Kiss Kiss

by Various Authors

  “You can thank us later for saving you,” Nicole concurred.

  “Aves, look who we found,” Lauren announced. Shilah felt like an intruder and wanted to turn and leave. She hadn’t called him. Avery appeared to be having a good time, and he didn’t want to interrupt if she wasn’t interested.

  “Shilah.” Avery smiled. Her slightly open mouth begged to be kissed. He wanted to order the other two guys to leave the table, but instead he calmed himself and sat next to Lauren.

  Shilah nodded to his competition, rapidly deciding he could take them both without much effort.

  “Your best friend, Paige, is here.” Nicole smirked as she leaned toward Avery.

  “When the hell did she slither back into town?” Avery looked around haughtily.

  “Okay, what’s the story with Paige?” Shilah slid his mask up from his eyes. “She’s pretty hot.”

  His comment elicited a deadly gaze from Avery. Her beautiful eyes seemed to ignite with loathing. If looks could kill, Shilah thought to himself as he suppressed a smile. Avery looked even more luscious when she was angry.

  “She’s the town whore,” Lauren interjected. She poured herself another beer.

  “Where is this girl?” Nick looked intrigued.

  “At the bar … the vampire.” Nicole pointed to Paige, who was watching their table and spun away immediately.

  “If you’ll excuse me...” Nick headed for Paige. Dave chuckled. One down and one to go, Shilah thought to himself.

  “What does her lack of chastity have to do with the three of you?” Shilah motioned to the ladies at his table.

  “Old high school rivalry … between her and Avery. Paige is a rabid boyfriend thief. She was rather successful because she spread her legs.” Lauren’s voice carried.

  Shilah couldn’t suppress a grin. He admired her bluntness. Jack had often said her honesty was a quality he adored about his wife. Shilah turned his attention to Avery again.

  “But that was high school.”

  “Small-town soap operas never end.” Nicole explained dismissively and Shilah saw Lauren shoot her an incredulous look.

  “Actually, it continued until Paige finally left town and got married to some sorry son of a bitch.” Lauren interjected.

  “I need to hit the head.” Dave announced. Everyone shifted to let him out. Shilah took advantage of the opportunity, taking the seat next to Avery. He looked up to see Nicole and Lauren both smirking at him.

  “Sounds like she’s been ridden hard and put away wet.” Shilah’s comment made all three of the girls laugh. He leaned into Avery and gave her a little nudge. She looked at him and smiled.

  “We need beer!” Lauren’s declaration came with theatrical hand gestures. “Who’s buying the next round?”

  “I’ll get it,” Avery said. As she stood, Shilah caught a glimpse of the garter belt that held up her fishnets. He looked into her eyes and raised an eyebrow.

  “Here.” Lauren handed him a napkin as he watched Avery leave. He looked at it and then again at Lauren. “You’ve got some drool running down your chin.”

  Avery approached the bar, giving Paige a wide berth. A confrontation with her old rival felt counterproductive. Spotting her archenemy, Avery continued to the opposite end of the bar. She swiftly claimed a bar stool to get off her feet, which were already aching.

  “Hey Sean. I need another pitcher of brew.” She sat down.

  “I’ll get it.” Colin traded spots with his brother behind the bar.

  “Hey, gorgeous.” Dave was behind her. She turned to him and he moved in closer and placed his hand on her knee. “Do you want to get out of here for a while?”

  She looked down at his hand, placed hers on top of it, and pushed it off her leg. Avery rarely went to the bar; she hated when presumptuous men invaded her personal space.

  “Don’t, okay?”

  “What?”

  “I’m here with my girlfriends tonight.”

  “I would like to spend some time alone with you, but your girlfriends are more than welcome to come along.”

  “Here you go.” Colin presented the pitcher, his dark eyes shifting from Avery to Dave. He looked unimpressed. “Do you need me to start a tab… or kick someone’s ass?”

  “Yes, please.” Avery responded and turned to Dave. “I’m not interested.”

  “Alright.” Dave shrugged. “Can I sit with you?”

  “Nope.” Avery felt rude, but she’d had enough of the predator. Ready to explore the situation with Shilah, she didn’t want any interruptions.

  Avery arrived with the fresh pitcher, as Lauren polished off her most recent drink and belched.

  “Ladies’ room!” She exclaimed. The girls began to gather their purses. Avery laughed at Nicole’s purse, which looked like a tiny picnic basket.

  “Is there a particular reason girls have to travel to the restroom in packs?” Shilah teased. Jules appeared on cue and took a long sip of her beer.

  “That’s one of our best kept secrets,” she offered, her face serious. She disappeared again into the crowd. Everyone at the table looked surprised and perplexed. Avery led the others through the bar to the ladies’ room.

  “So, Shilah’s smokin’ hot tonight,” Lauren offered. She immediately ducked in to the nearest stall, exclaimed in disgust, came back out, and disappeared into the next stall.

  “Really? Thanks for pointing it out, I hadn’t noticed.” Avery was buzzing, and it came out harsher than she intended. Nicole paused in the reapplication of her lip gloss to shoot her a surprised look. Avery shrugged and fixed her hair in the mirror.

  “Geez, what crawled up your ass?” Lauren called from her stall.

  “I’m glad those two Port Skank dudes moved on,” Nicole announced. Avery nodded.

  “Yeah, no doubt. If that Dave touches me one more time, he’s going home sterile.”

  “Oh, he’d do in a pinch. You gotta be a little more open-minded.” Lauren flushed and reappeared beside them. Nicole stepped to the side so she could wash her hands. “So what’s the deal? It looked to me like Shilah spent the night in the camper with you. What gives?”

  “We want details.” Nicole agreed.

  “Nothing happened. This is the first time I’ve seen or talked to him.”

  “He didn’t call you? He asked Jack for your number…”

  Avery paused in her primping, grinned and shrugged. She was delighted to hear Shilah had shown interest in seeing her again.

  “Huh.”

  “So tell me, what’s the story with Colin O’Connell and why the hell don’t I remember him?” Nicole blinked innocently. Her voice was casual, but her expression seemed giddy.

  “Probably because he was a lowly sophomore and a spindly little art geek when we were seniors,” Lauren replied.

  Avery nodded in agreement. “Yeah, he’s a late bloomer.”

  “So Nic, good move saving Shilah from Paige before that black hole between her legs sucked him in.”

  Avery stopped primping and opened her mouth to ask for details when another toilet flushed and Paige emerged from the far stall. Another stall door opened and a stranger appeared, dressed as a dominatrix with a whip on her belt.

  “Wow, Paige. You come from a classy town,” her friend remarked, as she glared at Lauren.

  “Have you looked in the mirror lately?” Lauren’s retort made Avery laugh and Nicole covered a smile. Paige flushed with anger and her friend glowered at them as they walked out the door.

  “Hey, Hooker Boots! You forgot to wash your hands!” Lauren called after them. All three girls fell into fits of laughter.

  As they returned to the table, Sean O’Connell’s booming voice announced that the karaoke extravaganza was about to begin. He launched into a stirring rendition of “Trashy Woman” by Confederate Railroad. The intoxicated crowd went insane. Avery leaned over to whisper in Nicole’s ear as she applauded.

  “That’s Colin’s older brother. Do you remember him?”

  “Yeah. He
was on the football team, right?”

  “Yep. The one that always spoke with an Irish accent when he was drunk.” Avery nodded.

  “They are brothers? They look nothing alike.” Nicole frowned. Avery giggled. Sean, a huge barrel-chested guy, was wildly popular but not particularly attractive. He was charismatic and had dark auburn hair and dark eyes. Colin had the same healthy dose of charisma, but he also had a hot body, great features, and long black curly hair. His smile and wicked dark eyes made him mighty popular with the ladies. Avery wondered if Nicole was into him as she watched her sneak a peek at the bar.

  “Thank you, thank you. Up next we have Dave and Nick, singing a classic Men At Work tune,” Sean proclaimed in his best ringmaster voice. They hurried up to the microphone. Lauren and Jules began to cheer them on when the music began. Three sentences in, it was painfully obvious that neither man could carry a tune in a bucket. Nicole fidgeted next to Avery.

  “I can’t take it anymore. I need a breath of fresh air,” Nicole announced to Shilah and Avery as she headed out the front door.

  “Smoke break?” Shilah asked. Avery shook her head.

  “She doesn’t smoke, she just has fragile ears. So I hear you asked Jack for my number…”

  Shilah tilted his head and smiled at her.

  “News travels fast.”

  “Why didn’t you call me?”

  “Why didn’t you call me?”

  “I didn’t have your number. I guess I could have just opened a window and yelled out.”

  “Avery, you have my number.” Shilah smirked at her. His perfect features made it hard for her to focus on the conversation.

  “No, I don’t.” Avery picked up the phone from her purse. His light eyes danced with amusement as he plucked it from her hand. He typed two letters and showed her the screen. There was a picture of him making a duck face, obviously taken in the camper. His phone began to ring on his belt.

  “Oh, okay.” Avery hid her face. Foolish didn’t begin to describe how she felt.

  “You really don’t remember much of that night, do you?” He taunted her.

  “Not really.” Her cheeks felt like fire.

  “Well, you talked about Jason until you passed out. Then you were gone in the morning. I wasn’t sure if you were interested.” He took a sip of his beer and sat back, waiting for a response.

  “Oh my God. I can’t believe I laid all that stuff about Jason on you. That chapter of my life is closed. I guess I was just trying to explain it all.”

  “I especially enjoyed the story about you knotting a cherry stem with your tongue for him on your first date.” Shilah leaned closer, and Avery shivered as his knee touched hers. “So why’d you ditch me? I was gonna buy you breakfast?”

  “I didn’t want to wake your bunkmate.” She felt the blush spread across her exposed chest.

  “Can I get a rain check, say, for tomorrow morning?”

  Avery’s dark eyes took in his splendor and she felt her temperature rising.

  “Hmm. Well, we’ll just have to see how the night goes.”

  The bitter cold stung, but Nicole was committed to escaping the heinous sounds coming from inside the bar. Her teeth were chattering and thanks to the full moon she could see her own breath.

  The past couple of days had been rough. She hadn’t slept much; her dreams of Ryan had become more frequent. Last night she had dreamt they were dancing.

  She was in her wedding gown and he’d been wearing his green scrubs. Their song, “I Can’t Help Falling in Love” played in the background. Unlike her actual first dance, it was the UB40 version.

  “My beautiful Cheesehead bride.”

  “My soon-to-be-toothless husband.” He smiled at her dig. He’d been forced to have a root canal two weeks before the wedding.

  “Tell you what. I’ll cut out the sugar if you promise to never cut this beautiful hair again.”

  “No deal.”

  He spun her out and she noticed the front and side of his scrubs bloom with sanguineous liquid. Ryan looked down at himself, then back at her. He smiled, unconcerned, and he dipped her.

  She couldn’t get back to sleep after that.

  It’s official: I am losing my mind.

  She put her hood up and pulled her cloak around herself, regretting her stupid decision to wear her hair up on such a cold night. She looked on as couple left the bar. They were staggering and hanging all over each other. As they sped away, she was very thankful that she was not on the road and lived within stumbling distance.

  The Port Frank guys finished their hatchet job on her favorite ‘80s song and what followed was even worse. Nicole decided she could handle the cold a little longer, even though she was starting to lose feeling in her fingers and ears.

  Moments later, a black sports car came barreling down the main drag. It whipped into the empty spot the couple had left behind. Nicole recognized the car as Jason’s. She was poised to retreat into the bar, when the passenger side door opened and Joy climbed out in platform heels. She was dressed as Britney Spears in her infamous nude-colored Grammy ensemble. With her bra top and midriff bearing pants, she had to be freezing. For Joy, vanity seemed to trump comfort every time.

  As Jason came around the car to join her, Nicole bit down hard on the inside of her lip to stop a laugh from escaping her mouth. Not to be outdone by his date, Jason was escorting her in full regalia as Prince Charming. His costume was so elaborate he must have ordered it directly from Disneyworld. No detail was spared, down to his white gloves. His hand was on her ass as they ascended the stairs to the front entrance of O’Connell’s.

  They seemed not to recognize her. Unable to resist the temptation, Nicole followed them in. She didn’t want to miss the rest of the bar’s reaction to the ridiculous couple.

  As her eyes adjusted to the light inside, she observed the rippling effect their entrance had on the crowd. Though everyone’s attention was focused on the stage at the other end of the bar, like the wave at a sporting event, heads turned slowly in their direction.

  Nicole quickly took a vacant barstool and settled in to watch. Colin appeared before her as if by magic.

  “What can I get ya?” His words were far more innocent than his tone.

  “I think I’m ready for a martini.”

  “Dirty?” He wiggled his eyebrows playfully.

  “Is there any other way?” A mischievous smile played on her lips as she leaned her elbows on the bar and placed a hand under her chin. It seemed she could flirt with someone besides Aaron, after all.

  “Naughty.” Colin winked at her and proceeded to make her drink adding in a little bartender flair. His attention was a pleasant surprise. He presented her martini, locking eyes with her before being called away by his father. Nicole admired his tight jeans and his slightly bow-legged gait as he walked away.

  She was fortunate to witness Avery and Shilah’s faces when they first spotted Joy and Jason. Their mouths fell open in unison and it appeared as if this abomination was the last thing on earth they expected to see. Shilah moved a lock of Avery’s hair away from her ear and leaned in to whisper something.

  Lauren’s reaction was even better. She laughed so loud that it carried above the unfortunate performer.

  “The one time a year adults dress up as what they wish they were.” She yelled and pointed at Jason.

  Several other singers and groups got up to perform, including Paige and her S & M friend. As Paige took the stage, Lauren downed a shot and put her hands along the sides of her mouth. Nicole braced herself.

  “Sit down, Paige!” As a snicker passed through the crowd, Paige flipped Lauren off. They sang “Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About” by Bonnie Raitt. They actually sounded really good and Nicole could tell that Lauren was pissed. Sean announced that Daniel was singing next and the crowd went crazy. The 50-year-old man dressed as a ninja with a receding hairline and scraggly ponytail took the stage. His performance of “At This Moment” by Billy Vera was horrendous, but
the crowd lit cigarette lighters and whooped and hollered as if Elvis had entered the building. Nicole watched the performance with her hands over her eyes, peeking out between her fingers.

  Avery and Lauren were up next, which seemed to distract Lauren from making a bigger scene.

  Nicole grabbed her drink and hurried to get a better vantage point for the upcoming performance. Avery looked like she wanted to crawl in a hole and Lauren appeared to be warming up for Carnegie Hall. Nic took another big swig of her martini and couldn’t help but be nervous for them.

  The heavy music began and Lauren was all over the stage, head banging and rocking out. Avery swayed back and forth half-heartedly and Nicole wondered if she was trying not to fall in her stiletto heels.

  Shilah spotted her and waved her over. She leaned in close so she could hear him over the crowd and the music.

  “So, are they any good?” He yelled. Nicole shrugged.

  “We can only hope.”

  Three minutes later the entire bar was on their feet, singing along. What they lacked in talent, they made up for in attitude. Lauren worked the mic stand like a veteran rocker. Nicole, enthralled and amused by the crowd’s reaction, happened to glace at the entrance. It was her turn to stare with her mouth hanging open. Jack and Aaron had just entered the bar. Colin seemed unable to contain himself and cackled hysterically as he handed them bottles of beer. Jack flipped him the bird as he took his drink. He was dressed as the Sweet Transvestite from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Aaron trailed behind Jack apprehensively, dressed as an Indian. Nicole couldn’t resist admiring Aaron’s strapping body in his leather pants and fringed vest. Crowning his head were feathers and he wore stripes of war paint. She turned to Shilah and pointed them out. Shilah laughed out loud.

  “Let’s hear it for Avery and Lauren! Next we have--- holy shit! Is that Jack Smith?” Sean pointed at Jack, who looked for a moment like a deer in the headlights. The entire bar’s focus was now on Jack. The crowd roared with laughter like they were in the studio audience for a sit-com.