Morik took his hand from the throttle and reached back. I thought he was going to pull my arm around him again. Instead, he laid his hand on the coldest part of my leg. Warmth seeped through the denim immediately. When he slowed too much, he switched hands to the other leg. I couldn’t believe he rode without gloves and still had warm hands.
Warmed, I rode the final few minutes in relative comfort.
Beatriz stood waiting at the door when we pulled up to the two-story sprawling home. Several cars already lined the driveway and music pumped from the house. Since she lived outside of town, there weren’t any nearby neighbors to complain.
Unstrapping the helmet, I handed it back to him.
“If you change your mind, just come in. Looks like the door will be open.”
He nodded and waited until I stood back before pulling away.
“No!” Beatriz called playfully from the door. “Tell hottie to come back. He’s way cuter than anything we’ll see inside.”
Turning, I smiled at Beatriz. She’d changed the color of her peek-a-boos now sporting a fluorescent orange. “You’re only saying that because you’re related to one of them.”
“Maybe,” she grinned back. “Come on. I’ll show you around.”
I felt the heat escaping the house as I approached the door. It warmed my cheeks so I wore a blush when I stepped inside. Beatriz didn’t bother closing the door. Behind us, outside, I heard another car pull up.
“People will be coming and going all night,” she noted leading me from the entryway piled with discarded shoes. I quickly kicked off my own before following her.
She showed me the kitchen with the well-laden snack counter, then down to the rec room. There, her brother stood behind a fully stocked bar making drinks with a smile. The resemblance was unmistakable.
When he saw his sister, he motioned her through the crowd. Between the conversation and the music, I couldn’t hear all they said, but did hear Beatriz shout my name and the name ‘Brad’ by way of introduction. I noticed a basket behind the bar containing several set of keys.
“He wants to know if you drove.” Beatriz leaned in close so I could hear her. “If you did and wanted a drink, you’d have to hand over your keys.”
“Very responsible,” I commented. “But I don’t plan on drinking anyway.”
She offered to get me a soda and I agreed. Moving away from the bar, I explored the rest of their rec room that stretched the length of their basement. With the bar, pool table and air hockey table to the right of the stairs, most of the crowd congregated there. To the left of the stairs, I found a quieter sitting area with a huge screen. A comedy played without sound. Turning to go back, I spotted a bathroom tucked under the stairs.
Beatriz, carrying my soda, found me looking around.
“You have the perfect setup down here,” I commented.
“Yeah, but don’t use this bathroom. By the end of the night, they will have it gross. Best bet is the one all the way upstairs. Come on, I’ll show you my room while this party winds up.”
Her room on the second floor had its own immaculately clean bathroom. We stayed up there sitting on her bed talking for close to an hour. Every now and again, we’d hear another car pull up followed by shouting from the entryway. I enjoyed her company, feeling as if I’d found a friend. Briefly, I wondered what would happen when my deal with Morik expired, but didn’t dwell on it.
“Ready to head down there again?” she asked standing. “It will be way more crowded, but they’re all nice. Especially to us because we’re younger and Brad will kick them out if they’re not.”
I didn’t really want to go back. The volume had increased and the party now sounded a little on the wild side. Since Morik wasn’t here to focus my attention on finding him someone, I had to focus on finding someone for myself. And that meant I had to go where all the drunken sounding men were and start touching them.
Thinking of how I’d left mom, I stood with my empty cup and nodded. I owed it to us all to make an effort.
In the packed basement, I enjoyed a certain freedom of touching people without them even noticing thanks to Brad’s generosity at the bar. Several visions later, I grew bored and thirsty. Beatriz had caught sight of one of her brother’s close friends and pulled him to the area between pool and air hockey tables.
I approached the bar on my own. Brad spotted me, smiled and handed me a cup with pink liquid. I tried asking what it was, but all I got from his explanation was the word punch. The rest blended with the noise of the room.
The fruity punch set my head spinning by the time I drank half of it. I should have known better. Warm and needing a drink of plain water, I wove my way through the crowd making my way upstairs to the kitchen. People lingered by the snack table munching and talking.
Dumping the rest of my drink in the sink, I ran the tap looking out the kitchen window while waiting for the water to turn cold. Stars lined the sky. I’d never get tired of looking at them.
Away from the house, I caught a brief flicker of a green glow. Leaning toward the window, I scanned the dark. Had those been Morik’s eyes? Was he out there waiting for me?