Trying To Live With The Dead

by B. L. Brunnemer

  “Call Rory.” He demanded. I pulled out my phone and dialed as everyone else sat back down. I started back to my seat only to see that I had knocked my hot chocolate to the ground. I picked up the now empty cup and set it aside to throw away. Rory answered as I was scooting in to sit next to Miles, Zeke sat next to me. I explained to him the situation and how I wanted to scare the shit out of the ones responsible. Rory agreed completely, he was going to send a couple guys on duty over to the game and take care of it.

  “I don’t want to charge them.” I repeated for the fifth time to Rory. My uncle sounded so pissed that I felt I had to keep reminding him.

  “I got it Lexie. Trust me. We’ll have them in cuffs by the end of the game and it’ll be very public.” Rory reassured me before hanging up. I tucked my cell phone away. Then I looked up at Zeke.

  “He says they’ll have them in cuffs before the end of the game, and it’ll be public.” I announced.

  “Good.” Zeke said in a satisfied voice. Everyone agreed. Then I remembered Asher. If Jessica were responsible, it would be his sister that was put in cuffs. I cursed.

  “Asher’s going to be mad isn’t he?” I asked no one in particular biting the corner of my lip.

  “Nah.” Isaac reassured me. “He probably saw the photo too.” Zeke shook his head, the worry back on his face.

  “You know what’s going to happen now right?” He asked, getting all our attention. “Guys are going to start catcalling you, harassing you, the creeps are going to start coming around....” Zeke trailed off, he was clearly dreading the fallout of the photo.

  “Then I’ll deal, and if anyone gets handsy I’ll punch them.” I bumped my shoulder into his getting his attention. “It’ll be okay Zeke. I’m a big girl. I can sock a guy in the jaw just as easily as you can.” That made the corner of his mouth twitch. He looked away from me his eyes finding my empty paper cup.

  “I owe you a hot chocolate.” He heaved himself to his feet and headed toward the center aisle.

  “No killing Zeke.” I called after him.

  “No killing.” He grumbled back.

  “Or maiming!” He turned to me with that smirk finally on his face.

  “No maiming.” He assured me before heading up the stairs. It was only a few moments later when Ethan started laughing. Then Isaac started up, then Miles. Then even I was laughing, the relief actually left me light headed. But for the others it was something else.

  “When I said stop him, I didn’t mean for you to jump on him Lexie.” Ethan managed through his laughing.

  “It just kind of happened.” I explained. “Besides Zeke wouldn’t go into a fight with me on his back. And I was clinging like a monkey.” That brought another round of laughing.

  “Oh, I wish I had that on camera.” Isaac admitted. Soon we all settled down and watched the game. It wasn’t long till Zeke was back and I had my hot chocolate warming my hands again.

  It was near the end of the fourth quarter when Zeke looked to our left. I turned and sure enough, two uniformed police officers were going down the stairs toward the front of the bleachers. I couldn’t help but smile as they approached the cheerleaders.

  “Oh, here it comes! Here it comes!” Isaac said excitedly. He even had his phone out recording as Jessica was handcuffed and taken back up the stairs in front of everyone. When they were out of sight Isaac stopped recording. I leaned over to him.

  “Send me that video.” I whispered to him.

  “Are you kidding? I’m putting it on Youtube.” I watched as he did just that. I looked to my right at Zeke.

  “Feel better now?” He nodded his head grinning.

  “Yeah, I do.” Zeke admitted. I nodded myself.

  “I kind of do too.”

  The game was over soon after that and we all headed out to wait by Asher’s car. Kristina had left after the game, saying she had a curfew. We all turned our backs and walked a ways away to try to give them some privacy. We made small talk loudly, so we couldn’t hear them till they walked off into the parking lot. Ethan came back after walking her to her car, frowning.

  “Didn’t go well?” I asked wincing. Ethan shook his head.

  “That’s all right; we managed to stop Zeke from killing someone so it wasn’t so bad.” Ethan offered as he leaned against the car next to me. I leaned over and rested my head against his shoulder.

  “Sorry.” Ethan's arm moved, he wrapped it around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze. I put my head back on his shoulder.

  “Not your fault.”

  “We are going to a party.” I reminded him, hoping to cheer him up. “Lots of girls to use that smoky toe curling voice on.” Ethan smiled down at me. His chocolate eye warm.

  “Yeah, you're right.” he nodded.

  “Besides, it looks like one of you guys is going to have to take me to homecoming, and winter formal.” I informed them sulking a little.

  “Yeah, what was up with that Eric guy?” Isaac asked moving to stand across from us. “Your photo gets put on the big screen, and one of your friends goes berserk.” Isaac spread his arms palms up. “You help calm him down and he bails?”

  “I think it was because that friend was a guy.” I suggested and then added. “That Zeke is protective of me just tipped the scale.”

  “That’s ridiculous.” Miles chimed in. “Zeke’s protective of all of us.”

  “I can hear you, you know.” Zeke called over to us from a few steps away. We giggled.

  “It doesn’t matter, anyone I date has to hold their own around you guys otherwise they can go.” I told them honestly. Ethan pulled me close and kissed the top of my head. It made me feel warm. That cared for feeling washed over me again, I think I was starting to get used to it.

  “You mean like Dylan?” Ethan teased. I snorted.

  “We’ll find out tomorrow night.”

  “I’m just speculating, here but Eric could have not liked what he saw on the big screen.” Miles suggested. My mouth dropped as I looked at him. The other boys groaned. I heard Zeke curse.

  “Miles, I know I need some muscle tone, but did I look that bad?” I asked using the question to point out what he had said wrong. His eyes went wide when he realized his mistake.

  “No, no, no, no.” He waved his hand in front of himself as if he could erase what he said and start over. “I mean the attention; he might be a more low key person.” I looked over to Isaac.

  “Can I start working out with you guys? I want that muscle tone.”

  “We start tomorrow at 7am.” Isaac said, grinning at me.

  “Sadists.”

  “Who’s a sadist?” Asher asked coming up to the group. His blonde hair was wet but combed. He was back in blue jeans, a white long sleeve shirt and dark blue hoodie. His eyes went to my face assessing. “And what the hell happened on the big screen?”

  “Your sister snapped a picture of me in the locker room.” I explained. “She got some guy to put it up on the screen with a fake cell phone number.”

  “Zeke was dead set to go on a rampage, but Beautiful here jumped onto his back. She latched onto him like a monkey.” Ethan chimed in.

  “Red managed to stall him long enough for Miles to run up and get the picture off the screen before Zeke killed the guy.” Isaac continued for Ethan.

  “And once the screen was off Lexie calmed Zeke down by offering to call Rory. Since she is only 17 and that was her.. not dressed.” Miles continued for Isaac.

  “This made it child porn, which is a felony. The guy controlling the big screen and your sister were cuffed and taken to the police station.” Zeke finished for all of us. Asher’s face was stunned.

  “I’m not pressing charges, my uncle’s cop buddies are just scaring the shit out of them.” I assured him before he started worrying. It took him a minute to process everything before he responded.

  “Okay, she deserved it. Let’s hit the party.”

  Chapter 18

  We ended up taking two cars, Zeke and Miles went with Ashe
r. The twins came with me. I followed Asher to a house outside of town. The house looked like it had been a barn at one time, but had been renovated and had new additions. The party was in full swing when we arrived. I parked far enough back from the house that even if more people showed up the Blazer wouldn’t be buried. Isaac was out the door as soon as I stopped. I shut off the truck, climbed out and met Ethan on the other side. We both watched as Isaac ran through the cars and into the house. Ethan sighed sadly.

  “That’s not a good sign.” We started walking toward the house.

  “Why’s that? Isaac’s always excited.” Ethan shook his head.

  “My brother is different when he drinks.” He explained. “We all end up keeping an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”

  “Like what?” I asked as Zeke, Asher and Miles spotted us and began making their way over. We stopped to wait.

  “One time he got on the roof of the house and wanted to jump into the pool. That was over 10 feet from the house.” I winced thinking about how much that would hurt, hitting cement like that. “Asher had to tackle him. We got real lucky neither of them went off the roof.”

  “Wow.” The others joined us. Asher raised an eyebrow at me.

  “I’m just telling Beautiful about Isaac when he drinks.” Ethan explained. Asher nodded.

  “Did you tell her about the time he was punching a tree for almost an hour before we found him?” Asher asked Ethan.

  “Seriously?” It was hard to imagine sweet, funny, energetic Isaac like that.

  “Yeah, then there was that girlfriend he had.” Zeke answered shaking his head as we all headed for the house.

  “Yeah, she treated him like shit and he just took it.” Ethan stepped behind me as we slipped through the cars. “I mean bad, she called him names, put him down all the time. It was insane.”

  “He’d probably still be dating her if her family hadn’t moved away.” Asher added.

  “You remember him climbing without gear on our hike?” Ethan asked me, I nodded. “That sort of shit.”

  “He also likes to pick fights with groups of guys at these things” Miles chimed in.

  “Does he ever say why he does this stuff?” I was genuinely worried about him. I was half-tempted to go in that house, yank him out and take him back to Miles house. They all shook their heads.

  “When he gets like that he doesn’t talk to us. Not until after he’s sober. And never about what happened.” Ethan admitted. We were getting close to the house now; I could hear the music thumping.

  “So what do you do when he starts a fight?” I asked just in case. The guys shrugged.

  “Get a grip on him and get him outside.” Miles said simply. Well shit.

  “Alright guys, one of us in the room with Isaac at all times.” Zeke said as if this was routine.

  “Lexie and Miles are the sober drivers. If you see Brandon Zimmer, watch him carefully.” I raised an eyebrow at that. Zeke didn’t notice. “If he tries to drop something in a girls drink, kick his ass out and don’t be gentle about it.” Zeke gaze zeroed in on me. “And you. Don’t accept a drink from anyone that isn’t one of us. Don’t put your drink down and drink from it. Get a new one. And if Brandon Zimmer comes to talk to you kick him in the balls for me.” I smiled sweetly at that, I had no problem with that. “Try to stay in the same room as one of us.” I frowned at him. “Please.” He added quickly. “If you get into trouble, you can’t handle just shout for Asher and your location. Guys got the hearing of a blind man.” Asher smiled.

  “It’s true; if you give even a half shout in there I’ll be able to hear you from the second floor.” Asher admitted nonchalantly.

  “Even over the music?” They all nodded. Damn that was impressive. “Remind me never to use the bathroom with you in the next room.” We were at the porch of the house when Asher waved his hand dismissively.

  “Just turn on the faucet, that’s what my sister does.” Asher called over his shoulder. We walked into the house. It was huge. The old barns main room went all the way to the roof. Railings showed it was open on the second floor. We made our way into the house and almost immediately got separated. A hand grabbed mine; I turned to see Miles tugging me through the dance floor. A hand went around my waist as someone started to grind on my hip. My elbow shot out, knocking the air from the guys’ lungs. He let go gasping as I followed Miles. We came out of the dense crowd. Zeke took a beer bottle from Asher as he was searching the room. I imagine he was looking for Isaac. Miles pulled me to the drink table and grabbed a plastic red cup.

  “Have you ever had orange juice with 7-up?” He asked pouring the drink.

  “Nope.” Miles grinned as he handed me the cup.

  “Try it.” He went about making himself one. I took a sip and liked it. It was sweet, light and made my tongue tingle from the carbonation

  “Okay, that’s good.” I told him. Miles smiled putting down the 7up.

  “And no one will hassle you about not drinking.” He lifted his cup up, I hit his with mine. We both drank. I liked Miles way of thinking. Ethan came out of the crowd a red cup in his hand.

  “Isaac’s found the ping pong table.” He announced.

  “Beer pong?” I asked. He shook his head.

  “Shot pong.” I groaned. That was awful. The guys cursed. I tapped Miles shoulder and pointed to the table.

  “Get me a can of soda please” Miles turned and did as I asked as the others were debating who was going to watch Isaac first. Miles handed me the can. I nudged Ethan’s arm. “Show me where Isaac is, I’ll take first watch and try to slow him down. Maybe I’ll be able to get him to do something else for awhile.” The guys all thought about that for a moment.

  “That might just work.” Asher announced.

  “Hell, she can get Zeke to calm down she might be able to keep Isaac from doing something stupid.” Ethan agreed.

  “We’ll rotate out every 30 minutes. Sound good?” Zeke asked looking at everyone. Everyone agreed. We split up. Ethan took my elbow and led me to the far side of the house. It looked like a recreation room. There was an air hockey table, darts, and video games in addition to the ping pong table. Ethan stopped before Isaac could see him; he pointed me in the right direction. I nodded when I saw Isaac's blue hair. Ethan melted back into the crowd near the door. I moved around the group that was watching other people play video games.

  “Hey, you’re the girl from the big screen.” I heard someone say as I kept walking. The voice followed. “Hey, I’m looking for a good time honey.”

  “Find it somewhere else.” I shot over my shoulder. His friends laughed. It sounded like he took it well since he backed off. I just hoped anyone else who tries does too. I stepped into Isaac’s line of sight. The boys had taken the net down and had 6 cups in front of each of them. Isaac had just landed a ball into the other guy’s cup making him drink when I sidled up next to him touching his arm with my hip. “Hey Cookie Monster.” I greeted him smiling. Isaac looked up and smiled.

  “Red, there you are. Where is everyone?” He greeted me.

  “They ditched me for some girls.” I sighed with fake disappointment. I held out the soda to him. “And I heard you might need a chaser.” Isaac took the soda from me.

  “Yeah, I did thanks Red.” He gestured to one of the other chairs. “Have a seat, stay a while.” I sat down and watched as the other guy missed on Isaac's end. They went back and forth for a while both missing. The other guy made it into Isaac’s cup. I watched as he drank the shot. And refilled it with tequila and put it back in line. I started thinking about how I could get Isaac away from the pong table. I had come up with an idea when a guy approached me.

  “You’re the new girl right?” He asked already slurring his words.

  “I’m Alexis.” I offered trying to be polite.

  “That is a cool name.” He said before tapping his chest. “I’m Anthony, everyone calls me Tony.” I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Isaac had sunk another ball. />
  “It’s nice to meet you Tony.” I turned back to watch the game.

  “Hey what was with the big screen at the game? Who would do that to you?” He asked leaning closer. I shrugged.

  “I pissed someone off and they tried to get back at me.” I explained watching Isaac drink another shot. Okay two shots down that I’ve seen, I needed to get Isaac away from the table. I was about to get up when Tony put his hand on my knee.

  “That’s a shame, you’re a pretty girl. They shouldn’t have put your photo up like that.” I turned my head and looked him in the eye.

  “Move your hand, or I will break it.” I said in a dead calm voice. He lifted his hand away and backed up.

  “Can’t blame a guy for trying.” He said before disappearing into the crowd. I turned to see Isaac down another shot. Shit. I got up and went over to him.

  “Cookie Monster?” I asked in a sweet voice. He looked up at me smiling, he wasn’t drunk yet.

  “Yeah, Red?” I used my best pout on him.

  “Will you come dance with me?” I asked almost pleading. His eyebrows rose in surprise. “You’re one of the few guys around here I trust not to get handsy.” His eyebrows dropped as he understood, no one wanted a repeat of the bar.

  “You got it, Red.” He told me, he looked down the table at the other guy. “Sorry man, but a lady calls.” Isaac took my hand and led me through the house back into the front room. I spotted Zeke leaning against the wall talking to a girl with purple hair. When he spotted us, I winked at him as Isaac pulled me onto the dance floor. We danced. I moved to the music next to Isaac, ignoring everyone else in the room. When a guy crowded close I’d throw an elbow just before Isaac pulled me closer. His arm going around my waist as he glared over my shoulder. The music changed, to a loud thumping rhythm. We put our arms in the air, jumping along with everyone else. When the music changed to a slow song he pulled me in close one arm around my waist. I leaned in and proceeded to tell him the worst jokes I had ever heard. He shot some back; soon we were going back and forth. We kept getting weird looks on the dance floor. I don’t know how long we danced, I’m sure it was over my 30 minutes. But it kept Isaac away from the shot pong table. Eventually I needed a break; I waved a hand at my face and pointed off the dance floor. He nodded and took my hand leading me off the floor and towards the drink station. Shit. He handed me a bottle of water before pouring himself a rum and coke. I had tried. I checked the seal on the bottle making sure it hadn’t been opened then opened it myself. I took a long drink. I was sweating a lot. I reached back and pulled the mass of hair off my neck. I wish I hadn’t worn a long sleeve shirt. I wished I knew where to put my jacket without it getting stolen. Isaac leaned into me so I could hear him over the music.