Fuzzy Bracowicz's old man had won a ski vacation in Sugarloaf by calling into the Boss Man Bob Cormier morning radio show. His parents were taking his two sisters out there for the weekend, foolishly leaving Fuzz alone in the house. He'd managed to get a couple of kegs and word spread quickly that the Bracowicz house was going to be the place to be that cold January weekend. Mudge and Vince swung by the gas station for cigarettes while I was finishing up my shift that Friday night.
"It's a beauty, man. Worth taking a drive out to see it, I promise you." Vince rambled on about a '57 Corvette his old man's buddy was selling.
"Where the fuck are we suppose to get the $16k he wants for it? It's a pipe dream, Desjardins." Mudgett laughed.
"Something that fast will make cash out at the races all summer long, you'll make it back in no time. I'm telling you man, we go all in on this car there's no way we can't come out on top." Vince continued to justify his point and solicit investors. When no one seemed interested, he turned back to me. "Come on man, I know you're fucking itching to get back out there this summer. You and I are the best drivers in the rock, we get in on that Corvette now, learn how she moves, how to really get the best out of her, we'll clean up at the races this summer. Make our money back, no sweat."
"Sure Vince, I'll dip into my trust fund and get it taken care of." He wasn't wrong…the idea of hitting the summer races was definitely an incentive for surviving the school year. Getting pinched for drag racing illegally was a misdemeanor at best, a chance I was more than willing to take after this current court shit was behind me. Rory Scanlon hadn't been joking when she referred to the box of notebooks as a master key to graduation and I had started to become confident that I was going to get through this school bullshit and clear court in time to have a normal summer. The thought of Rory made me glance at the clock - 7:32 - she told me she'd be by before 8:00 with the Economics notes I had missed earlier in the week when I was out sick with food poisoning after Tommy nearly killed us both cooking chicken with a questionable expiration date.
"I bet he'd drop it to 13k, maybe even let me pay it in installments too. Come on man, could you imagine after the fucking year you've had? Showing up to Old Orchard on Point Weekend with a Corvette to race?"
Racing a 'vette at the opening weekend races would be a sweet way to return. A good reminder to anyone who'd heard I wasn't around anymore that I wasn't in the penalty box permanently either…but $13k was a lot to spend. It was money I certainly didn't have.
"It's too much to spend. Why don't you try to find an older one, something we can fix up? I can use a bay here to work on it and get parts at cost too. You want to get something new to drive this summer then find something in reality, not in whatever fucking fantasy world where thirteen thousand dollars falls out of the sky."
Headlights beamed into the shop windows and a familiar red Coronet parked out front. Rory emerged, waving Theresa Gordon out of the front seat and inside with her. They scampered in from the cold and Rory smirked and nodded toward me.
"Feeling better, bubble guts?" She put a folder down on the counter. Mudge and Vince exchanged confused glances and I noticed Theresa seemed to also balk at the familiarity with which she addressed me. She leaned on the counter and opened the folder, quickly reviewing some of the material and what I had missed while out sick.
"Let me get a pack of Camels too…Tre, you need?" She nodded toward the cigarette display.
"Might as well." Theresa piped in, smiling politely at Mudgett, who stood next to her with an expression on his face indicating he'd never been in the company of a hot chick before.
"You girls headed to Bracowicz's tonight?" Vince puffed up his chest and stepped closer to the counter to address Rory and Theresa, who exchanged confused glances.
"First I'm hearing of it. Big party tonight?" Rory asked as she slid a dollar bill across the counter to pay for the cigarettes.
"You girls should stop by…we'll have a few kegs going, should be a good time. I'll make sure you both get free beer cups." He smiled wide, as if he were offering these girls the keys to the kingdom. There wasn't a chance in hell that Rory Scanlon and Theresa Gordon had ever had to pay for a beer cup at a party in their entire life. I cringed and shook my head, figuring I'd at least take delight in watching Vince flounder with the ladies.
"Yeah, we'll see where the night takes us, thanks for the tip, Vince." I was half expecting her to eviscerate him, throw one of her usual zings his way for even thinking a girl like that would be down to chug cheap beer in Fuzz's basement. She picked up the two packs from the counter and handed one to Theresa and smiled warmly at Vince, who grinned like an idiot having been addressed by name by Rory Scanlon.
"You boys stay out of trouble." She looked up at me and winked before turning to leave. Vince continued to ramble about the great party and how he hoped to see her there as the two girls headed back to their car. The headlights flashed on and they backed away, turning up toward Castle View.
Vince sighed. "I'd take a bong rip out of that girl's asshole."
"Jesus christ that's disgusting." Mudgett laughed at Vince in mock horror as I resisted the temptation that arose from deep within to punch him in the mouth for talking about her like that. Making off color Rory Scanlon jokes was my schtick, not Vince Fucking Desjardins.
"What?! Tell me sincerely that there are hotter girls in this town than those two. What was she doing here anyway? What's with the folder?" He moved his hand toward it and I snatched it away.
"Cool it. She's my lab partner in chem, we have a few classes together. She did me a solid and brought me what I missed when I was out with Chef Tommy induced food poisoning this week." I tried to play it off nonchalantly. Mudgett and Vince didn't know the circumstances under which Rory and I had become better acquainted and I planned to keep it that way. Eyeball and I kept that day's events tight and Rory had kept her word when mentioning keeping our involvement out of public knowledge.
"I had American Lit with her sophomore year and I could barely concentrate when she was in the room. That girl is 10/10 hot. And to help out a no-good hood like you? That's wife material right there." Vince mused.
Hearing them talk about her was funny, it was like she was an actual princess or a celebrity and not a real person. I wouldn't say I knew her well, but I had spent enough time with her over the past couple of weeks to see that facade crack.
"Hey man, better keep that shit quiet. Nick Wilson's had that pussy on lock for years, he hears your scummy ass talk like that he'll pound you." Mudgett chimed in.
"That's no joke. That kid's an asshole, he decked some poindexter junior kid for parking in his space a couple weeks ago. A guy that shredded with a girl that hot needs to wail on a science geek? Must have a small schlong or something, feels inadequate so he acts out." Vince shook his head and slammed his fist on the counter.
"That's it. My invitation to Fuzz's party is what is going to set that girl free. She's going to realize she doesn't need to be with the captain of the football team and all she wants is to have a Miller in the Bracowicz basement and a good time with Vince Desjardins. Mark my words, we see her tonight and it's the beginning of a new chapter for the both of us!"
"Sure Vince, I'm sure she and Theresa are driving around in that Coronet fighting over which one gets to have you." Jack laughed.
"Alright, enough about Rory Scanlon. It's 7:55 - if you assholes help me take the trash out I can shut this place down and we can get over to Fuzz's." Mudge, the superior worker of the two, sprung up and helped. Vince continued to lean against the counter and continued to muse about the life and times of Rory and Theresa.
"I bet those girls could use some real fun. I worked at that country club all last summer and those parties are stuffy as all hell up there. Expensive and fancy, but not any fun."
"You really think you're going to win Rory Scanlon over with a free beer cup at a kegger?" I pushed Vince's shoulder off the counter to make room for me to spray it clean.
"It worked on Sylvia Palumbo." Vince shrugged.
"Sylvia Palumbo is no Rory Scanlon." I shook my head, shuddering at the memory of my fling with Sylvia.
Mudgett laughed. "You'd know, Ace. You've already had a taste of Syl, maybe Rory is next?"
"I'd like to think I have a better shot than Desjardins." I shrugged, but quietly smiled to myself and recalled the image of her staring up at me, her button down flannel hanging open over that black lace bra…
The second the clock struck 8:00 I turned off the illuminated sign and we locked it up for the night. We piled into Vince's Ford and I lit a cigarette as we drove down Durham toward the Bracowicz house, which was out on the far east side of town. As we grew closer, the telltale signs of a house party came into view…cars were parked sparingly down the neighboring streets so as to not congregate in front of the Bracowicz home. Small clusters of people scampered down the street, hustling in the cold and passing bottles back and forth to pregame. Vince turned down a side street that Fuzz's backyard abutted and we parked and exited into the cold night.
Chubby Checker filled the air as we stomped through the deep, ice covered, snow in Fuzzy's backyard and entered through the back door. The Twist blast from the stereo and a smoky haze filled the air. Fuzzy stood in the kitchen next to the keg, holding a big stack of plastic cups and haggling with some junior girl I'd seen around on what the price of her beer cup should be.
We'd already thrown in cash on the kegs, so when Fuzzy saw us he lost interest in the whiny junior who thought she was cute enough for a free cup (she wasn't) and reached over and handed me a stack of three cups, one for each of us. The girl was clearly offended by the brush off and stomped away.
"I've never seen that girl in my life and she comes up to me thinking she's going to drink for free?" Fuzz shook his head and skinned my palm.
"Dames these days…they think they deserve the world on a silver platter." I joked back.
Eyeball was manning the tap and chatting up a group of girls as he topped off their cups. We slid up next to him, cutting the line and he grinned and filled us up. "Christy Pearson grew up nice, she goes to Catholic school in Lewiston now, hadn't seen her in a while." He nodded toward one of the girls across the room to which Mudgett nodded in agreement. "Ace, one of her girlfriends just got dumped by her boyfriend and is heavy on the rebound, might be time to break your streak tonight." Eyeball joked.
I shot him a dirty look, not exactly loving that my lack of female companionship had become a frequent punchline amongst a couple of the guys. My eyes scanned the room, but I remained unimpressed by what I saw. It was the same group of trashy girls that always found their way to a party with a few newbies here and there. A couple were cute I guess, but they all just seemed so goddamn boring. If I was going to break the seal, I didn't want it to be with a dead fish.
Fuzz proposed shots and referenced a bottle of tequila he'd stashed in the den. Mudge and Vince followed him into the next room. I stood there a minute, throwing back the rest of my beer, before relenting and heading toward the den. Might as well pound some shots, if I wasn't going to get laid tonight I might as well get loaded.
Mudgett had gotten distracted by Connie Palermo, who was clearly looking to flirt with anyone in eyeshot of Billy in an attempt to make him jealous, so it was just myself, Vince and Fuzz on the tequila. The liquor stung as it hit the back of my throat, but I went in for seconds and thirds anyway.
"Shit man, I didn't even check if Rory showed up! My future wife could be here and I'm not even paying attention." Vince perked up and started looking around the room after he'd finished his third swig of Jose Cuervo.
Fuzzy shot him a confused look. "Rory? Who the fuck is Rory?"
I clarified. "Rory Scanlon and Theresa Gordon stopped in the gas station tonight. Vince was kind enough to invite them and stupid enough to think they'd show."
"Shit man, Rory seemed into it!" Vince defended himself. "I'm telling you, a girl like that could use a good time like this. Just decent people having mid tier booze having a few laughs."
I went to respond, wondering why Vince thought for a second he knew what a girl like Rory Scanlon could use, but I stopped before I brought any further attention to my thoughts on her. The strange defensive reaction that presented itself whenever anyone offered an opinion on Rory Scanlon was becoming hard to ignore. To my chagrin, the guys continued on.
"That girl has to be all kinds of fucked up after what happened to her. Imagine coming home and finding your mother dead? Fucking brutal, man. I don't care how hot she is, I wouldn't sign up for that anytime soon." Fuzzy shook his head.
Fuzz's vague speculation about Rory's mother sped my tequila-infused mind straight past defensive into full on rage. It took every ounce of Chamberlain-taught self control to restrain my clenched fist from swinging at his nose. I relaxed my fingers and used them to reach for a cigarette instead, hoping the nicotine would enter my mind and help the images of a blood soaked Rory looking up at me next to her mother's lifeless body dissipate. Who wouldn't be a little fucked up after seeing something like that? And who the fuck was Fuzzy Bracowicz to have a goddamn opinion on it?
I realized that if Fuzz and Vince were having this conversation, at one point the entire school, fuck the entire town, had probably had one similar. The amount of scrutiny and speculation that Rory was subject to was brutal. I'd always had a reputation and was no stranger to people talking shit or making up bogus stories about me, but anything anyone had ever said about me in this town was a drop in the bucket compared to what they had to say about Rory, especially since her mother's death.
Still, this gut reaction to deck someone whenever this girl's name was mentioned was becoming inconvenient. I took a drag of my cigarette, reminding myself that it was probably normal to be a little fucked up by what I'd seen at the Scanlon house and that I couldn't blame myself for thinking Rory was hot…and in all fairness, the lack of female company was probably getting to me. Rory Scanlon wouldn't be under my skin like this if I was getting consistent action like I had been before I went away.
Vince had started to ramble on to Fuzzy about the $16k Corvette. Not needing to sit through this for the second time, I motioned to Vince that I was headed for a refill and both guys handed me their cups to fill up too. I turned away and stepped back toward the keg, where Eyeball, who had managed to capture the attention of Christy as he'd hoped, lazily filled the three cups. He shot me a grin and nodded to Christy, drawing attention to the fact that at least one of us was getting some tonight. I flipped him the bird and shook my head as the grin widened across his face, then immediately faded when he spotted something behind me.
"Triple fisting?" A voice filled my ear and a manicured hand appeared on my shoulder. Long, red nails. Too long. Bordering on trashy. I turned, now face to face with Amanda. I had managed to keep my distance from her at school, but I had my suspicions she'd turn up tonight. Where there was free beer, Amanda was generally not far behind.
I had planned to hurl an insult her way and be done with it, but I made the mistake of making eye contact with her. Her green eyes were bright, maybe a little hazy from a night of joints and beers, but the second I locked eyes I knew I was in trouble. Amanda was a lot of things, but a dead fish certainly wasn't one of them…
"Oh are you talking to me? I thought you didn't waste your time with soft guys."
She rolled her eyes. "Good to know you still let the things I say get under your skin."
I threw back one of the three beers in my hand and offered her one of the other cups. It was written all over her face that she was game…it would take very little work to end my dry streak tonight. She had me caught in her web, there was no point in pretending that those beers were ever making it back to Fuzz and Vince. She smiled and accepted and took a sip.
"It's been a while since I've seen your skin." I put my middle finger through one of her belt loops and pulled her closer to me. I ran my index finger along the hem of her t-shirt, allowing it to graze her midriff.
She bit her lip. "It sure has. You've been too busy hitting the books I guess." I felt her fingers on my hand that was still laced through her belt loops. The images of her screaming in the driveway at Pop's house or her giving me the finger from the back seat of Marie Reynolds' car vanished and were replaced with happier memories, ones where we both wore less clothing than we were right now.
"Want to show me what I've been missing?"
"I thought you didn't hang out in the gutter anymore…thought you'd have bagged yourself a librarian or some shit." She threw back a large gulp of beer, enjoying playing the game and throwing her digs in.
"A pretty girl like you can make a guy say dumb things I guess…" I pulled her in closer, her forehead touching my shoulder. I looked up and saw
Mudgett and Vince shaking their heads from the couch, a combination of realizing they weren't getting their beers and probably a little disappointment that I was heading down the Amanda road again. I knew I was going to pay for it, but I was powerless…I moved my hand to the small of her back and guided her away from the keg and up the stairs. I heard Marie yell something out at Amanda, further reminding me that I would regret this later, but we continued moving toward the bedrooms, hopeful that one of them would be unoccupied.
We stumbled upon the master bedroom as Julie Moriarty and Charlie Hogan spilled out of it giggling. Amanda scurried inside and ripped the tousled sheets off the bed, as if removing the sheets made the sloppy seconds the bed was about to receive slightly less disgusting. She leaned on the exposed mattress and knocked back the rest of her beer. She threw the plastic cup on the floor, the last few drops spilling onto the Bracowicz's gray carpet. I walked over to her and stood over her, wrapping my hands around her waist and leaning in to kiss her. She pulled back "Listen Ace, this is just tonight - I don't want you telling people we're back together or anything…I kinda have a guy…out in Portland…" The words that came from her lips could not have sounded sweeter. I knew she was bluffing, I knew the second we reemerged from that bedroom all of the on-again-off-again bullshit would likely kick back up, but I had gone this far.
"Darlin, you're in charge, this is whatever you want it to be…" I said what I needed to say to coax her back toward me and leaned in for a second time. This time her lips met mine, and I knew my dry spell was coming to an end. I knew it was a bad decision, but I had done nothing but try to be smart and do the right thing for the past six months…if I was going to make a stupid decision at least I'd picked one that wouldn't land me back in court.