AllFreeNovel
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It’s not like I’m going to my execution. It just feels that way.
Somehow Cindy has some cache with the doorman. She strides in, furiously waving at us all to follow. I bring up the rear, really slow.
“Wren, c’mon. Hurry.”
I nod and start to jog. We get through the door, just. The place is thumping with bodies jumping up and down, drinking, dancing to the beat of a set of loud bass speakers next to a DJ set-up.
I put fingers in my ears.
Cindy shouts. “Isn’t this great?”
All the girls fist pump, and I feign another smile.
As usual, in the din and dancing melee, I lose track of my group. I look for the front door. It’s buried in bodies. No way I’m going back.
So, I go forward, squeezing through sweaty strangers. Finally, I make my way through the back patio double doors and into the cool night. At least out here, the noise is duller.
I look to my right. A long table is set up with a beer keg and red plastic glasses.
“Hey there, you want one?” says a pimply-faced guy, wearing a faded Hawaiian shirt and surf shorts.
“Yeah, sure. Thanks.”
I reach out my hand and take the freshly poured brew. The dumb kid must be half-cocked himself as I’m holding a cup of three-quarters foam and one-quarter beer.
I sigh.If this is college life, kill me now.
I’m feeling more lonely at college than I did at home with my unfeeling mom. All I can hope for is once the growing pains are over, I’ll like college. Maybe make some decent friends in class. ‘Cause if this is as good as it gets, I’m in for a long year.
I find a perch on a low white brick wall which overlooks an enormous kidney-shaped pool. I test the wall for strength. Not that I’m a whale or anything. I just don’t want to break the place on my first visit. I gingerly sit down on the cold bricks and look out at the kids frolicking on the lawn.
No one is in the pool. It’s been drained. Probably for the best with drunken idiots like these kids.
I whisper to myself. “A pool. In Boston? Yeah, I guess. I mean, what do I know? I wonder if they skate on it in winter?” I know nothing about pools. I’m not from a pool owning family. I’m obviously surrounded by pool-owning trust fund kids now.Yay. Not.
It’s my first time in Boston. And it’s the fall. It’s warm but with a cool breeze. I don’t have a clue about the heat and humidity which comes in the summer, I’m told.
My gaze is cut short as a jersey shirt hijacks my eyes. I look up, way up. It’s a guy. Some guy. Some really big guy. It’s a football jersey, I think. I’m not a sports freak.
“Hey, girl. You’re a pretty thing, aren’t you? Haven’t seen you around here before.”
I smile and silently nod and take a gulp of beer fuzz. I smell his breath.Stale beer breath and is that pepperoni?Geez.I could hurl. I hope the guy gets bored and stumbles away.
The dude strokes my hair. “Nice hair, pretty girl. You want to take this upstairs? I could show you my quarterback sack moves.”
Okay, now I am going to wretch. I look right and left to see how to escape. But this bruiser puppy is a sweaty, stinky wall. My breathing quickens. I can’t punch my way out from under this guy. I fear the worst.Do I scream? Should I scream? God, I want to scream.
“Drew, go out front and play hide and go fuck yourself. This girl doesn’t need you slobbering over her. Back the hell off.”
“Hey, man, c’mon. She’s free for the picking. How bout you go find your own chick?”
I look to the side of the slobbering brute.It’s Hunter. Holy cow! Am I ever glad to see this guy. Or I think I’m glad. Hell yeah. I’m glad.
This guy who I now know as Drew moves into Hunter’s personal space, his mid-chest bumping into Hunter’s nose. I know nothing about football, but I guess old Drew here works the defensive line.What a damn dinosaur!
“Drew, I won’t tell you again. Fuck off. She’s Cash’s step-sister, okay. Paw the fuck off before I make you out to be a puck and I slapshot.”
Miraculously, the brute holds up his big bear mitts, shrugs his shoulders, and stumbles away. This Drew dude is double Hunter’s size, but he cowers to Hunter.Wow.
