He stunned me with his sudden appearance, distracting me from a vital question with the first real look at his face and now sat in my car ready to play chauffeur. Why had he shown up at my door dressed as a… what? Mechanic? Maintenance man? Where did he get those coveralls?
Slowly retracing my steps, I listened to Nicole explain how she’d made the costume herself. During a pause in her explanation, I interrupted. “Nicole, if it’s alright with you, I think Clay wants to come with. The way he’s acting, I don’t think he’s ever been to a Halloween party and is curious what it’s about.”
“It’s fine with me,” she smiled moving to follow me to the kitchen. “Are you two dating?” she wondered curiously.
Rachel interrupted, “Don’t you dare say you are. He’s almost never here and when he is, he doesn’t talk and he leaves early. That’s not dating.” I hadn’t told Rachel Clay appeared most Tuesday nights. Better to just leave her with the impression she had than to try to explain our odd relationship.
“So, he’s available then?” Nicole persisted.
“If you’re asking my permission to make a move, go for it…” Giving permission for her to hit on Clay didn’t sit right with me so I added, “But I don’t think it will go far. Just don’t be disappointed.”
We made our way to the back door and hurried to the car, which had warmed nicely. I sat up front with Clay and Nicole shimmied into the back seat alone. Clay had never answered how he’d gotten his license. I hoped he still remembered how to drive.
I turned in my seat to look at Nicole. “I don’t know where we’re going. Just tell Clay where to turn and be sure to give plenty of warning. This is the only car I have for the winter.” I added the last bit as a gentle reminder to Clay, nervous about his driving experience.
Nicole laughed as Clay expertly backed out of the driveway. Listening to Nicole’s directions, Clay got us to the party in less than fifteen minutes. Parking within a block of the address proved impossible so Nicole shivered as we walked two blocks toward the obvious party house. Music blared, ghosts hung from every tree in the yard, and I thought I saw a keg up on a table on the porch. So this was a college party? It looked…interesting. So many people crowded the front lawn in groups that the party overflowed to the neighbor’s yard.
As we neared, predictably, men turned and stared. Their eyes drifted to me, but their expressions would change confused by what they saw. Then they would look at Nicole.
I wasn’t the only one to notice because Nicole laughed. “I knew you would make this fun. Oh, I see him on the porch. Do you think I should say hi?” Still a house away, her teeth already began to chatter though she maintained a brilliant smile.
“Let’s push our way through the crowd and get inside. We can warm up for a minute and then come back out to say hi. It’ll be more attractive if you’re not stuttering with cold trying to say it.”
Clay didn’t wait, but took my hand and guided me through the crowd with Nicole following. People moved for Clay and it didn’t take us long to reach the door where a man had taken station selling cups for three dollars. We declined and went to find a place inside.
The bass of the deafening, but good, music echoed in my ribcage. Good thing Clay wasn’t a talker. I’d never hear him, though he’d probably hear me. I wondered how his sensitive ears handled the volume.
He kept hold of my hand pulling us through the crowded entry to an equally crowded living room. Pushing his way through people to get to the couch, he paused in front of it to glare at the two male occupants. They uneasily stood and left making room for us to sit. Nicole and I sat on the small couch while Clay perched on the arm right next to me.
Nicole warmed as I looked around. From the decimated state of the snack table, the party had started a while ago. That also meant the majority of partygoers were drunk. One guy, drunk enough that he didn’t care what I looked like or who sat possessively next to me, caught me looking around and made his way over.
The man stopped right in front of me, swaying slightly on his feet. I didn’t look at him, but watched Nicole’s face as her eyes darted to the man.
The music decreased in volume as a ballad came on.
“Hey... Wash shore name?” he asked, his articulation long gone.
“Go away.” I said the rude words clearly, knowing he wouldn’t even remember them in the morning. It didn’t seem to faze him in the least.
“Wanna go up shtairs? They have a pool table,” he said drawing out the L’s in pool table out just a tad too long.
Nicole coughed discreetly next to me, covering her giggle at the drunk’s poor attempts at a pickup.
This time, I met his eyes with a firm look. “No, thanks.”
He looked beyond me with a startled expression, which quickly relaxed into a smile. “Oh, god it man. Sheesh yours.”
He ambled away and Nicole and I turned to look at Clay.
“What did you do?” I wondered. Maybe some secret man-sign for ‘not interested’. Whatever he’d done had worked well. I hoped I could learn it.