Shark Bait (The Grab Your Pole Series) (35 page)

And I gotta tell ya, after hearing Jeff go to bat in English, in that voicemail, and then tonight, I’m beginning to see part of why Kate loves him so much. The guy is a definite clown like she said, but his dedication to her does him immense credit. Not only that, but he’s got a pretty good grasp on how to express love and he’s not afraid to let anyone see that he does it with unparalleled passion.

18.

Just Beggin’ For Trouble

Now I have to admit something here, if all the previous untruths haven’t been enough, I also lied to my parents about where I’d be sleeping Saturday night…

Mike’s Halloween party was going to be
LEGEND
, and since his parents were in Cancun, he’d extended an invitation to select people to crash at his house. Kate, Melissa, and I were a few of those chosen. When we found out about our invite two weeks ago, we all thought we should take him up on the offer because chances were, we’d all want to be drinking at least a little. I mean I figure I can handle a beer or two if I stay hydrated and away from all forms of bubble baths, you know? It was also rumored to be a
really
fun night and none of us would be ready to leave by the time my curfew rolled around. I’m guessing it won’t be your typical kegger if what I’ve heard is true; Mike apparently goes all out for this event every year.

We got ready at Kate’s house and then we picked up Pete so we could make a grand entrance. We purposefully showed up about an hour after the start time, ensuring enough people would be present to witness the ridiculous spectacle we made of ourselves by hanging all over “Lonely Pete.” Little did I know it at the time, but the events that would unfold during the evening would lead to the longest and most emotionally exhausting night of my life thus far.

It would also probably go down as the most photographed. Mike, dressed as Hugh Heffner, and Kristen who was his Playboy Bunny, had requested people remember their cameras. He also supplied an ungodly amount of disposable cameras like people do for wedding receptions, except I swear, it seemed like every person at the party had one. Once full, the cameras were to be left in big buckets stationed around his house, although what he plans to do with the pictures, I haven’t a clue.

Our entrance went off without a hitch and from what I could tell; Pete loved every minute of it. Throughout the first part of the night we took turns fanning him with a big palm branch, bringing him drinks and even feeding him the grapes we brought with us. It was a total riot. It was also a really good idea that we’d decided to stay the night; Mike was serving the very yummy Pirate Punch again except this time, it’s in one of those tiered fountain things and there’s dry ice in the bottom bowl, making it bubble and look like blood. Lime green Jell-O shots that I discovered are pretty damned tasty and hard to pass up, were also plentiful.

Now, I’m not sure who suggested it—actually, I wanna say it was someone dressed as Darth Vader, because in hindsight, I seem to remember hearing the suggestion come from the dry rasping that’s indicative of Darth’s mechanical voice, however I can’t recall actually seeing a Darth Vader at the party, but anyway—being just a tad bit tipsy and probably taking the joke too far, Melissa and I both allowed Pete to do body shots off of us amid much hoopla, cheering, and flash bulbs. Keith was cool with it because he knew it was part of the gag, but Tristan was
so
less than thrilled with having to watch some other guy suck liquor out of my bellybutton. As soon as he realized what was about to happen, he turned pale and violently stalked out of the room. After what I’d witnessed last weekend had done to me, I felt my causing that reaction was only fair. He also literally shoved a couple of people out of his way when they were slow to respond to his facial expression and I was told later by Kate, he practically bit their heads off when he growled “Get the fuck outta my way, now!” at them. Oh and just so you know, we were doing this while being draped across the counter of the wet bar in a room of the house that’s meant for formal entertaining. With that, the strobe lights and the music playing, it was probably a really steamy scene, but honestly, it wasn’t meant to be.

A short time later I overheard a partial conversation between Tristan and Pete and it sounded like Pete was apologizing…or, pleading for his life.

“—was just all in good fun, you
know
that, right dude?” Pete asked with concern very evident in his voice. He was also having a hard time looking Tristan in the eyes. I’m not sure if he’s worried about his health or what, but he
is
worried.

“Yeah, sure…no blood, no foul,” Tristan said with
much
hostility and a heavy dose of animosity.

By the way, Tristan isn’t wearing a costume so much as a damned funny shirt. It’s a picture of French fries with a single onion ring in the middle of them and across the top it reads: “One Ring to Rule Them All” which is totally meant to be a play on the
Lord of the Rings
.

“I promise I won’t so much as
touch
her ever again.”

Tristan looked like he was about to go through the roof at the mere suggestion of it happening again, but he only turned around and left Pete staring at his fiercely rigid back.

Now really, what the hell? I do
not
belong to him, so where does he get off with this proprietary attitude towards me? For Christ’s sake, he’s not even talking to me anymore, so I don’t see how he can justify this behavior in the least! I went to find Kate to complain and found her sampling some of the tasty treats laid out in the formal dining room. I don’t know if Mike had this thing catered or what, but you should see the spread here… There’s all kinds of food; from a honey-glazed baked ham all the way down to pumpkin shaped and colored rice crispy treats with chocolate drizzled over them, and there probably isn’t any kind of booze not present and there’s definitely no short supply of it either. All out indeed!

“Can you believe the nerve of him?” I asked Kate with massive indignation after describing what I’d just heard and seen.

Kate was licking chocolate off of her fingers, having just eaten her third chocolate covered marshmallow spider. They have licorice—blechk—legs and M&Ms for eyes…they’re really cute and I’d have a couple if it wasn’t for the licorice.

“You know, Camie, it sounds like he’s coming apart at the seams…Jeff (who’s dressed as a bathroom wall complete with graffiti, paper seat covers, and toilet paper…freaking hilarious!) thinks a massive meltdown of some kind isn’t far off. He also thinks you should give Tristan a break, but totally understands why you’re not.”

“Yeah, well this whole thing is his own damned fault. What’s your opinion? I mean, what do
you
think I should do?” I asked and watched her survey the sixteen-seat table laden with real food.

She shrugged and started building a sandwich. “Honestly, I think this is something you have to figure out on your own…I mean you have to do what
you
feel comfortable with, you know?”

“I get that, Kate, I do. I’m just looking for some direction...or feedback,
something
that’ll help me figure out where I’m at and where I should go.”

“Okay, well, Melissa believes that deep-down, you still really wanna be with him, but the question is still can you put this behind you and forgive him, and also, you need to consider how long he’ll wait for you to figure it out. He still wants you, that’s obvious, but if this goes on much longer, Melissa and I
both
think there’s a very real possibility that he’ll decide to just say fuck it and move on. However, Jeff’s opinion is that Tristan’s fighting a losing battle by not admitting how he really feels about you and he’s not handling the guilt well at all. I personally think that if you guys can just hash this whole thing out, things might be okay but, I’m not you, if that makes sense,” Kate told me through a mouthful of her ham sandwich.

Sighing, I looked into my empty cup and then stuck it under a spout for more O Positive. “I just don’t know, Kate, I mean…I feel like there’s this amazing connection between us and I do desperately wanna be with him but, I feel betrayed and so much more. I can’t get a handle on any of my emotions so maybe he
should
just move on because I don’t know if I’m ever gonna be able to confront him. And it’s obvious that I’ll have to be the one to do it but even if I did, I don’t know what I want so it seems kinda pointless for me to do right now.”

Despite hearing those honest thoughts on the matter, I left Kate in the dining room without having gotten any further in knowing what I should do. Our conversation informed me though, that Kate and Jeff are now really talking again and apparently, Jeff’s being completely upfront about what’s going on with Tristan and me. So, it seems, the only people who
aren’t
talking openly about us, is us…

With everything else going on, I’m sure you can probably imagine how the tension climbed several notches when dressed as an unimaginative pirate, Zack showed up with a good handful of his friends. In the beginning he was simply friendly and we hung out in a group in the living room for a while. It really wasn’t a big deal; at least I didn’t think it was. However, when Mike asked me to help him bring out some more Jell-O shots from the second fridge in the pantry, I was surprised to find his intentions for asking me were something entirely different from needing another pair of hands.

The second he shut the door and we were alone, Mike turned serious and got straight to business. “Look, I don’t know what’s goin’ on with you guys and quite frankly, I don’t need or even wanna know, but I like you Camie, so I just hope you know what you’re doin’ by spending time with Zack.”

“Mike, I appreciate the concern but really, I’m not interested in Zack and I don’t get why talking to him is such a big deal. Things between Tristan and me are really messed up right now and we’re not even talking. Besides, it’s not like he has any rights to me anyway, so it’s ridiculous for me to have to pick and choose who I’m friends with based on him.”

I’ll be honest, I’m feeling slightly annoyed. I really do like Mike, but I’m getting tired of being told how much Tristan hates Zack…it’s like everyone telling Jillian how much I hate Teresa. I mean come on, I’m more than aware of that fact. Not only has he personally told me, but I see it in Tristan’s face and I can even feel it, but he’s the one who refuses to actually say anything about what’s going on now
or
how feels about me and it’s pissing me off!

“Alright, if you say so, but I just wanna warn you…even if you don’t like Zack, that feeling is
not
mutual and when, not
if
, but
when
Zack does something to prove that fact and Tristan sees it, because I goddamned guarantee you that Zack will pick the worst possible moment to rub it in his face, things are gonna get bloody. And I’d stake my life on it happenin’ tonight. You might believe Tristan doesn’t have rights to you, but Camie, I promise you,
he
thinks he does and most every guy here acknowledges that. And another thing, your costume is just beggin’ for trouble. I already know he’s
really
unhappy just with the looks you’re gettin’ from other guys…fuck, he almost tore Pete apart after those body shots and they’re really fuckin’ good friends. Seriously, I think the only thing that saved Pete from a trip to the ER was that Tristan didn’t watch him actually do any of ‘em…

“What I’m getting at here, Camie, is that I don’t think there’s anyone else in attendance tonight with a fuckin’ death wish who’ll put his rights to you to the test
aside
from Zack who’s actually lookin’ for an opportunity to do it. So when the shit goes down, I hope you’re ready…that’s all I’m sayin’.” Mike then opened the door for us to re-enter the party without having brought out any Jell-O shots whatsoever.

So yeah, Mike pretty much says what’s on his mind alright and now thanks to his little version of an intervention, my nerves are wound tighter than a watch spring. Mike also gets to keep his life because he was right about tonight and, well...everything.

Feeling the weight and strain from what “Heff” had seen fit to confide in me, I did a couple Jell-O shots—I don’t know, maybe it was more like five…I’m in no condition to do math of any kind. I refilled my cup and then, to get away from the strobe lights inside, I went outside for some fresh air.

All the trees and bushes were decorated with dimly lit ghosts and bats with purple lights strewn throughout, while with the aid of realistic looking headstones and cobwebbing, strategically placed buckets of dry ice and multiple fog machines, the rest of grounds were done up to look like an ancient graveyard. The effect wasn’t so much creepy as it was mysterious. At least it would’ve been if the party music hadn’t been piped outside through a surround sound system with speakers that looked like rocks. That and add the myriad people milling about the backyard snapping pictures; the mystery factor was toned down quite a bit.

I decided not to tempt fate by deliberately socializing with Zack and his friends, who by the way were all being rather rowdy. Instead, I returned to hanging out with my regular group. Tristan, however, was nowhere to be seen.

Some time later I was trying to not think about my predicament by dancing the night away, but because of Tristan’s unknown whereabouts, I didn’t try to find a way to skirt Zack when he came up to stand next to me. Jeff was throwing daggers at him with his eyes, but he did a really good job of keeping his cool for Kate whom he was periodically holding out a bowl of shrimp cocktail for her to munch on whilst she boogied. Mike was merely watchful and most everyone else pretended like it wasn’t an issue, although everyone knew it was. Melissa joined the largish group of us dancing while Keith came up and stood next to Zack with his arms folded across his chest. His stance gave me the distinct impression that although Keith and Zack are friends, Keith wasn’t too happy with Zack at the moment.

And then, in the blink of an eye—which is pretty damned quick—the shit Mike had warned me about finally came down. It all happened so fast and in a blur that a lot of details are next to impossible to give, but it all started when Zack simultaneously leaned down to say something to me, which totally looked like he was about to kiss me. And now that I think about it, I think maybe he was because he also put his hand smack-dab on my ass to pull me towards him. As I glared at him and made to swat his hand away, I heard a variety of voices saying different things, but all spoken essentially at the same time…