Vampire Beach: Initiation (4 page)

"You're here. That's what matters," Jason answered.

"I figured I'd crash your Thanksgiving. I couldn't stop thinking about your mom's pumpkin pie. It's like I could smell it from home and it just lured me out here. Think your parents will mind?"

"They'll probably kick me out of my room and give you my bed!" Jason said, slapping Tyler on the back. "They love your ass." Jason knew why Tyler didn't want to do the holiday thing in Michigan. His parents had gone through a nasty divorce a year or so before. Now it was just Tyler and his dad in the house, and Jason knew things weren't too happy. No pie there, to say the least. "There's plenty of room," Jason added. "Our new place is pretty big."

"Understatement.
His house is ginormous," Adam volunteered. "He's just being modest."

"That's my boy," Tyler replied. "Freeman has always been impressively self
-
deprecating."

Adam waved his hand dismissively. "It's all an act," he joked. "What I find impressive is thumbing your way across half the country. That's a lost art, my man.
Very Kerouac of you."

Tyler shot Jason a questioning look, and Jason laughed. "Pay no attention to the Adam
-
isms. Half
the time nobody really knows
what
he's talking
about.”

"And that's just the way I like it," Adam agreed. "It keeps people off
-
guard. So listen, Jason and I were heading to my place for a movie
-
viewing
-
plus
-
pizza
-
snarfing
party.
You in?"

"Sounds good," Tyler said. He clapped Jason on the back and headed off with Adam as if they'd been friends for years.

It's good to see him,
Jason thought, smiling as he watched his old friend. He realized Tyler hadn't said anything about gear. He didn't even seem to have a backpack
.
Jason figured he must have left in a hurry. He hoped it wasn't because things were bad
-
well, worse than usual
-
at home.

"You
wanna
tell me what the hell that movie was sup
posed to be?" Tyler asked on the way home from Adam's that evening.

"Who knows?" Jason replied. "Adam says Stanley Kubrick is the greatest director of all time and that his movies are required viewing, even the bad ones."

"Huh." Tyler thought about it for a moment. "People in L.A. are clearly bizarre."

"Can't argue with that," Jason agreed.
And you don't know the best part,
he thought ruefully. The image of Sienna's face leaped into Jason's mind, and he shoved
it away. He'd gotten used to doing that since he'd met her. But it was harder than usual today, because of the memory of the kiss that didn't happen. "Hey, when did you leave Michigan?" he asked, forcing his mind away from Sienna. "Why didn't you call me before you
came?”

"I did," Tyler said. "I thought you Californians all had your cell phones surgically attached to your ears, but you didn't even pick up."

Jason took the turn through the tall iron gates of DeVere Heights. "When did you call?"

"Just yesterday," Tyler said. "Thought I'd give you a heads up, but when you didn't answer, I figured I'd just surprise you."

I can't believe it,
Jason thought.
Tyler is the one who called when I was about to kiss Sienna.
Somehow, every
thing seemed to come back to Sienna. "I didn't get to my cell in time, sorry," he said. "And I didn't recognize the number. It wasn't the Eraser area code."

"Yeah, I got a new cell," Tyler told him. "It's from where my mom lives now, in Chicago."

"You've been staying with your mom?" Jason asked, surprised.

"Nah.
I went to see
her a
couple of months ago, but she was mostly busy with her new boyfriend." Tyler drummed his fingers nervously on his lap, and Jason could hear the bitterness in his voice. Tyler still hadn't forgiven his mom for leaving. "But hey, she sprang for a brand
-
new phone and I don't have to pay the bills. So it's all good."

Jason didn't know what to say. Obviously it wasn't all good. But they were Tyler's issues to deal with, and he didn't want to make things any harder on his old
friend.

Tyler let out a long sigh and leaned his head back against the seat.

"How long have you been on the road?" Jason asked. "It must've taken days to get here."

"Only two days," Tyler said. "I got lucky. Guess I don't look so much like a serial killer that people won't pick me up."

"You look more like a serial killer than usual," Jason told him with a grin. "I know Coach
Salzman
isn't let
ting you in the pool with that hair."

"Nah, I quit the team," Tyler said. "The relay was lame without you, anyway."

Jason was too surprised to answer. He and Tyler had been on the swim team together since seventh grade. Despite Tyler's new situation, Jason wouldn't have guessed he would change so much. Although... Jason couldn't stop himself from thinking about what had happened the last time he saw his friend. When the Freemans had left Fraser, Tyler was pretty messed up.

"I know what you're thinking," Tyler said.

"What are you, psychic now?" Jason joked.

"No, I just know you. You're thinking about what happened," Tyler said.
"At your going
-
away party."

"Yeah."
Jason slowed as they approached his street. "Well..."

"Look, I screwed up," Tyler said. "I know I did. But I didn't think... I mean, I thought I could still show up and you'd be happy to see me. Am I wrong?"

"Of course you're not wrong," Jason replied. "But you took my
car,
man! And you drove around stoned. You could've totaled it
-
or, even worse, yourself or somebody else."

"I know, but I didn't," Tyler said. "The car was fine, and nobody got hurt. It was a stupid thing to do and it will never happen again. Okay?"

"Okay," Jason replied, feeling relieved to have got
ten that little issue off his chest. He pulled to a stop in the driveway and turned off the engine. The house glowed welcomingly in front of them, its lights shin
ing bri
ghtly
against the dark November sky. Dani was pacing back and forth on the porch, talking on her cell phone. None of them got very good reception inside. "This is it.
Mi
casa
es
su
casa
and all that," Jason said with a smile.

Tyler reached for the car door handle,
then
hesi
tated. "I just want you to know... I don't hang with those guys anymore
-
the ones I brought to your
party.
And as for the drugs?
Well, let's just say I could do one of those public service announcements and be all 'my life is perfect now that I'm clean.'"

Jason laughed, but he doubted "perfect" accurately described his friend's life. He knew Tyler wouldn't have shown up in Malibu without a single change of clothes otherwise. He couldn't help wondering if Tyler was hiding something.

"Holy cow, is that Danielle Who
Smells
?" Tyler suddenly bellowed. He bolted from the car and rushed toward the house.

"Oh, my God!"
Jason heard Dani squeal. "
Kristy,
gotta
go." She hung up her cell and flung her arms around Tyler.
"Ty the Spy!"

Jason laughed as he headed up the driveway. Dani and Tyler had given each other dumb nicknames when they were all
little
kids. Tyler picked Dani up and spun her around, and Dani laughed like a maniac. Jason knew Tyler had been her very first crush when she was little. And though she had long grown out of that, she still looked psyched to see him again. He was kind of like a second big brother to her, and Tyler had always treated her like his kid sister.

He's probably missed the whole
family since we moved,
Jason realized as he watched them. After his parents' divorce, Tyler had spent a lot of time at the Freemans' house. They were more of a family to him than his real one. So it made sense that he'd want to come to them for Thanksgiving. Maybe it was as simple as that, Jason thought, running up to the porch to join Tyler and Dani. Maybe Tyler didn't have anything to hide at all.

“G
et out of the bathroom!" Dani yelled the next mo
rn
ing. "Jason!"

Jason pulled open his bedroom door, blinking against the bright morning sunshine, to see his sister waiting near the bathroom at the end of the hallway, yawning. Her hair was in a messy ponytail, and she wore her baggy Paul Frank pajamas with the monkeys on them. "I'm not in there," he called to her.

Dani glanced at him and frowned in confusion.

"It must be Tyler," he said.

Dani's eyes widened in horror and her hand flew to her hair. Without a word, she turned and ran back into her own room, slamming the door behind her. Jason chuckled. His sister was not a morning person
-
in her tired haze, she'd obviously forgotten Tyler was even there. He figured she'd be perfectly made up, washed, and blow
-
dried by the time she made another appear
ance.

Tyler stuck his head out of the bathroom door. "You need to get in here?" he asked Jason.

Jason stared at his friend. He looked seriously pale, with deep circles under his eyes. "Nah, I can wait," he said. Tyler nodded and disappeared back into the bathroom.

Shaking his head, Jason retreated into his bed
room. Whatever was going on with Tyler, a good night's sleep hadn't solved it. The dude still looked like
crap.

But by breakfast time, Tyler seemed to have rebounded. He was busy helping Mrs. Freeman mix pancake batter when Jason came into the kitchen.

"... and Mr. Ruck tripped and knocked over the whole podium," he was saying.

Jason's mom dissolved into laughter. "I always hated that guy," she remarked.
"Ever since we were on the same PTA committee, when you and Jason were in third grade."

" 'Morning
," Jason said, heading to the fridge for some
OJ.

"Happy Thanksgiving," his mom replied. She grabbed his arm as he passed her and spun him away from the refrigerator. "We're all sitting down to eat together this morning. I don't want you doing your typical orange juice and banana on the run."

"She's showing off for Aunt Bianca. I'm even supposed to put out the good coffee cups," Danielle said from the dining room, where she was setting the table. As Jason had
expected,
she was fully dressed and look
ing perfect.

"I am not showing off," Mrs. Freeman said, hand
ing Jason a basket full of muffins and pointing to the table.

He dutifully carried the muffins over and set them down. "Yes, she is," he murmured to Dani.

"Totally," Dani laughed.

"Your aunt Bianca is here?" Tyler asked from the counter. "How come I didn't see her last night?"

"She had to go to the office for some last
-
minute thing," Mrs. Freeman replied. "She didn't get back until almost midnight."

"Weird," Jason said. "Doesn't everyone try to cut out early the day before Thanksgiving?"

"Not in her job," Dani put in. "Dealing with all those high
-
powered, demanding Hollywood peeps."

"My ears are burning," Bianca said, appearing in the kitchen. "Are you talking about me behind my back?"

"Only good things," Jason assured her. "I think Dani wants to have your job after college."

"Oh, I hope not," Mrs. Freeman said. Aunt Bianca gave her an arch look, and Mrs. Freeman shrugged. "No offense, Bee, but wrangling celebs isn't exactly
-
"

"Boring?" Dani interrupted. "I'd love to be a star
-
creator like Aunt Bianca.
With one place in New York and another in California.
Traveling all over."
She sat down at the table and grabbed a muffin.

"That's my girl," Aunt Bianca laughed. "Be adven
turous.”

"Do you have a place out here?" Tyler asked, com
ing to sit next to Dani.

"I don't, actually," Bianca replied. "My late husband had a home in Malibu, but I sold it after he died. It made me sad to be there."

Tyler nodded sympathetically. "That's tough."

"Besides, I don't need a place here anymore. I can always stay with my big sis," Bianca said, grinning at Mrs. Freeman. "And if she gets sick of me, my company will put me up in a hotel."