Hometown Girls: Beginnings (Hometown Girls Series Book 1) (8 page)

For the next week whenever Katie saw Marissa Lou she’d give her a friendly smile or wave to her. At first Marissa Lou was hesitant, even put off, but after a few times she began to wave back with a playful eye roll. The first time it happened, Katie had to hold herself back from running up to her and giving her a hug. Instead she silently relished in the small victories.

By the following Friday, Katie’s confidence was sky high. So much in fact, after they won their game against one of Pamlico High School’s biggest rivals, West Craven, Katie excitedly rushed up to Marissa Lou like old times.

“I can’t believe they won,” Katie said jumping up and down.

“Did you really have any doubts with us keeping them going?” Marissa Lou said brushing her shoulders off proudly. “We are the backbone of the team after all.”

“Be as that may, I still almost pee’d my pants. It was too freaking close.” Both girls laughed at that, then Katie said, “Hey, I heard there is going to be a party at the Lower Bluffs to celebrate the win. I guess people were confident it would happen.”

“Yeah, I heard something about it,” Marissa Lou said sounding uncomfortable and shifting her feet.

“Oh, are you going to go?” Katie asked hopeful.

“I, umm, I don’t know,” Marissa Lou stuttered awkwardly. Normally she would be the first to agree, but nothing was normal any more.

“Please, you have to come,” Katie said and quickly grabbed both of Marissa Lou’s hands and squeezed to make sure she knew she was serious.

“I don’t know. It might be awkward. Don’t you think?”

Katie looked at her confused. “I don’t see why it should be. I can call Jess and Becca, so they’ll be there too. It’ll be like old times.”

“Hardly,” Marissa Lou said softly to herself, but Katie heard her. She looked around the field at all the smiling faces before turning back to Katie.

Katie pleaded for her to say ‘yes’ with her big blue eyes.

She said after a long pause, “Fine, I’ll go.”

“Yay!” Katie squealed and wrapped her arms around Marissa Lou and hugged her tight.

By the time Marissa Lou got to the party it was well under way. Everywhere she looked in the open space were kids from school, sipping from red plastic cups or dancing on the sandy beach to a song by Hank Williams Jr. that was blaring from a portable radio. It was something she’d done and taken a part of many times before. She lived for nights like these, but tonight she felt self-conscious. She was used to being the center of attention, and half the time she didn’t even notice it, but the reasons for this attention was different. It was of scandal. And the reason for the scandal was just a few yards away huddled together by the bonfire.

Marissa Lou watched as someone whispered something to Daniel and Katie, and from their immediate look in her direction she knew what was said. There was no doubt it was about her. When Marissa Lou and Katie locked eyes, Katie instantly dropped Daniel’s hand and quickly jumped to her feet with a look of both shock and excitement on her face. Marissa Lou deflated and looked away with an eye roll.

“Here we go,” Marissa Lou mumbled.

She turned back and forced a weak smile at Katie, who was making her way to her with Jess and Becca on her heels. When the girls reached her they each gave her a hug, which actually made her feel pretty good. But it didn’t compare to the look on Daniel’s face when he saw Randy standing beside Marissa Lou with his long arm draped over her shoulder. That look; a look of anger, jealousy and even a little envy; would be what would get her through the night.

“I’m so glad you came,” Jess said to her.

“Me too. Longest two weeks of my life. I’ve missed my partner in crime,” Becca said bumping Marissa Lou’s shoulder.

Marissa Lou sheepishly looked up under long dark lashes at Katie. No explanation was necessary. They all knew what happened to cause the rift, even though it was Marissa Lou’s choice to stay away.

“Maris, can I speak to you for a minute?” Becca asked Marissa Lou after a long awkward silence. Marissa Lou turned to her in time to see her stealing uncomfortable glances at Randy. “In private please.”

“Surreee,” Marissa Lou drew out, looking between Becca and Randy, who in turn appeared unimpressed by the looks or the on-coming secret conversation. Instead he rolled his eyes and dropped his arm from her shoulder.

Becca grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the group.

“So, is this a thing?” she asked once they were far enough away from prying ears.

“Is what a thing?” Marissa Lou asked confused.

“You and Randy Farris. What’s going on there?”

Marissa Lou turned around to look at Randy. She felt bad for him when she noticed him looking so uncomfortable standing there, practically alone with Katie and Jess a few feet away and their backs to him. It was obvious he felt very out of place amongst the cliché of kitschy teens because though he liked to party, he did not mingle with the types of kids she hung out with.

“Yeah, I guess it is,” she said smiling at him and without saying another word she walked back to Randy, grabbed his hand, and walked him away, leaving Becca staring after her with her mouth wide open in disbelief.

“Where you taking me, girl?” Randy asked her.

“Away. Is that okay with you?”

He looked up and down the growingly quiet beach where she was leading them then looked down at her and smiled. “Yeah, away is good with me.”

As they were walking, he reached into his back pocket with his free hand and pulled out a silver metal object. Marissa Lou stared at it curiously when he put it to his lips, only making out some of the shape by the moon light.

“Whatcha got there?” she asked.

“Here, have some,” he said handing it to her.

She sniffed the opening on top and wrinkled her nose. “What is it?”

“My good friend Jim. Now say ‘hi’ and drink up.”

Hating the smell, she pinched her nose and tipped the flask back, not expecting so much to come out of the little hole all at once. She immediately handed it back to him and fanned herself vigorously, hoping to put out the fire in her throat, which was quickly creeping down into her chest.

“Holy crap that burned!”

Randy burst out laughing and swung her around to face him. Without giving her a chance to let her alcohol fueled dizziness subside, he crushed his lips to hers. He proceeded to grab at places he had been thinking about for a week.

“Hey, hey, slow down mister,” she said giggling.

“Shh…” he replied. “Have some more Jim.”

She took the flask from him and tipped it back. It didn’t burn as bad as it did before. As a matter of fact it felt pretty good. With every sip the images of Daniel’s disapproving face faded from her mind, along with the judging stares from her three best friends. All that remained was Randy in the moonlight on the sandy beach and a fog clouding her intoxicated brain. With her inhibitions out the window, she allowed Randy to do whatever he wanted to her.

After what seemed like hours, they were walking back to the party, hand in hand and laughing all the way.

Once back in the inner circle, Marissa Lou grabbed a cup from a girl who happened to be walking close by and handed it to Randy as a way to make amends for drinking all his Jim, who in turn tipped the cup back and drank what was left of the girl’s frothy beer.

“Oh my god, I love this song,” she squealed and began to dance right where she was. “Randy, dance with me,” she whined in a pouty, sexy tone and he did. She didn’t notice, or care, about all the eyes watching her public display as she latched her arms around Randy’s neck and swayed slow and close to him. “Come on y’all. It’s a party. We kicked West Craven’s butt, celebrate, dance already,” she called over Randy’s shoulder to the kids around them, and they did. Before long half the beach was covered in grooving people.

“Hey girl, whatcha doin over here?” Becca asked Marissa Lou, feeling the need to come to her friends rescue.

“Becca!” she said happily and unlatched her arms from around Randy’s neck and attached them to Becca. “Where ya been? I’ve missed you!”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yep.” She began to sway again to the music.

“Looked to me that you were doing just fine without me.”

“Oh, I am fine. Did you see me out here? I was dancing away.”

“You call that dancing? Please. Y’all looked like you needed to get a room or something.”

Marissa Lou shook her head back and forth. “We already did that,” she whispered and put a finger over her lips and shushed her, as if anyone in their proximity couldn’t already hear her.

“Girl, you’re too much,” Becca said laughing, although she was slightly concerned for her.

“I know. That’s why you love me, right?”

“Right’o you are about that.”

“Hey, I love you too,” Jess said, standing beside them with her arms crossed over her chest with a look of discontent on her face.

“We love you too, Saint Jessica,” Becca said bringing her into their circle to make it a three way dance.

“Well, now I’m feeling left out.”

All three girls turned to see Katie standing beside them.

“Any room for me?”

Becca and Jess froze at the question and turned to look at Marissa Lou to see her reaction. When Marissa Lou smiled and opened a space for her, the girls thawed and let out their held breath.

The four girls laughed and danced while Randy and Daniel looked on; each boy staying in their own separate spaces. Randy watched Marissa Lou’s lean body as she swayed to the music, while Daniel glared at Randy. His anger growing by the minute, but Marissa Lou wasn’t his anymore. He was with Katie now and Marissa Lou made it clear she didn’t need him to rescue her. Not from Randy and definitely not from herself. It wasn’t his nature to stand back and not protect the people he cared about, but it was something he would have to learn to get used to.

As the weeks went by everything went back to normal, well as normal as it could be. Marissa Lou and Katie managed to regain a good portion of their damaged relationship, which made Jess and Becca happy, but it wasn’t like it once was.

Katie kept her relationship with Daniel completely separate from her friendship with Marissa Lou, not once bringing his name up when the girls were together. In order for the love birds to see each other outside of work and school, they set aside one day a week to dedicate to just them. Katie had feared that the separation would be too much of a strain on their relationship, but it wasn’t.

Daniel didn’t really mind since his plate was already full with everything else going on in his own life. Plus he was happy that the girls were able to make up and was willing to do whatever he could to make it easy on them. Despite it all, Daniel and Katie’s romance was growing stronger by the day, but so was Marissa Lou and Randy’s.

Their relationship was different from Katie and Daniel’s by leaps and bounds. Theirs wasn’t centered around falling in love or thinking about the future. Instead it was pleasurable in every sense of the word. Marissa Lou had fun with Randy and that made her happy. So much so, she felt a tinge of depression, almost to the point of withdrawal, whenever they were apart. It was to the point that her normal bubbly witty personally took on a new role in his absence. One of quiet and glum.

The separation of love and friendship was going well with the group until Katie’s eighteenth birthday neared in late fall. All she wanted for her special day was to have dinner with the people that meant the most to her. When Marissa Lou was approached about the idea she gave a very convincing acceptance even though her mind was screaming, “Are you freaking crazy? There’s no way in hell I’m going on a group date with y’all.” Unfortunately she didn’t listen to her inner self.

As the day of the dinner wore on, Marissa Lou’s nerves began to unravel. She paced around her room, mindlessly toying with random things, too anxious to sit down or relax. She felt like she had been doing a good job keeping up appearances and concealing her feelings and thoughts within herself, thanks to an almost daily concoction of alcohol and marijuana. It was going to be the first time she’d be around Katie and Daniel together in a personal setting, on Katie’s birthday of all days. There was no way she could expect them to not play the part of a couple and that wasn’t something she was prepared for.

She didn’t mention to Katie that she took it upon herself to invite Randy to the dinner for moral support. She didn’t really think Katie would mind, but from the dagger throwing glares Daniel always seemed to throw his way whenever they were in proximity of each other, she knew he’d be less than thrilled to have to sit at the same table as him for an extended period of time.

“He’ll just have to get over it,” Marissa Lou said to herself and plopped down on her bed and rested her elbows on her knees and put her face in her hands.

By the time Randy got to Marissa Lou’s house at six-thirty, she felt like she was going to come out of her skin. She looked gorgeous, despite it, in a dark floral dress with quarter inch sleeves, a plunging neckline that showed off the top of her lacy bra and a hem line that required her to bend over very carefully. She polished it off with a pair of knee length boots. It may have been slightly too much, or too little as the case may be, for the semi chilly fall evening, but she didn’t care. She looked perfectly put together, mostly just for show; her sleek blonde hair hung long and straight down her back and her make-up was applied with expert care. But the restlessness of her body trumped it all.

Randy knocked lightly on the front door and before he knew it Marissa Lou was throwing the door open, grabbing his hand and silently pulling him toward his truck without even a “hello”.

“Well hello to you too,” he finally said when she dropped his hand to climb in the truck.

She only rolled her eyes at him.

“Hey,” he said reaching in and grabbing her arm a little harder then she would have expected. “What’s your problem?”

“Nothing,” she said looking at him stunned, but obviously there was something wrong. “Just get in before we’re late.”

He let her arm fall and walked around the truck to the driver side. The whole way to the restaurant they were both quiet, although Marissa Lou’s nerves were screaming louder than her voice ever could.

Sitting in front of Gary’s Restaurant, only a couple miles from her house, neither of them budged to get out of the truck. They just sat there, staring out the front windshield. It didn’t appear that anyone was there yet and Marissa Lou was thankful for that.

“You ready to tell me what your problem is?” Randy finally asked with annoyance in his voice.

Marissa Lou took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “It’s this dinner,” she whispered, still avoiding eye contact with him.

He looked between her and the restaurant. “If you didn’t want to come, then why are we here? I’d rather walk down death row myself.”

“I wanted to come,” she said quickly and turned to face him. “Katie is my best friend and obviously this is important to her. I just didn’t realize how hard it’d be,” she said with a weak smile, fighting back tears as the words came out.

“Some friend. There’s no way I’d be here if I were you.”

“I know, but we’re trying.”

“Hey, whatever. It’s your problem if you want to be around people who don’t give a shit about you,” he said, then contemplated for a moment before he did something that shocked her. He started up the truck and pulled out of the parking spot.

“What are you doing?” she asked looking around wildly.

“Just trust me,” he said with a mischievous smile. “Unlike your so called friends, I know what will make you feel better.”

“But—”

“Dang, girl, I’ll have you back to the restaurant in time, but a little less crazy.”

She sat back in her seat, her nerves idling down the further away from her nightmare they got, but when they pulled up to an old, beat up single wide trailer her anxiety began to come back.

“Where are we?” she asked looking around.

“My buddy Ian lives here. He’ll hook us up.”

Marissa Lou wasn’t really sure she knew what he was talking about, but she got out the truck and followed him to the front steps anyway.

When the door opened, a tall, heavy set guy stood in front of them. He gave Randy the once over with a scowl and his furry face seemed even more hard and menacing as he looked Marissa Lou up and down, but when he looked back at Randy his total demeanor seemed to change. He smiled wide, showing a row of crooked teeth, and clasped his massive hand in Randy’s.

“Hey, Dogg, where ya been?” the guy asked him.

“Ah, you know, doin’ my thang with my gurl.”

“Cool, cool. Come on in. You’re just in time,” he said opening the door wider for them to enter and closing it as soon as they did. Without a word, Randy and Ian left Marissa Lou, chatting as they disappeared down a dark hallway.

Marissa Lou stood where she came in, in the open doorway watching the guys go before looking around the compact space. It was pretty dark with only a table lamp and television on to light the room. It was clear no parent lived there, even though Ian looked to be close to her age, because everywhere she looked she saw things typical of a sloppy bachelor pad with dirty dishes and clothing scattered throughout the room. She knew for a fact that her mom wouldn’t stand for that mess.

She jerked her head around when she heard voices just in time to see Randy and Ian walking through the hallway toward her.

“Hey, doll, you’ll have to excuse this loser’s manners, I’m Ian, the Big Dogg around here.”

She felt pretty uncomfortable when she first got there because Ian looked so mad, but now, it didn’t seem so bad. Sure Ian looked scary when she initially saw him, but now he just looked like a big, goofy teddy bear.

“Hey, Ian, I’m Marissa Lou, but you can call me M-Dogg.”

The three of them burst out in laughter.

“Cool, cool,” he said in response.

“Dogg.  The big one,” Randy said with an amused smile at Marissa Lou.

She rolled her eyes at him and he turned back to Ian.

“We gonna do this or what? We don’t have a lot of time.”

Ian gave him a knowing nod of the head while Marissa Lou stared at Randy curiously.

Without a word, like Ian and Randy had a mental telepathic conversation or something that Marissa Lou wasn’t privy to, Ian left her side and walked into the living room. She watched him as he sat on the couch and with one swipe of his big hand pushed the clutter away, leaving the only clean spot on the coffee table.

Yeah, my mom would be really pissed about that,
Marissa Lou thought to herself.

“Come on,” Randy said to her and sat on the couch beside Ian.

They were acting strange and it had Marissa Lou feeling nervous again, but she followed Randy to the couch anyway.

Ian took a little plastic bag, about the size of a quarter, from his shirt pocket and gently poured some of the content on the table’s surface. He used a Blockbuster video card laying on the coffee table to dice and separate a few lines into neat rows. He then rolled up a dollar bill that was lying on the table and proceeded to snort one of the lines. Marissa Lou watched him in horror and curiosity. She’d never seen anyone do cocaine before, other than on TV. She was naive enough to think that people around the county didn’t do stuff like that. Not people their age anyway. Hard drugs were something she never thought she’d ever do, but watching Ian made her feel curious. When he handed the rolled bill to Randy, Marissa Lou’s eyes got huge.

“What are you doing?” she asked him and instinctively grabbed his arm.

He laughed and shook off her hand. “It’s all right, girl.”

He bent to snort a line and she quickly looked away, not wanting to witness this travesty. She felt him tapping on her arm so she turned to see what he wanted only to find him holding the rolled bill out to her.

“Umm, no thanks.”

“Come on, babe, for me?” he said looking at her offended.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t do drugs.”

“You said that about pot too and now look at you. You always seem to enjoy that when you do it. There’s always a first time for everything. You can’t knock it until you try it.”

“But I have to meet my friends,” she said as if it were obvious.

He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer to him, then whispered in her ear, “That is exactly why I brought you here. You were so stressed out about seeing your friends and it made me feel bad for you. This will make you feel better. Hey, and if you don’t like it that’ll be okay. I won’t ask you to do it again.”

She silently considered it for a moment. “Are you sure?”

“I’m positive,” he said smiling and holding the rolled bill out to her again.

She took the bill and with shaky hands, closed one side of her nose like she saw Ian do and put the roll up to the other side and sucked in the entire line. She immediately dropped the bill to hold her burning nose.

“Is it supposed to burn?”

“Yeah, at first, but it doesn’t last long,” Randy said reassuring her. “Here, have another. It’ll feel better this time.”

She did what he said, trusting he knew what he was talking about, and snorted another line. She was slightly skeptical at first, but he was right. It didn’t burn as bad and quickly she was beginning to feel the effects. She felt exuberated and sexy, like she could take on the world.

“So, like, love is crazy, right? Everyone wants to love, but no one knows how to. Oh, except for me. I definitely know how to,” Marissa Lou rambled on a few minutes later, in a serious tone.  “Isn’t that right R-Dogg.”

Randy and Ian looked at each other and laughed.

“M-Dogg, you may be tore up, but you are right,” Ian said still laughing.

Randy finished his beer and grabbed her hand. “All right, Professor Aphrodite, we gotta go if we’re going to make that dinner before it’s over.”

“Oh shoot, Katie’s dinner.”

Marissa Lou put down her bottle of beer and stood up quickly and before Randy could say anything else, she grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the trailer and into his truck.

Sliding to the passenger side she turned to him with a serious look on her face and said, “Do you think they’ll be mad?”

“For what?”

“For being late.”

“Shh, don’t think about that, you’ll ruin your buzz. You’ll be fine. Just relax. I’ll make an excuse for us.”

“‘Kay,” she said smiling then turned to him again with another serious look. “Do you think they’ll know what we were doing tonight?”

“Nah, we’ll keep it as our little secret.”

“‘Kay,” she said smiling again.

The restaurant wasn’t very far away, but by the time they got there, the group already had their food.

“Hey y’all, sorry we’re late,” Marissa Lou said when she reached the table. The group looked up at the sound of her voice and stared between her and Randy.