Life of the Party (12 page)

“I doubt that.”
Grey chuckled. “Some of you are pretty unforgettable.” He looked at
me when he said that, his blue eyes still twinkling with mirth, his
lips curved handsomely. I gave him a glorious smile.

“Oh yeah?” My
voice was a whisper. He nodded, and I felt his hand on my hip, hard
and firm as he slowly pulled me closer towards him. My poor heart
beat like a hummingbird’s wings. With his other hand, dark and tan
and warm, Grey tilted my chin up, pulling my face towards his until
the inevitable moment—slow in coming—that our lips finally
touched.

The kiss jolted
me. The parts of me previously coke-numb were suddenly on fire. His
lips pressed against mine, softly at first, then with growing
intensity. He tasted amazing. I twisted in his arms so I was facing
him, my hands lifted to the back of his neck, my fingers twirled in
his hair. We kissed. We kissed as we had talked—compulsively,
thoroughly, irrepressibly. I pressed myself against him, delighting
in the warmth of his hands on my back, my waist … stroking my arms,
my neck … tangling in my hair ….

His kiss was
better than coke.

“Tell me,
Mackenzie,” he breathed, a few heavy moments later. I didn’t
answer, but opened my eyes to acknowledge him. His gaze fell to my
lips.

“Who was it
that made you sad earlier?” He kissed me. I frowned. I couldn’t
remember … it didn’t matter.

“I don’t know.
It doesn’t matter … I’m not sad anymore.” I whispered. I could feel
Grey’s lips smile against mine. And then we were kissing again.

The light was
blinding. I groaned, and the noise made my head throb. My mouth was
totally dry, my throat and sinuses raw … like someone had rubbed
them with sandpaper. I rolled into a ball and put a hand to my
feverish brow. I couldn’t swallow.

“Here.” An
angel from heaven spoke, placing a cool glass of water in my hand.
She chuckled. “Drink this.”

I nodded weakly
and tried to sit up, my eyes shut, my head throbbing anew at the
change in position. I forced my shaky hand to bring the cup to my
lips. The water was precious, life giving, cold and soothing. My
throat and mouth worked better.

Next I tried to
open my eyes. One slit at a time, allowing the harsh light to
filter in slowly so they could adjust. I coughed, and my lungs felt
burnt. Had I come down with some rare tropical disease in the night
or something?

I panicked
slightly, once my eyes were open. I was on the floor, somewhere, in
a living room by the looks of things. A blanket covered me. I
spotted Alex slumped over in a chair, but I didn’t recognize
anything else around me. Then I remembered the voice, the sweet
angel from heaven.

“Charlie?” I
croaked. The sound made me wince.

“How you doing
hon?”

“Ugh. Not good.
Where are we?”

“You’re at my
house, silly. Don’t you remember?”

“Maybe. I don’t
know. I can’t think straight.” I lay back down. My hand hit
something hard, and then I realized someone was beside me.
Quickly—much too quickly for my poor head, I sat up and surveyed
the man laying there.

It was Grey, of
course it was Grey. I don’t know who else I would’ve expected. His
face was slack, relaxed, but beautiful in peaceful sleep. His shirt
was off, allowing me a good, long glimpse of his dark chiselled
chest and glorious six-pack. Multiple black tattoos covered his
naked shoulders and muscled arms. A sudden thought occurred to me,
and I looked down at myself beneath the blanket. I didn’t know if
it was relief or disappointment I felt when I realized I was fully
dressed.

I’d only
blacked out once that I could remember, at the party with Riley
when I took all those Quaaludes. I hoped my mind would bring back
all the moments I seemed to have forgotten of the previous night.
It was way too good not to remember. Especially since I was waking
up next to Grey now.

“What time is
it?” I asked Charlie, who was bustling around her tiny kitchen. I
could hear coffee brewing.

“Um … 8:24.”
She answered.

“Oh shit. I’m
going to be late for school.” I grimaced.

“So ditch. What
are they going to do? You graduate in less than a month
anyway.”

“I know, and I
totally would. I have this test though … it’s kind of
important.”

“What time is
it at?”

“Um, nine, I
think. First period. Whatever time that is.” I groaned again, and
made the attempt to get up. It didn’t go so well. I ended up back
on the floor, my head in my hands. What was the point, anyway?
After a few healing moments I moved again, this time placing my
head on Grey’s chest and resting my arm lightly on his torso. Mmm
…. I felt better already.

“What about
your parents, Mac? Didn’t you say you’d call them in the
morning?”

“Hmmm … did I?
That doesn’t sound like me.”

“Yes, you did.
Come on. You don’t want them to be worried.” Charlie came over and
grasped my hand. “Let me help you up.”

I was too weak
to even protest. One moment I was totally content lying with Grey,
the next I was pulled into a world of agony, bleary eyed, holding
onto the counter to keep from falling over. I swayed
unsteadily.

“Have some
coffee.” Charlie plunked a mug down in front of me.

“How are you so
chipper this morning?”

“Practice. And
I also did like, twenty less lines than you.”

“Oh.” That
would explain it. “Can I borrow your phone?”

“Sure.” Charlie
handed me her cordless. I looked at her for the first time that
morning. She seemed content and happy. Already done up for the day,
of course she looked gorgeous. I surveyed her as my parents’ phone
rang in my ear.

“So, how’d it
go?” I whispered at her. Just then, a door opening distracted me,
and I saw Zack coming out of Charlie’s room. That answered my
question. I giggled with her, and then quieted as he
approached.

“Hello? Taylor
Residence.” My mom finally answered the phone. I stepped away from
the counter for some privacy.

“Hey, mom?”

“Mackenzie, is
that you?”

“Yes, it’s me.
Hey, I just wanted to make sure that you remembered.”

“Remembered
what? You are in big trouble, young lady. Wh—”

“Ugh, see! I
knew you’d forget.”

“What?”

“I told you,
the other day. That I’d be staying at my friend Charlie’s house
Wednesday night.”

“Charlie? Is
this some boy?”

“No, mom. My
friend, Charlie, from work. Charlene?”

“Oh. Well, I
don’t remember this conversation.”

“You never do.
That’s why I’m calling. I didn’t want you to come home this morning
and freak out ‘cause I’m not there.”

“Well, it’s a
little late for that. We talked about this, did we?”

“Yes, mom. You
said it was fine.”

“Huh. Well … I
don’t know ….”

“Gotta go mom.
I’ll see you later.”

“Okay … hey,
shouldn’t you be at school—”

I hung up the
phone abruptly. All this talking was really making my head throb. I
took a swig of coffee and it burnt all the way down. “Do I look how
I feel?” I asked Charlie. She and Zack were sitting on barstools
together at the counter.

Charlie
grinned. “Easily fixed.” I groaned at the sound of their laughter,
heading to the bathroom to investigate myself. It really wasn’t
that bad. I fixed my eye make-up where it was smudged and threw my
knotted hair into a makeshift ponytail-twist thing. My lips were
chapped and swollen. They smiled at me in the mirror.

I changed out
of the rumpled jeans and halter-top combination that Charlie had
leant me and back into my clothes from the night before. They smelt
like the fryer from work. I borrowed some of Charlie’s deodorant,
rubbed some toothpaste over my gums, and sprayed some mystery
perfume all over myself. Nothing like a “fragrance shower” first
thing in the morning.

When I came out
of the bathroom, Alex was awake. He looked a little worse for wear,
but was smiley and jovial as ever. He and Zack were being painfully
noisy, recapping the best moments of the night. I snuck past them
and headed back to Grey, not quite willing to leave him and this
unreal dream, the one that somehow ended with me waking up next to
him. He was somewhat conscious by the time I got there. I hadn’t
had a chance to really brush my teeth—I hoped I didn’t have horrid
morning breath or anything, but I felt like I did.

“Hey.” I kept
my voice low. “I’ve gotta go, to school.”

“Alright.” Grey
growled, but he didn’t open his eyes. I giggled slightly, totally
able to sympathize with him and how he felt.

“There’s water
here.” I handed him the cup.

“Tell those
assholes to keep it down.”

“Hey, assholes,
keep it down!” I yelled at them, right in Grey’s ear, realizing my
mistake too late. I looked down repentantly. He was glaring at me
with one eye open.

“Sorry. Uh …
I’ll just be going now.” I smiled. Alex and Zack laughed at me.

“I bet he
appreciated that.” They joked.

I put a finger
to my lips, “shhhh,” but I was trying not to laugh. “Bye.” I bent
down, hesitantly, and kissed Grey’s lips. To my joy and relief, he
moved his hand to cup the back of my head and kissed me for
longer.

“You work
tonight?” He wondered.

“Yeah.” I
groaned. “I’m going to die. You?”

“Nope.” He
chuckled slightly, and winced. “I get to sleep all day.

“That is not
fair.” I groaned again.

“But it was
worth it, right?”

“So worth it.”
I smiled. We kissed again, and then regretfully, I forced myself
away from him. I didn’t care about school, but I definitely didn’t
want to repeat the twelfth grade either. “Bye.”

“See ya.”

I waved to the
group congregated around the counter. “‘Kay, I’m off.” I
announced.

“Where are you
going?” Zack wondered

“I’ve got to
walk to school.”

“School? Geeze,
how old are you anyway? Fifteen?”

“Something like
that. I’ll see you guys later.” I opened the door to the painfully
bright sunshine, took a healing breath, and stumble-limped down the
old grey stairs. It wasn’t far to my school, but it was far enough
when every step was utter agony. I sighed and began my trek,
lighting a smoke although my poor lungs wheezed in protest. I heard
a car coming down the street, rustily, it sounded like. When it
began to slow by the time it reached me, I turned to investigate.
It was purple, old … beat up.

It was
Riley.

“Mackenzie?”

The passenger
door opened to me, beckoning, and Riley leaned across the seat. He
looked puzzled.

“Mackenzie?
What are you doing here?”

“I stayed at
Charlie’s house last night.” I pointed behind me.

“Oh. Well, get
in, I’ll give you a ride. Come on, we’re late.”

I hesitated a
moment, but took him up on the offer. I was too achy and sore to
protest, all of our differences aside. I threw my smoke down on the
street and stiffly climbed into the car.

We stared at
each other a moment once I was in. He was the same old Riley that
I’d known forever, but to me, he seemed different already. Not in
looks or appearance or anything … just in him. Like he was …
peaceful, or something. He smiled hopefully at me, but the wide
space of seat between us seemed to represent the status of our
relationship. My expression was blank as I stared back at him.
Riley sighed.

“You smell like
a brewery.” He wrinkled his nose. “And something else … what,
Vanilla Fields? Late night last night?”

“You could say
that.” Totally unconsciously I rubbed my nose, trying to quell the
dull ache that still resided within. It felt like my sinuses were
completely dry and each breath burnt them afresh. I sniffed a few
times to try and get some moisture up there. It helped that I was
out of the cool, morning fresh air.

I felt Riley’s
eyes on me then, hard. I turned to meet his gaze, sniffing and
rubbing my nose again.

“What?”

“Were you doing
coke last night?” His voice was low with accusation, almost
threatening. The dark look in his eyes told me that he knew the
truth, that somehow he’d figured it out from the mere minutes we
had spent together. As odd as it was, the thought gave me hope. If
he still knew me that well, there had to something left here,
something of our old relationship that we could salvage.

“I gave it a
try, yeah.” I shrugged it off. “No big deal.”

“No big deal.”
Riley laughed incredulously. He put the car in drive and pulled out
into the street. “This coming from the girl who refuses to be in
the same room as a rail. Do you remember how pissed you used to get
at me when I did coke? Do you?”

“Yes.” I said
quietly.

“So? What
changed? No, no, no ….” Riley ginned sardonically. “Let me guess.
You were with Grey, weren’t you? And he was doing it. So you just
had to try it, right?”

His perfect
insight made me angry. I stuck out my chin stubbornly.

“I was with
Grey, yes. But he doesn’t have anything to do with it.”

“Yeah, right.”
He scoffed. “So what, did you get coked up and then go at it all
night long? Was it everything you ever dreamed it would be?” His
voice was icy.

I stared. That
was all I could do. My mouth hung open in shock from Riley’s words.
I knew he didn’t mean what he said, he was just upset—but that
didn’t excuse him either. I shook my head angrily.

“Nice Ry. Real
nice. Is that how you think of me? Does that seem like something
I’d do?”

“Not you. But
he
would.” He emphasised the word “he” with great
disdain.