Sheldon and Keenan were already downstairs by the time we finally emerged from his bedroom. His last words were still echoing in my head. While I had accepted long ago that Keiran would always hate me it didn’t make hearing it each time any easier.
We found them in the kitchen pre-gaming and setting up for the party that I was being forced to attend. Who knew my first invite to a party would be by the one person who has kept me from them…even if he was forcing me.
The first thing I noticed entering the kitchen was the mysterious, black duffle bag that Keiran and Keenan was given, now laid open and filled with bottles of alcohol.
Well I'll be damned.
I couldn’t believe that they actually bought alcohol in an illegal, street sale. At least it wasn’t drugs. The thought didn’t make me feel better. Though, I always did wonder how high school kids found their supply of alcohol for parties. I just assumed they pilfered it from their parents, though it would be kind of hard to explain the missing alcohol.
I remember, last year, Michael Hastings parents divorced shortly after a huge party he threw. Apparently his father was an alcoholic and swore to quit drinking and one day his mother found empty bottles of alcohol hidden, not thrown away, in the house. She immediately blamed his father and filed for divorce. He’s been kind of a loner ever since. The guilt must be a bitch to deal with.
“Say man, they are calling it a good year for snow this winter. I can't wait to hit the slopes this year,” Keenan said, as we entered the kitchen. He was practically bouncing with excitement.
"Why? You aren't tired of sucking back my snow, yet?"
"The only thing getting sucked is my dick tonight – Aargh, damn it, girl! That hurt!"
"Don't look like that's happening either," Keiran snorted. Keenan was now bent over in the seat protecting his crotch. He looked as if he would faint. Sheldon winked at me and I grinned.
"Anyway, Lake, it's really fun. We do it every winter over Christmas break. The slopes overlook Lake Tahoe and it's gorgeous. Just like you, right Keiran?" She grinned at him slyly.
Keiran grunted, but said nothing. He grabbed a shot glass and poured amber liquid into, quickly tossing it back and reaching for more.
"Have you ever been skiing?" Sheldon asked.
"No, I uh…don't know how."
"S'kay, we can teach you," she offered.
The guys had grown silent when Sheldon extended her invitation. Keiran stopped drinking and Keenan was no longer moaning in pain as the awkward silence descended. "Um...no that's okay. I usually just visit my grandmother at the nursing home in Red Rocks."
My maternal grandmother was stricken with Alzheimer's disease five years ago and was unable to stay with us despite my aunt’s protests. “Is that where you are from? I remember you moving here in the second grade.”
“Yeah, actually. It’s about two hours east.”
“Do you miss it?”
“No, I barely remember it,” I lied.
Talking about Red Rocks meant thinking about my parents and how I ended up here in the first place. My grandmother’s health was failing even then and my mother never knew her father so my aunt Carissa took me. I felt eyes on me and looked up to see everyone’s attention on me. Keiran was staring a hole through me and I felt exposed so I quickly averted my gaze.
“I swear if you boneheads make her cry, I’ll castrate you both!”
I chuckled, grateful for Sheldon. We barely knew each other but she was becoming a friend. Her fierce desire to stand up for me was winning me over. I can’t handle Keiran. I was too afraid of him. He’d shown me who he really was on that playground and I knew that boy was still inside – buried deep and waiting to come out.