The Ivy: Scandal (15 page)

“Excuse me?” said Alessandra, her unfocused eyes sliding over first Vanessa and then Callie.

Callie cowered behind Vanessa, praying that perhaps no one would remember this in the morning.

Unfortunately Vanessa was doing everything in her power to make the encounter as memorable as possible.

“You,” she said, pointing at Tyler, “should know better than to blatantly hit on someone whom you
know
to have a boyfriend, and
you
,” she continued, rounding on Alessandra, “well, how could you?”

“How could I what?” Alessandra asked.

“Do this to Gregory!” Vanessa cried. “As his girlfriend you should be supporting him, not cheating on him in public!”

Alessandra rolled her eyes. “Please,” she said as Tyler attempted to inch away from her, shrinking back over the arm of the couch. “We weren’t even doing anything.”

“Oh,” said Vanessa before Callie could interject, “that’s a good one. I wonder what else you’ve been lying about, hmm? Maybe Callie here was right after all—”

Callie cringed.

“Maybe you haven’t even heard from Gregory or—”

“Maybe,” Alessandra interrupted Vanessa, “you should mind your own business and stop yelling at people for hitting on other people’s girlfriends when your friend here—yes, I see you, Callie—does it all the time!”

Tyler shook himself. “Whose girlfriend did she hit on?” he asked, perking up considerably.

“Nobody’s
girlfriend
,” Alessandra snapped. “
My
boyfriend. If anybody ought to be worried about being cheated on, it’s me, not him!”

Several nearby partygoers had stopped talking, straining to overhear in between the pulsing sounds of the music pounding in the next room.

“As long as
you’re
in the picture,” Alessandra continued, rounding on Callie, “nobody at this school’s boyfriend is safe!”

“Oh yeah?” said Vanessa, drawing herself up. “Maybe that’s because Callie doesn’t put the
trash
in
euro
!”

Tyler laughed. “Sorry,” he apologized as three sets of angry eyes zeroed in on him. “That was…sort of funny.”

“Vanessa,” said Callie quietly, “I really think we should go.”

“Don’t go,” said Alessandra. “Stay—while you still can.”

“What?” said Callie sharply.

“I meant why would you leave,” Alessandra elaborated, sloshing
some of her drink onto the couch, “when there are so many other people’s boyfriends at this party for you to steal?”

Vanessa gave an
oh-no-you-didn’t
gasp. Slowly Callie shook her head. “For the record, I never tried to
steal
your boyfriend, and I refuse to apologize for the fact that we had a history before you ever even set foot on this campus.”

“Oh yes,” said Alessandra, her eyes hazy. “There you go again about your ‘history.’ I wonder what lie you’ll tell me this time. You know, I thought I was sorry, but I’m not!”

“Sorry about what?” asked Callie.

“Trusting you!” Alessandra babbled semi-coherently. “You deserve him. I mean
it
. You deserve…whatever happens….”

Tyler, who had been fidgeting, turned to Vanessa. “Is it just me, or are you suddenly feeling really hot?”

“Seriously?” Vanessa snapped. “Seriously!
That’s
your opening line? Well, you’d better quit while you’re ahead, sweetie, because that train has left the station—in fact, it left weeks ago, and it’s an express train, so it won’t be making any stops in Lonely-on-a-Tuesday Town or I’m-feeling-sort-of-fat-tonight City or—”

“No.” Tyler shook his head emphatically. “It’s hot in here. Temperature wise. Does anyone else smell…?”

“Smoke,” Callie supplied, noticing some wafting in from the foyer at the top of the stairs.

“Don’t be silly,” said Vanessa. “That’s just fog from the fog machine on the dance floor.”

“Really?” said Tyler. “Because it smells an awful lot like smo—”

“FIRE!” somebody screamed suddenly from downstairs. “THE BEAR—IS ON—FIRE!”

The music in the next room stopped. Students started pouring into the foyer, clamoring down the stairs.

“
Somebody dial nine-one-one!
”

“
They’re already on their way!
”

“
Quick—there’s a fire extinguisher in the back office
—”

“
It’s too late for that—we need to get everybody out—NOW
,” the Spee’s president screamed, darting up the stairs and barking orders at the other members on the second floor, instructing them to make sure everybody evacuated immediately.

Tyler was already up on his feet, one arm thrown around Vanessa.

“COME ON!” Callie screamed at Alessandra, who remained frozen on the couch. “Move!”

Alessandra didn’t budge.

“CALLIE!” Vanessa cried as Tyler pulled her out of the room.

Shaking her head, Callie grabbed Alessandra by the forearms and dragged her to her feet. “Snap out of it!” Callie yelled, pushing the older girl toward the stairs.

Alessandra finally seemed to rouse, stumbling on her four-inch heels. “Oh my—what the—”

“Let’s go,” Callie said. Grabbing Alessandra by the hand, she followed Tyler, Vanessa, and what seemed like the last remaining students down the stairs through a haze of smoke.

Coughing by the time she reached the first floor, Callie glanced
down the hall, over the arm of a member at the foot of the stairs directing people outside.

Flames flicked over the huge stuffed bear, blackening the white wall behind. Armed with a fire extinguisher, several guys gathered around it and worked to contain the blaze, which despite their best efforts continued emitting an enormous amount of smoke. A sudden shower of sparks shot up dangerously close to the staircase’s winding wooden banister, and Alessandra shrieked loudly—

“You need to get her outside with the rest of them!” a guy screamed at Callie over the wail of approaching sirens.

Nodding, Callie tugged at Alessandra, who remained transfixed by the blaze. “Come on,” Callie managed between coughs, finally leading the older girl outside.

From the looks of it, they were nearly the last to leave the party; students clad in outrageous costumes littered Mount Auburn Street, making room for the fire engines as they pulled up outside the Spee.

“Jessica!” Callie screamed, spotting her best friend in front of Schoenhof’s Foreign Books next door. Matt, Vanessa, Tyler, Mimi, and OK stood with her. “Are you okay?” Callie cried, running toward them with outstretched arms and nearly toppling Jessica with the force of her hug.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” Jessica replied, gripping Callie tight. “Matt and I were actually already on our way outside to take a break from all the dancing—”

“Oh, thank you!” Callie hugged Matt.

“I didn’t really do anything,” he mumbled while Callie embraced
her friends in turn, save for Tyler whom she gave a tentative pat on the arm. Alessandra hovered awkwardly in the background, tottering unsteadily on her feet.

“
C’est la chose la plus exciter en quelques semaines
!” Mimi declared, clapping her hands rapturously and staring at the smoking building.

“Hey!” cried OK.

“What?” asked Vanessa. “What did she say?”

“Nothing,” muttered OK.

“QUIET PLEASE!” A firefighter had just emerged from the Spee’s red front door. “If I could have your attention,” he continued. The crowd drew silent. Callie joined hands with Jessica and Vanessa, who stood on either side of her. “We have succeeded in putting out the fire. Fortunately the damage appears to be minimal, and no one sustained injuries beyond very minor smoke inhalation. Upon closer examination, the fire appears to have started due to an unattended cigar left near the taxidermic décor.”

Several other firefighters exited the building and gathered behind him, crossing their arms or removing their hats.

“Is it wrong that I feel slightly aroused right now?” Vanessa whispered, leaning in. Tyler grunted derisively.

“Not at all!” Jessica whispered back at the exact same second Callie said “Yes, it is.”

The firefighter who had been speaking continued. “We cannot stress enough how important it is to remain vigilant in the event that you choose to partake in indoor smoking, particularly in a party setting. Even small accidents like what probably happened tonight can lead to devastating consequences. Obviously tonight
was an exception—but next time, you might not be so lucky. So please, in the future, be careful to watch where you throw those cigarettes.”

“Okay, party’s over!” barked another firefighter as the previous speaker descended the steps. “Time to stop hanging around and head home! Now, folks! HUPD will be here any minute for a follow-up investigation, and I’m sure they’d hate to find any intoxicated, underage individuals loitering in the streets!”

“You heard the man!” the club president yelled as the firefighters began loading up their trucks. “Clear out!”

“To Daedalus!” someone cried, naming a popular bar across the street while the fire trucks revved their engines. “Because this party’s not over till we say it’s over!”

A handful of students cheered. Callie turned to her friends. Alessandra still lingered nearby. Callie caught her eye. But before either of them could say anything, Tyler muttered, “Oh, crap on a stick…here we go again.”

Following his gaze, Callie saw Lexi and Clint standing several dozen yards away, visible now that the fire engines were leaving. Even with all the commotion, their words were still audible.

“
Maybe
,” Lexi shouted, “if you had listened to me and given up cigars like you promised, none of this would have happened in the first place!”

“Maybe if
you
hadn’t been bitching about it so much,” Clint bellowed back as everyone in the near vicinity turned to stare, “I would’ve been paying closer attention when I set it down!”

Callie’s eyes grew wide. She had never, in all the months they
had dated, seen this side of Clint. Even when she’d practically torn apart his bedroom searching for signs of an affair with Lexi and he’d caught her red-handed, he had remained disturbingly, robotically calm. And even when she’d admitted to having spent the night with Gregory when she and Clint were on a break (technically a “fuzzy gray area”), he had barely raised his voice. She glanced at Tyler, recalling with new appreciation the times he had described Clint’s relationship with Lexi as volatile, characterized by a can’t-live-without-driving-each-other-crazy kind of love.

“So let me get this straight,” Lexi was screaming. “
You
broke your promise, and
you
could have very well set your lit cigar down near that highly flammable eyesore, and somehow
I’m
responsible for trying to burn down the entire Spee?”

Clint opened his mouth to shout a reply but suddenly stopped short, noticing the crowd that had begun to form around them, including several Spee members who watched them closely. “Er—nobody tried to burn anything down,” he called loudly. “Though I can’t say for certain, since we were on the second floor the whole night!”

“Is that so?” Lexi demanded, ignoring the crowd. “Maybe we should stick around until HUPD shows up and see what they have to say about that!”

“You
would
try to have me arrested, wouldn’t you?” Clint yelled. “That is just
so
typical. So. Fucking. Typical!”

“Excuse me, ladies,” Tyler said quietly to Callie, Alessandra, and Vanessa. “Duty calls.” Dashing over to Clint and Lexi, he grabbed his roommate and attempted to drag him in the direction
of Adams House. Lexi followed them, calling insults all the while.

“I take it back,” Mimi said breathlessly. “
That
was definitely
la plus excitant
thing to happen all evening!”

“I should go,” Alessandra murmured, looking shell-shocked.

Callie turned to her. “Uh…do you think you can make it home okay?”

“Yeah—fine,” Alessandra muttered, backing away. “Thanks—and sorry. About…everything.”

“That’s all ri—” Before Callie could finish, Alessandra had disappeared into the crowd.

“
Whe-wee
!” Jessica whistled, throwing an arm around Callie’s shoulders. “Just another normal night on the old Harvard campus, eh?”

Callie blinked, staring at the spot Alessandra had vacated. For some reason she couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that she was forgetting something.

“Tell me about it,” Vanessa answered Jessica. “I can’t decide if I need a nap or a drink.”

“
Buvez, buvez
!” Mimi cheered in favor of option number two. “
Je vote pour que nous allons à Daedalus. Monsieur
?” she asked, turning to OK.

“Fine,” he said stiffly. “If everyone else is going.”

“I’ll go,” said Jessica. “I couldn’t possibly sleep right now after all of that. Matt?”

“Sure,” he said. “Callie?” he added.

“
Caaleeee
,” Jessica repeated, waving a hand in front of her face. “You coming?”

“Where?” asked Callie.

“Daedulus, duh!” said Vanessa.

“Oh…um…” Callie stared at her friends. Her eyes roved over each of their features, one by one. OK and Mimi, Matt and Vanessa, and Jessica, whose presence in the group—amazing as it was to have her—served as a stark reminder of another member’s absence.

Gregory.

Callie closed her eyes. If he hadn’t gotten tangled up in his father’s hedge fund scandal or everything at Bolton and Stamford Enterprises was business as usual, would he be here now? Would he have broken up with Alessandra as promised—and would he finally be hers?

Callie swallowed.
Yes
. He would have been there, devastating and disheveled with five o’clock shadow and the top buttons of his shirt undone. Navy blue, she decided, to match his eyes, which would have stayed on her the entire night, filling her with that same sense of security and anticipation she’d experienced on the ferry. And when the fire broke out, he would have taken her hand and led her outside, instead of her having to help Alessandra, and only when he knew she was safe, would he act as if he’d never been worried at all. He would lean in so close they were almost touching and ask her, with that signature smirk, if she knew anyone klutzy enough to have started the fire. She would feign offense, insisting on her innocence and asking if
he
knew any smokers, and then his lips would brush up against her ear as he whispered, “
Caliente
, do you know the Spanish word for
fire
?” And then—