Lost in Flight (10 page)

Riley needed some answers.  Was this a practical joke?  He grabbed his cell phone and dialed a number.  It took him four tries to reach Johnny on his cell phone, which increased Riley’s frustration.  Johnny hated cell phones or anything he thought the government might be able to trace him on.  Why the government would want to spy on Johnny was beyond everyone, but paranoia is strange like that. 

When Johnny finally answered, Riley had to clamp his teeth together to stop tearing Johnny a new one.  His annoyance turned to amusement at the hesitant, awkward, freaked out, “He-he-llo” on the other end of the phone.

“Johnny – it’s me.”

“Who?”

“Riley.”

“Oh hey, man.”

“So… I stopped by your house.”

“Cool.”

“Christina was still there.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah?  YEAH?  I thought she was leaving.”

“No.  Monday.”

Riley pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, squeezing tight then counted to ten.  He usually found Johnny’s circular, passive-aggressive, and deflective conversations funny, especially when he wasn’t subject to them.  Johnny used this tactic to get out of things he didn’t want to do or talk about.  It made people think they were dealing with an imbecile and give up, moving onto someone else.

“I thought you were out of town anyway, bro,” Johnny said.  “What are you doing back?” 

“I thought Christina had left town and came back early,” seethed Riley. 

“Well, she hasn’t,” Johnny replied, making Riley lose his temper. 

“OBVIOUSLY,” Riley shouted into the phone.

There was silence on the other end of the phone and just as he was about to apologize for shouting, he heard Johnny say, “Did you know Dad is sexing the school teacher?”

Johnny could stick the apology.  “Of course, I knew,” Riley snapped. 

“I didn’t,” Johnny muttered, “you could have told me.” 

Riley pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it.  He actually wanted to strangle Johnny or maybe give him a couple of quick smacks around the head.  “It’s none of my business, Johnny.  It’s your Dad’s and up to him to tell you,” said Riley. 

He could picture Johnny’s smug face when he said, “Just like it’s none of my business what Christina does, Riley, and not up to me to tell you what she’s doing.”  Okay.  He had him on that one.

With a softer tone, Johnny asked, “Are you staying in tonight?  I’ll come over.  I got a surprise for Dina tonight and she’s going out.” 

Riley pulled the phone away from his ear for the second time and stared at it.  She’d finally done it.  She’d driven someone else other than Riley crazy too. 

He put the phone back to his ear and said to Johnny, “She hates surprises.  She’s too much of a control freak.  She’s going to go nuts at you.  You know that right?” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Johnny laughed, “they’ll be here and she doesn’t even know.”

Riley started grinding his teeth, but tried to hide his annoyance when he asked, “Who will be here and what doesn’t she know?”

“Bonnie and Mandy,” Johnny said, “which means…” 

“It’s a full witches coven,” Riley whispered in horror. 

Johnny roared with laughter.  “Yep, brother.  It sure is.”

Riley muttered, “Yeah.  I’m definitely staying in tonight.” 

Stephany Gilmore and the temptation of easy hook up sex be damned
. 

“Come see me when you’re ready,” Riley said.

Johnny was still laughing when he hung up, leaving Riley seething and cursing his bad luck.  Luck wasn’t a lady.  She was a mean-assed, nasty witch who was getting reinforcements.  He was straight up hiding and he wasn’t ashamed. 

********************

Christina

“Go get dressed, Dina,” Johnny garbled through a mouthful of burger and fries.  “You’re going to regret it.” 

Christina sat in her robe chomping through her own plateful of grease and said, “No.” 

Johnny shook his head.  “You are the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met.” 

Christina shrugged.  “I’ll take that as a compliment.” 

He made her laugh when he said, “You really shouldn’t.”

Johnny had been acting smug and suspicious for most of the afternoon.  By early evening, he was almost insufferable and surprisingly tight lipped.  She’d tried to trick the “surprise” out of him, but he had been admirably perceptive and avoided all her traps. 
Damn him
. 

When there was a knock on the front door, Christina glared at Johnny and sat there while he went to open it.  To her complete surprise – a good one for once, and not a bad one – in walked her two oldest, and dearest friends:  Bonnie and Mandy.  Seeing these women, Christina was overcome with joy and she looked at Johnny.  He winked at her saying, “Thought you needed livelier company than me, sis, and you need to go out, just once, before you leave.” 

Christina got up and hugged her brother.  He hugged her back, tight, placing a clumsy kiss on her ear.  She then threw herself into the arms of her best friends with them all jumping up and down screaming like schoolgirls.  Actually, they’d never done this as schoolgirls.  They’d been way too surly cool. 

After shrieking over each other with “Oh my gods” and “love what you’ve done with the place,” Christina gasped, “What are you two doing here?” 

Mandy grinned.  “The kids and I got in last night.  I’ve been waiting for Bonnie to get here so we could surprise you.” 

Bonnie looked pointedly at Christina’s robe.  “We’re going out and you need to get dressed.”  Johnny came and gave her a pointed “I told you so look” until she waved him away.

Mandy grinned.  “Let’s go - PAR-tay.”  Christina hated that term – a fact her two best friends knew well.  She mock glared at a twinkly-eyed Mandy and then all three burst out laughing.  Loudly.

These two women had been Christina’s main source of consolation in Shanwick.  They’d been BFFs forever growing up, and knew just about everything there was to know about one another.  They were her only true friends in Shanwick and they’d all belonged to the Emo/grunge group at high school.

Mandy had married Riley’s best friend, Dave Warnock, and the drummer with Collective Pitch.  They were based in New York, but Dave and Mandy had been together since high school, and had two children together.  She was African American with Native American heritage and was one of the most naturally beautiful women Christina had ever seen.  Mandy stood 5’7, with long dark brown wavy hair that had natural golden highlights in it, green eyes with gold specks, and a smile that lit up a city.

Why she had married Dave Warnock was a mystery to most people that didn’t know them.  Dave was an African American, who could best be described as average.  There were a number of inferences that Mandy had married Dave for his fame, but they’d been together before Dave was famous and would still be together if he decided to go into obscurity.  Where Mandy was concerned, everyone thought he was the luckiest man alive, including Dave. 

Bonnie Howard stood an imposing 5’10 and was well built with red hair, blue eyes, and a serious dose of snark.  Bonnie was like a classic 1950s Hollywood bombshell like Maureen O’Hara and Rita Hayworth.  She’d caught the eye of a fair few men and just quietly, a few women as well.  Out of all of them, Bonnie had been more courageous when it came to challenging boundaries. 

Unlike Mandy and Christina, Bonnie had never married because “monogamy” wasn’t her scene.  She was a very successful realtor in Seattle, but had strong ties in Shanwick.  Bonnie’s parents lived down the road from the Martins and while most of the other kids had run the other way, she and Christina had become best friends at first sight. 

In her teens, Bonnie had had a serious crush on Johnny who had a particular type of woman that she didn’t fit.  Bonnie was way too sane.  Pushing Christina into her bedroom, Bonnie and Mandy ordered her to hurry up, but she warned them.  “I’ve got one going-out outfit and I don’t think it’s Shanwick appropriate.”

Bonnie and Mandy shared a look then pounced on her clothes, tut-tutting about what she had brought with her.  She hadn’t packed the best bag of clothing and she’d have to make do.  “Found it,” Mandy grinned, holding up a little blue dress in her hands. 

Nodding at each other, the two women insisted “this” was the one, but Christina thought it was too short for Shanwick.  To their horror, she insisted on pairing it with some skinny jeans, set off by silver, strappy high-heeled shoes.  They grabbed her hands and scowled at her fingernails. 

Mandy looked at her.  “Don’t worry.  We’ve come prepared.” 

********************

“It’s a bit much,” Christina grumbled.

“Is not,” Bonnie retorted. 

“It’s SHANWICK,” Christina shouted, but her two friends just stared at her like she was an idiot. 

Bonnie articulated and reinforced this point by saying, “Dina, you’re an idiot.  Shanwick or not, you’re going to get dressed up and wear this.” 

An hour after her friends arrived, Christina had had her nails polished, eyebrows fixed, and hair done.  They held her down plastering her face with makeup, doing “the smoky eye”, and putting on a nearly nude pink gloss.  Mandy frowned.  “You wear makeup for work, right?”

“Yes, some,” Christina huffed.

“Just because you’re a feminist, Dina, doesn’t mean you have to be ugly.” Bonnie groaned.  Christina and Bonnie started arguing until Mandy stopped the fighting by telling them they had “better things to do.”  Christina wouldn’t call going out in Shanwick ‘better’, but she was happy to drop the bickering.

Standing back admiring their handiwork, Mandy thought Christina looked like Kim Kardashian, but Bonnie thought more like Jessica Alba or Mila Kunis.  Christina didn’t think she looked like any of them, but her best friends were trying to boost her confidence, which they reinforced with alcohol - lots and lots of alcohol.

To her surprise, Johnny sat down at the table with them.  He wolf whistled at Christina, which made her feel even more ridiculous.  He got up and poured them drinks, then sat back down with his guitar, picking some chords, and humming. 

Bonnie gave him a smoldering gaze that he was oblivious to, looked at her two friends and winked.  Christina nearly choked on her drink and her two best friends yelled at her not to damage her makeup.  “Careful, sis,” Johnny said, “I don’t want two sisters in hospital.” 

The conversation quickly turned to gossip and Johnny got up to leave.  He was really good like that.  It was a combination of being considerate and just uninterested in gossip.  With his back turned, Bonnie made ass-grabbing gestures at him, which made Mandy and Christina shriek with laughter.  Johnny turned around, smiled a bit bemusedly, and ambled off.  His discomfort made them laugh harder.

Christina went to put some music on, but Bonnie pushed her out of the way with an “uh-uh.”  “If I put on pop music, Johnny can’t complain,” winked Bonnie.  Well, he could, but he’d wait until Bonnie left out of both respect and fear.  When Bonnie put on Carlie Rae Jepson’s “Call me maybe,” Christina half-expected Johnny to appear, demanding they turn it off, but he didn’t. 

Bonnie leaned over saying, “You need to lose that sweater thing, Dina.” 

Her little blue dress was a halter style that came in under the bust, ended just above the knee and pushed her boobs out.  She had compromised on the dress, but the sweater stayed.  Shaking her head, Christina disagreed.  “It’s cold.” 

Bonnie pulled a face.  “It’s early October.  It’s chilly, not cold, and while you’re at it, lose the jeans.” 

Christina didn’t drink much these days and after two, she was feeling sassy.  She grinned at Bonnie, “You know, if you want to strip me naked, you should really buy me dinner first.” 

Mandy shrieked with laughter, but Bonnie eyed her speculatively.  “By the look of things, someone needs to get you naked, Dina, and it’s not me.  I want you to look as hot as possible so that someone wants to.” 

Mandy and Christina threw their heads back and laughed.  Christina looked from side to side and crooked her finger to her friends.  They leaned over and she whispered.  “Dad is having sex with Mrs. Marsh, the school teacher.” 

Mandy’s eyes opened wide and she said, “Noooooo.”

“Uh-huh,” giggled Christina.  “He is.  Seriously.” 

Bonnie laughed.  “Never mind your Dad’s sex life.  How’s yours?” 

Christina pulled a face.  “Hmmm.  Sex life?  Non-existent.  Dad’s getting more than me – unfortunately.  I broke up with the Banker about six months ago and to be honest, the sex was pretty bad.  I had more orgasms alone than when he was in my bed.  It got so bad that when we were in bed, I almost called out my own name.” 

Mandy laughed so hard she partially choked on her drink and tears streamed down her beautiful face.  Bonnie screamed with laughter and shook her head.  “Oh no way.  No, no, no.” 

Christina was in full flight now.  It was like old times and she was laughing so hard, she had to wipe tears from the corner of her eyes.  She looked at them.  “Yes, way.  It was terrible - fucking terrible.  The fucking was terrible.”

As per usual, her friends were right.  She stood up and took off her jeans and sweater.  They all roared with laughter so loudly that Johnny came back in for a moment to see if they were okay.  When he realized they were just laughing, he looked embarrassed, raised his hand and left as quickly as he’d appeared.  The women all looked at each other and laughed even harder. 

They headed out to the one nightspot in Shanwick that symbolized the town’s hypocrisy to Christina.  There was a bar and grill, which had a tavern on one side and the resident hang out of the local biker bar, the Hub & Spoke, on the other.  The nightclub was across the car park from the bar/grill and everyone pretended the different social groups didn’t mix, but they did.  They mixed plenty.  Usually, late at night and when people wanted another type of excitement.

Christina conned Johnny into taking them to the nightclub, which wasn’t very difficult.  She told him they could make their own way home, but he assured them that if they needed a ride, they should just text him.  The women knew Johnny meant well, but once he fell asleep, bombs could drop and he wouldn’t hear them, so they thanked him for his offer, and sent him home.