Life of the Party (16 page)

I realized I
wasn’t going to get any answers tonight, and I wouldn’t get any
answers from anyone but Riley himself. I let out a sigh and buried
my head in my hands.

“I’m sorry. I
thought you knew.” Grey said.

“No, no. It’s
not your fault.” I straightened up and smiled weakly at him. “Just
another result of me and Riley’s basic dysfunction.”

“Well, since
he’s quit, I’ll probably be moving to nights. So we’ll get to work
together more, anyway.” He shrugged and smiled. I thought about
that a moment and felt a grin spread over my face. If anything
could make this better, it was that fact.

“Come on, let
me cheer you up.” Grey motioned to the kitchen with his hand. He
grinned wickedly. I laughed.

“I’m not
allowed. Not until I’ve eaten.”

“I can fix that
for you.” He leaned over me and took my pizza slice, now cold, and
then folded it into his mouth in one bite. I laughed and watched
him chew for a minute.

“Wow, that’s
impressive.” I giggled. He mumbled something incoherently, holding
up his hand for me to wait until he had swallowed. He was trying
not to laugh.

“Okay.” He
swallowed again. “Okay. Pizza’s all gone. You’re allowed now.”

“Wow, you did
that for me? How gallant.”

Grey chuckled.
“Ready?” He held out his hand.

Of course I
was. “Ready.”

“If Grey
doesn’t love you after tonight …,” Charlie looked at me again,
smiling in satisfaction. “Then there is something wrong with that
boy.”

“He’s just in
this for fun, Charlie. Remember?” I took a drag of my smoke and
blew it out, staring at my reflection. We were in Charlie’s
bedroom, where she had dressed and made me up, yet again. It looked
like she was improving with practice, the woman staring at me in
the mirror was … hot, vivacious … stunning.

A short, sleek,
long sleeved black dress hugged my frame, low-cut enough to make me
a little uncomfortable, though Charlie promised results. My hair
was in loose, glossy dark curls that tumbled around my shoulders
and down my back, kept from my face by a thin silver headband. My
make-up was phenomenal—dark, smoky eyes and almost startling red,
full, pouty lips that looked like they didn’t belong to my face. I
wore black leather boots—high heeled with a pointy toe, which
curved around my calves most becomingly.

I had to hand
it to Charlie. I looked unbelievable, especially given that we
hadn’t really slept yet from the night before. I think I napped
maybe an hour or two on the couch sometime earlier in the day … it
was more of a slip into unconsciousness that I couldn’t really
remember. Most of it had been a happy blur of drinking and cocaine
and Grey, Grey, Grey ….

We had just
hung out, all night. Like friends. There’d been no more touching or
kissing or making out, but the tension was still there, like there
was a possibility for more. I’d wanted there to be more, had
thought about nearly nothing else, but had totally loved the time
with him anyway. He was so much fun to be around, so easy for me to
talk to. I couldn’t remember what topics we had covered or the
funny things he had said. I could just picture us together on the
ratty old couch, my mouth spread into a permanent grin as we
laughed and talked and just … were.

The guys had
left earlier that afternoon to get ready for their show. They were
playing at the Aurora again, like the night I first met Grey … that
fateful night not even two months ago that had ended up changing my
entire life. It felt like ages and ages ago … like a totally
different time. Back then, Riley and I were friends, best friends.
Before Grey and I were … were what? Having fun?

“Wow, Charlie.
You’re amazing. Seriously. You have a beauty career ahead of you.”
I smiled thankfully at my friend. Charlie bowed. She looked
gorgeous like usual—her shiny blonde hair was pulled into a loose
pompadour, her dazzling blue top brought out the striking blue of
her eyes. It didn’t seem to matter how good I looked. Next to
Charlie, I would always come second.

I didn’t want
to mind though. I didn’t want to be so pettily jealous, not when
Charlie was so amazingly nice to me and leant me all her clothes
and took care of me the way she did. Not when—for some reason—she
actually liked hanging out with me, a high school kid who wasn’t
even legal enough to get into bars.

“You look
gorgeous.” I forced myself to compliment her. “Seriously.”

“Thanks, kid.”
She stuck her tongue out at me with a smile for my response to the
word kid. “So, what should we do tonight?”

“Um ….” I
laughed. “I thought we were going to see the guys play.”

“Not that,
idiot. I mean, what should we
do
? What are you in the mood
for?”

“Oh.” I laughed
again. I was still pretty drunk and high from our non-stop day of
partying. But I was up for anything. “What are you thinking?”

“I don’t know …
I have some E lying around … we could do some blow …,” she
shrugged. “Whatever you feel like.”

“You just have
E lying around? Like all the time?”

“Not all the
time. Sometimes.”

“Really? I
could hit some of that.” It would really be like old times then.
The first time I tried E was when we went to watch Grey’s band.

“Okay.” Charlie
sat on her bed and rummaged around in the bedside drawer. She
pulled out another tin and opened it up, revealing a bunch of
different coloured pills.

“For us,
tonight … how about some Pink Dinosaur?” She picked out a pink one
and handed it to me. Sure enough, there was a little dinosaur face
stamped into it. I giggled.

“You too?”

“Yeah. Why
not.” Charlie took one for herself and placed the lid back on the
tin. “Trust me, you’ll like this one.”

“I like them
all.” I admitted. We took turns sipping from a glass of water on
her nightstand. The pill slid down my throat with ease. I smiled
excitedly. Now all we had to do was wait for the fun to begin.

“Okay, hottie.”
Charlie slammed the cup down enthusiastically. “Let’s go!”

“Are you okay
to drive?” I wondered, laughing as we grabbed our purses.

“Who knows?
Whoooo!” She threw her head back in laughter. “We’d better hurry,
we want to get there before this hits and I really can’t
drive.”

That seemed
logical enough to me. We did one last mirror check and then headed
out, bounding down her old squeaky steps, young and eager. The
engine of her car roared to life, Slipknot blared over the
speakers. We rolled the windows down and lit a smoke. The warm
summer wind blew over us as Charlie gunned her little car down the
streets, the headlights bouncing over the road. She looked at me
and laughed; I smiled at her and threw my head back.

“Whhhooooo!” I
yelled, my eyes shut. There was truly nothing better than the
freedom I felt, the absolute release. Life was perfect. Charlie’s
smile told me she agreed.

By the time we
made it to the club, the ecstasy was already taking hold. We
stumbled from Charlie’s car into the parking lot, giggling and
smoking. She fixed a few stray curls for me; I adjusted her top a
little.

“We’re perfect.
Let’s go. Those boys will eat their hearts out.” She decided.

I smiled at the
thought and fell into step beside her. I felt shaky good, like a
surge of adrenaline, only the adrenaline was pure excitement and
joy. I grinned the entire way to the door, totally unsurprised when
we were let past the rope again without having to show our I.D or
having to wait at all. These new friends of mine had some good
connections.

“Thanks Billy.”
Charlie waved at the bouncer. We were inside. And it was packed,
just as it had been the first time. The stage was empty and dark,
we were early.

“Come on, I
told Zack to save us a table.” Charlie grasped my hand. “Follow
me.” She started through the crowd, squeezing and elbowing her way
through. There was barely room to move. The Aurora hadn’t changed
since last I came, still the same old carpeted walls and neon beer
signs. It looked especially dated now that I’d been to the other
club in the city. I decided I liked it though. It was kind of cozy,
like it had a
Cheers
feel to it almost.

I noticed as we
walked that men were nearly snapping their necks to look at Charlie
when she passed by them. I tried not to pay attention to it, but
then one of them caught my eye. He was looking at me, not at
Charlie, and nodding, like he liked what he saw. To my surprise, I
realized that men were actually looking at me. Well, at least some
of them were. I was amazed. I’d never had that happen before, I’d
never had that reaction before, not so obviously anyway. I felt
great when we finally made it to our table, like a million
bucks.

“Did you see
all those guys checking you out?” I asked Charlie as we slid onto
the tall black stools around the high round table. I lit a smoke
and bit my lip.

“Me? Nice try.
They were looking at you and you know it.” She lit a smoke as well
and looked out over the crowd. It was so loud we almost had to yell
to be heard, but that was okay with me. I liked the atmosphere, the
loud, rowdy partying that went on around us. Music pumped from the
dance floor, some Britney Spears number. I smiled and took a drag
of my smoke.

“What time are
they supposed to play?” I wondered.

“Eleven.”
Charlie yelled. She looked at her silver Guess watch. “Ten
minutes.”

“I’m so
excited!” I almost squealed. She laughed.

“I know, I
know!”

“They’re so
good, you know? Like, amazing. Have they been together long?”

“A few years.
I’ve only been on the scene for like a year, more of a groupie
until just recently.” She admitted.

“Until
Zack?”

“Yeah, about
then. We’ve liked each other for a long time; we just haven’t done
anything about it until now.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.
Guys can be dicks.” She shrugged. “Especially when they have a ton
of chicks all over them all the time. Makes it hard for them to
commit.”

“Do you think
that’s Grey’s problem?” I worried suddenly. The thought hadn’t
occurred to me until right then, but it was a definite possibility.
“Has he ever had … anyone …?”

Charlie looked
at me thoughtfully for a moment, but then shook her head. “I don’t
know, Mackenzie. I’m trying to figure it out myself. I’ve only been
around for a year or so, like I said, but in that entire time, I’ve
never seen Grey with anyone. I mean, he’s the lead singer of a
band, so of course he’s with girls, you know, but he’s never been
with
anybody. He’s never had a girlfriend that I know of … I
just, I don’t get it.”

“What don’t you
get?” I leaned forward to hear her better.

“Grey just
seems so into you. I don’t know. I wouldn’t believe his whole ‘just
for fun’ thing. I’ve seen how he acts with girls that are ‘just for
fun’.”

“And?”

“And …,” she
shrugged. “It’s obvious. He doesn’t sit on the couch with those
girls for hours, hanging on their every word ….”

“Like he did
with me?”

“Yeah. Don’t
buy it Mackenzie. He cares more for you than that, I can tell.”

“You can?”

“Yes. And you
deserve more than that too. Don’t forget.”

“Charlie?”

“Yes?”

“I love
you.”

Charlie burst
out laughing. She smiled at me and stamped her smoke out.

“Sounds like
someone’s feeling the E.”

I nodded
enthusiastically. “I am. I am. Aren’t you?”

She laughed
again. “Yes.” We giggled.

“But I still
love you, you know.”

“Yeah, I
know.”

The music shut
off suddenly, and still grinning, Charlie and I turned expectantly
towards the stage. We could just make out the shapes of people
walking around in the dim light up there. The crowd started
cheering and shouting, even before the lights came up and the band
was illuminated on stage. Once that happened they went crazy, the
noise was deafening. I smiled, happy that Serpentine was so
popular. That had to feel good, to have people screaming for you. I
wondered what was going through Grey’s mind at that moment.

I recognized
them all now; it was different than the first time. Alex on drums,
Lucas on bass, Zack on guitar and Jimmy on keys. I let my eyes pass
over them; there was really only one man I wanted to see. I needed
to see. He was standing in the front center of the stage with his
back to the audience. I watched him, enraptured. The band started
playing, the guitars chugging the intro of the song, Zack and Lucas
flanking either side of the stage. Grey stood between them, still
backwards, his guitar hanging lazily from its strap. Then the music
got louder, more intense, and just before it reached the crescendo
Grey turned, gripped the microphone stand, and screamed into
it.

The moment he
started singing the crowd erupted into near mayhem. My breath
caught in my throat. The sight of him up there in the spotlight,
the dark blue jeans that hugged his thigh as he tapped his leg to
the beat, the studded belt around his hips, the black Tool t-shirt
that hugged his torso and showed off the smooth muscular biceps of
his darkly tanned arms …. I felt my heart swell until it felt like
bursting. I put my hand to my chest and just stared. I loved Grey,
more than anybody else ever could. I loved him more than I thought
I loved him before. He was perfect, in every way. He was meant for
me in every way. His voice was smooth but raspy, thick and raw,
silky but edged with a growl. It reminded me of copper, somehow,
but that didn’t make any sense. He sang and looked out over the
crowd and shook his head back and forth in time. He held his guitar
loosely slung across his hips, resting on his spread out legs. His
fingers danced across the fret board with skill, his studded
leather bracelets flashed in the stage lights. The cherry red
electric guitar responded eagerly to his capable hands, resounding
with the chugging wails and intricate notes that Grey’s fingers
demanded of it. A sexy smirk flitted across his lips.