CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
With five of us, we had to take two separate cabs to the party. There was a slightly weird moment where I wasn’t sure who to ride with, Dex and Jenn or Emily and Rebecca. I really was the fifth wheel in this case, the singleton. But luckily Rebecca was the first one to speak up and insist that I was riding with her and Emily. Fine by me.
I got in our cab (the first to arrive), which smelled like incense and was filled with the sounds of Bhangra music.
As the cab pulled away from Dex and Jenn’s apartment, Emily started making small talk with the driver about the impending snowfall, while Rebecca picked up my non-welted hand and gave it squeeze.
“So,” she said, leaning in close, her voice dancing. “That couldn’t have gone better.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Oh, come on, Perry. You saw the way Dex was looking at you. We ambushed you guys. He was holding your hand; I saw it.”
I shrugged, not wanting to think too much into it lest my heart start eating away at my logic. “Think nothing of it.”
“I know what you’re doing,” she whispered.
“Do you?” I asked, fixing my eyes on her to show I meant business.
She wasn’t fazed. “Yes.”
Then she brought out the bottle of Jager from her purse. “Pardon me, good sir,” she said, tapping the cabbie on the shoulder. “Do you mind if we quickly imbibe from this? We will be neat and tidy.”
The cabbie eyed the bottle quickly, then eyed Rebecca’s chest. “If you’re quick. Don’t spill, you’ll pay the fine,” he said, pointing at the sign on the door that indicated we’d be paying for any wayward liquids or vomit.
She nodded. “Don’t worry.”
She took a shot straight out of the bottle, then handed it to Emily and me. We exchanged a worried glance between each other, though I suppose the Shownet virgins of the bunch needed it the most, and followed through. The shot burned less the second time, but I was already feeling saucy and lightheaded, which was typically a bad combination.
“I wonder how awkward Jenn and Dex’s car ride is,” I mused out loud.
“Well, if I know them,” Rebecca offered, “one of them is giving the other the silent treatment. Though at this stage, I couldn’t say who. They definitely aren’t acting normal, that’s for certain.”
“You think you’ll make a move tonight?” Emily asked, leaning forward on the other side of her partner.
“Me?”
“Yes darling, you,” Rebecca said. She drummed her long manicured nails on her knees along to the music. The snow outside was starting to stick to the windshield. “If you don’t make a move on him tonight, Perry, I think you’re missing out. You are so bloody alike.”
I let what she said stew in my mind. We were alike. I was seeing this more and more each day. Either we always were, or it was a byproduct of spending too much time together. Maybe he was becoming more like me, as I was becoming more like him. I was certainly adapting to the fearlessness he seemed to possess, at least on the surface. But that didn’t mean anything. It happened all the time with people who were together a lot.
Soon we were pulling up to the restaurant just outside of the downtown area, down by the waterfront where the ferries and cruise ships were. It looked like a normal restaurant in a brick building, nothing fancy, and certainly not indicating there was a party inside.
But as soon as we all stepped out of the cab, after squabbling over who was paying the cab fare (Emily won because she had an actual “real” job), I recognized Dean and Seb standing outside the doorway sharing a cigarillo. The light snow fell lightly around us and was sticking to the ground in bits. To quote a song, it was beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.
I held my jacket close to me and Emily and I both hovered nearby as Rebecca went to hug both of the gamers. They extended the same courtesy to us. When Dean pulled back from our embrace he got the same look on his face that Dex had earlier.
“Wow,” he stuttered.
“Thank you,” I replied with a smile, remembering Dex’s words about taking a compliment. I’d take “wow” as a compliment, wouldn’t you?
“You look great,” he said, and jerked his thumb at me while glancing at Rebecca. “You talk to Bradley about her? Maybe you guys need a third babe in Wine Babes.”
I laughed. “Aw, hell no.”
He grinned at me. “Well, you just went up a few more points in my book.”
“Score for me,” I said with a wink. I don’t know why I winked; I never winked at anyone before, but out it came. The dress, the makeup, the Jager…it was all very dangerous. And suddenly making a “move” on Dex seemed to be not only possible but not the most important thing this evening either. There was a chance I could catch the eyes of other men. Dean was a bit too nerdy to be my type, and Seb seemed to be a bit of a thirty-something slacker, but who knew who else was inside?
“How’s the party?” Rebecca asked.
“Lame. It’s too early, though you guys are some of the last ones to arrive,” he said, taking a puff of the cigarillo and passing it to Seb, who had so far remained quiet. Judging from the red glaze to his eyes, he was just probably very baked.
“Are Jenn and Dex here yet?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he thumbed now at the door. “They got here a few minutes ago.”
“I don’t know how they beat our cab,” Rebecca said, shaking her head. “What about Bradley?”
“Not yet,” Dean said. “But Jimmy is here and he’s in a good mood, buying drinks for people. It’s not an open bar but at least the drinks are cheap and the food is free. As is the karaoke. But man, I wish they had a rule that you didn’t have to listen to it until you were good and drunk.”
He reached out and tapped me lightly on my shoulder. I was shaking in my spot, feeling the cold flakes land on my bare legs. Tights would have been smart.
“He’s looking forward to meeting you again,” he said to me.
I bet, I thought. “Shall we go inside? I’m dying a bit.”
Dean nodded and Seb tossed the smoke out onto a patch of snow that had just formed.
We walked into the restaurant, which was filled with patrons. It was somewhat fancy in that modern way, which meant white tablecloths, black napkins, weird fountains and artwork and lots of mirrors and glass. The waitresses were all dressed like hookers in black.
“We’ve got the room in the back,” Dean said over his shoulder, and we followed him past the main dining room, down a narrow corridor past the bathrooms and into a smaller, cozier space.
The design was the same but there were only about eight round tables with about two to six people at each one. There was an open buffet of appetizers; a small bar in the corner and in front of the room was a small stage where the karaoke machine was hooked up. The lyrics to “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” were playing on a screen behind it and some middle-aged man in a Hawaiian shirt was doing his best Elton John and/or George Michael impression. It wasn’t very good.
We all cringed in unison at the off-key wails and looked around the party. We spotted Dex and Jenn at the table near the back of the room. It was empty, which was sign enough that we should make our way over.
As we did so, every single head in the room turned to look at us. Most of the people I didn’t recognize at all, but they seemed to know me. They leaned in close to each other and whispered. I didn’t want to know what they were saying.
I stopped in front of Dex and Jenn. They were watching the guy perform and laughing at him, but Dex immediately stood up and pulled out a chair for me beside him.
I smiled quickly at him and sat down as neatly as possible, with Rebecca and Emily going beside me. Dean and Seb went and sat at the table next to us, beside Jimmy Kwan and his very pretty, very petite half-Asian wife. At least, that’s who I assumed it was. Jimmy was Korean-American and I knew he was married, despite the odds (not because he’s Korean, but because he’s a jerk).
I managed to stop staring at them before they looked over.
“How did you guys beat us here?” I asked, leaning closer to Dex.