Jason didn't know what to say. Obviously it wasn't all good. But they were Tyler's issues to deal with, and he didn't want to make things any harder on his old friend.
Tyler let out a long sigh and leaned his head back against the seat.
"How long have you been on the road?" Jason asked. "It must've taken days to get here."
"Only two days," Tyler said. "I got lucky. Guess I don't look so much like a serial killer that people won't pick me up."
"You look more like a serial killer than usual," Jason told him with a grin. "I know Coach Salzman isn't letting you in the pool with that hair."
"Nah, I quit the team," Tyler said. "The relay was lame without you, anyway."
Jason was too surprised to answer. He and Tyler had been on the swim team together since seventh grade. Despite Tyler's new situation, Jason wouldn't have guessed he would change so much. Although... Jason couldn't stop himself from thinking about what had happened the last time he saw his friend. When the Freemans had left Fraser, Tyler was pretty messed up.
"I know what you're thinking," Tyler said.
"What are you, psychic now?" Jason joked.
"No, I just know you. You're thinking about what happened," Tyler said. "At your going-away party."
"Yeah." Jason slowed as they approached his street. "Well..."
"Look, I screwed up," Tyler said. "I know I did. But I didn't think... I mean, I thought I could still show up and you'd be happy to see me. Am I wrong?"
"Of course you're not wrong," Jason replied. "But you took my car, man! And you drove around stoned. You could've totaled it - or, even worse, yourself or somebody else."
"I know, but I didn't," Tyler said. "The car was fine, and nobody got hurt. It was a stupid thing to do and it will never happen again. Okay?"
"Okay," Jason replied, feeling relieved to have gotten that little issue off his chest. He pulled to a stop in the driveway and turned off the engine. The house glowed welcomingly in front of them, its lights shining brightly against the dark November sky. Dani was pacing back and forth on the porch, talking on her cell phone. None of them got very good reception inside. "This is it. Mi casa es su casa and all that," Jason said with a smile.
Tyler reached for the car door handle, then hesitated. "I just want you to know... I don't hang with those guys anymore - the ones I brought to your party. And as for the drugs? Well, let's just say I could do one of those public service announcements and be all 'my life is perfect now that I'm clean.'"
Jason laughed, but he doubted "perfect" accurately described his friend's life. He knew Tyler wouldn't have shown up in Malibu without a single change of clothes otherwise. He couldn't help wondering if Tyler was hiding something.
"Holy cow, is that Danielle Who Smells?" Tyler suddenly bellowed. He bolted from the car and rushed toward the house.
"Oh, my God!" Jason heard Dani squeal. "Kristy, gotta go." She hung up her cell and flung her arms around Tyler. "Ty the Spy!"
Jason laughed as he headed up the driveway. Dani and Tyler had given each other dumb nicknames when they were all little kids. Tyler picked Dani up and spun her around, and Dani laughed like a maniac. Jason knew Tyler had been her very first crush when she was little. And though she had long grown out of that, she still looked psyched to see him again. He was kind of like a second big brother to her, and Tyler had always treated her like his kid sister.
He's probably missed the whole family since we moved, Jason realized as he watched them. After his parents' divorce, Tyler had spent a lot of time at the Freemans' house. They were more of a family to him than his real one. So it made sense that he'd want to come to them for Thanksgiving. Maybe it was as simple as that, Jason thought, running up to the porch to join Tyler and Dani. Maybe Tyler didn't have anything to hide at all.
FOUR
“Get out of the bathroom!" Dani yelled the next morning. "Jason!"
Jason pulled open his bedroom door, blinking against the bright morning sunshine, to see his sister waiting near the bathroom at the end of the hallway, yawning. Her hair was in a messy ponytail, and she wore her baggy Paul Frank pajamas with the monkeys on them. "I'm not in there," he called to her.
Dani glanced at him and frowned in confusion.
"It must be Tyler," he said.
Dani's eyes widened in horror and her hand flew to her hair. Without a word, she turned and ran back into her own room, slamming the door behind her. Jason chuckled. His sister was not a morning person - in her tired haze, she'd obviously forgotten Tyler was even there. He figured she'd be perfectly made up, washed, and blow - dried by the time she made another appearance.
Tyler stuck his head out of the bathroom door. "You need to get in here?" he asked Jason.
Jason stared at his friend. He looked seriously pale, with deep circles under his eyes. "Nah, I can wait," he said. Tyler nodded and disappeared back into the bathroom.
Shaking his head, Jason retreated into his bedroom. Whatever was going on with Tyler, a good night's sleep hadn't solved it. The dude still looked like crap.
But by breakfast time, Tyler seemed to have rebounded. He was busy helping Mrs. Freeman mix pancake batter when Jason came into the kitchen.
"... and Mr. Ruck tripped and knocked over the whole podium," he was saying.
Jason's mom dissolved into laughter. "I always hated that guy," she remarked. "Ever since we were on the same PTA committee, when you and Jason were in third grade."
" 'Morning," Jason said, heading to the fridge for some OJ.
"Happy Thanksgiving," his mom replied. She grabbed his arm as he passed her and spun him away from the refrigerator. "We're all sitting down to eat together this morning. I don't want you doing your typical orange juice and banana on the run."
"She's showing off for Aunt Bianca. I'm even supposed to put out the good coffee cups," Danielle said from the dining room, where she was setting the table. As Jason had expected, she was fully dressed and looking perfect.
"I am not showing off," Mrs. Freeman said, handing Jason a basket full of muffins and pointing to the table.
He dutifully carried the muffins over and set them down. "Yes, she is," he murmured to Dani.
"Totally," Dani laughed.
"Your aunt Bianca is here?" Tyler asked from the counter. "How come I didn't see her last night?"
"She had to go to the office for some last-minute thing," Mrs. Freeman replied. "She didn't get back until almost midnight."
"Weird," Jason said. "Doesn't everyone try to cut out early the day before Thanksgiving?"
"Not in her job," Dani put in. "Dealing with all those high-powered, demanding Hollywood peeps."
"My ears are burning," Bianca said, appearing in the kitchen. "Are you talking about me behind my back?"
"Only good things," Jason assured her. "I think Dani wants to have your job after college."
"Oh, I hope not," Mrs. Freeman said. Aunt Bianca gave her an arch look, and Mrs. Freeman shrugged. "No offense, Bee, but wrangling celebs isn't exactly - "
"Boring?" Dani interrupted. "I'd love to be a star-creator like Aunt Bianca. With one place in New York and another in California. Traveling all over." She sat down at the table and grabbed a muffin.
"That's my girl," Aunt Bianca laughed. "Be adventurous.”
"Do you have a place out here?" Tyler asked, coming to sit next to Dani.
"I don't, actually," Bianca replied. "My late husband had a home in Malibu, but I sold it after he died. It made me sad to be there."
Tyler nodded sympathetically. "That's tough."
"Besides, I don't need a place here anymore. I can always stay with my big sis," Bianca said, grinning at Mrs. Freeman. "And if she gets sick of me, my company will put me up in a hotel."
"I'd take the Beverly Hilton over our house any day," Dani commented.
"Me, too, if somebody else is paying," Jason's dad called from the stairway. "Did I miss breakfast?"
"Nope. The pancakes are ready, so everybody sit," Mrs. Freeman replied.
J
ason and his father sat across from Dani and Tyler, and his mom and aunt took the ends. Looking back and forth between them, Jason noted again how different the two women were. Somehow he'd never noticed it before. It was more than just their looks, though Bianca's dark hair was nothing like his mother's short blond bob. They also had strikingly different attitudes toward life. His mom was, well, a mom - in a good way, of course. But Bianca always acted like she was still just a kid herself. Well, she is a bit younger than Mom, Jason thought.
He took a look at Bianca's sweater-and-jeans ensemble. The outfit would've looked normal on his mother, but on Bianca, it seemed über-stylish. It reminded him of Sienna's comment about his aunt's fashion sense.
"Hey, Aunt Bianca, do you know Sienna Devereux?" he asked suddenly.
She looked at him in surprise. So did Dani and Tyler.
"Who's Sienna Devereux?" Tyler asked. Dani just widened her eyes in her usual, gossip-detecting way.
"A girl at school," Jason said, aware of the blush slowly creeping across his cheeks. He cleared his throat. "My friend Brad's girlfriend."
"Hmm ... The name sounds familiar," Aunt Bianca said. "Stefan knew the Devereuxs, of course. I probably met her once or twice. Why do you ask?"
"Just wondering," Jason said. "She mentioned that she'd met you. Said she likes the way you dress."
"Oh, well, in that case, I love her already," Bianca joked.
"Jason does too," Danielle teased. Jason tossed a muffin at her.
"So, Tyler, how long are you staying?" Aunt Bianca asked. "Do you have to be back for school on Monday?"
Tyler kept his eyes on the pancakes he was smothering with syrup. "Uh ... technically. But I can skip a day or two. I'm a senior."
"When did that become an excuse for cutting class?" Mr. Freeman asked.
Tyler finally looked up, and Jason thought he saw a hint of annoyance in his friend's eyes. But it disappeared immediately, and Tyler grinned. "They're giving SAT practice tests next week. I already took the SATs, so I don't have to go."
"Sweet," Jason said. Although when he was at their old school, they certainly hadn't spent days giving SAT practice tests. Apparently, things had changed.
But as his family continued to chat with his old friend, Jason kept his thoughts to himself. Tyler had always been a favorite with the Freemans. Jason hadn't told his parents about the driving-while-stoned episode from last year. He hadn't told Dani, either.
All that was in the past, and that's where Jason planned to leave it.
"Danielle Who Smells, why aren't you up here playing?" Tyler called a few hours later. "Jason's too much of a lightweight to be any fun. Look at him all panting and stuff."
Jason shook his head. They'd only been shooting hoops for fifteen minutes and he wasn't even out of breath. Neither was Tyler, which was a little weird. The guy had looked so exhausted this morning that Jason had figured they were in for a day of sitting in front of the TV while his mom puttered around getting everything ready for the big dinner. But Tyler had gotten a second wind.
"I'd rather lounge," Dani answered from her chaise next to the pool. She'd decked herself out in a bikini and a pair of big sunglasses. "Besides, isn't it called one-on-one?"
"Well, yeah, if you're going to get all literal on me," Tyler grumbled good-naturedly.
Danielle turned back to her reading, some chick-lit book with a drawing of a woman in a tight dress on the front.
"You're just trying to distract me from kicking your ass," Jason said. "It won't work."
"We'll see." Tyler dribbled the ball toward the hoop mounted on the pool house wall, ducking and spinning to avoid Jason's coverage. He took a shot - and scored, nothing but net. Tyler did a little victory dance, getting in Jason's face.
"I'm still winning, jackass," Jason pointed out.
Tyler laughed and passed the ball to Jason.
The pool house door opened, and Bianca came out dressed in a black bathing suit and sandals with little cherries on the toes. "Time out," she called. "I don't want to get hit by any flying basketballs."
"Wimp," Jason teased, and she made a face at him as she crossed the court. "I have to warn you," he added, lowering his voice, "that Dani's going to spend the whole day trying to convince you to talk Mom into letting her go to the party."
"I'm afraid she'll be disappointed, then." Bianca sighed. "I've never been able to talk your mother into anything."
"I can't believe you guys have a pool house," Tyler commented as Bianca made her way across the grass toward Dani. "Hell, I can't even believe you have a pool!”
"It's pretty weird," Jason agreed. "Almost as weird as being able to sit around in a bathing suit in November."
Tyler watched Bianca settle into one of the chaises. "Dude, your aunt is hot" he said, dropping his voice to a whisper.
Jason rolled his eyes. "She's my aunt, loser," he replied. "You can't call her hot in front of me."
"I'm just saying." Tyler grinned. "She's not my aunt."
Jason tossed the ball at him - hard. "She's, like, forty-two," he said. "I think you're a little too young for her.”
"Forty-two?" Tyler repeated. "Are you serious? She looks amazing."
Jason glanced over at Bianca. She did look pretty good for her age, now that he thought about it.
"Plastic surgery?" Tyler asked.
"I don't know," Jason admitted. "Maybe. People out here seem to think it's normal to get all kinds of lifts and tucks and liposuction. And she does work in Hollywood. It's all about the image."
"Huh." Tyler took a lazy shot at the basket and missed. From inside the pool house came a loud crash. "What was that?" Tyler cried.
"Probably just the pool guy," Jason said. "Dad asked him to come by today. He wanted to give him a tip for Thanksgiving." He crossed over to the pool house door and pulled it open. Joe, the pool guy, was trying to maneuver the skimmer out of the crowded supplies closet next to the bathroom.
"Need some help?" Jason asked.
"No, I got it," Joe replied. "Sorry about the noise, I just knocked over all the vacuum hoses. I'm really out of it today."
"No problem," Jason said. "You don't need to clean the pool on Thanksgiving, though. My dad just wanted to say thanks."
"I know," Joe said. "But I figured while I'm here I might as well skim out the leaves. It'll only take a second."
"You're a perfectionist," Jason joked as the guy headed out with the skimmer. He knocked into a palm tree with the long handle and laughed, shaking his head.
"I think he's had a few Turkey Day beers," Tyler murmured.
Jason chuckled. "Game on," he said, grabbing the ball from Tyler. He shot and scored, but Tyler was close behind, immediately making another basket. Jason played harder, and for a while, the only sounds were from the ball hitting the ground or the wall.
When Danielle and Bianca appeared nearby, Jason jumped. He'd been concentrating so hard that he hadn't even seen them get up from the lounge chairs.
"Mind if we walk through?" Dani asked, nodding toward the pool house door. "We need dry towels."
Tyler held up his hands. "I need a breather, anyway," he said.
"What's wrong with your towels?" Jason asked.
Danielle grinned, glanced over her shoulder, and lowered her voice. "Joe dropped the skimmer in the water and totally splashed them," she said, amused. "He was so busy staring at Aunt Bianca that he almost fell in the pool himself!"
Bianca nudged her toward the pool house. "Quiet, he'll hear you! And you're the one he was looking at, young lady."
They disappeared inside, still talking.
"Shouldn't we be helping your mother with dinner?" Tyler asked. "She's been cooking all day."
"Go ahead and try to set foot in the kitchen. I dare you," Jason said. "It's a Thanksgiving tradition: Mom cooks about twenty different things at once while Dad spends the whole day on the turkey. Every year they almost burn the house down, but they love it."
"Sounds romantic," Tyler said flatly.
>
Jason grimaced. He'd forgotten about the animosity between Tyler's parents. His friend probably didn't want to hear cute stories about happily married couples. "You want to play anymore?" he asked, trying to change the subject.
"I think I'm done. This sun is too strong." Tyler pulled off his T-shirt and mopped his sweaty face with it. "Besides, I'm winning," he added with a grin.
"No wonder you want to stop," Jason joked.
Dani pushed open the door and stepped out with a new towel wrapped around her waist. Bianca followed, wearing shorts and a gauzy top. "I'm going to head inside for a bit," she said. "I've got some calls to make for work." She left them with a little wave.
"Still want that job?" Jason asked his sister. "Working on Thanksgiving?"
But Dani ignored him. She was staring at Tyler's chest. "What happened to you?" she asked. "You're covered in bruises."
Jason glanced at his friend in surprise. Danielle was right. The entire left side of Tyler's rib cage was covered in the sickly yellowish marks of bruises that were starting to heal.
"Oh. It's ... uh ... it's nothing," Tyler replied, quickly pulling his T-shirt back on to cover the bruising.
"Did you get mugged or something while you were hitching here?" Jason asked, thinking that it would explain Tyler's lack of clothes and belongings.
"Are you kidding?" Tyler put on one of his patented megawatt grins. "Who would mug someone as sweet as me?" He jumped up and grabbed the ball, passing it to Jason energetically. "Let's go, man, game on!”
He's trying to distract us from the bruises, Jason thought. What is up with him? "I thought you were done," he said aloud.
"I have a few more spectacular shots in me," Tyler replied. "Unless I've hurt your pride too much already."
"No more basketball," Mrs. Freeman called from the French doors that led into the living room. "Dinner's in an hour. Everyone get ready."
"Get ready?" Tyler repeated. "Is this a dress-up thing?" He took a dubious sniff at his sweat-covered T-shirt.
"I don't know about dress-up, but it's definitely not a smelly T-shirt affair," Danielle replied, laughing.
Tyler looked dismayed, and Jason grinned. "Don't worry, I can spot you some threads."
Alex Duval - [Vampire Beach 02] Page 3