Tell (20 page)

Tyson drew an ace.  “Yes,” he said excitedly.  “I get to make up a rule.”  He paused in thought.  “Okay, the new rule is, for every time a guy drinks, a girl has to drink twice.”

The guys thought this was a great new addition to the game.  The girls erupted into protests.

“So, what, every time
any
guy drinks, I have to drink twice?” Amanda exclaimed.  “That’s not fair.”

“No,” Tyson answered, amending his rule.  “How about—you have to drink twice every time
Kevin
drinks.  Erica has to do it when Adam drinks, Meredith has to do it when I drink, Stacy gets Will, and Cadie’s on Shane.”

Shane found this to be an interesting choice of words.  He looked at Cadie and raised his eyebrows.  She rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

None of the guys cared any longer about being the last person to raise their hand if a seven was drawn, or being the last person to mime rowing when Will mimed putting on a Viking helmet.  They were able to let their reflexes lapse, and the girls got still drunker.  With this new rule in place, the girls went through their drinks much more rapidly than they would have otherwise, and the guys, being gentlemen, took it upon themselves to take care of their refills, considering it was usually their fault if their assigned girl had to drink twice.

Cadie finished her drink after a few more turns (when Stacy had drawn a four and Shane had waited deliberately to slap the floor in front of him), and Shane graciously offered to get her a refill.  When she handed him her cup, their fingers overlapped and they let their hands linger for a moment before Shane turned and headed toward the kitchen.

Amanda’s house was huge, and Melody thought it might even have been a mansion.  Outside there was
an expansive cement patio surrounding an in-ground pool, and this was where she had found Susan after her disastrous encounter with Andy.  She did not particularly want to hang out with Susan that evening.  However, she had peeked in on the den where Cadie was with a group of people playing some drinking game, and after seeing everyone mime rowing a boat, and then hearing everyone bark for apparently no reason, all within thirty seconds, she decided she did not want to hang out in there, either.  Susan seemed like the lesser of two evils.

Melody hesitated in reliving the events of her conversation with Andy; after all, Susan had decreed that Andy’s name was taboo.  Still, she thought this counted as a major development in the Andy department and considered it worth discussing.

“I’m revoking the taboo on Andy,” Melody declared.

“What?” Susan nearly shouted.  She had been fairly tipsy when Melody had found her; since then, she had downed several more beers.  Melody started to think that maybe the room full of rowing and barking people would have been a better bet.  “You can’t do that.  I put the taboo on him.  You can’t take off the taboo that I made.”

“I know, but something happened.”

“Oh.”  Susan’s expression cleared.  “You told him?”

“No, but—”

“
Boo
.”  Susan drew out the word for as long as she could without taking a breath.

“Just listen, okay?  Andy was completely drunk when I saw him earlier, and he said that the reason he’s been coming to these parties is because he likes Amanda.  She was the reason that he joined chorus.”

Susan’s jaw dropped.  “What?”

“Yeah.”

“Amanda?” she repeated, sounding completely scandalized.  “He has no chance with her!”

“Susan, focus.  That’s not the point.  He used me to get to that party.  I asked him on a date and he used that to get closer to her.”

“What an asshole!” Susan declared, gesturing violently.

Melody sighed in frustration.  “You’re drunk,” she said.

“Maybe,” said Susan thoughtfully.  She sat up suddenly, looking focused for the first time since Melody had sat down in the lawn chair next to her.  “I have an idea,” she announced.

Melody rolled her eyes.  “What?”

“I’m going to go after Shane tonight.”

“Oh, are you now?”  Melody was torn between annoyance and amusement.

“Yep.”

“Well, he’s a little busy right now.  He’s in the den playing a drinking game and he’s kind of focused on other stuff.”  Melody privately thought that Shane was
actually
focused on her sister, but she chose not to say that out loud.  She thought, from her brief stance in the doorway to the den, that maybe Shane’s arm had been around Cadie, but she could not be sure.

“Well, when he’s done, I’m gonna go after him.”

“What are you going to say?”

“Maybe I’ll open with saying something about how flexible I am.”

Melody sighed again.  This party was turning out to be a disaster.  Susan was not the greatest company even on her best days; drunk, she was downright irritating.  She was relieved to see her sister slip out the back door and onto the patio, and Melody gratefully waved her over.  As Cadie approached, she thought her eyes seemed sort of glassy, but she was steady enough on her feet.  She was even able to pull her denim jacket on while in motion, which Melody thought was impressive.

“Hey,” Cadie said.  “I came to check on you.”

“I’m fine,” answered Susan.

Cadie rolled her eyes and dropped into the lawn chair next to Melody.

“How was your game?” Melody asked.

Cadie gestured for Melody to lean closer, and she obliged.  “I think I lost,” she whispered in an imitation of revealing a great secret.

“Well, as long as you can drive home.”

“I cut myself off.  Besides that, I’m not planning on leaving for awhile.”

“Why was everyone barking?”

“Kevin made a rule and we had to bark every time we drank.”

Melody chose not to pursue this topic any further.

Susan suddenly seemed to realize that Cadie was present during their conversation.  “Hey,” she said.  “The game is over.”

“Yep.  Meredith had to drink the cup.”  Cadie nodded emphatically.

Susan nodded wisely, as if this revelation made total sense to her.  “Then I have business to attend to.”  She tried to stand; this took several attempts.  Finally, she succeeded in standing and began to walk toward the house unsteadily.

“Where’s Princess Obnoxious going?” Cadie asked once she was out of earshot.

“She’s going to make a play for Shane,” Melody responded.

Cadie laughed loudly.

“That was my reaction.  Especially after I saw him in the den, and he seemed pretty focused on someone else.”  Melody raised an eyebrow at Cadie.

Cadie abruptly stopped laughing and eyed her sister warily.  “Where’s Andy?”

Melody shook her head.  “Who knows,” she said bitterly.  “Who cares.”

Cadie had disappeared, but Shane was determined to find her.  He was beginning to think this infatuation was something that could no longer be ignored.  After spending about an hour touching her, only to have her then evaporate, he realized touching her was definitely preferable to
not
touching her.  He realized he definitely wanted to continue touching her at all costs, even if that meant enduring the wrath of Felicia.  But first he had to find her.  This was proving a difficult task, considering the amount of people that had somehow materialized at this party.

A false alarm happened on the second floor, when he went to turn a corner and someone grabbed his wrist from behind.  Cadie!  But when he turned, he was disappointed to look upon the face of Susan Marcus.  “Oh,” he said, not bothering to mask his defeated expression.  “It’s you.”  He knew he sounded rude, and he did not care.

Evidently she did not care either, nor did she seem to be aware of his lack of interest in seeing her.  “Hey,” she said, leaning toward him.

He stepped back, fearing she was going to throw up on him.  Then it occurred to him that she was trying to be provocative.  She was failing.  “Hey,” he answered.  He pulled his arm away, as she had still had hold of his wrist.

“So, how’s it going?”  She pushed her brown curls back from her face.  They were beginning to come unraveled.

“It’s going.”

They stood in silence for a few moments.  Susan was looking at him expectantly, absently chewing on her lower lip with her front teeth.  Shane was looking back at her expectantly, wondering why she had pulled him to a stop and interrupted his search for Cadie.

“Was there something you wanted?” he asked finally.

Susan nodded.  “I kind of wanted to hook up with you,” she said bluntly.

Shane was appalled.  His first impulse was to laugh in her face, but he managed to control himself.  He took a deep, steadying breath.  “Um,” he said, stalling as he tried to come up with a diplomatic response.  “I’m not really interested, but thanks anyway.”  He was too buzzed to think of anything more intelligent to say, but he thought it would still get his point across.

It did not.  This time, Susan reached out and grabbed both of his hands in hers.  “Come on,” she said pleadingly.  “It’ll be fun.  I promise you won’t regret it.”

Wanna bet?
he thought.  Out loud, he responded, “No, thanks.”  He withdrew his hands from hers and turned to walk away.

She grabbed his wrist again, halting him.  Shane suppressed the desire to push her down the stairs.  “Come
on,
” she said insistently.

He withdrew his arm again, this time somewhat violently.  He was about to unleash a flippant retort, but he stopped.  “Okay,” he said.

Her eyes lit up.  “Really?”

“Okay,” he repeated.  “Okay, yeah.”  They were standing next to the Tellers’ guest room, in which the door was ajar and the lights were off.  “Why don’t you go in there and wait for me and I’ll be there in a couple minutes.”

“Where are you going?” she asked, a line appearing between her eyebrows as she peered at him in confusion.

“Bathroom,” he responded brightly.  “Just to the bathroom, but I’ll be back.”  He grabbed her shoulders and steered her in the direction of the guest room.  “Okay, so just wait in there and I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” she replied.  She stood beaming at him for a few moments.

He gently shoved her through the door of the guest room, then shut the door behind her.  “Have a good weekend,” he said under his breath before taking off at a jog down the stairs to search for Cadie.

Andy vaguely heard the door shut, but it sounded far away, as if he were listening with ears that were stuffed with cotton.  He raised his head blearily from the pillows.  “Huh?” he said stupidly into the dark room.

Someone was walking toward the bed; he could hear footsteps on the floor coming closer.  He carefully rolled himself over onto his back and wiped his face with his palm.  He had drooled in his sleep and the side of his face felt damp.  He blinked rapidly, trying to get his eyes to adjust to the darkness of the room.

A body fell into the bed beside him, and Andy felt his heartbeat quicken. 
Amanda,
he thought.  He had fallen asleep waiting for her to come back, but she had finally returned.  He knew it was her beyond a shadow of a doubt.  She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly.  Andy felt a wave of warmth wash over him.  How the hell did she manage to make the simple act of
breathing
sexy?

Carefully, he let his hand wander over to her side of the bed until he found hers.  The skin of her fingers was soft and smooth.  She started when he touched her.  “You’re here,” she said quietly.

“Yeah,” he whispered back, rolling onto his side to face her.  “I’m here.”  He gripped her hand in his.

She slid toward him on the bed, closing the gap between them on the bed.  Andy felt a shudder run through him as she placed her hands on his chest.  Her lips brushed his chin once, searching in the dark, before finding his lips.  Andy wrapped his arms around her back, a little embarrassed at his excitement, but not bothering to conceal it as he pressed his body against hers while they kissed.  Her lips seemed to send an electric current running through his entire body, and every touch of her hands elicited another shiver from him.

Her hands found the hem of his shirt, and she tugged at it impatiently.  Andy pulled away from her slightly to lift the shirt over his head.  His heart was hammering so much he feared she would hear it pounding against his rib cage.

She pressed against him again, her cool fingertips on his bare back.  She moved her lips away from his and began trailing light kisses in a line down his throat.  Her lips found the chain that he wore around his neck, and she stopped.  She touched it lightly with her fingertips.  “Were you wearing this earlier?”

He nodded.  “I always wear it.”  He roughly pulled her body against his and kissed her again, because every second that went by in which they were not kissing was a painful one.

Cadie left Melody a little while later.  She had been waiting for Susan to return after Shane rejected her, but that had not happened.  Even though she knew Shane would never, ever in a million years go for Susan, she started to feel a little worried when Susan did not stumble back onto the patio looking completely dejected.  After Melody’s reassurances that she was fine by herself, and that she really,
really
did not care about Andy, she decided to go find Shane herself.