Connor sighed and flipped me off as he walked away.
Simon walked over to me with a basketball in his hands. “You were invited to Tori’s party this weekend? Tori Eisenhower?”
“Yeah, but I’m not going.”
“No way. You have to go. And you have to take me with you,” he said, his eyes filled with hope.
“What? What happened to O.G.A.A.?”
“I asked her out, she declined, and I felt like a complete loser. Therefore, I need this party to happen.”
“She said no?” That was shocking. I could’ve sworn Abigail was into Simon. “Why? What was her reason?”
He cringed. “Let’s not keep talking about the way I was rejected. She wasn’t into it, so she said no. So instead, let’s go to this party.”
“I didn’t take you as the party going type.”
“That’s just because I haven’t been invited. Come on, it could be fun. Us men bonding over manly things,” he joked, shooting the basketball toward the hoop and missing by a mile. His finger pushed up his glasses. He cleared his throat, pointing toward his fantastically failed attempt at basketball. “I think the wind interfered with that one.”
* * *
When Saturday night came, Simon was at his highest level of excitement. “Don’t tell Aria about this,” he said, walking up to Tori’s house. He told me that he’d taken a bottle of wine from his parents. “They won’t notice it’s missing. We have more wine in that house than needed.”
“Simon, are you sure you want to do this?” I asked, knowing that this party wasn’t a good idea.
He turned to me, wine bottle in his hand and started begging. “This is my one chance to swoosh in on Tori, Levi. Don’t back out on me now. Please. I need this.”
The way he stared at me so pathetically showed me that this was the last thing we should’ve been doing, but I rang the doorbell anyway.
Tori opened the door wearing a bikini top and shorts. “Alabama!” she squeaked, swaying back and forth. I had a feeling she wouldn’t need Simon’s wine. “I’m so happy you’re here!”
“We’re,” I corrected her as I nudged a wide-toothed Simon. “We’re happy that we’re here, too.”
“Who invited Four?” she said, staring at Simon. I was certain he was going to pass out from the excitement of being a few inches from her.
“I thought we could bring friends?” I flashed a smile.
She giggled. “Whatever. Come in! Let’s take a shot!”
Tori led us through the house where everyone popular from our school was partying, drinking, or making out. Simon leaned in toward me. “Did you hear what she said? She nicknamed me.”
“What?”
“She called me Four!”
“And…that’s a compliment?”
“I know it’s probably easy for people like you to get a nickname the first day they arrive, Alabama, but for people like me—we dream of making it this far! We are pretty much waiting in a corner begging for our classmates to nickname us.” He patted me on the back. “Now, excuse me as I proceed to get ridiculously drunk.” Simon wandered off with his bottle of wine, muttering, “Holy shit. I’m in Tori Eisenhower’s house.”
“Well, look here. If it isn’t Mr. Alabama at the party he swore he wouldn’t be attending.” I cringed at the sound of Connor’s voice. “And to think you brought one of the oddities with you.”
“What’s up, Connor?” I said, turning to face him. From the dazed look in his eyes, he was already drunk.
“What’s up, Connor?” he echoed, shoving me in the shoulder. “Can you believe this, Matt? He said what’s up.” He shoved the guy standing beside him, who looked confused as hell. Connor turned back to me. “Look, Alabama, I know you want to try to be seen with me right now at this party because I’m a big fucking deal, but it’s too late. You can’t just wander back over to me. I got a new partner in crime. Meet Matt. He’s the new ‘it’ guy. He’s from a foreign country, doesn’t speak English, and the ladies can’t keep their eyes off of him.”
“Dude. I’m from Canada.” Matt sighed. “And I speak English.”
“Not if you ever plan to get laid,” Connor scolded. “Sorry, Alabama. You’re old news.”
“Oxymoron,” I muttered.
“What?”
“Old news, you can’t be old and news. That’s just stupid.”
Connor frowned and patted me on the back. “You were such a contender before and now the oddities tainted you. Goodbye, Alabama. Goodbye.” They walked off in the direction of Simon, who was in the kitchen surrounded by a few people who all had a row of four shots in front of them and were chanting, ‘Four for Four! Four for Four!’
* * *