Stolen (8 page)

“This is the party, right?” There’s the sound of music coming from the backyard, and the smell of charcoal and smoke, like someone’s having a bonfire or cooking out.

“Yeah,” he says, quickening his pace so he can move in front of me. “But you can’t just go in without me.”

“Why not?” I’m bluffing, of course. No way I want to go into a party where I don’t know anyone. But I don’t want him to think that I need him, either. So I keep walking.

“Because they don’t take kindly to the summer people,” he says.

I turn around and look at him. “They don’t take kindly to the summer people?”

“Yeah.” He stops and looks at me. “They’re all locals. And they don’t like the summer people.”

“So let me get this straight,” I say, folding my arms across my chest. “This is a party full of locals, and they all hate the summer people.”

“Right.”

“Even though you said I could make friends here.”

“Right.”

“So you lied to me, why, exactly?”

“I’m not the one who wanted you to come,” he says, giving me that same infuriating grin. “Remember?”

“You know what,” I say, “You’re right.” I turn on my heel and start to walk back toward the street. I don’t really want to give him the satisfaction, but if he’s going to be a complete jerk about it, then I don’t care. Besides, what’s the point of going to this stupid party if everyone there is going to hate me?

I pull my phone out of my bag so that I can call my mom to come and pick me up.

She’ll probably be annoyed, but maybe now she’ll see that it’s never a good idea to send your daughter away with some random guy. Wait until she hears about him filming that poor man in the drugstore. Wait until my dad hears about it! He definitely won’t like it one bit.

But before I can dial, Lucas appears by my side and takes the phone out of my hand.

“Hey!” I say, reaching for it. “Give it back!”

“Listen,” he says, “I’m sorry.”

“Right. Just like you were sorry last time?”

“No,” he says. “This time I really mean it.” I wait for him to say something else, but he doesn’t.

“That’s it?” I ask. “That’s your big speech to convince me?”

“That’s it,” he says, shrugging. “I’m sorry. I’m being a dick. But I still think you should come to the party. No one’s going to be mean to you. I just said that to piss you off.”

He holds my phone out to me, and I take it, my hand brushing against his.

“Fine,” I say, turning back toward the house. “But I don’t forgive you.”

“Of course not.”

“And this doesn’t mean we’re friends or anything.”

“Wouldn’t expect it to,” he says.

And then we walk through the side yard and into the backyard.

***

Davis, the kid who’s throwing the party, turns out to be even crazier than Lucas.

As soon as we walk into the backyard, he comes over to greet us. He’s wearing a chef’s hat and an apron that says, “I have your low carb diet right here” with an arrow pointing down. How disgusting.

“LUCAS!” he yells when he sees us. He’s holding a big fork with a sausage on the end of it. “My man! Glad you could make it!” He claps Lucas on the back, and the sausage drops to the ground a few inches from my foot.

“Ooops,” Davis says, and forks the sausage back up. He brushes it off with his finger and then takes a bite. “Still good,” he says, sounding relieved. He holds it out to me. “You want a bite of sausage, Lucas’s new girlfriend?”

“I’m not his new girlfriend,” I say.

“And she doesn’t want a bite of sausage,” Lucas says.

“Don’t tell me what I want,” I say.

“So you do want a bite of sausage?” Lucas shoots back.

“Yes,” I say. And before I can let myself think about whatever kind of disgusting bacteria are lurking on it, I reach out and take a bite. It’s surprisingly good for a piece of meat that’s been on the ground and prepared by a stranger wearing a totally inappropriate apron.

“So you’re not Lucas’s new girlfriend?” Davis is asking. He’s kind of looking at me in awe after I ate that sausage.

“No,” I say.

“Then who are you?” he wants to know.

“I’m the girl who’s renting his house,” I say.

“Wow,” Davis says. “Hot! You want to come and help me cook?”

“No,” Lucas says, shaking his head. “She does not want to come and help you cook.”

“Why not?” I ask. “And stop answering for me.”

“Yeah, why not?” Davis asks.

“Because,” Lucas says. “She wants to enjoy the party. She doesn’t want to be stuck standing next to you in front of some hot grill all night.”

I look at Davis. Besides the apron, he seems harmless enough. Kind of fun, even.

And at least he’s being friendly.

“I don’t mind standing next to you,” I say.

“See?” Davis grins and puffs his chest out. “She doesn’t mind.” He links his free arm through mine and starts leading me over to the grill. But before we’ve even taken a couple of steps, a blonde girl pushes her way through the crowd and heads toward us.

“Oh, God,” Davis says, wrinkling up his nose. “Lucas’s New Girlfriend, meet Lucas’s Old Girlfriend.”

“My name’s Emily,” I correct him. “And I’m not Lucas’s new girlfriend, remember?”

“Emily’s a hot name,” Davis says, staring at me in wonder. “And you have hot red hair.”

“You’re here with Lucas?” the blonde girl asks. She’s next to us now, and wearing a super short red and white summer dress. She has that look on her face that beautiful girls always have – the kind of look that makes it seem like she’s way too cool to be at this party, and that everyone here should just be thankful she decided to show up.

“No,” I say quickly. “I mean, not really.”

Lucas doesn’t say anything. The conceited smile is gone from his face, and he looks uncomfortable.

The blonde girl runs her eyes up and down my body, making me instantly self-conscious. “Not really? Then who invited you?”

“What do you want, Julia?” Lucas asks. But he doesn’t sound like he wants her to go away. In fact, he sounds like he desperately wants her to stay.

“Nothing.” She shrugs. “Just wanted to come over and say hi.” She’s holding a pink-colored drink in a clear plastic cup, and she takes a long sip of it through a curly blue straw.

“Julia is Lucas’s ex-girlfriend,” Davis whispers into my ear. He takes another bite of sausage and chews it nervously. “He still loves her.”

“Her?” I ask before I can stop myself. Not that I care. It’s just not who I’d expect Lucas to pick. She’s so… I don’t know. Shiny and polished.

“Yeah,” Davis says. “And she has a new boyfriend.”

“Wow.” Who knew there was so much drama going on here?

“And Lucas doesn’t know.” Davis is still whispering, but now he sounds fearful.

He looks over his shoulder, and watches as a guy starts moving his way through the crowd over toward Julia. The guy’s wearing silver sunglasses and a black t-shirt, and he doesn’t look happy.

“Hey,” he says, when he gets close to us. He slings his arm across Julia’s shoulders. “Why the fuck are you talking to him?”

“Uh oh,” Davis says. He holds the sausage out to me and I take another bite wordlessly.

“I wasn’t,” Julia says, rolling her eyes, like she’s so over having hot guys fight over her. “I was just meeting his new girlfriend.”

“I’m not his new girlfriend,” I say again.

“She’s not,” Davis says, nodding. “She’s with me.”

Julia’s new boyfriend ignores us, and turns back to Julia. “I told you not to talk to him,” he says.

“Hey Bo,” Lucas says, “Since when do you decide who Julia’s allowed to talk to?”

The guy grins. “Since I’m her boyfriend.”

“You’re her boyfriend?” Lucas seems stunned.

“Yeah,” the guy says. “And I told her she’s forbidden from speaking to you.”

“Forbidden from speaking to me?”

“Yeah,” the guy says. “What are you, a fucking parrot?”

And before I even know what’s happening, Lucas punches him in the face.

Chapter Four

Lucas

I punch Bo without even thinking.

It’s like a reflex. After all, I’ve always hated Bo and he’s always hated me.

We’ve managed to stay out of each other’s way until now, but him hooking up with Julia is enough to break that streak. When I hit him, he falls back and knocks over a table of food. A bunch of shit goes flying -- sausages, hotdogs, hamburgers, buns, everything.

Emily screams. Davis screams. Julia rolls her eyes.

I stand there looking at Bo on the ground a few feet away. He’s blinking fast, and his eyes look a little foggy. One of his elbows is planted into a big clump of raw ground beef, and something about that makes me start to laugh.

But Bo recovers his senses quickly, and when he does, he jumps to his feet, lunging at me. Next thing I know, we’re both on the ground and Bo is punching me and I’m scrambling to try and stand up. Bo’s got me pinned down – he’s been all state wrestling a few years in a row, but whatever. Wrestling’s for jerk offs who are too soft to play a real sport like football. I feel hands on my back, pulling me up -- a few of the guys at the party are breaking up the fight before it has a chance to escalate.

Davis and a couple of other guys are holding Bo back, but he’s still freaking.

“What’s the matter, Lucas? You too big of a pussy to fight fair? You have to sucker punch me?” He’s really pissed, and spit is flying out of his mouth as he talks.

“Kind of like how you sucker punched Phil Duncan two years ago?” I ask.

“That wasn’t a sucker punch. Fuck you, Lucas! And fuck you, too Davis. Get off me,” Bo says, jerking his arms from side to side, desperately trying to throw the boys off him. But there’s too many for him to get free.

“This is my party and Lucas is my friend, so you need to get the fuck out of here,”

Davis says. Him and Graham Terrino start to escort Bo forcefully out of the backyard, like bouncers at a club who are dealing with an unruly drunk.

“Damn.” I look down at my right hand. It’s already swelling up.

The backyard is a complete mess and everyone’s standing around staring at us.

“Real classy, Lucas. Now I remember why I dumped you,” Julia says. She takes another sip of her drink and rolls her eyes. She looks completely bored by the whole scene, like guys fighting over her is a nightly occurrence.

“Bo?” I ask. “Really Julia?”

“Bo’s a man,” she says. “Not a little boy.”

I wonder what she’s basing that assessment on. I look over and see Bo still squirming and yelling threats as my buddies drag him to the street.

“I’m going to fuck you up, Lucas!” he screams. “You better watch your back!”

“Yeah, he’s real mature,” I agree.

“You punched him, Lucas,” Julia says, “I think he has the right to be a little angry.”

Emily kneels down while we’re arguing and starts picking the buns and sausages up off the ground. Julia looks at her and wrinkles her nose in disgust. Then she chuckles softly to herself, like she can’t believe she’s degraded herself to hanging out at this silly little party. Finally, she turns on her heel and follows Bo toward the car.

I kneel down beside Emily and start helping her pick up the food. But she isn’t having any of it. “Really, Lucas?” she says.

“I know,” I say, sighing. “But you don’t understand. Me and Bo – ”

“Please,” she says, “Spare me your reasons for acting like an asshole.” She shoves a handful of hamburger buns back into their plastic bag. I notice a few of the buns have blades of grass stuck to them but I don’t say anything. She leans back on her heels. “Do you realize that since I’ve met you – which was less than an hour ago, by the way -- you’ve already been rude to me numerous times, tricked me into being caught on film with a criminal, and taken me to a party where you punched someone? Not to mention your ex-girlfriend hates me.”

I try and bend the fingers of my right hand and they barely move, causing me to wince. “Julia doesn’t hate you.” Emily’s eyes widen like she can’t believe I’m still coming up with excuses, so I quickly add, “But you’re right, that is a lot of bad stuff. I can understand why you’re pissed.” She doesn’t say anything. “What can I do to make it up to you?”

“Stop talking to me. Pretend you don’t even know me,” she says, her blue eyes blazing.

“Whatever.”

I walk over to the grill and get Scotty Norris to help me set it back upright again.

There’s charcoal all over the place.

A few minutes later, Davis comes back, drinking a beer and shaking his head.

“Classic Luke,” he says, chuckling. “You sure do know how to make a party interesting.”

“I do my best,” I say, and I can’t help but notice the look of contempt that passes over Emily’s face.

“So, new girl, you having fun in Hyannis yet?” Davis says. He takes another sip of his drink.

She smiles at him. “It’s’ been…interesting.”

“Damn straight,” Davis says. “You witnessed your first backyard brawl. I think you can be considered an honorary townie now.”

“Really?” she deadpans. “I’m so excited.”

“Yup,” Davis says, obviously missing her sarcasm. “Look, you even get an honorary townie hat.” He takes his chef’s hat off and plunks it on her head. “Now let’s get back to having some damn fun around here!” he yells, and the rest of the partygoers hoot and holler in return.

I spend the next few hours icing my hand using various beer cans as ice packs, and chatting with my buddies while I keep an eye on Emily. I keep asking myself why I’m watching her the whole time. Maybe it’s because she’s totally ignoring me now. I’m not sure, but now that she’s not paying attention to me, I kind of want her to.

She’s making conversation with everyone, laughing and having a good time.

Davis especially seems to absolutely love her. He’s constantly asking her what she needs, bringing her drinks, telling everyone how well she handled the big mess with me and Bo and Julia.

The fight story is already becoming hot gossip as people retell it and make it crazier than it even was. By the time we’re ready to head home, I hear Zeke telling someone who just got there about how I karate chopped Bo in the neck and then tried to stuff raw hamburger in his mouth.