“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.
“It’s what?” I begged. “Tell me!”
“That’s it. My middle name is It’s,” he said, with a serious look on his face.
“So you are telling me that your parents named you Cheese It’s?” I asked with wide eyes full of confusion and disbelief.
“Yep, that’s my full name,” he proudly announced.
“Wait, what’s your last name?” I drunkenly asked.
“Rock,” he replied.
“Your full name is Cheese It’s Rock?” I said as I bit my tongue to keep from laughing out loud at the poor guy’s misfortune.
Suddenly we were interrupted by a group of human cannonballs running toward us and as we stepped apart, one of the ballers looked at me and yelled, “Is he telling you his name?”
“Yeah!” I hollered. “It’s unbelievable!”
“Did he tell you it’s Cheese It’s Rock?” the baller shouted over the thundering sound of bodies hitting the water.
“He did! Can you even believe it?” I laughed.
“No!” yelled the baller as he ran toward the edge of the pool and yelled, “Dude’s name is Christopher Michael Jackson! But we call him Jackass!” And with that he turned and yelled “Cannonball!” as he splashed into the pool with the rest of the ballers.
“Christopher Michael Jackson!” I shouted.
“What?” Cheese looked over at me expectantly.
“You are a jackass!” I laughed. “You had me going!”
“I know,” he laughed. “But you were so earnest and trusting, I couldn’t help myself!”
“Jackass!” I laughed as I walked over to him and punched his shoulder.
“You hit like a girl,” he observed as he grabbed my wrist and pushed my fingers into a proper fist for punching. “Never tuck your thumb inside your hand when you make a fist. That’s a good way to get it broken. Now, punch me again. This time like you mean it.”
I pulled back, checked my fist, and then landed a drunken punch that nearly knocked me off my feet. If it hadn’t been for Cheese (or was it Christopher?) catching me, I would have fallen forward into the pool with the rest of the drunken idiots. As he set me on my feet, I felt a hand on my shoulder.