The Other Fish in the Sea (37 page)

“Wow, okay, so now my calendar for the next three weekends is completely packed…” Tristan commented to no one in particular while we were finishing our food.

“What do you mean?” I asked with a small frown. It’s not that he sounded putout or anything, but I’d kind of like to know what he’s got going on for the next three weeks, aside from babysitting me that is.

“Oh, just that I’m staying at Pete’s tomorrow nig—”

“
Ugh
, don’t remind me… Daddy, please, please,
please
will you let Jilly and me go to Pete’s tomorrow night? Because really, I’ve spent all of my two week vacation locked up and I have a massive case of cabin fever. We’ll be safe, I promise…please, please,
pleeease
?” I pleaded, whined, cajoled and any other synonymous verbs I could think of for begging.
 

Not only do I want the hell out of the house, but do you really think I’m thrilled with the idea of my McHottie boyfriend at a New Year’s Eve party—where it is traditional to kiss at the stroke of midnight mind you—without me? Hell,
hell
no! Plus, Pete had asked Brandon if his band would play and I really wanna hear them. From what Melissa’s said from watching them practice, they’re really flippin’ good.

“Sweetie, I don’t want you girls in a car tomorrow night with all the drinkin’ that’ll be goin’ on. I trust The Boy, but I’m not putting your lives in jeopardy just because you have cabin fever,” my dad answered with understanding firmness.

Then Jillian stepped in and I’m totally considering worshipping her as a deity because of this. “What if we stay the night like The Boy is? We could go over there early and beat the drunks on the road, then just crash at Pete’s like the rest of the Scoobies…” Ha! That’s what the group of friends in Buffy was called. I’ll have to remember to give her props for that one. “With us out of the house, you and Mom can have a nice quiet evening…alone.”
 

Bravo, Jillian! I’d give her a standing ovation but my dad might question that. Yes, that’s right…my wickedly ingenious sister totally played the we’ll-leave-you-alone-with-Mom-for-an-entire-night-so-you-can-ring-in-the-New-Year-however-you-want-to card. And it
totally
worked. My dad’s eyes lit up at the thought of having a romantic evening with my mom and
not
having to worry that his daughters were going to make it home by curfew or in a body bag.

“Boy, you said you’re staying the
whole
night?” My dad asked for the sake of being specific.

“Mm-hm,” Tristan replied with a “Yes sir, yes I am” nod.

“And Kate, Melissa, Jeff…they’re all gonna be sleepin’ over too?” He’s now dotting his i’s and crossing his t’s.

“Yep. We don’t especially like driving on New Year’s either, so we usually try to just stay wherever we’re celebrating,” Tristan informed my dad. Yeah, they don’t like driving because they probably can’t even stand up straight after “celebrating” for most of the night.

“Alright, you girls can go
but
, once you’re there you do
not
get in any vehicle for any reason and I’m holding The Boy responsible if anything happens,” my dad said, standing up from the table and clapping Tristan on the shoulder before he went to take care of his dishes.

I jumped up and gave him a big hug and made all the appropriate sounds of genuine gratitude.

*****

We were safely delivered to Pete’s a little ahead of the rest of the revelers, which will actually not be comprised of a goodly number of people. I’m guessing there’ll be maybe fifty people or so because a lot of other parties are going on, people are still on vacation, and well…Pete didn’t broadcast the opportunity en masse. Since it would be a bit before people started showing up, I took the time to get settled and kind of explore my hotel. I’ve been here once before, but I spent most of my time in the kitchen and the backyard, so, I’m kind of curious. Pete’s house isn’t completely massive like Mike’s, but it’s not small by any means either. I’d just deposited my overnight stuff in a guest room with Jillian’s when Tristan found me and gave me a “What the hell are you thinking?” look. Then he collected my things and took me by the hand, towing me through the house. It was a little reminiscent of when he abducted me at Mike’s except he wasn’t pissed and I wasn’t hanging over his shoulder.
 

Come to find out, Tristan (therefore I will be too) always sleeps in the guest house when he stays at Pete’s. I also discovered that’s why his phone wasn’t destroyed when we fell in the pool that one night. Both he and Jeff had emptied their pockets previously in the deluxe, two bedroom guest house and had locked it up for the night. I think I mentioned at one point that Pete’s family is god-awful wealthy and that they don’t put on airs about it, but that’s not to say they don’t have nice things and enjoy their good fortune. Honestly, I think I remember hearing something during that party about his family having more money than Mike’s and Tristan’s combined, and let me be clear, that’s a whole f-ing lot of money.

Anyway, my living quarters for the next eighteen-ish hours are more than accommodating. Like I said, there are two bedrooms, one at each end of the house and each has its own bathroom, but there’s a third bathroom adjacent to the living room, which is set up with sofas or chairs to be like two distinct spaces, and it’s accessible though the kitchen. It’s a
full
kitchen, too, not a mini fridge, a sink and a microwave. There’s a fully stocked wet bar in one corner of the “entertaining” living room space which also features a plasma TV screen hanging on the wall. A largish fireplace is in the center of the wall of the “cozy” living room space which is also flocked with books. That’s the side I discovered we’re on. Jeff and Kate have the room on the opposite side. What’s especially cool about the room I get to stay in with Tristan is that it has a fireplace too. It’s directly opposite the one in the main room, but it’s independent of that one. The wall the front door of the house is on, which opens up onto the backyard, is entirely glass but it has walnut colored plantation shutters which when closed, keeps peeping toms from being able to see inside. All in all, the luxuriously appointed guest house isn’t really big, but because of its layout and open design, it appears rather spacious.

The party got under way and I heard for myself that Melissa wasn’t kidding about Brandon’s band. They did mostly covers and took requests, but they did do a couple of their own things too and they’re actually really freaking amazing. I mean I wouldn’t be surprised to hear them on the radio in the next couple of years…they’re
that
good. But by the time Brandon and the rest of the guys were into their third set, everyone aside from me was pretty toasted. I’m steering clear of drinking tonight because of the whole concussion thing. I just don’t wanna take any chances and really, I’ve only been completely headache free for about five days so I’d kinda like to keep it that way. I will, however, have a glass of champagne at midnight just because. That’s kind of tradition you know. Kate and Jeff on the other hand, got ripped. It was actually the first time I’ve seen either of them truly wasted and it was sorta funny but not, if you know what I mean. I think Tristan and I are the only ones who know why they both went over the top. Jillian might know (she knows everything), but if she does, she’s keeping silent which is typical. She’s probably the best secret keeper I will ever know.

Roughly fifteen minutes before midnight our gang minus Tristan was in the hot tub which had turned bubble bath again, with a handful of other well-prepared and not-so well-prepared kids (some brought suits and a few others chose to forget they were fully dressed). Tristan was over talking to Wayne and a couple of stoners—Tristan is
not
getting high however—when Pete, who’s in an exceptionally great mood tonight, rolled a cooler filled with ice and bottles of bubbly over to the edge and hopped into the Jacuzzi to join us. I was kind of surprised when he handed those of us who make up our little group our own individual bottles of Dom Perignon with little decorated and laminated name tags tied to the neck.
 

“Hey! What about everyone else?” A girl named Jasmine asked, feigning hurt that she and the other kids sitting in the hot tub hadn’t been singled out for special treatment like the rest of us.

“I brought a couple of spares, but you’ll have to share…everyone else will have to fend for themselves,” Pete responded with an unconcerned air and waved a hand in no general direction indicating everyone not in the Jacuzzi. Then he looked around and having mathed it out, Pete realized Tristan wasn’t present so he whistled with his fingers for him to join us.

Tristan was pulling his long-sleeved, black Henley off while walking towards us when Wayne called back out to him and said something like “It looks fuckin’ awesome.”
 
Now shirtless—just how I like him—and only clothed in swim trunks, Tristan turned around to say something in return and that’s when we all saw “it.”
 
Right there on his left shoulder blade.
 

In all its black,
permanent
glory.

“
Dude!
Lemme see that,” Jeff said (said, slurred…whatever) as Tristan, having grabbed his personal bottle from the cooler, walked into the hot tub and sat down on a step, keeping most of the upper half of his body completely out of the water. “
Jesus Christ
, that’s not fuckin’ Sharpie, is it?” Jeff asked, inspecting his best friend’s shoulder.
 

Everyone in and around the Jacuzzi was now staring at Tristan. Everyone
except
Jillian, Jeff, Kate, Pete and Melissa. They were staring at me. As was Tristan.
 

He gave me one of
the
most deliciously wicked grins I’ve ever seen him wear and I’m pretty sure my mouth was hanging open like it was when my dad asked him to move in when he answered, “Nope. It’s not fuckin’ Sharpie.”
 

I didn’t know what to say so I did the only thing I could think of in response to him having literally tattooed our contract on his body. I waded up to him and kissed him. Fiercely.

After our lips separated, I learned he’d gotten it on Christmas Eve as a present to himself. At least that’s what he said to everyone when he was asked, but I think it was more of a non-verbal declaration to me because he went straight from my house after that deeply intimate moment we shared to the tattoo parlor that Wayne’s older brother owns and had him do it. That’s also how he got around having to be eighteen to have it done.
 

He has to keep it out of chemically treated water for a bit, so that’ll be rough on him, but I had dried my hands so I could get a better look at it and found that it’s very similar to the one he’d drawn on me originally, with all our contract points and flames rising out of the baseball diamond and stuff. Although there were a couple of additions, like ocean waves at the bottom and sides of the diamond and some dates hidden in the flames and waves. One being the first day he saw me over the summer at the beach, the second being when he asked me out and the first time we kissed, another was our first date when we adopted Phineas and Ferb, and the fourth being Halloween, which we both acknowledge as our “official” anniversary. I
LOVE
IT! Seriously, it’s freaking hot and a
total
turn-on! Not that Tristan needs any additional help in that department, I’m just sayin’… OMG, H-O-T!

“My want one,” I told him in my itty-bitty kitty baby speak.

“Uh, if you keep talking like a two-year-old then yeah, no,” Tristan answered over his shoulder, chuckling at me.
 

“Okay fine,
I
want one. Is that better?” I asked with a little sarcasm and crawled around to sit in front of him in the steaming water so the winter air wouldn’t turn me into a popsicle.
 

“Mm-hm…much better. You really want one?” He asked from behind me after having wrapped his arms around me and given the spot where my neck meets my shoulders a kiss that made me feel like I was being electrocuted.

“Mm-hmm,” I mumbled and then found my words again to say, “Yeah, I
really
do.” I’m also thinking I might like a kite with a key attached to the tail floating somewhere to represent the electricity between us, but that could be considered a wee bit cheesy.

“Alright, when do you wanna do it?”

He laughed at me when I said, “NOW,” but we ended up deciding to see if Gary, Wayne’s brother, would be up for it tomorrow and if not, then probably Monday or Tuesday after school. We could wait until my parents are gone, but I want it now. I’m actually a little peeved he did it without telling me because I
could’ve
had it a week ago. Well, I was still under house arrest then, but still. And yes, I’ll probably welcome a baby heifer as a sibling when my parents have a cow, but I don’t care. I’m thinking by the time they actually have a chance to see it, I’ll have worked up the nerve to be truly rebellious and defiant.
 

Before we knew it, the countdown to midnight had begun and I kind of felt bad for Melissa because Brandon was still playing so she wouldn’t get to kiss him. She was, however, kissed. All the girls in the hot tub aside from me were…by the same guy.
 

I actually didn’t even get my New Year’s Midnight Kiss. Here’s why:

Everyone in the Jacuzzi was flabbergasted and forgot to kiss their significant other, if they had one present that is, when as soon as everyone shouted “Happy New Year,” Pete took Jillian’s head in his hands and planted a this-time-not-so platonic kiss on her and then again, he turned and did the same thing to the girl sitting on the other side of him…and it went on like that with the six or so girls in the water.
 

I’m thinking Pete has been
seriously
enjoying his own party and I was absolutely
dying
with laughter when right after he’d kissed Melissa, there was some feedback from where the band was playing an electric version of “Auld Lang Syne” and then Brandon’s voice was heard saying, “Pete, you kiss my goddamned girlfriend again and I’ll be makin’ a fuckin’ bonfire…oh, happy fuckin’ new year, you dick, you too, Sexy.” Neither the band nor Brandon ever stopped playing during his impromptu announcement which made it just that much funnier.