by Fiona Keane
“Dork.” Lizzie tousled his hair while he walked by her, on his way to the couch—on his way to me. Oh, hell no, Sean. There were plenty of other seating options elsewhere.
“Should we play the Ella way or old fashioned poker?” Jesse called, dividing his set of playing cards. Ella’s method of playing poker required us to write a series of favors or things we were willing to do instead of using actual money. It was risky but more cost effective for those of us without a trust fund. Sean!
“Old fashioned,” I suggested, blurting the words. Because I don’t want to offer Sean any favors. Do I?
It took ten minutes for me to be twenty dollars in the hole. I hated poker. However, Jesse too kindly replaced each of my empty wine glasses so I wasn’t taking my loss too hard. What if that’s his game? Jerk! Sure, get the girls giggly so they don’t realize that they’re all losing. Well, he was just as giggly, so maybe he didn’t have a secret plan. His roommate, on the other hand…
“I’m out.” Lizzie sighed, placing her weak hand of cards on the table and reaching for a cold slice of pepperoni pizza.
“You still in?” Sean questioned, eyeing me with plastered doubt. His shirt echoed the warm glow of his emerald eyes. Another distraction. These two are terrible.
“Oh,” I assured him, “I’m all in.” Ella giggled beneath her wine glass. Sean squinted as he smiled, accepting my participation, continuing to deal cards from the small deck while peeking up at me with a malicious grin.
“This is ridiculous,” Ella grumbled, eyeing her hand of cards. “Stupid.”
“Ell,” I rolled my eyes, “you’re giving the game away! This is poker. You need to put your face on and pull up your big girl panties.”
“Yes, dear,” Jesse mockingly encouraged Ella, kissing the top of her head.
“It’s all about pretending you’ve got it all right,” Sean instructed. “How it looks on the outside.”
Lizzie scoffed, mid-bite. “You would know.”
“Yep.” He winked at her, and his grin stretched a mile wide, blinding me. Ella bowed out, tossing her bad hand on the table. It was just the boys and me. We glowered, glared, and fought laughter and smiles, all while attempting to win. Sean can keep that smug look all he wants because this Avery has a flush. I placed my cards on the table, one by one, deliberate and teasingly slow. Jesse’s head hung, his right hand scratching through his thick hair. I leaned across the table toward Jesse, pulling his five-dollar bills toward me.
“Oh, I don’t think so.” Sean laughed, trying to pull me away from Jesse’s money. His hands wrapped around my shoulders while I refused to budge, cackling as he tried to remove me.
“Let go,” I shouted between laughing gasps of air, clinging to Jesse’s hand for support.
“You didn’t win,” Sean scolded. “You can’t take his money.”
“I did win!” I was thankful to be wearing jeans as my hips pressed against the surface of the coffee table, spreading Ella’s pathetic hand of cards onto the floor.
“Hey!” Lizzie grumbled as the cards fell on her face. I almost forgot she was down there with the leftover pizza, half awake.
“No.” Sean’s left arm snaked around me, pulling me down onto his lap in a fit of laughter. I held my fist of Jesse’s cash in the air, giggling like a child in Sean’s lap.
“Avery won,” Ella cheered and leaned into the couch. “Yay! Now she can buy me a drink.”
“You’re done,” Lizzie teased from the floor, her left arm placed across her eyes. “We’re all toast.”
I was a fit of inebriated joy in my happy place. Oh, boy. I’ve got trouble if this is my happy place. I kept laughing, the feeling tensing my abdomen with a quenching pain of bliss. Sean started his miserable attempt to get Jesse’s money from my tightly bound fist, but I held on, continuing to sing my song of laughter.
“STOP!” I screamed as Sean’s long fingers tickled my stomach and then my neck. I repeated my call for help, but none of our friends came to my aid. Lizzie was half asleep, Ella flopped onto the couch behind us, and Jesse was cleaning up the chips. Jesse was amused, though; he hummed with laughter as he worked, stumbling a little to put away the chips.
Sean’s muscles tensed and released along his arms while he tried to force me to give up the money. I was almost out of breath, almost ready to give up, when he suddenly stopped. No. Come back…
I was in his lap, catching my breath with the stupidest grin on my mouth. My hair covered most of my face, which was good because I’m sure I was blushing, and I knew I didn’t want Sean to see how much I enjoyed it all. Time to get up. Sean took his phone from his pocket and was quickly responding to a text message while I struggled against him and leaned back on Ella’s legs. She whimpered and pulled me next to her, a dainty arm hugging me close.
Chapter Three
I was torn from a delightful nap by the excruciating vibration of my phone against my lamp. Crap. I overslept. The hectic morning of interviews at the University left me drained in addition to the exhaustingly late night spent video messaging with my little sister in Vancouver, all of which caused me to crash at two in the afternoon. I swiped the screen, tentatively waiting for Ella to scold me for oversleeping.
“You’re going to be late,” she warned, her voice full of irritation. I pulled my free hand down my face in exaggerated agony.
“I’ll be there in ten minutes. It’s two blocks from me. Promise.”
“Fine.”
“Ten minutes,” I repeated, hoping to ease her sense of anxiety. I know she wouldn’t have cared about attending Jesse’s graduation party without me, had his stepmother not been such a disapproving woman. My primary purpose was not to celebrate Jesse’s success, but to be Ella’s companion throughout the event. I could hear the relief in her voice before we hung up.
Fortunately for the sake of time, I’d already showered for my interviews, so I only needed to touch up my makeup and find something to wear, as if searching through my closet would be a quick and painless task. I stood in the doorway, tapping my fingertips along my hips as I studied my wardrobe options. I had too many clothes and not anything to wear, and the pressure of my ten-minute deadline wasn’t helping. I pulled a sleeveless, mint green lace dress from the hanger and pulled it on. The hem rested just above my knees and flowed like a wave as I spun around in search of my matching earrings and silver sandals. I touched up my mascara and pulled my hair into a bun just at the top of my neck before flying out of my building to meet Jesse’s family and friends.
I wasn’t the only person late to his graduation party. In fact, I wasn’t that late at all. It started at seven, and I got to the Monona Terrace rooftop at five minutes after seven. I scanned the crowd looking for Ella, but mostly ensuring I knew where the free bar was.
“You made it!” Lizzie’s teasing condescension was my initial greeting, her arms full of warmth as she hugged me.
“I’m not late,” I reminded her. “Not more than what is fashionably acceptable.”
“I love your dress. Ella’s held hostage.”
“By the evil stepmother?” Lizzie nodded in response, giggles erupting from both of our lips. She pulled me deeper into the crowd that had developed on the rooftop. I spotted Ella clinging to Jesse’s arm near one of the massive buffet tables swelling with food. Her heeled feet shifted uncomfortably against the floor, as if they pleaded with the tiles beneath to give way and let her fall in to escape Jesse’s parents.
“God,” I groaned, “I can’t believe she’s wearing that.”
“She’s certainly had work done.” Lizzie laughed and reached for two glasses of champagne from the passing server. “Here you go, my dear. I imagine we’ll both need some liquid courage to maintain composure throughout this event.”
“Thanks.” I clinked my glass against hers.
“So tell me more about your date with Declan last weekend,” she encouraged, her eyes sparkling with inquiry. “He told me you guys had a good time.”
“It was ni
ce.”
“That’s all? Just nice?”
I sipped my champagne and smiled at Lizzie. There wasn’t much more to say. I could have expanded on how awkward it was to see Sean and Kelly, but why open that book? Ella bounded toward us, as though breaking free from restraints. Her hands clung to our shoulders.
“Oh my god,” she gushed, “I am so glad you’re both here.”
“How is Mrs. New Boobs?” Lizzie teased.
Ella’s eyes rolled in exhaustion before she returned our laughter. “Killing me. I’m not good enough. Directing the children’s theatre isn’t good enough. Finishing school a year early isn’t good enough. I shouldn’t,” she reached for a passing glass of champagne, “drink as much.”
“Cheers!” I lifted my glass in the air to meet Ella’s and Lizzie’s in response.
Jesse’s stepmother was the sort of woman who spent her time in the tanning salon when she could spare a minute from the treadmill or plastic surgeon’s office. Her bleached hair was pulled tightly into a twist, her roots barely showing beneath the years of dye. The minimal brown satin dress that covered her frame wasn’t enough fabric for my sensitive eyes. She left little to the imagination as her orange legs stuck out for miles beneath the short hem of her tight dress before diving into nude stilettos. Her boobs were perkier than mine, and I was only twenty-five. The more I studied her, the more she reminded me of what Sean’s girlfriend would look like in thirty years. Shudder.
Lizzie, Ella, and I wandered together in our comfortable clique toward the railing. The water on Lake Monona was rippling a soft hum in response to the gentle breeze. The horizon glimmered with the blurred twinkle of pier lights and the purple blend of police car lights.
“I’m glad you two didn’t bring dates,” Ella continued as we silently studied the indistinct horizon. “It means there’s more of you for me.”
“That’s why we don’t date, Ell. Specifically, for your peace of mind,” Lizzie replied cynically. “But I was just trying to get the scoop on Avery’s date with Declan. She won’t spill.”
“Nothing to spill.” I put my hands up in defense, spilling some champagne from the glass in my left hand. “Whoops.”
“Is he cute?”
“I think so,” Lizzie answered Ella. “What say you, Avery? Cute or not?”
“He is quite handsome,” I divulged, blushing. “But he works with Lizzie, and that could be weird. I’m just so focused on getting a job right now.”
“How were your interviews this morning?” Ella probed, sipping from her flute. “Do you think they went well?” I shrugged, not wanting to overthink the morning, and took another sip from my glass while I turned to observe the party. Jesse was no longer with his parents, as they moved on to mingle with some other relatives.
“I’m going to text Declan,” Lizzie hummed, reaching for the small silver phone in her purse.
“Don’t,” I warned her. Ella giggled between us, her fingers tickling her lips with anticipation. Lizzie began manipulating the screen with her fingers, deliberately enunciating each word as she typed.
“Declan. I’m at the Terrace. Avery…wants…to…see…you…send?”
“Yes!” Ella squealed, almost spinning in a circle.
“No,” I scolded her, reaching for the phone. Lizzie’s arm flew into the air in defense, but I continued to reach for her phone as both of our glasses splashed with champagne. As I grabbed for her phone, standing on my toes, Lizzie lost her grasp, and it slipped from her hand.
“Crap,” she mumbled, staring at me. The three of us turned to look over the railing, more champagne pouring from Lizzie’s glass. Fortunately for Lizzie’s phone, it landed in the small rose garden next to the sidewalk one level beneath us and not in the lake.
“I’ll get it.” I sighed with exaggerated disdain and handed my glass to Ella. I could hear them laugh as I glided away through the party guests and down the ramp. The main walkway of the Terrace, with its glorious view of the Capitol, was filled with couples and tourists stopping to take pictures. I recognized some of Jesse’s friends still filtering in. I continued down the ramp and walked to the back of the building where Lizzie’s phone rested in the rose garden. Gross. I shivered when I noticed the slugs sliding by the phone. I squatted on my heels and started to reach for the phone.
“You know there are bathrooms inside, right?” Damn it, Sean. I grabbed the phone, dusting it off on the waist of my dress, and clumsily stood to meet my interloper.
“I know.” I rolled my eyes. “I wasn’t going to the bathroom, pervert.”
“What were you doing?” His perfect teeth sparkled as his mocking smile spread across his face.
“Not that it’s any of your business,” I stammered, “Lizzie’s phone fell over, and I came to rescue it.” I adjusted the length of my dress, suddenly a little uncomfortable and aware of the vacancy around us and my champagne.
“I see.” He snickered. “Do you need some help?”
“Nope. What are you doing down here?” I noticed his hands slide into the rear pockets of his slim jeans as he watched me.
“I just got here. I came from the bike path.” He nodded in the direction behind him.
“Where’s your girlfriend?” I tried not to hiss, forcing casual and fake curiosity from my lips.
Sean was still smiling at me, but now a small chuckle escaped his perfect mouth. “I don’t know.” Was he mocking me? I cleared my throat and looked at the screen on Lizzie’s phone. Thank God. No message was sent to Declan.
“Come on, Ave.” Sean took my elbow, and my skin froze. “The party’s upstairs.”
I remained at Sean’s side as we walked along the ramp to the rooftop, where I quickly spotted Ella and Lizzie at the railing. Ella was pulling her head back from the edge, as if she watched me below, just as Jesse returned to Ella’s side, his stepmother linked at his elbow. She seemed genuinely proud of Jesse, but it was hard to read her sincerity when we had suspicions that it was the party she enjoyed more than the purpose behind it. Parties for Jesse meant a lot of men, cute hipster men with tattoos, clean-cut men with tailored attire and fancy watches, and mischievous men with smiles that melted your insides. Jesse knew, and was close with, everyone. It was overwhelming, but not to Mrs. New Boobs. I caught Lizzie’s eyes widening as Sean and I approached. I glared at her, returning her phone.
“Sean, dear,” Jesse’s stepmother affectionately kissed each of his cheeks, “it is so nice to see you.” It looked a little too affectionate, and that wasn’t just my personal bias. I think the four of us gagged in unison.
“Always great to see you, Mrs. Adler.”
“What’s new with you, dear?” You are married. And fifty. Step off. I turned my glance away from Sean and Jesse’s stepmother. Jesse nuzzled Ella’s hair, whispering something to her that forced a pink glow along her cheeks. I pulled two glasses from the passing tray and handed one to Lizzie. Jesse copied, giving one to Ella.
“Why does he need to do that?” Lizzie snorted. “Stupid unbuttoned shirt and all gold skin and crap.”
“Because he thinks he is a gift from the gods,” Ella replied, rolling her eyes and mirroring my posture as we leaned over the railing.
“Give him a break,” Jesse cautioned, humor lacing his words. “It has to be really difficult to be the prodigal one.”
“Blah, Jesse, why is Nancy so…such a…” Ella struggled with her words.
“Cougar?” Lizzie suggested.
“Because that’s a quality my dad found endearing? I don’t know.” He shuddered. “Let’s just get through this party without any casualties.” I smiled, considering if he referred to victims of his stepmother or his disastrously charming roommate.
***
Lizzie and I sat against each other, her head resting on my shoulder as our mutual buzz tingled away and Jesse’s guests began to leave. We clung to an enormous planter that overflowed with geraniums and long, green grasses, reminding me of fireworks. Ella, safely in Jesse’s arms, politely s
tood at his side in the middle of the rooftop while dismissing guests with a smile. I kicked off my sandals, allowing my bare feet to dangle just inches above the brick floor of the rooftop. With our backs to the lake, our fuzzy vision was focused on the massive marble Capitol as it towered over the horizon three blocks away.
“I’m so done with this place,” Lizzie mumbled. “I’m going to move.”
“Oh? To where?”
“Somewhere else,” she sighed with a giggle. “Just somewhere else. Don’t ask me for details, Ave.”
“Sorry, ma’am.” I snickered. “Listen. The thing with Declan…” Lizzie lifted her head and turned to face me, curious and alert.
“There’s a thing?”
“No. Yes. Well…I just don’t want to date right now. It’s too much work, and I’m hoping to get one of the jobs I applied for, so I’ll be so busy.”
“You’re just afraid.”
“Of…” I prompted, hoping she would enlighten me enough so I wouldn’t require therapy in the future.
“Change, among other things, and that you might actually be happy.”
“I am happy,” I scoffed. Lizzie’s head lifted, and she gazed at me, pulling her left hand along my cheek with a smile.
“Oh, Sean, I love you. Sean, I hate you. Sean, I love you. Declan, you’re okay, but I’m with and not with my friend, Sean,” she mocked. “You’re not happy being single, Ave.”
“I resent that.” My cheeks tingled with embarrassment and a little anger. “I’m not in love with anyone, and that’s fine with me for now. I’m more than capable of caring for myself, and I value my independence.”
“But you’re missing out. You’re missing out on dating and having fun. Just go on another date with Declan. I promise it will be worth your while.” I glanced at her suspiciously.
“He’s smitten,” she continued, “but that’s all I’m saying.” They talk about me? Wonderful. Not! I rolled my eyes at Lizzie and returned my gaze to the Capitol. I wasn’t in love with Sean. I hadn’t even been in a serious relationship since undergrad, and I was the one who broke that off. Irreconcilable differences. Once a lazy jerk, always a lazy jerk. I climbed from the planter, adjusting my dress. Lizzie cleared her throat, joining my vertical position, as Sean approached once Mrs. New Boobs released her constricted embrace.