“Did you see Stella’s titties tonight? They looked bangin’.” The nameless football player held out his hands in front of his chest as if holding two oversized watermelons. “I’m gonna get me a slice of those tonight.”
Auden quirked a brow and Darrin shook his fist in the air in agreement, even though neither one of them had seen Stella yet.
“Okay, well, I’m going to go and find Felisa,” Darrin said, turning to Auden. “I’ll look for you a little later.”
“I’ll be where the beer’s at.”
Felisa wanted to be more than whatever she and Darrin were, but he wasn’t cool with that. Darrin said he had too much to live for to be tied down, which meant he’d still have a wandering eye. But at least he was upfront with her about it.
Auden, on the other hand, just didn’t want to feel that addiction, like he needed someone when they weren’t around. Been there, done that.
Inside Heather’s house, they walked down a long hallway leading to the living room. Several paintings of cats hung on the walls. In one corner, a large grandfather clock’s pendulum tick-tocked back and forth with the music. People were crushed against one another—too many elbows rubbing together. Darrin found Felisa, a tall girl with bronze skin and a hungry smile, awaiting him.
“My girl!” Darrin called, smiling back with a goofy grin. Sometimes Auden wasn’t sure how his friend picked up all the ladies.
Auden brushed past several sweaty people, stopping for moments of small talk when someone would halt him from passing. Finally, he made it out the back door to the keg and grabbed two red plastic cups, filling them to the brim—one for now and one for later.
He turned around and bumped into Scott and Heather. Scott, his shaggy dark hair flopping over one eye, leaned forward and softly punched Auden in the bicep. Auden looked down at the guy’s small hand—Scott had ridiculously tiny hands. And because he was almost as tall as Auden, it came across as odd.
“I can’t believe you came!” Scott exclaimed, head banging the air. “One of the coolest guys in school, or was, now that you’re gone.”
“I’m still here.” In town, anyway.
Scott wrapped his arm around Heather’s curvy waist. “You know what I mean.”
Did he? How Lark had ended up with this goofball, Auden wondered even more now as Scott rattled on and on and on about shitty music and how they should jam together sometime.
Auden used to fiddle around on the drums, but last year he’d lost most of his passion for it—like a lot of other things.
While listening to Scott rave about the upcoming party on Friday night at Shannon’s and how he had to be there, Auden chugged his entire first cup of beer.
“Yeah? Let me check with Darrin about it later.” Now having a chance at escape and to try and relax, Auden headed into the kitchen to where a group of guys were doing shots. As he scanned the large living room crowd, he checked to see if maybe Darrin had been wrong. Maybe he would catch a glimpse of Lark or even her sister Paloma, but neither were there. Because when Paloma was at a party that generally meant her sister had tagged along with her.
After finishing the second cup of beer, an easy, floating sensation gripped Auden, and he was oblivious to everything except his very full bladder. He beelined to the downstairs bathroom, but when the line was too long, he headed up the narrow staircase to take a leak. If there wasn’t one upstairs for some reason, he would find somewhere outside to piss. But it was his lucky day—a door was wide open.
After relieving himself in the Clorox-smelling bathroom, he opened the door and was staring at the floor when voices caught his attention. Farther down the family-portrait hallway, a tall rectangular object rested against the wood-paneled wall, a black crushed-velvet fabric enveloping whatever was hidden beneath. The object appeared incredibly similar to the one the man with the trench coat had been carrying.
The hallway was vacant, but whispers circulated in the small space, the hushed voices suddenly halting when the first familiar music notes sounded from beneath the cloth.
He paused. Rapid breaths escaped him as he closed his eyes and gripped the sides of his skull while counting to five. When he opened them, the object was gone, along with the over-dramatized sounds of “Space Oddity.” Get a grip, Auden. Get a fucking grip. His chest heaved, as he inched forward to where the object had been, hands shaking.
He had drunk way too much.
Someone grabbed him by the bicep and yanked him into a bedroom, then shut the door.
His body tensed, head spinning, in the dark room. A soft body pushed him against the backside of the door, wet lips meeting his neck, making him forget about his drunken images.
He groaned when the warm lips moved against his skin. After the nights with Lark in his van, he knew this would inevitably happen again. He’d been yearning to have her lips against his like before. “All you had to do was ask,” he whispered, while wanting to repeat one of the lyrics he’d scribbled to her during math class or possibly recite what she’d written down of “Running Up That Hill” that first time.
Auden’s hand reached up, tangling his fingers in Lark’s bob of loose brown curls, hoping to get trapped there. Instead, he fisted tight thick curls, falling to someone’s mid-back—and he knew who those red curls belonged to.
Drew.
She had been his girlfriend for two years until the beginning of his senior year when she’d switched schools. After the move, she hadn’t wanted to be tied down any longer, though at almost every party, they would find the nearest place of interest to have sex.
But he hadn’t seen her in months.
Auden leaned sideways, pulling away from her suction, but she held on like a leech as she reached for the top button of his pants. The overwhelming scent of her hairspray invaded his nostrils. He couldn’t deny she felt good, but he was over it. Over her.
“Hey, not now.” He clamped down on her wrists, slowly withdrawing her fingertips from the button on his pants.
Drew shifted back and flipped on the light switch. As the light cascaded across the room, she glared at him. “And why not?”
Pressing his head against the door, he blinked a couple of extra times to let his eyes try to focus on her. “Just not now. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you.” He stared down at her blue crop top hanging off her shoulder and the tight pink mini skirt that showed off every curve she had. Yet all he could think about was Lark in the store today, wearing the one-piece.
“You’ve never had a problem before.” Drew backed up and placed her hands on her hips.
“Well, maybe I do now. I don’t just want to fuck and not talk after, okay?” Wasn’t that what he’d done to Lark, though? It wasn’t as if the fault was his alone—she hadn’t tried to talk to him afterward either. The most talking they’d done since then was the minuscule conversation they’d had in the music store and then outside when he’d picked up her bag.
“You know what?” Drew huffed. “Screw you, Auden. I’ll find someone else.”
“You always were good at that, even when we were together, right?” He didn’t give one damn about it now, but a year ago, he sure would have.
“We’re done.”
“I’m sorry, are you breaking up with a non-existent boyfriend?”