“You don’t have to be such a grump!” I teased.
“Ava, go get in the car,” he said seriously. “We have a party to get to.”
*****
When we arrived at the Fiji house, the party was in full swing. All the lights in the place were on, and the music was blaring so loudly that the windows were pulsing to the beat, and for a moment, I was afraid they would break. On the porch, a group of Fiji brothers were playing beer pong with a group of Kappa Kappa Gamma sisters, and it looked like the Kappas were actually winning; either that, or the Fiji boys were so far gone that they had lost sight of the purpose of the game. I walked up the steps with Brian in tow, and the game players all yelled their welcome before turning back to the table and enthusiastically urging the next Kappa to put the ball in the cup.
Inside the house, we had to navigate through a maze of people dancing to the pounding bass that seemed to be coming from the far corner of the living room. People were dancing everywhere; on the stairs, in the hallway, in the kitchen, and on the kitchen counter was a girl in go-go boots and a bikini dancing for an audience of one while the rest twisted and writhed to the beat. I grabbed Brian’s hand and pulled him toward the backyard where Jessie and Lara had said they’d be.
The Fijis had, at some point in their illustrious history, build an in-ground pool in the backyard of the fraternity house, and tonight, the pool was lit up by hundreds (maybe even thousands) of strings of chili pepper lights, which made the yard glow an ominous shade of red. I scanned the large yard as several drunk frat brothers pushed each other into the pool yelling, “Cannonball!” before they did. From the looks of their soaking clothes, they’d been doing this for a while. I shook my head and then jumped up and down as I spotted the girls in the far corner of the yard.
“Jessie! Lara!” I yelled as I made a dash for them. “I’m here!”
“Ava!” Jessie shouted. “Did you bring the hottie?”
“Jessie!” I scolded. “He has a name. Shame on you!”
“Awww, I’m sorry,” she said as she hung her head shamefully. “Hi Brian, I’m sorry I called you the hottie. No offense.”
“None taken,” he replied with a bit of a smile creeping across his lips. No one could stay mad at Jessie for very long, not even a tough bodyguard.
“What’s going
on, girls?” I asked.
“Well, James here is showing us how he can beer bong, but I’m not buying the whole setup,” Lara said as she grabbed James’ apparatus and turned it over to examine it. “I’ve never seen anything like this, and he’s managed to pour more beer on himself than into his mouth thus far.”
I looked at James and wondered if it was the beer bong that was the problem or the fact that he was about 12 sheets to the wind already. I said as much to Lara and she laughed it off, telling me that I was overanalyzing and that I should lighten up. I shrugged and asked where I could get a drink. Jessie walked me over to the table and ordered a couple of punches for us both. I turned to ask Brian if he wanted anything, but he’d moved over to the corner of the yard where he could observe with his back against the fence. I waved to get his attention, but he didn’t see me, so after I got my glass, I walked over to him.
“Do you want something to drink?” I asked.
“No, I’m fine,” he replied as he scanned the crowd.
“Are you sure?” I asked again.
“Yes! I’m fine, dammit!” he shouted impatiently. “Now will you drop it?”
“Jeez, I was just trying to be polite. You don’t have to bite my head off,” I grumbled. “Sorry I asked.”
“It’s fine,” he said as he waved me off. “Go have fun. I’ll be over here if you need me.”
I walked away feeling frustrated because I knew I’d been dismissed. Why is he so angry? What had I been expecting? Did I think he was going to act like my boyfriend around all of these people? The tryst on the couch and the one in the hotel room kept playing in my head and I couldn’t get them out of my mind. That changed as Jessie brought me a second cup of punch and pulled me into a crowd of dancers, and I lost myself in the alcohol and the beat of the pounding music that blared from the speakers. Soon I was having a wonderful time and had forgotten the sting of Brian’s dismissal.
*****
Jessie, Lara, and I walked to the other end of the yard and watched the Fiji boys cannonball into the pool over and over again as we drank our punch. Admittedly, I drank too much, too fast, and soon, I found myself slurring my words and laughing more loudly that I normally would, but I was having fun and for once, I wasn’t worried about anything. The alcohol gave me a warm, fuzzy sense of confidence, and I began openly flirting with a boy they called “Cheese.”
“So how on earth did you get the nickname Cheese?” I laughed.
“Oh, it’s not a nickname,” he solemnly informed me. “Cheese is my given name. My parents were hippies who really wanted to buck the system, but they were on welfare when I was born because my dad had lost his job when he refused to sign up for the draft on the grounds that he was a contentious objector. My mom said that they named me Cheese because the day I was born that’s all they had left to eat until the next month’s allotment of food stamps were issued.”
“You are kidding me.” I had stopped laughing and was staring at him in disbelief.
“Nope, not kidding at all,” Cheese replied. “I was fortunate that my parents also thought about the future ramifications of their choice and gave me a normal middle name on the off chance that someday I’d be elected president or something.”
“And what is your middle name?” I asked breathlessly.
“It’s,” he responded.