On an Edge of Glass (10 page)

             
Drew doesn’t shake my hand when I give it to him.  Instead, he curls his fingers around mine and pulls me forward until my shoulder joint brushes his upper body. 

“Sorry, what was that?” He asks against my ear.
 

             
The music is loud and the crowd is rowdy, but I get the distinct impression that Drew heard my name and he’s just toying with me.  Normally, this is the type of move that would have me rolling my eyes and mentally practicing groin kicks.  But tonight, I find it vaguely amusing. 

             
“Ellie,” I repeat slowly, letting my fingers linger in his grasp. He smells faintly of beer and musky cologne.

             
“It’s nice to meet you Ellie.”  Drew steps back and brazenly surveys my body.  “You cute girls and your sexy dresses on Halloween…” 

“Excuse me?” 

He chuckles and raises one eyebrow.  “Not that I’m complaining at all.  I just meant that the weather doesn’t usually cooperate.”

             
I smile.  This guy is hot and intriguing.  Is it weird that I notice that he’s almost the opposite of Ben in the looks department?  He’s shorter, which isn’t really saying much, since everyone in the world is shorter than Ben.  But, it’s more than that.  Drew’s looks are groomed and sleek, and he’s dressed meticulously in a way that would never even occur to Ben.   

             
“It wasn’t my idea to wear this costume,” I say, adjusting the cat ear headband on my head.  “My roommates insisted that I get in the spirit of things.  If you knew them, you’d know that there’s really no use arguing.  They always get their way.”

             
“Ahhh, I understand.  I’ve been around lots of
those
girls,” Drew says matter-of-factly.  He eyes my empty cup.  “So, Ellie, can I be a gentleman and get you another drink?”

             
Any other time in my life I would say no.  Any other time, I would let my eyes fall to the ground coyly, and make an intentionally vague comment like, “maybe next time.”  But tonight is different. I want to have fun.  Scratch that—I
need
to have fun.  Also, I’ve just spotted a pretty girl wearing an angel costume talking to Ben. 

It looks like the
band is getting ready for a break.  Ben is fiddling around with his guitar, but he’s also leaning his long torso forward so that he can hear the angel girl better.  He’s smiling. 
Smiling
.  And she is beautiful in that perfect sort of way that you think only happens in magazines or on television.  The whole thing twists my stomach into a knot.

So
I turn back to Drew because he’s standing right in front of me.  And I nod my head, and bat my eyelashes to complete the effect. 

Drew
grins and disappears into the house, presumably to find me something from one the coolers set up on the kitchen floor.  When he returns, he hands me a wine cooler that he’s wrapped in a paper towel.  “I hope that you like strawberry,” he says, looking slightly apprehensive.

             
It’s my favorite.  I take a sip.  “I love it.”

             
Drew’s stance mirrors mine.  He rests his shoulder against the side of the house so that we’re face to face—not quite touching.   

“What year are you?”  He asks
, letting his eyes travel to my mouth.  My stomach flips and I can feel my cheeks flushing.  Suddenly I’m not so cold anymore.  I take another sip. 

             
“Senior.”

             
“Same as me.” Drew nods his head.  He runs his index finger along the rim of the beer bottle he’s holding.  “Do you know what you’re going to do after graduation yet?”

             
This is familiar territory.  I take a deep breath and launch into my standard explanation about my parents being attorneys, and my plans for law school.  Drew asks all the usual questions, and I answer them.  Eventually, we exhaust the topic and lapse into an idling silence.  I look around the party for inspiration. 

The p
orch is still packed.  Earlier, Ainsley pinned a few strands of spiraling white Christmas lights to the eaves of the house.  The more I drink, the more the lights seem to twinkle and swirl against the dark night. 

             
The band has stopped playing completely.  Someone with a sense of irony is playing a 1990s mix for the crowd and people are laughing and singing along.  Smiling, I think that it’s probably Payton’s doing.  I swear to myself that if I hear even one chord of an Ace of Base song, I’ll pull the plug, regardless of who I piss off. 

Drew touches
my arm gently.  My eyes snap back to his. 

“So
… how do you know these guys?”  He asks, gesturing to the house.

             
I scrunch up my nose, grin crookedly, and say, “I live here.”

             
Drew throws his head back and laughs loudly.

“Of course you do,
” he counters.

             
“Now that we’ve established the basis of my presence,” I shift my weight and cross my arms, supporting the wine cooler in the crook of my elbow.  “How did you wind up at the party? Do you know Payton?”  It seems that almost every attractive guy at our party is connected to Payton in some way. 

             
Drew shakes his head and smiles blandly.  “I guess you could say that I’m sort of with the band.”

             
“Oh.”  I crinkle my forehead and chuckle.  “Like a groupie?”

             
Drew doesn’t answer immediately.  His bright blue eyes flash and he takes another swig from his beer bottle.  Finally, he inclines his head toward me and says softly, “not exactly.”

             
“Are you friends with Ben?”  I sputter, taking a half a step back.

             
“Not exactly,” another voice says.  It’s a deep voice with the slightest trace of a drawl. 

Drew
’s eyes flick over my shoulder and his whole face closes up.

I turn
.  Ben is standing about three feet away from us with his back to the hectic party.  I spot the beautiful angel girl watching us from over his shoulder.  Her mouth is pressed together in curiosity.

The knot in m
y stomach tightens at the odd look on Ben’s face and the way that his hands are balled tightly at his sides.  Strands of long dark hair fall down across his eyes.  I have the urge to reach over and brush them away, but I don’t dare.  He’s glaring at Drew with an expression that I can only describe as contemptuous.   

“Just what the hell do you think you’re doing here?”
Ben spits the words out and I flinch.     

Drew lets out an exaggerated sigh through his teeth.  He
rubs his eyes with his thumb and his index finger, then sets his beer bottle on the porch railing and straightens his shoulders.  “Dude, I wanted to come here to listen to the guys play.  I was hoping that I could talk to you.” 

             
“But, you got distracted and decided to corner Ellie instead?”  Ben’s mouth twists into a grimace. 

A slow kind of panic is starting to seep into my body.
  “Ben,” I murmur. 

H
is eyes sweep to mine then go back to Drew.  “I can’t even believe that you would have the balls to show up at my house.  I think I was pretty clear when I said that I never wanted to see you again.” 

“I just—”
Drew starts but Ben cuts him off.

“
You’re an asshole, you know that?”

             
I feel like I should say something to diffuse the situation.  I don’t know exactly what’s happening between these two, but I know that whatever it is, it isn’t good.  I take a step toward Ben and place my palm flat on his forearm.  When he looks down and sees my hand, the rawness that flashes through his eyes makes my heart drop. 

“
Ben… I think you should calm down,” I begin, but the words are like sandpaper against the roof of my mouth. 

             
Drew doesn’t move.  His lips are set in a straight line that cuts across his face and makes him look different than he appeared five minutes ago.  He says, “Look, I know that we can’t go back to the way things were before, but I thought that we could at least talk.  We have too much history to not even be civil to each other.”

             
Ben’s laugh is humorless.  Agitation rockets around his eyes and I’m certain that he’s one wrong word away from losing it.

             
“You have got to be kidding me.  Civil to each other?”  Ben’s almost shouting now.  A few people nearby turn to see what’s going on and they shift creating a semi-circle around us.  The angel girl is among them and she’s frowning.  I spot Payton edging her way toward us.

Ben
continues.  “You think that you’ll be a better friend this time around?  You think you can refrain from screwing my girlfriend?  You’ll stay away from my band and my house and…” he chokes, “
Ellie
?”

             
Whoa. 

My pulse
is thumping.  With my free hand, I push against Ben’s chest so that he’s forced to take a step back.  He radiates heat and I can feel his racing heart even through his shirt.  A guy with shaggy red hair appears and grabs hold of Ben’s other arm.  I recognize him as the drummer from Ben’s band. 

The drummer says
something that I can’t hear into Ben’s left ear and he visibly softens.  His eyes skip over me.  

             
Drew’s mouth opens and closes.  “Ben, I swear that Lily and I aren’t even talking anymore, and I didn’t know that you and Ellie were—”

             
Before Drew can finish the sentence—before I can correct the mistake—Ben shakes me and the drummer off and steps forward, effectively blocking me with his shoulder.  He pointedly says to Drew, “Just leave.” 

             
There’s no questioning the tone or the look.  Drew purses his lips and throws me an apologetic nod before turning and walking away.  He doesn’t even take his scarf with him.

In a state of ne
ar breathlessness, Payton herds us into Ben’s room.  She pulls off the devil horns that she’s been wearing all night and throws them onto the bed.   “What in the hell was
that
all about?” 

             
I look at Ben and then back at Payton.  The red-headed drummer is standing just inside the door with his arms crossed over his chest.  He looks uncomfortable.  He’s wearing a bright green shirt that says
The Hulk,
and a pair of clashing army green cargo pants.  He’s got a smear of face paint down one cheek like someone started to paint his face but got bored and stopped halfway through.

“I have no idea,
” I say honestly, glancing down at my ridiculous high heels.

             
Payton is staring hard at Ben now.  I can almost see the wheels in her head turning, scraping against the inside of her skull. 

“
Oh my God.  Are you two…” she points to me first, then to Ben.  Her eyebrows waggle.  “Are you, you know—”

             
Ben and I intercept her meaning at the same time.  Both of us put our hands up and nearly shout in unison, “No!”

             
“Okay, okay,” she says with a wan smile and takes a step back. 

I’m not sure if she believes us.  She
folds her hands on her hips and angles her chin so that her short dark hair fans around the collar of the sparkly red halter top that she’s wearing. 

“Then please explain
to me what happened out there.”  She points at Ben. “
You
almost got into a brawl at our party and I want to know why.”  

             
Ben slumps into a chair by the desk.  He drags his hands over the back of his head. 

I realize that I haven’
t been in this room since he moved in.  The walls are bare except for a single black and white charcoal drawing pinned above the headboard.  The comforter on the bed is still Hannah’s light blue one with a delicate pattern of white flowers.  I recognize the green pillows as the ones I helped her choose over the summer. 

A few articles of
clothing lay scattered on the floor near the closet, but mostly it’s clean by college guy standards.  In the corner of the desk there’s a stack of books and a plastic cup that holds about a half dozen Sharpies and a single yellow pencil.  A black guitar case is propped against one wall. 

             
To my surprise the drummer takes a step away from the door and is the one to speak.  His voice is gravelly like he doesn’t use it very often.  “Drew used to be our lead guitarist and Ben’s best friend.  He fucked it all up by sleeping with Lily awhile back.  Ben came home early from class one afternoon and walked in on ‘em.”  He motions to Ben, whose head has fallen into his hands so that I can’t make out his face.  “The shit hit the fan and we all decided to ask Drew to leave the band.  Then Ben moved out of the apartment he shared with Lily and in with you guys.  The rest…” he shrugs his shoulders. “Well, you pretty much know the rest.  I’m Nick, by the way.”