Hometown Girls: Beginnings (Hometown Girls Series Book 1) (9 page)

“Oh, Maris, you made it,” Katie said standing and giving her a hug.

“I know, umm,” Marissa Lou began before Randy cut her off.

“It was my fault. I wanted her alone for a few minutes before coming here. I couldn’t help myself. You know how it is,” Randy continued for her then looked at Daniel with a victorious grin and a wink.

“Unbelievable,” Daniel said with an annoyed chuckle and turned his back to the couple.

“Here, have a seat,” Becca said to them patting the chair beside her, and thankfully at the opposite end of the table from Katie and Daniel.

“Shoot, y’all are already eating,” Marissa Lou said with a pout.

“Oh, we weren’t sure you were coming,” Katie said apologetically.

“That’s okay, I’m not really that hungry. Are you?” Marissa Lou asked Randy.

“Nope, I’m good,” Randy said picking up a hush puppy and taking a bite. “I could use a drink though.” He waved down the waitress and ordered them both a sweet tea before devouring another hush puppy.

“I’m really glad you could all come,” Katie said with lingering glances at Daniel and Marissa Lou.

“Here, here,” Becca said holding up her glass. “Let’s toast.”

“What should we toast to?” Jess asked curiously. She was smiling so wide you’d think it were her birthday.

“To friends,” Marissa Lou answered and held her glass high then looked at the others, waiting for more.

“To good food,” Becca followed.

“To Katie,” Jess said smiling affectionately at her friend.

“To the future and whatever may come of it,” Daniel said looking up at Marissa Lou then quickly turned to look at Katie. It was a look Randy didn’t miss.

“To great sex,” Randy retorted.

“Man, what the hell is your problem?” Daniel said glaring at Randy.

“What?” he asked innocently.

“Have some respect, will ya?”

“To us all,” Katie said feeling the need to stop the boy’s pissing contest. “I ahh, really wanted you all here to celebrate this day with me because I love you all so much,” she continued, pausing briefly to look each person in attendance in the eye, except for Randy. “We knew at the start of the school year that things were going to change. We are seniors and some of us will be going away to college or starting whatever job we intend to do. But I don’t think any of us could have foreseen all the other changes that have taken place so far. Things that have unintentionally taken us all in different directions. It really makes me sad when I allow myself to think about it because we were all so close for so long.” Katie paused to dry her eyes.

Daniel rubbed her back while the others just stared at her in silence because they all knew what she was talking about and she was right. It wasn’t just Katie and Daniel’s fault, nor was it Marissa Lou’s fault. Each one of them was responsible for the demise of a friendship they once thought was impenetrable.

“It was bound to happen,” Marissa Lou whispered, her happy buzz fading to sadness.

“But why?” Katie pleaded.

“You know why,” she said staring between Katie and Daniel, shocked that she even had to say it.

“Maris, it happened. Neither of us asked for it and neither of us wanted to hurt you. But you dumped me and refused to talk to me after telling us you wanted me and Katie to be together. What were we supposed to do?”

Marissa Lou stared at him, her eyes filling with tears.

“Stop it!” Becca jumped up from her chair and demanded before Marissa Lou could respond. “This is such bs! Jess and I have been sitting in the middle of all this, keeping our opinions to ourselves while y’all figured out your crap, but we’re tired of it. We’ve had enough, so get over your issues or leave the group. Whichever you decide to do, we will still love you,” Becca said pointing to Jess and herself. “But don’t get all pissy when one of us wants to hang out with one of you and not the other. And stop acting like all this new stuff in your lives isn’t happening. Katie and Daniel, y’all are together so act like it. Marissa Lou, girl I love you, but you have to let it go. She can’t keep hiding their relationship from you. Randy, keep your disgusting comments to yourself. And Daniel, get over her being with Randy.”

“I don’t care who she’s with!” Daniel snapped.

“Yes you do. We all see it, so get over it. You don’t like him, fine, but keep it to yourself.” With that Becca sat down, crossed her arms over her chest and dared anyone to say anything different.

They all expected Marissa Lou’s head to explode, but instead she said, “She’s right. Right here, right now, it’s done. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” the other girls said in unison.

It wasn’t missed on anyone that the guys in the group didn’t respond. The girls stared at them, watching them stare at each other defiantly.

Neither of them wanted to be the first to give in, but after a while Daniel decided to be the bigger man, although it was always possible that Katie kicked him under the table. “Fine, agreed,” he said crossing his arms over his chest and continuing to stare at Randy.

“Oh, was I supposed to agree too?”

“Yes, Randy. I know you are new to the group and don’t have much invested here, but if you are going to be with her,” Daniel said prying his lethal stare off Randy to look at Marissa Lou and continued without looking away, “you have to agree too.”

“Fine, whatever. I guess I agree too then.”

After the birthday from hell, Katie slowly started to introduce Daniel’s name into conversations and she even stopped pulling away from him when Marissa Lou was around. Little by little he stopped being the weight over them that could break up the group. Marissa Lou even agreed to a double date when major events like when the county fair or concerts came to town. It was shocking for Marissa Lou to see them together at first, but it became just another thing after a while.

Marissa Lou stayed wasted most of the time anyway, choosing being numb with the help of a variety of narcotics; alcohol, marijuana or pills, and something a little extra on really stressful times. Randy didn’t mind supplying her with whatever she wanted because a wasted Marissa Lou was a fun Marissa Lou, and a fun Marissa Lou let him do whatever he wanted to her. It was a win win for them both.

It got worse during their Christmas break from school. Marissa Lou stayed glued to Randy’s side more often than before, instead of hanging out with her friends. When they got back to school a few weeks later, Marissa Lou was almost unrecognizable to those who knew her best. She looked like she had lost some weight and her skin was pale, almost hollow, with dark rings under her red eyes like she hadn’t slept during the whole break. Even her hair, that used to be one of envy, seemed to have lost its shiny luster.

“My god,” Becca said to her when she met Marissa Lou in the hallway by her locker.

Marissa Lou turned and seemed as if she was looking through Becca.

“Maris, are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’m great,” Marissa Lou said quietly. “How was your break?”

“It was good. You, on the other hand, look like you haven’t slept a wink. Have you been sleeping?”

Marissa Lou thought about it for a moment. “I’m not sure. I guess I did some.”

“Maris, you really look bad. I’m really beginning to worry about you. Maybe you should go back home and get some rest.”

“I’m fine, Bec, but maybe you’re right. I do feel a little tired,” Marissa Lou said and yawned as if on cue.

“Do you need me to drive you?”

“No, I can drive,” she said waving her off. She closed her locker and turned to leave, but then stopped and turned back around to face Becca. “Becca, can you not tell anyone you saw me like this? I don’t want anyone worrying about me.”

Becca didn’t answer right away. “I guess so, but it’s too late about the worrying part because I’m pretty concerned.”

Marissa Lou waved the comment off again. “Don’t be. You’ll see. Tomorrow I’ll be back to my old self.” She then turned around and slightly staggered as she walked through the hallway toward the exit.

“I hope so,” Becca mumbled as she watched her leave.

By the time prom rolled around in late May, everyone had gotten back to normal. That is, everyone but Marissa Lou. After the return from Christmas break incident she worked harder to cover her tracks. On the outside she seemed like her usual self, but on the inside she was suffering, but she opted to suffer in silence rather than burden her friends with her problems.

On prom night, Randy met Marissa Lou at her house. She made her grand entrance when he first got there and made a production of showing off her dress. She looked like the bride in the Guns N’ Roses video
November Rain
with a tight white sleeveless bodice top which met what looked like a taffeta tutu flaring out around her thigh.

She matched it with sleek heels and an up do. She decided to keep her neck and shoulders bare of any jewelry and wore a lone pair of dangling diamond earrings. She was perfect, and to her, so was Randy. He wore a black pinstriped suit with a black t-shirt underneath the jacket rather than a white button up like most guys would wear.

Her mom gloated and took pictures of them, but when that was done, the couple retreated to her bedroom to wait for the limo the group of friends insisted on renting together.

“I got a little something something,” Randy said sitting down on her bed.

“Oh yeah?” she asked raising an eyebrow.

He leaned forward and took something out of his back pocket. Marissa Lou leaned over and craned her neck to see what he was concealing.

“Pick a hand,” he said smiling, but looking serious.

“What?”

“Pick a hand. Left or right?”

She studied his face, looking for a clue as to which hand to choose. “Hmm, how about right?”

He smiled wider and brought his right hand in front of him and opened it palm up. Sitting there was a little brown vile. Just staring at it made her nose run and her heart speed up.

“Oh,” she gasped.

“You wanna?” he asked her, like he didn’t already know the answer.

She hurried to lock her bedroom door and grabbed her hand mirror off her vanity and gave it to him. She was still too new with cocaine to know how to cut it properly so she let him do the honor.

She watched as he poured a little out on the mirror and diced it back and forth with his driver’s license before making four perfect lines.

“You got a bill?”

She nodded her head and hurried to her wallet and retrieved a crisp five dollar bill and handed it to him. She began pacing through the room as she awaited her turn and periodically glanced out the window, paranoid that someone would see what they were doing.

When it was finally her turn she gently sat on the bed, her heart pounding a mile a minute as she stared at the powder substance that she’d become so fond of. When she put the roll to her nose her hands began to shake uncontrollably, but it didn’t stop her. She inhaled deeply and it was as if everything that had been weighing on her mind vanished, leaving happy thoughts of flakes playing in her nose. It was just her and her favorite drug and that’s all she needed. After a moment she sat up straight and closed her eyes and let it work its magic.

“God that’s great,” she whispered.

“You’re damn right it is,” Randy said picking up the bill and snorting his second line.

Still in her own world, her eyes shot wide open when she heard a car horn blow outside her bedroom window. She immediately jumped up from her bed and rushed to the window and saw the limo sitting in Katie’s driveway and the group of friends standing around it.

“Shit!” she cursed and hurried to the bed for her second line that was laid out for her. When it was devoured she racked a finger across the mirror, picking up any powder that might be left over, not wanting to waste a drop, and rubbed her finger on her teeth. She then picked up the mirror to be sure there wasn’t any remaining on her nose. When she was satisfied, they left her room hand in hand with a quick “good-bye” to her parents before joining her friends on the lawn.

Anyone who said that eight people could fit comfortably in the back of a limo obviously didn’t have three of the eight people in fluffy prom dresses. It was a tight fit, especially with Becca and Jess’ full length puffed out dresses, but Marissa Lou didn’t seem to mind. She threw her bare legs across Randy’s lap and chatted away happily.

No one missed the sexiness of her dress or how it rode up, exposing all the way up to her thigh, but no one commented about that.

“That is some dress, Marissa Lou,” Becca said eyeing her thigh.

“Yeah Maris, I just love it. It’s so
November Rain
,” Katie added.

“I know, right? As soon as I saw it, images of Stephanie Seymour came to mind, walking seductively down the aisle to Axl Rose, I knew I had to have it,” Marissa Lou said to the girls. “Katie, you are rocking that damn thing too.”

Being a non-girlie girl, Katie decided against the typical fluffy princess dress that people normally wore to prom. Instead, she wore a tight fitting, floor length, black satin dress with a plunging neckline and practically no back. It was beautiful and sexy and something Marissa Lou totally would have worn had she not fallen in love with the one she had on, but she kept that comment to herself.

“Thank you,” Katie said, seeming slightly self-conscious in the form fitting attire. Daniel gave her shoulder a squeeze for reassurance.

“I’ve never ridden in a limo before. It’s a shame there’s no bar or something like you see on TV,” Becca said looking around.

“If there is one, it’s probably being smothered by all this ass and taffeta,” Marissa Lou said laughing as she adjusted herself on Randy, which only worked to expose even more of her thigh. Something Daniel didn’t miss. Neither did Becca and Jess’ dates.

“We could always have our own bar,” Randy said to Becca after a little while.

She just stared at him curiously, as did everyone else.

He reached inside his coat pocket and retrieved a shiny silver flask.

“Was that in your left hand?” Marissa Lou asked him smiling.

“Yep,” he said taking a sip.

“Sweet!” Becca’s date, Tommy, said and gave Jess’ date, Carl, a silly high five.

“We’ll so get into trouble if someone smells alcohol on our breath. I don’t want to get kicked out of prom,” Jess said staring at him seriously.

“It’s Vodka so no one will smell it.”

“Yeah, Saint Jessica, just chill. Everyone knows you can’t smell vodka on someone’s breath,” she said to her friend then turned to Randy and held out her hand. “Over here,” she said, but not before Marissa Lou got some for herself first.

The flask went around the car. Each person taking a pull before passing it along. When Katie handed it to Daniel he just stared at it briefly then looked at Randy appearing torn. Daniel looked him down as if assessing if he really wanted to drink anything he gave him, especially after he already drank out of it. He groaned and glanced around the car at all the eyes on him, watching and waiting for him to drink. He wrinkled his nose then wiped the top of the flask off before drinking out of it.

“Eww, Daniel’s got my coodies now,” Randy mocked him. “But I guess that’s fair since now I have your coodies too,” Randy said kissing the side of Marissa Lou’s neck.

Daniel’s anger flared, but he just rolled his eyes at him then threw the flask at him, which was nearly gone so it wasn’t very heavy, but it hit its target in the middle of Randy’s chest.

When they got to the school, each couple filed out of the car and sauntered like movie stars into the school gym. It was so dark they could barely see, but thanks to a few assorted strobe lights, they were able to find a table without running into anyone. They each sat down in their respective spots, happy that there were eight chairs to a table, and looked around.

“A 50s night to remember?” Becca asked when she saw the prom themed banner and chuckled. “It’s so dark in here I can barely see. How is that going to help me remember anything?”

“Umm, did anyone know we were supposed to dress in clothes from the 50s?” Katie asked looking around the dark room.

The girls all looked at each other than looked around the room as well. They stood out like a sore thumb, except for a very select few who went with the normal prom attire. Most girls were dressed in poodle skirts and patent leather shoes while the boys separated themselves as either cool James Dean types wearing jeans and t-shirts and their hair slicked back or preppy polyester suits. Obviously Katie, Marissa Lou, Jess and Becca didn’t know about the theme which was a bummer because they all liked to play along. At least the decorating committee pulled through. They did a great job by decorating the gym according to the sock-hop theme, with the added bonus of black and gold balloons and sparkling streamers all over representing the school colors. There was also a buffet of greasy diner food, a make your own sundae bar on one wall of the gym and a makeshift bar for drinks close by it.

“Hell, I can barely remember the ride here,” Marissa Lou said laughing and leaned into Randy. “Come on, baby. Let’s take advantage of the darkness and dance,” she said pulling him to his feet and leading him out to the dance floor.