Maine Squeeze (17 page)

Saturday night, Sam and I were walking home, both completely tired out. Blair wasn't with us because Erica had worked for her. Blair had said she had an urgent personal matter to attend to. That had us all curious, but we hadn't asked for details.

“This isn't how Saturday nights are supposed to be,” Sam said. “We're supposed to be at the movies, or the mall, or out to dinner, or—”

“Asleep,” I interrupted. “That sounds good, too, doesn't it?”

I heard a loud bass beat as we got closer to our house—the kind you usually hear coming from someone's car stereo.

“Where's that coming from?” Sam asked.

“Probably the Browns'. But they usually invite us to all their parties. Oh, well, maybe because Mom and Dad are away.” Our neighbors were famous for their summer bashes.

“Coll? I don't think that's the Browns',” Sam said as we passed by their front hedge and the music got even louder.

“What do you mean? That's
our
house?”

“I think so. Yup.”

I cringed as we turned into the driveway and I saw a sign hanging from our birch tree:
PARTY HERE
.

“Okay, so this is an urgent personal matter? She wanted to throw a party without telling us about it?” I complained.

“It's very personal, all right,” Sam said.

Dance music was blaring from the living room stereo, and someone had put a speaker in the window that pointed directly at the driveway. There were about two dozen people on the front porch—I recognized about half of them, but the other half? I'd never seen them before. Wasn't there a rule about “small gatherings only” and “not annoying the neighbors”?

In the kitchen, I waved to a few people I knew, then I peeked around the living room, looking for a sign of Blair—or Haley. Did Haley know about this, too?

The downstairs bathroom's bathtub was filled with ice and cans of soda—and beer, and some other bottled drinks.

Wasn't Rule 1 “No drugs or alcohol allowed”? How hard was that to understand?

Was it possible to break all of the house rules in one night?

I ran into Blair as I closed the bathroom door behind me. “What are you—I—we—we can't have a party like—” I was so angry that I couldn't complete my sentences.

“Hey, how's it going?” she replied with a smile. “I kind of invited some people over. What's the big deal?”

“I—we—can't do this.”

“Colleen, relax. We
are
doing this.” Blair grinned. “Isn't it great? Can you believe how many people showed?”

“No.
You're
doing this,” I said.

“I did it for all of us. It's a surprise party! Come on, aren't you surprised?”

I stepped back as a couple of guys I'd never seen before pushed past us to get to the bathtub cooler. “Very,” I said. “Why didn't you just tell me you wanted to have a party? Blair, my parents don't want anything like this happening here. They wrote it down for us, so we wouldn't forget.”

“Come on. It's just one party. It's a couple of hours of your life. Did you know today is the summer solstice? The longest day of the year. I celebrate it every year with a big party.”

“Well, I don't. Why didn't you tell me you wanted to do this?”

“It was a spur-of-the-moment-type deal.”

I frowned. If she planned it to celebrate the summer solstice, then how could it be spontaneous? Did she just find out that today was the summer solstice? I thought it was on the calendar. “You shouldn't have done it,” I said.

“Look, do you
really
want me to ask everyone to leave? Or do you want to just try and have a good time, like everyone else is?” she asked.

I didn't like the way Blair had done this at all. But she was right—I had two choices: (1) Tell everyone to get out, and (a) be hated by a crowd and (b) be considered extremely uncool, or (2) get myself some potato chips and a Coke and just try to have fun while it lasted.

So. In other words, there really wasn't much of a choice at all.

“Okay. But could we turn down the music a little?” I asked.

“No problem!” she said breezily.

I grabbed a soda for myself and went outside to sit on the porch with Sam. That's when I saw Evan walking up to the house with his cousin Jake.

Oh, great. Of course. Of course Evan would be here.

Just as I was saying hello to him and Jake, Ben cruised up on his mountain bike. “Apparently we're having a party,” I told him when he walked over to the porch steps where Sam and I were perched.

“I know—Blair called to invite me. But that was
after
I heard about it from Eddie down at the hardware store,” Ben said.

“Eddie? She invited
Eddie
?”

“I guess she walked in and invited everyone.” Ben laughed.

“Oh, my God. This is a nightmare,” Sam said. “Well, except for the fact I like parties. And there are some cute guys here. But I mean, come on—we just got off work and we can't even shower and change for a party at our very own house.” She smiled. “
Your
very own house, actually.”

“Same difference,” I told her.

“What's he doing here?” Ben gestured toward Evan, standing at the other end of the porch and talking with Blair.

“I don't know. She invited everyone, you said. They know each other from work,” I said.

“Right.” Ben shook his head. “You know, if your parents could see this place right now … They didn't even let you have a big graduation party.”

“Tell me about it,” I said. “I'm just hoping things wrap up before any real damage gets done. Do you think that's possible?”

“If you start kicking people out at midnight,” Ben said. “Good luck with that.” He patted my back and went into the house to talk to some friends.

Haley drove her family's rattling old pickup truck into the crowded driveway, saw there were no spots available, and went out to the road to park.

When she slammed the door and walked back to the house, she just stAred at me and Sam with wide eyes. “What the …?”

“Blair,” Sam and I said in unison.

At about midnight, I went upstairs to get a couple of sweaters for me, Haley, and Sam. The night was getting chilly. The party had thinned out, but there were still about thirty people milling around, dancing, talking, singing, laughing.

When I got to the top of the stairs, I nearly bumped right into Evan. I hadn't even realized he was still around; I thought he and Jake had left.

“What are you doing up here?” I asked.

“Well, I was playing a chasing game with Starsky, and he ran up here, so I followed him. And then I had to visit Hutch, so …” Evan leaned against the closet door and gave me a small smile.

He hadn't been in the house—with me—since last year. And he was leaning against the closet. That walk-in closet.

“Actually, I wanted to see what you've been working on. Some pretty good stuff. Really good, actually.”

One thing I always loved about Evan was that he was interested in my collage work. He didn't have to know there were a few I'd made about him. First, the romantic one. Then, the one with angry black brushstrokes all over the top of it. Those were, thankfully, safely stashed in a box in the closet—the Evan/last summer box. To be opened in the event of nuclear war only.

“I probably shouldn't have gone into your room without asking,” he said as I just stood there, momentarily speechless as I thought about that box and whether it was hidden well enough under a pile of winter hats, scarves, and mittens.

“No, you probably shouldn't have,” I finally said.

“Too late,” Evan said. “What are you doing up here?”

“I live here?” I said. Then I laughed. “Actually, I came up to get some sweaters.”

“You and your sweaters.” Evan stepped aside so that I could open up the closet door.

“Actually, I think, ah, sweatshirts,” I said, going into Haley's room and then Sam's to grab the sweatshirts they'd said they had hanging on the backs of their doors. Then I pulled my Bates sweatshirt off my bed, where I'd thrown it that morning.

When I came back out, I glanced awkwardly at Evan, who was now standing at the top of the stairs, apparently waiting for me. I didn't want to be alone with him, not like this. “We should get back,” I said, starting down the stairs.

“Right behind you,” Evan said.

When we walked into the kitchen, Haley was turning around from the sink, holding a bowl of freshly washed green grapes. She looked over my shoulder at Evan, then glared at me. “What are you doing?” she whispered after he went into the living room. “Why were you upstairs with him?”

“I wasn't …
with
him,” I said. “We both ended up there at the same time.”

“Whatever. Here, these are for Ben. Take them.” She shoved the glass bowl at me.

I handed her the sweatshirt. “You're welcome,” I said, annoyed by her tone. As if I were sneaking off with Evan while Ben was there. As if I'd
do
something like that. She was really selling me short if she thought that about me.

I went outside and handed Sam her sweatshirt, then held the bowl out to Ben. “Grape?”

“Look! Grapes!” Blair cried, stumbling over with a couple of slightly drunk friends of hers.

“It's going to be a long night,” Ben murmured to me. “Or … morning.”

I leaned against him and put my arm around his waist. “Please don't leave,” I said.

“I can stay until one, but that's it,” he said. “My parents are waiting up for me, you know.”

“Maybe we should go to
your
house, then.” I smiled up at him.

“Helloooooo! Colleen? Colleen!”

I blinked my eyes a few times and peered at the alarm clock beside my bed. Ten twenty
A.M
. Who was that yelling my name?

“Colleen! You up there?” my uncle Frank's voice echoed over the stairwell.

“Oh no. Oh no.” I remembered falling asleep with Ben sitting on my bed, stroking my hair.
Please let him be gone, please,
I thought. Ben and I had never had a sleepover, and I really didn't want today to be the first time he ended up in my bed in the morning.

I opened my eyes and slowly turned over and saw that he was gone. “Phew,” I said out loud. I quickly threw on some shorts and a fresh T-shirt and called out the bedroom door, “Be right down!” I brushed my hair, slipped on some flip-flops, and hurried downstairs.

“Hey, you guys—what a surprise!” I said with a big smile. Which was the understatement of the year. I cringed at the pile of dishes in the sink and the trash can overflowing with plastic cups.

“We brought you some breakfast.” Aunt Sue held up a straw basket filled with blueberry muffins. “Hot, too! Well, they were.”

“Thanks so much—those look awesome,” I said. “So, what brings you by?”

“Good morning!” Haley said as she walked into the kitchen, looking as sleepy as I felt. I couldn't believe we'd all slept so late—then again, we'd been up pretty late.

“Hello, Haley,” Uncle Frank said.

No sooner had he said hello than there were thundering footsteps coming down the stairs. A guy I vaguely remembered seeing at the party bolted past us with an awkward wave and ran outside.

Aunt Sue couldn't have looked more shocked than I felt. Was that guy coming out of Haley's room? The house rule was: no sleepovers. Haley's rule had always been: no dumb, one-night things with guys. What was going on?

“Who was that?” Aunt Sue asked.

Uncle Frank was already out on the porch, watching whoever it was sprint down the road. If my uncle chased someone away from the house, I would feel very, very embarrassed. For both of them. And anyone who happened to see them.

“Oh, that was …” I hesitated. Who
was
that?

“That was Chuck,” Haley quickly said.

Aunt Sue looked suspiciously at her. “Chuck who, Haley?”

I was wondering the same thing myself.

“Chuck, ah … Chuck Jacobs,” Haley stammered.

I just stared at Haley. Had she really been with this Chuck Jacobs guy? And who was he?

“And what was he doing here at ten thirty in the morning, upstairs?” Aunt Sue asked.

“Well, uh, he came over to help clear the drains,” Haley said. “In the upstairs bathroom. You know Blair, who lives here? She's got really long, thick hair, and it completely clogs the drains.”

This was all starting to sound vaguely credible. I couldn't believe it.

Haley stretched her arms over her head. “So when I tried to take a shower this morning, everything was overflowing. I called Chuck.”