Crossing the Line (2 page)

“What if he was lying? He could be sending us to one of his family member’s houses. Maybe they’re all like those creeps in the
Wrong Turn
movies. They’ll cut off our tits and rape us before they eat us.”

“I told you those movies were bad for you. That shit gets in your brain and you start rambling like a retard. There are no crazed inbreds out here. We’re in California, not Virginia. The worst that we might encounter is a has been star that’s been growing coke plants or something. And even that’s far-fetched, they all move to Florida to do that shit.”

“You’re not funny.”

“Yes, I am. I’m fucking hilarious.”

Ivy glanced over at her snidely and almost missed the narrow driveway on her right. A couple hundred yards u
p the road came to an abrupt turn
and the forest took over. Ivy slammed her brakes and managed to just barely navigate onto the deeply rutted dirt driveway.

“I swear to God if someone comes running out of the forest wearing a skin mask and carrying a chainsaw I’m going to run his ass over.”

“Again we’re in California, not Texas.”

“I don’t give a fuck where we are, I’m not going to get dead by some psycho killer on spring break.”

“I’ll give you that it sounds like a really shitty way to spend our brief freedom being sliced up by a psychopath, but this isn’t a movie. We’re going to get to the house, it’s going to be beautiful and we’re going to have a great time getting shit faced and acting like we don’t have any finals to study for.”

They came to a fork in the road and after a moment decided to take the path to the right. After driving around a thicket of trees the road came back together. They drove for nearly three quarters of a mile before the house came into view. The forest had been driven back to give the three story lake house a yard. The house was immense, more like a mansion. It was no wonder that it carried such a heavy price tag.

There were eight trees in the yard, planted purposely so that hammocks could be hung from them. A small koi pond sat within throwing distance to the hammock utopia. There was a gazebo built a few yards away from the lake, about thirty yards away from the dock. An old rowboat and two kayaks were up on a rack to the left of the short dock.

“Wow, this place looks like
a summer camp for millionaires,” Lynne smiled.

“Let’s hope no kid drowned in the lake twenty years ago,” Ivy commented.

“Okay, seriously, Ivy, no more horror movies for you. You’re starting to piss me off.”

Ivy pulled her Sebring convertible next to Tracy’s Mini Cooper and turned off the engine. She climbed out and let out an enormous sigh of relief. Lights came on over the front door and a moment later Tracy was bouncing down off of the deck to greet her friends.

The moment she was close enough that her eyes were visible Ivy slugged her playfully in the shoulder. “I can’t believe you’re smoking when I’m lost in the middle of the goddamn mountains.”

“You weren’t lost, just slightly misguided. Let me guess, you tried to follow directions on
your GPS,” Tracy said.

“What else was I going to use? This place isn’t on any map printed in the last fifty years.”

“Well, there was the brochure with the map inside it.”

“What fucking brochure?”

“My bad,” Lynne said. She produced the brochure from her purse and handed it over to Ivy. If looks could kill she would have exploded beneath Ivy’s glare.
“I didn’t look at it. I had no idea there was a map.”

“Ignorance is not a defense,” Ivy said.

Tracy, sensing the coming argument, stepped in. “It doesn’t matter. You made it and we’re free of obligations. That means a week of sunning, smoking and drinking. When all else fails get fucked up and forget everything.”

Ivy’s tension depleted almost instantly. She handed the brochure back to Lynne and offered the best smile she could muster. “I’ll forgive and forget on one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“You mix me all of my drinks tonight.”

“You’re going to use me as your personal bartender?” Lynne frowned, but it was mostly for show. She definitely didn’t want to spend her spring break arguing with one of her best friends.

“Be grateful that I’m not demanding blow jobs.”

“And now we’re all aware of Ivy’s penis,” Tracy laughed. “I knew this vacation would be a learning experience.”

All three of them laughed as they took the bags out of the trunk of the car. They made their way to the house. Once inside Ivy and Lynne looked around in genuine shock. The house was not only b
reath taking outside. The great
room spanned the entire length of the house. The vaulted ceiling held three crystal chandeliers that cast warm pools of light on the expensive designer furniture. There was a fireplace surrounded by a sectional sofa and two lounge chairs. Against the back of the sectional there was another sofa with a matching loveseat that faced a large flat screen television. Faux fur rugs were stretched across the hardwood floors, giving the room a rustic appearance. A bar fully stocked with liquor adorned the wall opposite the door. There were eight barstools, a
large jukebox and a pool table in this area of the great room. Several neon signs displaying the names of different beers and liquors hung on the walls beside the liquor shelves.

A spiral staircase led up to the second floor landing. Anna stood looking down at her friends from a perch at the top of the stairs. She grinned and waved her free hand. A bottle of wine occupied her other hand. She raised the bottle in a salute after deciding a simple wave was not enough of a welcome.

“I hope you chicks are ready to get trashed!” she called down. “By the way I totally claimed the room over there. There’s a bad ass bath tub in the bathroom connected to it. You guys have got to check it out.”

“This place is amazing!” Ivy gushed.

“You don’t know the half of it, babe,” Tracy said. “There’s a hot tub on the back deck and the lake is really clean. Anna swam in it a couple of times today and there aren’t any creepy crawlies in it.”

“Fuck Cancun we’re coming back here every year,” Lynne said. “Who needs a bunch of oiled up guys checking us out when we can have this kind of fun and privacy?”

“Don’t knock on oiled up guys. I could use a little dick,” Ivy said.

“There’s plenty of dick to be had back at school. Out here it’s just us girls and that’s the way it should be.”

Ivy giggled and walked over to the bar. She sat down on one of the stools and looked at Lynne. When her friend didn’t pay immediate attention to her she cleared her throat. “After all that driving a seven and seven sounds pretty damn good.”

“Coming right up,” Lynne said.
She bounced around the bar and
set a pair of glasses up on the lacquered counter top. “How strong do you want it?”

“I want to get black out drunk tonight. Hit me with a sixty-five percent Seagram’s Seven. No ice.”

“Sounds like a strong drink,” Lynne said. “But your wish is my command. Just don’t bitch if you pass out before the actual party starts.”

“Have you never witnessed my drinking abilities? It’s going to take a hell of a lot more than a single drink to get me drunk,. I’m counting on you to get me completely loaded. Don’t let me down, Lynne.”

“I won’t. You’re far less bitchy when you’re drunk.”

“Not drunk, completely shitfaced.”

“I’m going to start preparing supper. Anyone want to help me out?” Tracy asked.

“Sure, I’ll be down in a second,” Anna said.

3

The intoxicating aroma of freshly grilled veggie burgers and vegan hotdogs flooded off of the deck. Anna expertly flipped the faux meat before using tongs to push around the corn on the cob wrapped in tin foil. Tracy was busying herself preparing a homemade potato salad and coleslaw to go with the meal.

Lynne and Ivy had patched up their argument completely. They sat at a picnic table that could have come out of a park. Each had consumed three glasses of seven and seven before downgrading to hard lemonades.
Their buzzes were heavy, but they were not completely sloshed.

Anna pulled her cell phone from her pocket and checked the time. “It’s getting pretty late. I hope the others didn’t get too lost.”

“Well if their navigator managed to open the brochure and see the map it seems pretty straight forward. They probably just stopped somewhere for some party supplies. You know you can’t keep Chandra and Gabby out of the Red Bulls,” Ivy said.

Lynne flipped her friend off for the brochure comment but voiced an agreement to her assessment of where the others might be. Tracy said nothing
. S
he seemed completely transfixed on the preparation of her salads. The high grade marijuana that she had smoked j
ust before starting the dish
was taking full effect on her mind.

“Well they had better get here soon if they’re going to want dinner. I’m not going to make any promises that there’ll be left overs,” Anna said.

“What are we going to do tonight after we eat?” Lynne asked.

“Get a few more drinks, smoke some ganja and watch some hardcore porn,” Tracy chimed in. “We selected several with storylines that sounded hilarious. Not to mention that none of us are going to see any penises until we get back to campus.”

“You’re a horny little thing, aren’t you?” Ivy laughed. “But it might be fun to watch porn with you guys. We can sit there and do commentary. Maybe even turn off the volume and do some voice-overs. ‘Ma’am your copy machine seems to be out of order. Perhaps if I butt fuck you on the
paper tray I’ll be able to diagnose the problem.’”

“What the hell kind of ’80’s porn have you been watching? I don’t even think they have dialogue in porn anymore, with the exception of the ‘fuck me harder’, ‘suck my cock’ and ‘oh my God, I’m coming’,” Anna laughed.

“Well, as long as the guys have big dicks and the chicks don’t look like me i
t’ll still be fun to watch them,
”
Lynne laughed.

The
y
continued with the small talk for a few more minutes before a loud, piercing scream erupted from the other side of the house. Their good humor was instantly forgotten as a chill ran up each of their spines.

Without a word they all dashed through the open sliding glass door and through the house. Once they reached the front porch their terror quickly turned to anger. Standing at the foot of the stairs was Chandra with a huge grin on her face.

Chandra was slightly overweight, but she wore it well. Her
Portuguese heritage had given her dark hair and eyes, but she had nearly as pale a complexion as Anna. Chandra’s sense of humor often bordered insane. It was obvious she had thought it would be funny to make her friends collectively shit their pants.

“You bitch,” Lynne growled.

“I’m sorry, guys, it was Chandra’s idea. I told her it would piss you off,” Gabby said. She came out from behind the large SUV parked behind Ivy’s car. Of the group she was the smallest. At only four-eleven she weighed less than ninety pounds. Her blonde hair was done up in tight dreadlocks and tattoos covered almost every inch of visible flesh on her body. Despite her small stature she was working at lugging a back pack on either shoulder and a large suitcase.

Anna rushed down to help her friend. She took the suitcase from
Gabby and smiled when Marcy came into view. “It wasn’t my idea, either, but I gotta admit that it was pretty funny.”

“Funny? I nearly had a heart attack!” Ivy said.

“Don’t be a drama queen, Saint Ives
,” Chandra said. She clapped Ivy on the ass as she looked up at the house. “This place is amazing!”

“It was more amazing before it stank like shit. You really shouldn’t have screamed like that,” Tracy said. “I crapped right in the center of the living room.”

“Yeah, but the two aren’t related,” Anna laughed.

Marcy let out a laugh of her own and Anna had to suppress an outward shiver. Marcy was an adorable Jewish girl from Boston, but her laugh made her sound like a jackal. She was the tallest of the group. She was built like a runway model, slim to the point of having no curves. Her breasts were smaller than an a-cup and her hips were so narrow that she had to have her pants tailor made to accommodate her long legs.

Ivy and Tracy made their way down to help unload the remaining luggage from the vehicle. “I’m going to go make sure nothing burns,” Lynne said. She disappeared into the house.

In the back of the SUV were several suitcases and three laptop cases sitting atop what appeared to be the absolute motherload of all party supplies. There were three full boxes of liquor and four cases of variety packs of flavored beer. After the bags and liquor had been removed Chandra opened the compartment revealing the spare tire and produced a freezer bag full of marijuana.

“Holy crap, Chandra, how high do you plan to get up here?” Tracy asked.

“Let me introduce you to the absolute cream of the crop. You know Thad, right? He’s been growing this shit in his lab for months. It’s hydro and hybrid. One hitter quitter shit and he literally gave me a quarter pound of it.”