Ace. I took two from the box and placed them side by side on the counter-top of the breakfast bar.
"And the rest."
"Don't tempt me," I said, and then I thought 'what the hell' and lined up the remaining glasses.
Ace cracked the seal of the bottle and poured the glasses to the rim, and the sweet, intoxicating scent hit my nostrils.
"You gotta do all three, one after the other, no stopping," he said, spinning the cap back on the bottle.
"Easy." It used to be easy. After greedily downing my three, my throat burned for a while and felt rather raw, but I refused to show it. I stood with my eyes closed, savoring the taste and waiting for that euphoric feeling to hit me.
"Good, huh?"
A gentle wave flooded through me, leaving me feeling satisfyingly sedate. My worries were still there but, at that moment, they sure didn't affect me as much.
A loud rumble roared up the driveway and parked itself behind Ace's '49 with a slight squeal of the brakes.
"That'll be Vince," Ace said, picking up the bottle to pour another round.
"Vince! No way. There's no way I'm letting that-"
"Well, looky who it is," Vince said, waltzing through the door. He went to the fridge to grab a beer without the courtesy to ask first, and then cracked it open as he pulled up a stool on the kitchen side of the bar. I refused to be that close to him and so moved to the other side to sit next to Ace.
"So, what's your name again?" he asked me with a boisterous ego the size of a planet. "O'Connor right?"
"Cassie. Not O'Connor, Cassie."
"Right," he said before taking a swig. "So, O'Connor, I'm still waitin' for an official thank you from you. If it weren't for me you woulda died out on that highway. You woulda been screwed."
"Maybe I would've been better off dead. Did you ever think of it that way, hotshot?"
"Aw, don't gimme that shit. You owe me big time."
"It's a big thing for me to let you into my house, go through my fridge and sit your ass down in my kitchen, so if I have to let you stay, I'll be calling it even."
"Oh yeah? Well-"
"Vince," Ace cut in. "Cool it."
Vince shut up with a look of surprise that Ace had taken my side.
At that moment, Eyeball, Billy and Charlie came bustling through the doorway in the middle of some argument about whose job it was to buy the sausages.
"Oh, this should be fun..." I said, throwing back another shot. The alcohol was doing a good job.
"Hey, Ace. Where you been?" Eyeball said, playfully slapping Vince across the back of the scalp.
Vince stood and ripped the two bottles that Billy had brought with him, out of his hands. "What'd you bring me?" It was Wild Irish Rose wine - bottom shelf liquor.
"Get out, Vince. Those are mine!" Billy protested, failing to snatch them back.
"All piss is communal tonight, boys." Vince set both bottles down on the bar in front of him, sliding one to the side and cracking the other open to pour himself a glass. I wasn't surprised that he hadn't brought any to add to this 'communal' pile.
Two more guys with slicked back, dark hair strolled through the door. Jack Mudgett and Norman Bracowicz, or "Fuzzy" as everyone called him. I'd hate to ask why. Fuzzy waltzed in carrying two large bags of sausages, one over each shoulder like he'd just brought them straight in from a hunt, and Jack held two unopened bottles of 30-year-old scotch.
"Jack, you came through for us," Ace praised him, rising from his stool. The scotch was obviously more important than the food. He put Jack in a friendly headlock to steal one of the bottles from him.
"Yeah. Hocked them outta my granddad's liquor cabinet," Jack laughed coolly. "Threw 'em out the window and into the garden when he had his back turned. The guy's stocked! I shoulda threw out more."
"So, go back and get more," Ace said, just as coolly as he cracked the seal.
Jack's smile faded as Ace grabbed a clean glass from the counter-top and poured himself a nip. I'm sure he was wondering if Ace was serious about that. If Ace wanted more scotch, Jack would be going back to get more scotch.
"Where's the barbecue?" Fuzzy asked no one in particular.
"Don't have a barbecue," I answered.
"Out the back," Ace said.
"What do you mean, 'out the back'?" I crossed the room to poke my head out the back door. Sure enough, a small, round barbecue sat patiently waiting, already lit with hot embers burning. "When the hell did you...? Never mind." This guy was seriously starting to impress me.
It was around then that people flooded in like the local dam had busted open, and all the dams in the surrounding towns. Once the road was chock-a-block with cars, Billy was given a good supply of beer and put on duty to sit out the front and tell everyone to park in my back field. Some people brought beers or a bottle of something, and Vince stood at the doorway, helpfully taking them and sorting through them all. The ones he liked went into the secret stash he was keeping in one of the cupboards and the rest went to the 'communal' pile.
Eyeball fiddled with the radio in the living room, tuning it into KLAM for some background rock 'n roll. He was assigned barbecue duty, and anyone who stood too close soon fled from the thick cloud of white smoke that arose as he piled on more and more sausages.
I used the bathroom and then had to squeeze through ten feet of crowd to get back to the bar. There must've been sixty people crammed into that small space and even more out on the back porch. "Damn, how many more?" I asked Ace.
"Good turnout, huh?"
"I can't move in here!"
"Then sit down," he said. "I saved your place."
"Gee thanks," I said, taking the stool next to him. "I don't know how you expect to control all these people."
Ace glanced at me and then rose from his seat. "Alright, listen up," he shouted across the crowd. The room suddenly fell silent, bar the music. "Here's the rules. No fighting inside, no locking yourselves in the bathroom to root, bedrooms are off limits, and everybody out by two. If you pass out, you get dragged into the yard. No puking inside. Anyone breaking the rules will be escorted off the premises by means of my boot up their ass. Now get back to it."
He sat down and stole a cigarette from the packet in front of the guy beside him and lit up. "Will that do?" he asked me, blowing the smoke to the ceiling.
I cracked a grin. "Yeah, I think that covered it."
We heard Eyeball's announcement that the food was ready (it was a lucky dip for a raw or burnt one) and then he pushed his way through the crowd to the radio. He cranked the volume knob right up to max and then shouted over the crowd, "Who wants a shot!"
Guys and girls alike flocked to the bar from all directions. Eyeball shouldered his way through to the kitchen side of the bar and pulled out some shot glasses from a low cupboard which he must have stored there earlier. He had a large box of about fifteen of them and lined them up along the counter-top. He, Vince and Jack poured from random bottles in the collection, while fifteen hands shot in to claim them. Mine was one of them.
"On three!" Eyeball shouted as he raised his glass high. "One, Two, Three!"
Bottoms up.
Shot glasses were slammed down on all sides of the bar, ready for another round to be poured. Another and another and another. Things looked blurrier and slower with each shot. As I turned my head to focus from one person to another, it took two seconds for the double-vision images from my eyes to slowly catch up with my brain.
"Got any cards?" Eyeball yelled across to me.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Come on, Grandma, you're spoiling the fun," Ace said.
"Fine, I'll get them." I raised a defiant middle finger behind his back - much to Eyeball's amusement - before venturing out on another struggle through the crowd.
Retreating to my room was refreshing; out of the smoke and away from the music that seemed to get louder with each passing minute. I dropped to my knees at the foot of the closet and started rummaging through the boxes of stuff, knowing I'd seen a deck of cards in there somewhere.
After finally finding them, I took a moment to steady myself before going back out into the stuffy room full of strangers. Within the short time I'd been gone, the tight gathering of reasonably sober people I'd left at the bar had become a raging mass of over-excited, alcohol-infused, testosterone-fueled teenage guys. The stools had been kicked away and Ace, Billy, Charlie, Fuzzy, Jack and what seemed like a hundred other people, stood hooting and cheering at Eyeball and Vince who were going head-to-head in a shot-drinking showdown.
"I'll drink you under the table any day, ya big girl's blouse!" Eyeball jeered at Vince before tossing back a shot.
"Oh yeah? I don't think so!" Vince hollered, holding his next shot high. "Last week you went home greener than fucking frog shit!"
I squeezed into the narrow gap between Ace and Billy to watch the two alchies battle it out. One for one they'd match each other, impressing me with the limitless number of insults in their arsenal. But as the challenge wore on, the time between shots drew out. Vince stood up to Eyeball with his posture straight and his expression firm as he nailed each shot. Eyeball would no sooner match it, but after a while, his bottom lip began to quiver under the pressure.
"You're gonna drown you luther," Eyeball slurred as he had another one, tightly clutching the counter-top beside him.
"Look at you, you're legless," Vince said before he threw back one more.
Eyeball suddenly bent double and strapped an arm across his stomach. "Oh fuck..."
Vince's eyes grew wide with excitement. "I think I got him!"
The words 'Eyeball, get outside,' were on the tip of my tongue, but to my surprise, Ace's stern voice shouted out above the chaos. "Outside Eyeball, or I'll make you lick it up."
"I ain't gonna..." Eyeball started, but his contorted face told us otherwise. The crowd parted like the red sea as he bolted for the front door.
"Haha!" Vince smacked his hands together. "I won, loooser!"
The sound of hurling could be heard just outside.
"See, told you I had it all under control," Ace elbowed me, pushing me into Billy. "Did you get those cards or what?"
"Like anyone here needs them..." I said, tossing them onto the counter-top in front of him.
Ace shuffled and cut the cards before placing the pile down center-table.
"What's the game, Ace?" Charlie said from across the bar.
"FUBAR."
If you've got stacks of alcohol to waste, there's only one game for it – FUBAR. Fucked Up Beyond All Reason. Ace drew the first card which was a five – give five drinks – and handed it to me. "All yours," he said with a smile.
I gave him a sarcastic smirk before lifting my glass. But I couldn't make myself take another sip. "Actually... I think I've-"
The words, 'had enough', never made it out. Stomach acid was ascending up my esophagus at a rapid rate, and I clasped my hand over my mouth as I desperately pushed my way through the crowd. I bolted out the back door, ignoring the hoots and jeers of the guys drinking on the porch. The scrub that bordered the property seemed like the perfect little hideaway for a good healthy vomit. I stuck my head into the thick tangle of bushes and unleashed. More hoots and jeers. I was just glad to have made it - Ace never would have let me live it down if I broke my own rules.
I staggered across the field, as far away from people as I could go, and found a nice big apple tree to plonk myself under. Sucking clean night air into my lungs was refreshing after being inside the stuffy house for so long. I rested my back against the thick, mossy trunk, noticing how comfortable and soft it felt. As my eyes began to feel heavy, I looked out towards the house. Eyeball was now out on the back porch, beer in hand, flirting with three girls who were adoring him in return. I guess he felt better after spilling his guts. I know I sure did.
Being that drunk was a funny thing. I could see Carl and Diego's faces in my mind, but I couldn't worry about them and I wanted to. Ironically, worrying gave me comfort. Being alert to it felt better than becoming complacent and letting time slip by.
-3-
The dull slap of a leather boot kicking my denim covered ass woke me with a jolt. "Get up."
I was still under the apple tree but had slid down the trunk and was lying on the hard, grassy ground. I raised my head slightly to squint up at Ace who was towering above me with his arm extended, offering me a hand up. The music was still loud, and the sounds of voices and laughter could still be heard. I guessed the party was still in full swing.
"What time is it?" I asked groggily, reaching up to take his hand.
"Just past 10."
With one swift yank from him, I was at my feet, feeling giddy and tired. I wanted nothing more than to go to my room and bury myself in my soft bedding.
"We've got a situation," he said.
"Oh shit. What?"
"Inside."
The house seemed a little less crowded and easier to move through than before. We went into my bedroom where Vince and Eyeball were waiting - waiting in my personal space. Luckily, I didn't have any bras lying around.
Eyeball stood swaying in small circles on the spot with a beer in his hand, and Vince was leaning against my dresser looking all serious.
"This is crazy, Ace," Vince said as Ace closed the door.
"What's... going on?" I asked.
"We're out of alcohol," Ace said.
"Last one," Eyeball said, raising his can.
"No... surely not. And you were all drinking so conservatively!"
"Billy was supposed to pick up another bootload-" Ace started.
"But the idiot screwed up the deal," Eyeball snickered. "Man, he's useless."
"And you were supposed to help him!" Ace shouted, his voice booming from wall to wall.
Eyeball sunk back into his shell.
"You're all fucking useless!"
"OK," I said, "so... no alcohol left - party's over. Goodnight." I collapsed face down onto the bed and closed my eyes as I melted into the soft sheets.
"The guy who owns the liquor store made a deal with me," Ace said. "He promised me those boxes and I'm getting 'em."
The seriousness in Ace's voice made me open one eye, and I saw them all staring down at me. "What's this got to do with me?"
"You've done it before, you can do it again."
I rolled over and sat up a bit too quickly, and my head pounded and I felt dizzy. "You mean, you want me to... I don't think so."
"You handle the locks and I'll do the rest. I could bust in there, but I'd rather do it clean – since we got you."
I looked at Eyeball and then Vince. It seemed that my best kept secret wasn't much of a secret anymore. "Exactly how far have you been spreading this around, Ace?"
"Don't worry, we ain't gonna tell no one," Eyeball said with a drunken grin.
"Oh, that's so reassuring..."
"The story is, we're going back to my place to pick up a few more boxes," Ace added. "We'll be back within the hour."
Vince and Eyeball both gave a subtle nod, Vince's with noticeable reluctance.
"Vince, move the cars out that are blocking me in. Cassie, grab some dark clothes and meet me at the car in ten."
"Wait on, I haven't agreed to this."
"You're doing it, now move it." The look Ace gave me made me realize I didn't have a choice.
Vince and Eyeball left the room, and I grabbed Ace's arm to hold him back. "Ace, if we get caught-"
"I don't get caught. And you never have either. So, just do exactly as I say, and it'll be a piece of cake."
