Burn for Burn (Burn for Burn 1)

*    *    *

Thirty minutes later, the six of us are at Ashlin’s house, drinking beers in her sauna. Her dad had it built onto the pool house. It’s a huge room lined with wide cedar planks. Wooden benches are built into the walls, and there’s a big glass door that looks out onto her backyard pool and Jacuzzi. The light is soft inside, and the heat is making me sleepy.

Ashlin’s in one of her bikinis. She offered Rennie and me ones to wear too, but Ashlin has huge boobs, and there’s no way either of us could fit into her top. So I’m in my underwear and a big T-shirt I borrowed from Ashlin’s younger brother, who’s, like, six feet tall even though he’s only in seventh grade. But Rennie’s just in her bra and panties, lying down on one of the wooden benches with her eyes closed, like she’s in a men’s magazine.

I’ve known these guys for years, but it feels weird for Rennie to be in her underwear in front of them. And the dry heat is starting to give me a headache. I take a sip of my beer and hold the bottle up to my forehead.

“I should get Coach to put one of these in our locker room,” Reeve says. “Good for the muscles.” Reeve’s in his black boxer briefs, and beads of sweat trickle down his abs. Alex and PJ are on opposite sides of him, in their boxers, with towels over their heads.

“Seriously!” Rennie says. “I bet you Coach would do it, if you asked. You’re his star player, after all, the one who’s taking us to State this year!” Rennie gives a big “Woooo!” that fills the room.

PJ clears his throat. “Ahem. Don’t forget about the kicker. Remember, for every six points Reeve scores, I’m popping a seventh up there. Right, Lil?”

“Right,” I say.

“Seriously, Reevie,” Rennie says. “Every one of those scouts wants a piece of you. How are you going to decide where to go?”

“It’s gonna go like this.” Reeve puts down his beer. “First off, it’s got to be a decent school with a good communications program. After that I’ll consider the reputation for parties. And then it’s location, because I want to be somewhere warm and sunny.” He rips the towel off Alex’s head and puts it on his own. “And then I’ve got my Playboy college campus edition to refer to, in case of a tiebreaker.”

I shudder, crossing my arms over my chest. “It’s nice that these schools are willing to overlook your grades,” I say to Reeve, because I can’t help myself. Sweetly I add, “I mean, if it wasn’t for football, who knows where you’d get in, right?”

PJ laughs loudly; so does Alex.

Reeve answers right back. “It’s a shame we can’t all be Asian, huh, Cho?”

Everyone laughs this time. I take another sip of my beer. A big sip.

We talk awhile more about the game, and Rennie goads Reeve into rehashing his plays for us, highlight reel style. I’m watching Rennie’s beer bottle, hoping that once she’s finished, she’ll be ready to take me home. I’ll never hear the end of it from Kat if I’m late. Plus, I have curfew.

PJ has a watch that beeps every hour. When it turns one in the morning, I start yawning, every minute or so. Sometimes they are real, but sometimes they are fake. This one is fake.

“You tired, Lillia?” Alex asks me.

“Yeah,” I say. And then I make eye contact with Rennie. But Ashlin gets up and pours a ladle of water onto the hot rocks, filling the place with sizzling steam.

Alex stands up and stretches. “I don’t think I can take this heat much longer,” he says.

Rennie tells him, “Then get me another beer,” and cracks up hysterically.

“You shouldn’t stay out too late,” I say to her. “Tomorrow’s going to be a big day for you. You don’t want to have tired eyes.”

“But I’m so relaxed,” she says, glancing over at Reeve. Her words run into each other.

“Come on,” I say. “Let’s go, Ren. I’ll drive.”

Rennie makes a face at Reeve and says, “Is something wrong with her ears? Can she not hear me?” She looks back at me and says, “Testing, testing. One. Two. Three.”

I want to slap her.

“I’ll take you home, Lillia,” Alex offers.

“Awesome,” I say, before pushing open the sauna door and stepping outside. Rennie can do what she wants. Why should I care? She’s not my responsibility. Just like I wasn’t hers.

Ashlin’s backyard is dark, and the night air feels good against my skin.

Alex walks out behind me. I tell him, “One second. I’m just gonna go put on my clothes.” I run inside Ashlin’s house and change back into my cheering uniform.

When I get back outside, Rennie’s standing next to her Jeep, wrapped in a towel. “I thought you wanted to stay,” I say.

She opens her mouth to answer me, but then Reeve calls out of the sauna, “Come back inside, Ren. Just let Lindy take her home. I’ll drive you later.”

Rennie shifts her weight and looks back toward the sauna. “I think I will stay. See you tomorrow!” And then she runs off, leaving tracks of wet footprints on the blacktop.

I turn and see Alex, sitting in his SUV with the lights off. I climb inside. “Thanks for giving me a ride. I don’t think I can watch Rennie throw herself at Reeve for another hour.”

Alex shrugs. “I don’t see him complaining.”

He starts the car up and I buckle my seat belt. “Of course not. He’s an egomaniac.” I fiddle with the radio. “I mean, it doesn’t even matter who the girl is, as long as she’s as obsessed with him as he is with himself.”

Alex doesn’t say anything, and I feel embarrassed. Maybe I took it a little too far.

*    *    *

At exactly two in the morning, I go downstairs and open the front door. Kat and Mary are both there. I hold my finger up to my lips and lead them into the living room.

“How was the game?” Mary whispers to me.

“Whatever,” I say. “We won.” I ask Kat, “Did you get the stuff?”

Kat’s walking around the living room, looking at the pictures on the wall. The one of Nadia and me in our Easter dresses at our grandmother’s house, the family portrait my mom had commissioned by some famous Boston artist. She’s seen them before, but maybe she doesn’t remember. “Yeah,” she says, lingering at my mom’s cotillion portrait. “I got it.” She hands me a small glass vial.