Great

by kindle@abovethetreeline. com

  “This is gonna be so weird,” I said.

  He grinned. “I know. I kind of can’t wait.” He rubbed his palms together, and I laughed a little, uncomfortably. Was it too late to fake a stomachache and curl up with my book for the night?

  When we got to Delilah’s house, a butler let us in with apologies. “I’m afraid the air-conditioning is broken,” he said, wiping his brow. “We’ve got fans going everywhere, but it’s not the most comfortable situation. Senator and Mrs. Fairweather, thankfully, are at the townhouse in the city, but the rest of us have got to suffer out here.” He sighed and shook his head, then led us to the enormous living room, where Jacinta and Delilah were perched on either end of the couch, wearing nearly identical white cotton sundresses. Of course, Jacinta accessorized hers with a funky white headband covered in big red felt flowers, but other than that, their outfits were almost exactly the same. They had each kicked their shoes off, and when we walked in, they were holding hands along the back of the couch.

  “Heeeeeey, you two,” Delilah said when we entered the room. She was higher than I’d ever seen her before. I wouldn’t say she was stoned out of her mind, but her eyes were red and she had that goofy marijuana-induced smile on her face. Smoking weed doesn’t make people nasty or violent the way alcohol can, but it certainly lowers their IQ temporarily.

  Teddy walked in then, and Delilah dropped Jacinta’s hand.

  “Hello, TV staaaar,” Delilah said, her voice thick with sarcasm. “How are things?”

  Teddy peered at her, then rolled his eyes.

  “Well, at least one of us is having fun,” he said. Jacinta studied her hands.

  Teddy’s cell buzzed. He checked the incoming number.

  “I need to take this,” he said abruptly, and walked outside.

  We watched him through the living room windows. He stalked up and down the front lawn in the blistering heat, gesticulating wildly, first barking angrily into the phone and then appearing to become conciliatory, even friendly.

  “Could he please make it more obvious?” Delilah said loudly. “He doesn’t need to actually talk to her right in front of my face. In front of my guests.”

  She looked at Jacinta, who nodded her agreement. Delilah’s expression softened, and she leaned over and planted a big kiss on Jacinta’s mouth. Jeff looked at me in surprise. I think the reality of seeing these two girls kiss was less sexy than he’d imagined.

  “I just love you,” Delilah said to Jacinta.

  Jacinta blushed. Delilah looked at us expectantly for our reaction, but we gave none. Maybe it was too hot for us to summon any response. Or maybe we were just shocked they were being out in the open like this.

  His phone call over, Teddy walked back into the house.

  “Shit,” he said when he entered the living room. “It’s almost as hot in here as it is outside. This reminds me of being under the studio lights when I was on—”

  “Teddy, my sweetest and most precious darling,” Delilah said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “It’s so powerfully hot. I don’t want to make the cook turn the oven on. He’ll sweat to death.”

  “That’s his job,” Teddy said. “He’s the cook. Kitchens get hot. If you can’t take the heat, get your ass out of the kitchen!” He chortled, deeply amused at himself.

  “I think we ought to go out to eat,” Delilah insisted.

  “I thought we were going to have a nice night in,” Teddy said. “With old friends and—her.” He cast Jacinta a withering glance. She seemed to withdraw into herself like a flower closing its petals at nightfall.

  “Don’t talk to her that way,” Delilah said.

  “What way?” Teddy asked. “I was just pointing out that you and I and Jeff and Naomi have known each other for a while, while Jacinta is—new.” He said new as if he meant to say another, meaner word.

  “Let’s go to Baxley’s,” Delilah suggested with a bright, false smile. “There’s so much good food, and I know you love the service you get there, Teddy.” She glared at him, daring him to reply.

  “I do,” Teddy said. He smiled smugly. “And it’s a lot friendlier than what I’m used to getting around here.” Delilah narrowed her pretty blue eyes.

  I cast a sidelong look at Jeff, who appeared to not be enjoying himself as much as he’d predicted when we were in the car. At any rate, his friend Teddy had won that round by basically openly and shamelessly acknowledging what Delilah was implying.

  “You fu—” Delilah began, and then Jacinta put her hand on her arm gently. The touch seemed to soothe Delilah, who immediately stopped speaking and looked at Jacinta gratefully. Jacinta’s smile seemed to warm her and relax her. She smiled back appreciatively.

  At this, Teddy’s expression darkened considerably. Whatever ground he’d gained was lost the moment Jacinta’s hand touched his girlfriend’s forearm. His hulking body tensed. I don’t think it was the touch that angered him, per se—it was the clear evidence that theirs was a world from which he was barred entry. It was fine if other people couldn’t get between his girlfriend and this superfan blogger, but he should always be assured his place. I imagined he thought that if he couldn’t even get a threesome out of it, clearly their relationship had no purpose other than to irritate him.

  “Let’s go to Baxley’s,” he said, turning his back to them. “Right now. I’m hungry.”

  Thankfully, we were saved the heinous awkwardness of traveling as a group. As we tried not to melt in the heat, Teddy directed the group.

  “Jacinta and Delilah, you go in Jacinta’s car,” he ordered. “Jeff, Naomi, and I will take mine.”

  “Sounds perfect to me,” Delilah said coolly.

  “I’m sure it does,” Teddy retorted.

  We waited while they took off in Jacinta’s little white convertible, and then Teddy looked at Jeff and me.

  “Do I have a story for you two,” he said. “Let’s go.”

  The ride to Baxley’s wasn’t long, but every second of it was infused with so much tension that it seemed much longer.

  “I got in touch with my family’s P.I.,” Teddy began. Jeff, in the seat beside him, nodded.

  “What’s a P.I.?” I asked, even though I really didn’t want to find out.

  “Private investigator,” Teddy said.

  “Your family has its own private investigator?” I asked. “Why?”

  “People make threats against our family all the time,” he said, and I couldn’t tell if he was bragging or just stating the facts. “Extortion, kidnapping, you name it.”

  “Kidnapping?”

  “Yes. The countries in which we do business aren’t exactly the safest places for foreigners, at least in some cases. My father travels with an armed guard whenever he goes to the Middle East for Barrington Oil, for example—or hell, even when he goes to Mexico City. But there are problems at home as well.”

  “Like what?”

  Teddy glanced briefly into the rearview mirror, and his eyes met mine for a moment. “Let’s just say there are plenty of people who would do anything to get their hands on whatever money they think we’ve got at our disposal,” he said. “They’ll come up with every kind of accusation you can imagine. Our P.I. helps us to know if we can trust the people with whom we’ve come into close contact.”

  “You ever investigate me?” Jeff joked, trying to lighten the mood.

  “Unnecessary,” Teddy said seriously. “You and your family are a known entity with no motivation to harm my family.”

  “So what’d you talk to your P.I. about?” Jeff asked, sounding confused.

  “That dyke who’s obsessed with my girlfriend,” Teddy said. “That’s what I talked to him about.”

  Now, there are a few ways you can say “dyke.” I’ll focus on two: the nice way and the not-nice way. Skags will sometimes refer to herself as a dyke, and she means it in a proud way. She says she’s reclaiming a word that has been used against her. Teddy was using it in the not-nice way. Something in the way he spat the word out seeme
d to imply that Jacinta was disgusting, unwomanly, and fundamentally unworthy of knowing Delilah. Or Teddy, I suppose.

  As an ally member of our school’s LGTBQ group, I know it’s my job to stand up for gays and lesbians when they aren’t there to stand up for themselves. I know I’m supposed to be unafraid of criticism from someone so crappy.

  But Teddy was driving, and Teddy was in charge, and Teddy was in a mood that kind of scared me. I figured it was better for me to keep my mouth shut than risk getting on his bad side. Who knows, maybe he would’ve booted me out of the car or something. I certainly knew he wasn’t afraid to hurt girls.

  “She’s not who she says she is,” Teddy said. “Her name isn’t even Jacinta.”

  “What do you mean, her name isn’t even Jacinta?” Jeff asked. “Is she one of those girls who goes by her middle name or something?”

  Teddy laughed sardonically. “Not even, bro,” he said. “It goes way deeper than that.”

  “For real?” Jeff’s eyes grew big. “C’mon, man, spill it.”

  There was an uneasy silence.

  “Uh, are you gonna tell us or what?” Jeff asked, sounding impatient.

  Teddy smiled cunningly. “Soon enough,” he said. “Soon enough.”

  I made a mental note to get Jacinta alone as soon as possible. Maybe I could do it sometime during dinner. I figured maybe, somehow, I could get her out of there and back to her house before Teddy flipped out on her.

  When we got to Baxley’s, the girls were waiting in a booth and Misti was nowhere in sight. I saw Teddy’s eyes dart around the place, and an expression of consternation briefly passed over his face when he saw Giovanni walking up to take our order.

  “You’re not a waiter,” Teddy blurted out before Giovanni could say anything.

  Giovanni nodded. He looked pale beneath his tan, and his eyes were ringed with dark shadows, as if he hadn’t slept. Even his gait was different. He walked listlessly, with no spirit. I wondered if he was sick.

  “We’re short one tonight,” he said. His voice was hollow.

  “Where’s Misti?” Teddy asked. Delilah rolled her eyes and looked at Jacinta, who rubbed her back with one hand.

  “She’s gone,” Giovanni said. His voice caught in his throat, and he coughed a little.

  “What do you mean, she’s gone?”

  “I mean she’s gone, man. Fired. We’re heading back to Babylon tomorrow. Gonna work in our parents’ bakery for the rest of the summer.”

  Teddy looked shocked. “Fired for what?”

  Giovanni heaved a sigh and looked down at the floor. “Throwing a bottle at a coworker.”

  You could see Teddy begin to panic. “Who?”

  “Me.”

  “Why?”

  Giovanni looked grim. “I found out some stuff,” he said.

  “What stuff?” Teddy demanded. “What kind of stuff?”

  “She was messing around on me,” Giovanni said, avoiding Teddy’s gaze. “She was up to some stuff. I found out, and I told her, and she flipped. Threw a bottle of beer at me in front of the customers. Manager tossed her out right away. I said I’d take her shift tonight and that we’d both be gone tomorrow.”

  “Do you know who the guy was?” Delilah asked in an innocent voice. It was a cruel question and we all knew it.

  Giovanni looked directly at her.

  “I don’t,” he said. “But if I ever found out, I’d take him apart.”

  It was clear then to all of us that he was telling the truth. He really didn’t know who Misti’s other man was. Maybe he didn’t even suspect Teddy, poor guy. Teddy’s face was a churning mixture of misery, fear, sadness, and anger. Every few seconds, a new emotion seemed to flash across his face. In that moment, I actually felt a little sorry for him. But I felt more strongly than before that I needed to save Jacinta somehow, before. . . well, I didn’t know exactly what.

  “Jacinta,” I asked abruptly. “Do you want to come to the bathroom with me?”

  Delilah looked at me from beneath heavy eyelids. “It’s only a one-person bathroom,” she said. “You two aren’t that close, are you?” She laughed a little, and Jacinta smiled.

  “Where’s your girl now, man?” Jeff asked Giovanni.

  “Dunno,” Giovanni said, shrugging. “She took off on her bike. Hasn’t been answering my calls. We stay not too far from here, so maybe she’s packing. I’ll see her when I see her.”

  “You’re going to stay together?” Delilah asked, raising an eyebrow. “If I found out someone were cheating on me, I just don’t know what I’d do.” Teddy looked at her sharply, but she ignored him.

  “We just need some time,” Giovanni said, as if trying to convince himself. “It’s different here, away from our friends and our family. She gets caught up in stuff sometimes. It’ll be better when we get home.”

  “Well, I hope things work out for you,” Delilah said. “She seems like a wonderful girl.”

  “She is,” Giovanni said, smiling a little. “She really is. Anyway, what do you guys want to drink?” He looked around for a moment and lowered his voice. “Anything you want. It’s my last night here.”

  Jeff grinned gleefully. “Then keep the bourbon coming, my good man,” he said.

  “You care what kind?”

  “Surprise me.” Jeff elbowed me and smiled. I looked at him like he had two heads. Delilah had morphed into some kind of evil ice princess, Jacinta looked terrified, and Teddy was falling apart before our very eyes. How could Jeff suddenly be Mister Chipper just because he was getting to drink bourbon in public?

  My father told me once that people don’t change—they just reveal more of who they really are. If that was true, then I was starting not to like who Jeff Byron really was.

  We all ordered drinks then. Well, only four of us ordered alcohol—rum and Coke for Delilah, vodka sodas for Teddy and Jeff, water for Jacinta. I ordered red wine, which my mother will sometimes have “to soothe her nerves.” When she’s really, really stressed, she does what Skags and I have dubbed a Xanaxtini—a couple pills with red wine to wash it down. She’s not some kind of stereotypical pill-popper, but once in a while, I think the stress of being Anne Rye, the brand, gets to her.

  Jeff managed to draw Teddy into a discussion about the upcoming football season, while Delilah, Jacinta, and I spoke about Delilah’s plans for Fashion Week. I honestly couldn’t tell you what they were, because I was acutely aware of the tension hanging in the air. I felt like I was play-acting a conversation rather than actually tuning into what Jacinta and Delilah were saying. It was as if I were an extra in some movie about the world’s most effed-up love triangle—or maybe, if you added Misti, it was a square?

  We were a couple of rounds in when a doleful Giovanni brought us tequila shots and limes.

  “On the house,” he said.

  “Hey, thanks, man,” Jeff said.

  “No problem,” Giovanni said. “You guys are good customers.” He reached over to fist-bump Jeff, so then Teddy had to do the same thing, while Delilah mimed throwing up under the table and Jacinta tried not to giggle.

  “You do a shot, too, man,” Teddy said solemnly. “You deserve it.” Delilah snorted, and Teddy glared at her.

  So we all did shots together—even Giovanni. I think if his manager had shown up, he would’ve gotten in a lot of trouble, but it was a busy night and nobody was paying much attention to us.

  Giovanni left the table, and Delilah immediately began cracking up. I don’t know what usually happens when you combine a ton of marijuana with alcohol, but in Delilah’s case, it meant she was suddenly amused by absolutely everything. Jacinta looked at her and smiled fondly, and Delilah held her gaze for a long moment before bursting into another fit of giggles. Jacinta started giggling, too, and that’s when Teddy looked right at her and said, “So when do you head back to Florida?”

  Jacinta fell silent while Delilah kept giggling.

  “It’s gotta be pretty humid this time of year,” Teddy said.


  “Uh-oh,” Delilah said, tittering. “He’s starting in on something. Everybody get out of the way.”

  “Does your grandparents’ apartment have air-conditioning?” Teddy continued, never taking his eyes off Jacinta. I peered at her through my wine-and-tequila haze and watched all the blood drain from her face.

  “Teddy,” Delilah said, her Marilyn Monroe voice even breathier than usual. “Are you trying to start a fight? There’s no fighting at Baxley’s. Baxley’s is for lovers.” She sent herself off into another fit of giggles. I watched with growing alarm, while Jeff displayed increasing interest as Jacinta and Teddy stared at each other.

  “You know she’s a fraud, right?” Teddy said to Delilah, finally breaking eye contact with Jacinta. “You know she’s a liar.”

  “Shut up, you idiot,” Delilah laughed.

  “I’m not fucking kidding, Delilah!” Teddy hissed. She quit giggling.

  “What are you even talking about?” she said, rolling her eyes.

  “Your girlfriend here,” he said, jerking his thumb at a frozen Jacinta. “I’m talking about this girl. You know her name’s not even Jacinta Trimalchio? She made it up.”

  “So what?” Delilah challenged him. “So what if she made it up? You go by Teddy and your real name is Alistair Theodore.”

  “It’s not like that, Delilah,” Teddy said. “She’s Adriana DeStefano. You remember that girl?”

  At this, Jacinta stood up, knocking her glass of ice water into my lap. I jumped, wincing at the coldness.

  “I’m so sorry,” Jacinta said to me, handing me her cloth napkin. “I didn’t mean to—”

  “It’s fine,” I said. “Of course you didn’t.”

  “I don’t want to stay here,” Jacinta said. I don’t think any one of us wanted to stay there. Yet still there we remained, pinned to our booth by some immovable force.

  Teddy and Delilah glared daggers at each other from across the table.

  “I know who she is,” Delilah spat. “You think I wouldn’t know my old best friend?”

  Teddy seemed momentarily startled. “You knew?”

  “Of course I knew! No—Jacinta, sit down. It’s all right.” Gingerly, Jacinta sat.