She led the duo to the kitchen. Caitlin and Marta were comfortable at Hannah’s place and her mom liked them. They lived up to Kim’s exacting standards: well mannered, academically successful, engaged in school activities. But like Hannah, they were growing up. Marta’s parents had taken her back to their native Brazil for Christmas and Marta had met a boy. Marta was pretty, in a stout, swarthy sort of way, but she wasn’t the kind of girl the boys at Hillcrest liked. Brazilian boys, apparently, had different taste, because Marta and her new beau had been sexting ever since her return. (Marta had shown Caitlin and Hannah the dick pic he’d sent her. Gross. When Hannah did go all the way with Noah, she wasn’t even going to look at that thing.) Caitlin was still pretty square—it didn’t help that she looked about nine, with her curly auburn hair and freckles—but she’d recently admitted to dipping into her mom’s medicine cabinet. Hannah prayed they’d be able to up their game for Lauren and Ronni tonight.
The girls loitered while Hannah’s parents prepared snack plates for them to take downstairs. Her mom peppered her friends with questions: “How’s school?” “Marta, are you still in drama club?” “How’s the volleyball team, Caitlin?” And her dad cracked jokes that weren’t really funny, but the girls laughed anyway—just to be polite, or maybe because they appreciated the effort. When the doorbell rang again, Hannah knew it had to be Lauren and Ronni. She scurried to answer it, a mixture of relief and excitement making her sweaty.
“Oh my god! You’re here!” Crap . . . She sounded like she was in second grade. She had to dial down the enthusiasm. But Lauren and Ronni squealed with delight and hugged her.
Lauren leaned into Hannah. “Tonight is going to be amazing.”
“Totally,” Ronni echoed.
Hannah felt the butterflies in her stomach activate. She was thankful for the container of vodka tucked under the sofa yet still terrified her parents would discover it. She navigated the girls to the kitchen.
When they entered, Hannah saw her mom’s eyes land on the arrivals. Her face relayed blatant disapproval as she took in Ronni’s cleavage and thick foundation, Lauren’s bare midriff and visible belly-button ring. Kim quickly masked the expression with a phony smile, but not before Hannah caught it.
“Hi, Ronni,” Kim said. “I saw your mom today.”
“Yeah, she told me.”
“It was nice to see her. It’s been way too long.”
“That’s what she said, too.”
Kim turned to Lauren. “You must be Lauren.”
“Hey . . .” Lauren sounded both bored and uncomfortable at the same time.
Hannah watched the subtle yet unmistakable hardening of her mom’s expression. Kim hated Lauren on sight; there was no hiding it. Hannah turned away. It was her birthday and she wasn’t going to spend it worrying about what her mom thought of her friends. She was starting to realize that Kim was a really judgmental person. If a girl wore too much makeup, had some body art or a piercing, her mom thought she was trashy. If a kid didn’t get straight A’s, didn’t study three hours a night, or didn’t belong to a sports team, she wasn’t up to her mom’s standards. God forbid a sixteen-year-old wants to have some fun, to create some memories that didn’t revolve around sports or academics. Hannah lifted a snack tray. “Let’s go downstairs, guys.”
Her dad’s voice called after them. “You girls go ahead. Your manservant will bring down the pizza.” They all laughed, even Lauren. Maybe her dad was kind of funny?
In the musty basement, the girls dumped their gear in a corner and pounced on the sofa. “What did your parents get you for your birthday?” Marta asked.
Hannah held out her wrist for review of the diamond bracelet, and the girls gushed appropriately. She smiled and bit her lip. It was a really cute bracelet.
Lauren said, “What did Noah get you?”
Hannah felt her face flush. “Nothing . . .” Ronni and Lauren exchanged a look that made Hannah feel she should elaborate. “I haven’t even seen him today. And I didn’t really expect anything. We’re still casual.”
Ronni said, “I bet he’s got something for you.”
“Yeah, he’s got something for her,” Lauren said. “His big dick!”
All the girls burst into laughter, and Hannah forced herself to laugh along, but her cheeks burned with embarrassment.
When the giggles subsided, Marta said, “I got you a present.” She moved to her stack of belongings, prompting the others to follow suit.
“You didn’t have to,” Hannah said as the girls rummaged for their gifts, but she was delighted. Presents from parents were great; they were definitely more likely to be big-ticket, but gifts from friends were guaranteed to be cool, thoughtful, and relevant. When the girls were reassembled, Hannah opened Marta’s first. It was a set of floral-scented lotions. “I love them!” She hugged Marta, then turned to Lauren and Ronni.
Ronni hugged the small gift bag to her chest, giggling. “You have to open this one last.”
Caitlin handed over a cool pair of earrings that her cousin, an aspiring jewelry designer, had made. Hannah gave her oldest friend a quick hug of thanks. Now it was time for Lauren and Ronni’s present. She knew it would be perfect, whatever it was.
Ronni looked toward the door, the gift bag in her hand. “The units aren’t going to come down, are they?”
“Not till the pizza gets here. And we’ll hear them on the stairs.”
Lauren and Ronni exchanged another gleeful look. “Okay,” Lauren said, grabbing the bag from Ronni and thrusting it to Hannah. “Open it.”
Hannah plunged her hand into the rustling tissue paper, her fingers alighting on something silky. Lauren and Ronni watched with wicked grins as Hannah extracted a slip of sheer, cherry-red fabric.
“It’s a thong.” Caitlin stated the obvious.
Lauren and Ronni giggled. “There’s a matching bra, too,” Ronni added.
Hannah pulled out the bra: plunging, red, push-up. It looked like something a supermodel would wear on the runway. Or a stripper on a pole. She feigned enthusiasm. “I love it!”
Lauren leaned back on the sofa. “Noah’s going to splooge in his pants when he sees you in that.”
Marta and Caitlin gasped, scandalized. Hannah tried to play it cool, but the thought of her and Noah and red lingerie made her whole body prickle.
“Don’t let your mom find them,” Ronni said. “She’d totally murder you.”
“I’ve got a great hiding place,” Hannah lied. “Don’t worry.”
Upstairs, the doorbell rang: pizza. Soon, a rumble on the stairs and the hot cardboardy scent of pizza announced her parents’ descent. Hannah stuffed the lingerie under a sofa cushion just as her dad boomed, “Pizza delivery!” He entered carrying the large square box, trailed by her mom with a stack of plates and napkins. The girls shifted the other snack trays so her parents could set the pizza and accoutrements on the coffee table.
Her dad hovered above them for a moment. “What? No tip?” The girls forced a laugh. He was trying way too hard, and Hannah wanted him to leave.
“You’ve got everything you need then?” Her mom scanned the room.
“We’re good,” Hannah said quickly. “Thanks.”
“Yeah, thanks . . . ,” the other girls murmured.
But her mom wasn’t quite ready to depart. “We have a few rules in this house.”
“Mom . . . ,” Hannah whined. “They’ve all been here before.”
“Lauren hasn’t.” Her mom looked to Lauren and then included them all. “We won’t tolerate any drugs, alcohol, or pornography.”
Pornography? God, her mom was so out of touch. As if sixteen-year-old girls sat around looking at dicks as a party activity. She was about to enlighten her mother, but Lauren said, “That’s cool,” in her bored, nasal voice. Hannah realized she must reserve this tone for adults. Or maybe she always sounded this way but Hannah only noticed it when her mom was listening.
“No smoking, of course,” Kim added. “It’s a fire hazard in addition to causing cancer.”