Chapter 36 Part 1

Late Saturday afternoon Jess and Stacy drove in his car to Malibu, where Mindy's birthday party was being held. During the trip up as the ubiquitous Allman Brothers Band provided the background music, Stacy filled Jess in on some of the salient details about Mindy and Allen's crowd.

"The girl throwing the party for Mindy is named Leela…wait, I already told you about her. Mindy's best friend is a girl named Jackie, and right now she's uh, in a family way, if you catch my drift. Won't name the father, but we all have our suspicions," he said, drumming his fingers on the top of the steering wheel introspectively.

"Ah, very interesting," Jess replied, feeling like she should be taking notes.

"Mindy's older sister Michelle is likely to be there. She's also hung out with a lot of the Dogtown and Zephyr people, but she kinda keeps herself distant at the same time. She and I both went to Venice High at the same time, but our paths didn't cross a lot. She was always doing cheerleading and sports and I was always slinking in late with my hair still wet from surfing – on the days that I came at all, that is," he admitted with a slightly crestfallen smile.

And I see that little has changed now that you're in college, Jess thought wryly, but kept the observation to herself, unwilling to bring a critical note to the conversation and potentially cast a dark cloud over the day.

"Umm, let's see, who else? Wentzle Ruml and his girlfriend from Marina del Rey will probably go. Oh hey, you're not upset at him for what he did…you know…" Stacy let his voice trail off as gave her a little questioning look out of the corner of his eye, then resumed his concentration on the road, which was turning into the Pacific Coast Highway.

Jess quickly shook her head no. "Of course not," she said with a casual wave of her hand. "Water off a duck's back." Yeah, it hurt for a little, but in the end it cleared the decks for me to meet Stacy and that's definitely not a bad thing, Jess mused.

"And other than that, I guess it'll be mostly Malibu types, like I said the other day. At least, that's my best guess since Leela grew up there and that's where Allen surfs nowadays. Man, could that guy ever rip up the Cove though," Stacy said wistfully.

"How did he and Mindy get together?" Jess wondered aloud.

Stacy raised his light eyebrows, thinking back. "It was last year and I think Allen actually dated Michelle first, then switched over to Mindy for some reason."

Jess nodded understandingly. "I wonder if that reason was because Mindy was willing to put out and Michelle wasn't?" she mused with a sly smile, causing Stacy to throw his head back and laugh.

"No comment!" he said when his chuckling died down.

"And is Michelle seeing anyone on the Zephyr team too?"

"Not that I know of," Stacy replied with a little shake of his head. "Word on the street is that she's got the hots for Nathan now, but I'm afraid she might be at the back of a looong line. Nate's quite the ladies' man."

"I see," Jess quipped. Yeah, from what I remember about Nathan he seemed to have that confident air about him, like he thought he was the proverbial god's gift. He's handsome, but not really my type, she mused distractedly, then realized that she was missing Stacy's next words.

"-I mean, she's really pretty and all, but he has pretty girls just coming out of the woodwork," he was saying, unaware that Jess wasn't listening at first.

"You mean Michelle?" she queried.

Stacy shot her a little sidewise look. "Yeah, who else?"

Jess shrugged. "Just making sure. So she's pretty, huh?"

"Yeah, very pretty," he confirmed, then hastily added, "but she and I never dated or anything, so don't worry." The song "Statesboro Blues" started up and Stacy's shoulders literally shivered as the slide guitar kicked in. "Aw man, I hate that Duane died before I ever got a chance to see him live," Stacy sighed wistfully. "But your dad is sooo cool for getting to ride motorcycles with him." And that's probably the 50th time since he's said that since we started going out, Jess thought, but once again refrained from commenting. And to be honest, my dad is pretty cool, for that and a lot of other reasons besides. I wonder what would have happened if I'd lived with him instead? She cast a surreptitious glance at Stacy, who was contentedly humming along to the song, his gaze focused on the road in front of him. I doubt I'd have found such a great boyfriend in Athens, though, she thought with a secret smile.

A few minutes later they were pulling up in Leela's driveway. Stacy parked his car behind a van that he identified as Allen's, and together he and Jess walked around to the back of the house, following the sound of music playing on a stereo. They entered the backyard pool area, which was festooned with balloons and flower-decorated tables. Jess noted that the few guests already there were mostly from Dogtown despite Stacy's earlier assertation to the contrary. Glancing around the pool area, Jess recognized Mindy's boyfriend Allen, Nathan Pratt, and Paul Constantineau as well as the birthday girl herself. Standing near Nathan and Mindy were an older couple who looked like they might be Mindy's parents and two very attractive girls who were similar in age and coloring but clearly weren't sisters. One of them had a classic, tanned all-American athletic girl look similar to Stacy's recent ex Camille, only this girl had very long blonde hair and was fairly busty. The other girl was also blonde, tanned and busty but had the look of someone who preferred partying over softball. Over by the food tables an Asian guy with very long hair who looked vaguely familiar to Jess was grabbing a handful of chips as his date scanned the scene with a bored air.

"Hmm, so far it's more Santa Monica than Malibu, but don't worry. I know almost everyone and they're cool," Stacy told Jess sotto voice as they approached the guest of honor. As they got closer Jess noticed the athletic blonde girl reach out and shake the other blonde's hand, eliciting a slight wince of pain from the latter girl. There's clearly some tension between those two, probably over some guy, Jess mused.

Mindy sweetly bade Jess and Stacy welcome as they handed over her gift box.

"You didn't have to bring me anything," she told the couple, seeming slightly embarrassed but pleased at the same time.

"It's nothin'," Stacy told her, then glanced around, taking a mental headcount of the guests. "We're not too early, are we?"

"Right now we're waiting for Allen's parents," Mindy informed him. "I know you know them. And Jackie, you remember Jackie? She's staying with these people in Beverly Hills-" At the questioning look on Stacy's face, she held up her hand to stave off his inquiries "-it's a long story. Um, and Wentzle and Bonnie are going to show up."

Upon hearing this confirmation, Jess couldn't resist frowning a bit, then tried to assume a straight face before either Stacy or Mindy could remark on it.

The three of them talked for another minute about the other expected guests, mostly friends of friends. Mindy expressed the hope that the number of gatecrashers would be kept to a bare minimum.

"Tell me about it. Why do you think I never have parties?" Stacy quipped.

"I thought that was just because you were stuck up," Mindy said in a straightforward tone.
Jess looked startled but Stacy just laughed. "You spend too much time with Nate," he informed Mindy. Jess didn't really understand that exchange, but decided it was some kind of in-joke.

Mindy excused herself to defuse the escalating tension between the two blondes, who she identified as her sister Michelle and Leela, the hostess. After Mindy was out of earshot on the other side of the pool, Stacy steered Jess toward the banquet tables, where the caterers were bringing out a variety of just-cooked foods. "Those burgers smell goo-ood," Stacy enthused as they got in line behind PC and Shogo.

"Damn, bro, save some for the rest of us," Nathan called out as PC began to load his plate.

The younger Z-boy just shrugged. "You shoulda gotten in line ahead of me if you're that worried," he shot back at Nathan with a grin.

"PC's notorious for having a bottomless stomach," Stacy muttered into Jess' ear.

After they had served themselves and gotten glasses of punch to wash the food down with, they sat together at the same table that Shogo and his somewhat sullen looking girlfriend were occupying. As Stacy got caught up with his fellow Z-Boy, Jess noticed Mindy and Leela going inside the house together while Michelle, clearly trying to regain her composure, went to the gate to meet two more girls who were just arriving.

About ten minutes later, when Stacy had gotten up for seconds, Mindy and Leela returned to the party with another girl that Jess hadn't seen arriving. The new girl was obviously pregnant and Jess decided she might be Mindy's friend Jackie. Mindy had changed clothes and was now clad in a long-sleeved white cotton minidress covered with various bright-colored rectangles of fabric. Jess thought it might be designer, but wasn't really up on fashions anymore.

"Pucci. That's cool," Shogo's date drawled in a tone that could have been either totally sarcastic or just hugely laid-back, Jess couldn't tell. Then Wentzle came striding through the side gate with a cute girl in tow, and suddenly Jess had something more important to think of than dresses. She instinctively sunk a little lower in her seat, hoping that the blonde skater with the improbable name wouldn't see her, or acknowledge her if he did notice her presence.

Fortunately for Jess, but not so much for the birthday girl, the obviously already-intoxicated Wentz beelined for Mindy and began loudly complimenting her outfit, then went to the buffet and began loading up an even bigger plate of food than Stacy's and Paul's put together. The whole time he was ignoring the girl he'd brought, who simply stood in one place and wrung her hands until Mindy greeted her like an old friend. So that's the longstanding girlfriend from Marina, eh? Jess thought derisively. Wentz obviously takes her for granted. Wonder why she puts up with that?

To her dismay Wentz brought his plate of food over to their table and sat down beside Shogo, who traded high-fives with him. Then the drunken newcomer seemed to notice Jess for the first time. "Hey, hot lips," he slurred out, then took a huge bite of his burger.

As she rolled her eyes Jess was aware of Stacy's gaze flicking back and forth between her and Wentzle, but she declined to elaborate. Instead she focused on Mindy, who was now encouraging one of newer female guests to sit beside PC. Playing matchmaker, eh? Jess thought bemusedly. That's certainly kindhearted. PC is really cute but way too young for me. He's even younger than Jay, I think. At the thought of the wild blonde Jess gave an involuntary frown, which Stacy mistook for disgust at Wentzle's continued drunken ramblings.

"He's usually not this bad," he mumbled quietly into Jess' ear, although at that point Wentzle was so loud that Stacy could have shouted it through a bullhorn and no one would have taken heed. Finally Mindy shut Wentz up by telling him to go sit by his date and promising him a primo slice of birthday cake later.

"I do a lot of babysitting," she explained to Jess and Stacy, who were watching the scene with amusement. Shogo laughed, then jumped up to get a beer.

Allen's father walked over and Mindy told Allen to introduce him to the table. Allen unhesitatingly did so, then excused himself to get Mindy some potato salad, also at her request. Not wanting to look slack in comparison, Stacy immediately offered to get Jess seconds as well.

Once both guys were gone Mindy turned to Jess with a look of concern. "I noticed that there's something between you and Wentz. You don't have to tell me what it is, but if Wentz starts any shit let me know and he'll get taken care of."

For a moment Jess was slightly taken aback – was it that obvious that Wentz's presence made her that uncomfortable, or had Mindy heard of their failed attempt to hook up? "There's nothing between us-" she started to retort, but in that moment Allen had returned to the table to announce that they were out of potato salad, but more was coming.

"Little pigs," Mindy growled as her glare fell upon PC and Wentz respectively, each with a mountain of potato salad on his plate.

"Hey, they're growing boys," Allen said with a little chuckle.

After everyone had eaten their fill Leela brought out the cake, which was frosted with a beach scene, and then Mindy opened her presents. She seemed delighted with the clothes that Jess had picked out for her, much to Jess' relief. One of Allen's presents was a new, pink skateboard deck plus all the needed hardware to set it up. Upon seeing it Jess felt a slight frisson of envy. Stacy's never once tried to show me how to skate or even invited me to stand on his board, she thought privately. But then again, I've never expressed any interest in skating, either. So maybe I can't blame him for thinking I don't care much about it beyond watching him skate. Which I could do all day, to be honest.

At this point all the parents left and both she and Stacy switched to drinking beer like most of the other guests. Nathan had a beer in each hand, not sharing with either Leela or Michelle, both of whom were clearly making plays for his attention while hissing wordlessly at each other when the object of their affections wasn't looking. PC chugged his entire can in mere seconds, eliciting a round of applause from everyone watching. "Ok, who's the first to ride the pool?" he shouted after he wiped the foam from his mouth.

"I'll be doing the honors, thank you very much," came an answering male voice from the side gate. All heads turned to behold the arrival of TA, Bunker and two obligatory beautiful but unspeaking female bits of arm candy, closely followed by Biniak, whose eyes were glued to the girls' undulating backsides. Bringing up the rear was Jay Adams, who also appeared to be pre-lubricated with alcohol and who knew what else. All of the males in the little group had their Zephyr team skateboards tucked under their arms and were dressed to shred some coping. Quickly looking across the pool at Mindy and her friends to gauge their reaction to the crashers, Jess noticed that Jackie's face was dark with fury. Although she couldn't hear them, she saw Mindy quickly turn to her pregnant friend and speak to her in a reassuring tone. Jess wondered if one of the new arrivals was the father of Jackie's unborn baby.

"You know you can't have a party without me!" TA declared as he approached Mindy and reached out to take her hand and press a kiss on it, which she allowed after a slight hesitation.

Mindy's sister Michelle barked, "It's Mindy's birthday! She invited her friends." From the way she emphasized that last word it was obvious that for some reason Michelle didn't count Tony in that group.

TA remained unfazed. "Ahh, I know you didn't get a chance to invite all your friends, since you have so many, Mindy," he declared smoothly. "Anyway, Happy Birthday."

Mindy smiled at him. "Ok fine, charmer, you can stay."

"Like you'd say anything else," TA guffawed with a wink and a brief caress of Mindy's Pucci-clad shoulder. Then he turned back to the rest of the party and clapped his hands twice in an imperious fashion. "Ok ladies, let's get it on," he derisively addressed the skaters, since it was clear he didn't mean any of the actual females. "Jayboy! Quit staring into space and get into that pool!"

Upon hearing TA's command Jess felt a surge of relief. Until that point Jay had indeed been staring, but not into space. He'd been looking at her so intensely that she thought his gaze would burn twin holes into her flesh. Now she was really starting to feel nervous. Wentzle is one thing; he's just a clown who can't stick to one girl, she thought privately. But Jay…he could really be trouble. I'm obviously not forgiven for running out on him at Red Dog's party. But like with Wentz, I don't want to say anything to Stacy and ruin the party for us. Maybe Jay will get wrapped up in the skating and forget all about me, she hoped. Once again, she saw Mindy looking at her with an observant and thoughtful expression on her pretty face. Geez, is there anything that girl doesn't miss? Jess wondered to herself.

Stacy finished his second beer and tossed the empty bottle into the nearest trash can. "Why didn't I bring a board?" he moaned regretfully to Jess. She was secretly glad he didn't because he wouldn't be able to skate and ignore her like the other guys were now doing to their dates. But once again, she refrained from saying so, remembering how stoically Camille had dealt with being a skate widow. Complaints would only drive us apart, Jess rationalized. Instead, she threw Stacy a sympathetic smile.

"Well, you'll have plenty more pools to skate. And anyway, this one looks kind of umm…tricky?" she ventured although she knew that assertation was probably wrong.

"It is a little tight, but hey, a challenge is always good. You take what you can get," Stacy replied, his eyes on Biniak as he took a lighting-fast run. "See the speed you can get on a smaller roundwall?" he pointed out to Jess, who just nodded.

She looked across the pool just in time to see Mindy take Allen's hand and lead him inside the house. Hmm, three guesses what they're going to do, she thought, then felt Stacy's elbow dig gently into her side. "Hey, where do ya think they're going?" he asked her with a mischievous smirk. In the pool, Shogo was executing a perfect three-wheels-out kickturn in almost poetic slow motion, his straight black hair flying out around his head in a wide, neat circle. Even Jess had to intake an appreciative breath at the Asian skater's fluid and distinctive style.

"He was just tellin' me while we were eating that he has his choice of sponsors," Stacy informed Jess, trying to keep the jealousy out of his voice and succeeding – barely.

In between runs and bantering with his fellow Z-Boys, Jay shot Jess an occasional unfathomable look, which made her all the more nervous. To calm herself she matched Stacy beer for beer, causing him to eventually comment on her unusual appetite for alcohol.

"Well, it is a party," Jess countered lamely, but Stacy didn't seem convinced.

"Everything ok? You seem kinda…I dunno, out of sorts," he observed aloud as he pulled his chair closer and draped one arm around her bare shoulders. "Ever since TA and his friends got here," he continued. "Hey, didn't you say something about Jay hitting on you at Red Dog's party?"

Slightly alarmed at her boyfriend's newfound concern, Jess just shook her head quickly. "No, he was just a little drunk and annoying," she hastily fibbed. It's risky to downplay things like this, but I don't want Stacy pissed at his teammate for treating me like crap, Jess told herself. It's over and done and wasn't such a terrible thing, anyway. Still, the less Stacy knows, the better. Otherwise he might think I'm trying to work my way through the whole team!

She let her attention focus on the pool again, cheering with the others as TA did an extra-long carve grind along the coping. Jess almost expected to see smoke rising from the lip of the pool after he shredded it, he was skating that hard. Out of the corner of her eye she could tell Stacy was borderline fuming over not being able to wow the crowd with some hot moves of his own. Then she saw Jay throw her another look and decided that something had to give. She put one hand on Stacy's forearm and gazed up at him as seductively as possible. "Stace, I need to use the bathroom, will you go in with me?"

At first it seemed like he might say no since he was somewhat engrossed by the action in the pool. But when Jess' gaze didn't waver from his, he seemed to get the idea. "Sure, I'll go with ya. I could stand to hit it up myself."

They stood up and headed toward the nearest door into the house. Leela saw what they were doing and upon learning of their mission, directed them to use any bathroom on the first or second floor. Once inside, they realized the house was quite large with different hallways leading in different directions. The first door they found that looked it might be a bathroom was closed and locked. Stacy jerked his head toward a nearby staircase. "Let's see if there's one on the second floor," he suggested. He and Jess quietly ascended the stairs and soon found what they were in search of. Ever the gentleman, Stacy let Jess go first. When it was his turn Jess ventured a little way down the upstairs hall to curiously peek into those rooms with open doors. One of the ones with a closed door had some tell-tale noises coming from the other side, and Jess decided it must be Mindy and Allen, since they were the only couple so far who had disappeared. As Stacy emerged from the bathroom Jess quickly tiptoed to him, then took his hand and pulled him down the hall with her, making the classic "shhh" gesture as they went. They stopped outside the closed door and listened for a moment, Jess trying hard to repress her giggles and Stacy trying not to blush or look terribly interested. "C'mon," he mouthed to her, taking her hand to pull her away. As they got to the top of the staircase, Jess, who was entirely unwilling to go back to the pool area, tried a stalling tactic.

"Staaacyyy," she simpered, grabbing the waist of his shirt with one hand to stop him short and gently tugging on one strand of his wheaten hair with the other, "didn't that give you any ideas?"

End of Part 1