Rymer shot her a dirty look, then turned and started jabbing the twenty back in Trip’s direction. “Seriously. It’s your first night hanging with us. Take it.”
By that time, Trip was almost finished filling the fourth cup. “Not gonna happen, dude. Just take it off my tab the next time.”
Then he clinked his cup against mine and gave me a wink which almost made me spit up my mouthful of beer.
“By the way,” he added, “Who the hell tapped this thing? They foamed the hell out of it.”
We all started laughing again because it was a great slam on Rymer, who obviously must have tapped his own keg. Poorly.
Normally, having been shown up in front of his friends, Rymer would have gone on the rampage. I don’t know why Trip was given a free pass. Maybe Rymer was trying to be welcoming to the new kid. It’s possible he may have just realized he was being a jerk. Then again, maybe he thought he’d finally met his match and just didn’t want to get his ass kicked.
The thing was, Trip managed to put Rymer in his place without completely tearing him to shreds. Hell, Rymer actually had a smile on his face! I’d never seen anyone get away with that.
Just as we were pulling it together, Cooper pointed out Trip’s two beers and asked, “Yo. What’s with the double-fisting tonight?”
Trip didn’t miss a beat and answered him with, “Double fisting? What, is your sister around?”
We all lost our minds cracking up. Even Coop was forced to crack a smile as Rymer gave Trip another high-five. While we were catching our breath, Tess Valletti walked out onto the deck.
She walked right over to Trip, who handed her a drink in an unmistakable gesture that said they were together.
Unbelievable. The guy was in town for less than a week and he’d already managed to start dating Tess Valletti.
Here’s the 411 on Tess: She was a year older than us, so she’d graduated the previous June. During her four years at St. Norman’s, she was drooled over by every straight male in the vicinity. Tall, blonde and funny, she was not only gorgeous, but popular, too.
She used to only date college guys, much to the average high-school-girl’s relief. The fact that Trip-a senior in high school, mind you-was able to get her to go out with him was pretty impressive. The fact that she let him drag her to a high school party was nothing short of miraculous.
She and I were in the same typing class the year before, so we actually knew each other pretty well even though we didn’t really hang out too much or anything.
“Hey, Layla!” she said.
“Hi Tess. How’s it going?”
She took a sip of her beer. “Great. Really great. Well, you know, aside from the fact that I’m here at Rymer’s and all.”
Everyone thought that was just hysterical, of course.
Lisa would never admit it, but I knew she was euphoric once Tess finally graduated, giving her the chance to ascend to her rightful and long-awaited position as Queen Bee. Yet here she found herself back in Tess’s shadow only two weeks into her reign.
Lisa couldn’t allow herself to take a backseat any longer and decided to pipe in. “So, Tess... How the heck did you wind up here tonight?”
Tess shot Trip a sly look and joked, “Oh, you know. The usual, boring old story. I was on my way to meet some girlfriends out tonight when I got hit on by some random guy at the convenience store.”
Trip threw an arm around her shoulders and added, “Yeah. Last time I was at the 7-11, all I picked up was a Slurpee.”
Lisa and I laughed, but I was feeling pretty torn up inside. Seeing the two of them together was just the slightest bit devastating. They looked like a page ripped out of a magazine, standing there with their dazzling good looks and their suggestive smiles. They gave off the vibe that they were part of some secret club the rest of us would never be asked to join. What, do beautiful people have radar or something for one another?
Chapter 8
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
I spent the next couple of hours hanging out with some girls from my art class. Just as we decided to start a game of Quarters, Lisa grabbed my arm and pulled me over to a more private corner of the kitchen. “Oh my God, Pickford’s here!” she managed to whisper-scream in my ear.
Pickford was Penelope Redy’s twin brother, but I didn’t really know him too well. Lisa had been eyeing him up since the first day of school. He’d shot up about six inches and apparently spent the entire summer vacation lifting weights, because he showed up for senior year looking like a completely different person. Tall, dark and lean, with just enough muscle to not appear lanky. He wasn’t really my type-I’d recently been displaying a particular affinity for blondes- but he was definitely cute. It wasn’t easy to transition, but Pick was always a well-liked guy and with the new abs and attitude, Lisa figured it wouldn’t be long before he sidled on in to our group. That he’d shown up at Rymer’s was an encouraging start.