Remember When (Remember Trilogy #1) (6 page)

   On the other hand, that’s why it made such a perfect party house.

    With the number of cars crammed around the front yard, I rest assured that any potential murderers would be outnumbered by party guests. Besides, all the real creeps were already inside.

   I remember hearing once about the correct way to enter a room. A person should stroll in with confidence and head straight for a familiar face. The worst thing you could do was linger like an insecure little wallflower, fumphering around two steps inside the door. Lisa knew this, too, which is why we gave a quick knock before heading right on in. We kissed a few people hello on our beeline to the back deck where we knew the keg would be.

   Cooper and Sargento were standing around the boombox, fighting over DJ duties. Rymer was sitting on the railing, using the keg as a footstool and holding a stack of red Solo cups.

   He saw Lisa and me walk out and said, “Five bucks.”

   I went for my wallet, but stopped when I heard Lisa say, “Rymer, you pantywaste. Are you seriously going to try and pull this shit again? Asking
girls
to kick in for the keg? No wonder you never get laid.”

   The guys snickered into their sleeves which put Rymer in the position of having to retaliate. “Alright, DeSanto. I’ll give you and Janis Joplin here both a cup, no charge. But you’re gonna have to pay for it later, if you know what I mean.”

   We all knew Rymer was full of shit, but the guys stopped laughing at the suggestive comment and turned toward us, waiting with anticipation to see how we’d respond.

   Lisa didn’t disappoint. She got right up in his face and said, “Rymer, if I actually believed you even
had
a dick in those pants, we could talk. As it is-”

   “Oh, you want to see it?” He hopped off the railing and started making a big, phony show of unbuttoning his jeans. We knew he was bluffing about dropping his drawers, but thankfully, we weren’t forced to test that notion. Because just then, Trip came out the door and stopped him in his tracks with, “Jesus, Rymer. Can’t you ever keep your damn pants on?”

   We all started laughing as Trip made the rounds of hellos and handshakes.

   Rymer gave Trip a high-five, then handed him a cup. Lisa just went ballistic. “Oh, so you give your buddies beer for free but charge the girls five bucks? Nice racket you’re running here.”

   Trip was busy getting a beer from the keg as he said, “Dude. You can’t charge the girls for beer, man. That’s just stupid.”

   Lisa chimed in, “I know, right?”

   Trip handed her his filled cup and dug a fold of bills out of his pocket. Lisa and I tried to protest as he peeled off a twenty and slapped it on the railing before grabbing three more cups off the stack and filling them at the tap, passing the first off to me as he finished. Lisa and I shrugged at each other and started drinking.

   Rymer tried to save face. “Trip- No way, man. Take this back. I wasn’t really gonna charge them and what kind of asshole would I be if I didn’t cover your cup?”

   Lisa cut in with, “A huge one!”

   Rymer shot her a dirty look, then turned and started jabbing the twenty back in Trip’s direction. “Seriously. It’s your first night hanging with us. Take it.”

   By that time, Trip was almost finished filling the fourth cup. “Not gonna happen, dude. Just take it off my tab the next time.”

   Then he clinked his cup against mine and gave me a wink which almost made me spit up my mouthful of beer.

   “By the way,” he added, “Who the hell tapped this thing? They foamed the hell out of it.”

   We all started laughing again because it was a great slam on Rymer, who obviously must have tapped his own keg. Poorly.

   Normally, having been shown up in front of his friends, Rymer would have gone on the rampage. I don’t know why Trip was given a free pass. Maybe Rymer was trying to be welcoming to the new kid. It’s possible he may have just realized he was being a jerk. Then again, maybe he thought he’d finally met his match and just didn’t want to get his ass kicked.

   The thing was, Trip managed to put Rymer in his place without completely tearing him to shreds. Hell, Rymer actually had a
smile
on his face! I’d never seen anyone get away with that.   

   Just as we were pulling it together, Cooper pointed out Trip’s two beers and asked, “Yo. What’s with the double-fisting tonight?”

   Trip didn’t miss a beat and answered him with, “Double fisting? What, is your sister around?”

   We all lost our minds cracking up. Even Coop was forced to crack a smile as Rymer gave Trip another high-five. While we were catching our breath,
Tess Valletti
walked out onto the deck.

   She walked right over to Trip, who handed her a drink in an unmistakable gesture that said they were together.

   Unbelievable. The guy was in town for less than a week and he’d already managed to start dating
Tess Valletti
.

   Here’s the 411 on Tess: She was a year older than us, so she’d graduated the previous June. During her four years at St. Norman’s, she was drooled over by every straight male in the vicinity. Tall, blonde and funny, she was not only gorgeous, but popular, too. 

   She used to only date college guys, much to the average high-school-girl’s relief. The fact that Trip- a senior in high school, mind you- was able to get her to go out with him was pretty impressive. The fact that she let him drag her to a high school party was nothing short of
miraculous
.

   She and I were in the same typing class the year before, so we actually knew each other pretty well even though we didn’t really hang out too much or anything.

   “Hey, Layla!” she said.

   “Hi Tess. How’s it going?”

   She took a sip of her beer. “Great. Really great. Well, you know, aside from the fact that I’m here at
Rymer’s
and all.”

   Everyone thought that was just hysterical, of course.

   Lisa would never admit it, but I knew she was euphoric once Tess finally graduated, giving her the chance to ascend to her rightful and long-awaited position as Queen Bee. Yet here she found herself back in Tess’s shadow only two weeks into her reign.

   Lisa couldn’t allow herself to take a backseat any longer and decided to pipe in. “So, Tess... How the heck did you wind up here tonight?”

   Tess shot Trip a sly look and joked, “Oh, you know. The usual, boring old story. I was on my way to meet some girlfriends out tonight when I got hit on by some random guy at the convenience store.”

   Trip threw an arm around her shoulders and added, “Yeah. Last time I was at the 7-11, all I picked up was a Slurpee.”

   Lisa and I laughed, but I was feeling pretty torn up inside. Seeing the two of them together was just the slightest bit devastating. They looked like a page ripped out of a magazine, standing there with their dazzling good looks and their suggestive smiles. They gave off the vibe that they were part of some secret club the rest of us would never be asked to join.  What, do beautiful people have radar or something for one another?

Chapter 8

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD

    I spent the next couple of hours hanging out with some girls from my art class. Just as we decided to start a game of Quarters, Lisa grabbed my arm and pulled me over to a more private corner of the kitchen. “Oh my God, Pickford’s here!” she managed to whisper-scream in my ear.

   Pickford was Penelope Redy’s twin brother, but I didn’t really know him too well. Lisa had been eyeing him up since the first day of school. He’d shot up about six inches and apparently spent the entire summer vacation lifting weights, because he showed up for senior year looking like a completely different person. Tall, dark and lean, with just enough muscle to not appear lanky. He wasn’t really my type- I’d recently been displaying a particular affinity for
blondes
- but he was definitely cute. It wasn’t easy to transition, but Pick was always a well-liked guy and with the new abs and attitude, Lisa figured it wouldn’t be long before he sidled on in to our group. That he’d shown up at Rymer’s was an encouraging start.

   I asked, “Where is he?”

   Lisa nodded her head in the direction of the living room. “In there, I think. Peek out casually and see if you can see him. But don’t be obvious!”

   I leaned out the doorway and scanned my eyes across the living room for Pickford. It didn’t take long to find him as he was a full head taller than the rest of the kids in the room. “Yep. There he is alright. I’ll call him over so you can smooch him. Hey Pick!”

   Lisa threw her hand over my mouth, saying, “Shut up, you retard!” and dragged me back behind the kitchen wall.

   She still had a hold on my mouth, so I licked her palm.

   She pulled away quickly, wiping her hand on her jeans. “Ewww! You’re so gross! What’s your damage, anyway?”

   “Um, okay,
Heather
. Did you just seriously ask me what my damage is?” I cracked up, then added, “That’s what you get for trying to smother me with your freakish paws.”

   Lisa held a hand in front of her face, inspecting it for flaws, saying, “Maybe they’re not
dainty
, but they’re not freakish.
You’re
the freak.”

   “You are.”

   “You are, Jerk.”

   “Don’t call me Jerk, Oven Mitts.”

   “Don’t call me Oven Mitts, Janis Joplin.”

   “Yeah, well, up your nose with a rubber hose.”

   “Ha! Up your ass with a piece of glass.
You’d love it.”             

   “Yeah? Well,
you
love Pickford Redy.”

   Lisa stopped laughing and looked at me wide-eyed. “Shit. Yeah, I totally do
,” which cracked me up all over again.

* * *

    Most of the time, the purposes of a high school party were to socialize, drink and hook up. The latter of which I was reminded of while waiting in line for the bathroom as Coop Benedict tried to stick his tongue in my ear.

   Cooper and I had been close friends for like,
ever
. He was really cute and we’d gone out a few times, but we’d realized we weren’t destined to be the next Bruce and Demi. Sometimes, we’d get drunk and make out, but that night, he was just
too
drunk and I wasn’t digging his sloppy proposition.

   Thankfully, Sargento came out of the bathroom just then and I told Coop he could get in there ahead of me.

   He wobbled on his feet for a second and said, “Why don’t we
both
go in?”

   I told him no, that was alright.

   He put a hand against the door frame and slurred his next words. “C’mon, Layla. You looso hot in that hibbie shirt. Come in w’ me.”

   And then, like I knew he would, he started singing.

   I’ll give you one guess what song it was.

   “Oh, for crying out loud, Coop. Just take your damn turn in the bathroom so I can get in there. I really gotta pee!”

   He finally gave up and closed the door behind him, adjusting the lyrics and singing loudly, “
Lay
-la... She’s really gotta pee!
Lay
-la...”

   Just as I was shaking my head at that, Trip appeared around the corner. I’d spent the past few hours avoiding him and Tess like the plague. I just didn’t think I could handle seeing them being shmoopy all night.

   “This the line?”

   “Yep.”

   “Who’s the songbird in the can?”

   “That would be Cooper Benedict.”

   Trip could hear the altered version of my song and asked, “How many times has someone sung
that
to you?”

   “If I had a nickel.”

   That made him laugh.

   He leaned a shoulder against the wall, crossed his arms and nodded at me. “You know, I almost didn’t recognize you when I first saw you out there. You look really different with your hair like that.”

   I didn’t know if “different” was a good or a bad thing. I resisted the urge to check my flat hair in the hall mirror and took a sip of my drink instead. I’d had more than a handful of conversations with Trip already, but I still felt nervous talking to him, wanting to make a good impression, even though I knew it was really stupid to develop a crush on a guy that nine hundred other girls were practically in love with, too. A guy that dated older, beautiful and more experienced girls like Tess Valletti. A guy that was only talking to me at that moment because I happened to be standing there at the time. In my head, I knew this. In my stomach, the butterflies did not.