Vampire Beach: Initiation (5 page)

"I'd take the Beverly Hilton over our house any day," Dani commented.

"Me, too, if somebody else is paying," Jason's dad called from the stairway. "Did I miss breakfast?"

"Nope.
The pancakes are ready, so everybody sit," Mrs. Freeman replied.

Jason and his father sat across from Dani and Tyler, and his mom and aunt took the ends. Looking back and forth between them, Jason noted again how different the two women were. Somehow he'd never noticed it before. It was more than just their looks, though Bianca's dark hair was nothing like his mother's short blond bob. They also had strikingly different attitudes toward life. His mom was, well, a
mom
-
in a good way, of course. But Bianca always acted like she
was still just a kid herself.
Well, she is a bit younger than Mom,
Jason thought.

He took a look at Bianca's sweater
-
and
-
jeans ensemble. The outfit would've looked normal on his mother, but on Bianca, it seemed
ü
ber
-
stylish. It reminded him of Sienna's comment about his aunt's fashion sense.

"Hey, Aunt Bianca, do you know Sienna Devereux?" he asked suddenly.

She looked at him in surprise. So did Dani and Tyler.

"Who's Sienna Devereux?" Tyler asked. Dani just widened her eyes in her usual, gossip
-
detecting way.

"A girl at school," Jason said, aware of the blush slowly creeping across his cheeks. He cleared his throat.
"My friend Brad's girlfriend."

"Hmm ... The name sounds familiar," Aunt Bianca said. "Stefan knew the Devereuxs, of course. I probably met her once or twice. Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering," Jason said. "She mentioned that she'd met you. Said she likes the way you dress."

"Oh, well, in that case, I love her already," Bianca
joked.

"Jason does too," Danielle teased. Jason tossed a muffin at her.

"So, Tyler, how long
are
you staying?" Aunt Bianca asked. "Do you have to be back for school on Monday?"

Tyler kept his eyes on the pancakes he was smothering with syrup.
"Uh ... technically.
But I can skip a day or two. I'm a senior."

"When did that become an excuse for cutting class?" Mr. Freeman asked.

Tyler finally looked up, and Jason thought he saw a hint of annoyance in his friend's eyes. But it disappeared immediately, and Tyler grinned. "They're giv
ing SAT practice tests next week. I already took the SATs, so I don't have to go."

"Sweet," Jason said. Although when he was at their old school, they certainly hadn't spent days giving SAT practice tests. Apparently, things had changed.

But as his family continued to chat with his old friend, Jason kept his thoughts to himself. Tyler had always been a favorite with the Freemans. Jason hadn't told his parents about the driving
-
while
-
stoned episode from last year. He hadn't told Dani,
either.

All that was in the past, and that's where Jason planned to leave it.

"Danielle Who Smells, why aren't you up here playing?" Tyler called a few hours later. "Jason's too much of a lightweight to be any fun. Look at him all panting and stuff."

Jason shook his head. They'd only been shooting
hoops for fifteen minutes and he wasn't even out of breath. Neither was Tyler, which was a little weird. The guy had looked so exhausted this morning that Jason had figured they were in for a day of sitting in front of the TV while his mom puttered around getting everything ready for the big dinner. But Tyler had gotten a second wind.

"I'd rather lounge," Dani answered from her chaise next to the pool. She'd decked herself out in a bikini and a pair of big sunglasses. "Besides, isn't it called one
-
on
-
one?"

"Well, yeah, if you're going to get all literal on me," Tyler grumbled good
-
naturedly.

Danielle turned back to her reading, some chick
-
lit book with a drawing of a woman in a tight dress on the front.

"You're just trying to distract me from kicking your ass," Jason said. "It won't work."

"We'll see."
Tyler dribbled the ball toward the hoop mounted on the pool house wall, ducking and spinning to avoid Jason's coverage. He took a shot
-
and
scored,
nothing but net. Tyler did a little victory dance, getting in Jason's face.

"I'm still winning, jackass," Jason pointed out.

Tyler laughed and passed the ball to Jason.

The pool house door opened, and Bianca came out dressed in a black bathing suit and sandals with little
cherries on the toes. "Time out," she called. "I don't want to get hit by any flying basketballs."

"Wimp," Jason teased, and she made a face at him as she crossed the court. "I have to warn you," he added, lowering his voice, "that Dani's going to spend the whole day trying to convince you to talk Mom into letting her go to the party."

"I'm afraid she'll be disappointed, then." Bianca sighed. "I've never been able to talk your mother into anything."

"I can't believe you guys have a pool house," Tyler commented as Bianca made her way across the grass toward Dani. "Hell, I can't even believe you have a
pool!”

"It's pretty weird," Jason agreed.
"Almost as weird as being able to sit around in a bathing suit in November."

Tyler watched Bianca settle into one of the chaises. "Dude, your aunt is
hot"
he said, dropping his voice to a whisper.

Jason rolled his eyes. "She's my
aunt,
loser," he replied. "You can't call her hot in front of me."

"I'm just saying." Tyler grinned. "She's not
my
aunt."

Jason tossed the ball at him
-
hard. "She's, like, forty
-
two," he said. "I think you're a
little
too young
for her.”

"Forty
-
two?"
Tyler repeated. "Are you serious? She looks amazing."

Jason glanced over at Bianca. She did look pretty good for her age, now that he thought about it.

"Plastic surgery?"
Tyler asked.

"I don't know," Jason admitted.
"Maybe.
People out here seem to think it's normal to get all kinds of lifts and tucks and liposuction. And she does work in Hollywood. It's all about the image."

"Huh." Tyler took a lazy shot at the basket and missed. From inside the pool house
came
a loud crash. "What was that?" Tyler cried.

"Probably just the pool guy," Jason said. "Dad asked him to come by today. He wanted to give him a tip for Thanksgiving." He crossed over to the pool house door and pulled it open. Joe, the pool guy, was trying to maneuver the skimmer out of the crowded supplies closet next to the bathroom.

"Need some help?" Jason asked.

"No, I got it," Joe replied. "Sorry about the noise, I just knocked over all the vacuum hoses. I'm really out of it today."

"No problem," Jason said. "You don't need to clean the pool on Thanksgiving, though. My dad just wanted to say thanks."

"I know," Joe said. "But I figured while I'm here I might as well skim out the leaves. It'll only take a second."

"You're a perfectionist," Jason joked as the guy headed out with the skimmer. He knocked into a palm tree with the long handle and laughed, shaking his head.

"I think he's had a few Turkey Day beers," Tyler murmured.

Jason chuckled. "Game on," he said, grabbing the ball from Tyler. He shot and scored, but Tyler was close behind, immediately making another basket. Jason played harder, and for a while, the only sounds were from the ball hitting the ground or the wall.

When Danielle and Bianca appeared nearby, Jason jumped. He'd been concentrating so hard that he hadn't even seen them get up from the lounge chairs.

"Mind if we walk through?" Dani asked, nodding toward the pool house door. "We need dry towels."

Tyler held up his hands. "I need a breather, any
way," he said.

"What's wrong with your towels?" Jason asked.

Danielle grinned, glanced over her shoulder, and lowered her voice. "Joe dropped the skimmer in the water and totally splashed them," she said, amused. "He was so busy staring at Aunt Bianca that he almost fell in the pool himself!"

Bianca nudged her toward the pool house. "Quiet, he'll hear you! And
you're
the one he was looking at, young lady."

They disappeared inside, still talking.

"Shouldn't we be helping your mother with din
ner?" Tyler asked. "She's been cooking all day."

"Go ahead and try to set foot in the kitchen. I dare you," Jason said. "It's a Thanksgiving tradition: Mom cooks about twenty different things at once while Dad spends the whole day on the turkey. Every year they almost burn the house down, but they love it."

"Sounds romantic," Tyler said flatly.

Jason grimaced. He'd forgotten about the animos
ity between Tyler's parents. His friend probably didn't want to hear cute stories about happily mar
ried couples. "You want to play anymore?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"I think I'm done. This sun is too strong." Tyler pulled off his T
-
shirt and mopped his sweaty face with it. "Besides, I'm winning," he added with a grin.

"No wonder you want to stop," Jason joked.

Dani pushed open the door and stepped out with a new towel wrapped around her waist. Bianca followed, wearing shorts and a gauzy top. "I'm going to head inside for a bit," she said. "I've got some calls to make for work." She left them with a
little
wave.

"Still want that job?" Jason asked his sister. "Working on Thanksgiving?"

But Dani ignored him. She was staring at Tyler's chest. "What happened to you?" she asked. "You're covered in bruises."

Jason glanced at his friend in surprise. Danielle was right. The entire left side of Tyler's rib cage was covered in the sickly yellowish marks of bruises that were starting to heal.

"Oh. It's ... uh ... it's nothing," Tyler replied, quickly pulling his
T-shirt
back on to cover the bruis
ing.

"Did you get mugged or something while you were hitching here?" Jason asked, thinking that it would explain Tyler's lack of clothes and belongings.

"Are you kidding?" Tyler put on one of his patented megawatt grins. "Who would mug some
one as sweet as me?" He jumped up and grabbed the ball, passing it to Jason energetically.
"Let's go, man,
game on!”

He's trying to distract us from the bruises,
Jason thought.
What is up with him?
"I thought you were done," he said aloud.

"I have a few more spectacular shots in me," Tyler replied.
"Unless I've hurt your pride too much already."

"No more basketball," Mrs. Freeman called from the French doors that led into the living room. "Dinner's in an hour. Everyone get ready."

"Get ready?" Tyler repeated. "Is this a dress
-
up thing?" He took a dubious sniff at his sweat
-
covered
T-shirt
.

"I don't know about dress
-
up, but it's definitely not a smelly
T-shirt
affair," Danielle replied, laughing.

Tyler looked dismayed, and Jason grinned. "Don't
worry,
I can spot you some threads."

"Thanks." Tyler followed Jason into the house. "We never do the whole big Thanksgiving thing. My dad's version of giving thanks is eating turkey in front of the tube so he doesn't miss any football games."

"How is your dad?" Jason asked tentatively. After the divorce, Tyler hadn't wanted to talk about his par
ents at all. Maybe he was starting to deal with it a lit
tle now.

"Who knows? I barely see the guy," Tyler replied. "I spend as little time at home as I can. I can
’
t wait for graduation so I can get out of there."

Jason didn't know what to say. It seemed like Tyler's home life was worse than ever. He noticed Danielle shooting Tyler a sympathetic look as they climbed the stairs to the second floor. He never understood why, but girls seemed to like troubled guys.

"I'm thinking green
-
and
-
orange
-
striped polo shirt for you," he said, "with maybe a pair of plaid golf
pants.”