Wrecked (5 page)

BEARDED SQUIRREL

Classes on Thursday and
Friday were a breeze. Since it was the first week of school, there wasn’t much
homework or studying to do. Still, I found myself glad that Friday arrived. It
had been a difficult experience returning to school. I found myself questioning
people’s stares—and there were plenty of them. Did they know who I was? Did
they see the trial on TV? It made me uncomfortable to think that they were
silently judging me, pitying me, or thinking I must have a lot of issues after
what I’d gone through. I just wanted to feel normal again, and having people
stare at me didn’t help.

“That’s
such a cute outfit,” Daniela said as I stepped out of my room into the suite.
She was seated on the couch waiting for me to finish getting ready for the
double-date she had set up for us. She had met a pair of guys—Cody and
Justin—in her Sociology 101 class earlier in the week. So Daniela set up a
double-date at a bar off campus called the Bearded Squirrel.

We were
both underage by a few months but Daniela got us fake IDs. “And here I thought
you were reluctant about going. You look ready to break some hearts!”

I smoothed
out the front of my blue dress, adjusting the fabric at my hips to ensure the
bottom wasn’t riding high in a way that could be misinterpreted by my date.
“Hey, if I’m going to go on a date, I’m going to do it right. Otherwise there’d
be no point, right?”

“I like
that attitude! We’re gonna have so much fun tonight!”

I still
wasn’t sure about doing this whole date thing. I wasn’t really looking for any
kind of romantic relationship at the moment given the craziness going on in my
life but it was a step toward normal. Regular people dated. They went out to
parties, laughed, got drunk, and took embarrassing pictures that they would
post on Facebook the next day. They didn’t sit in their rooms on Friday nights
sketching and moping.

Daniela
hadn’t even given me many details about Justin, my date. She’d gone on about
how mouth-wateringly scrumptious Cody was and how she would stare at his crotch
all lecture long. “If he’s half as well-developed down there as the muscles in
his arms, he’d be one serious catch,” she had said.

“So this
Justin guy—” I said, making last-minute adjustments to my hair in the
full-length mirror we had in the suite. “What’s he like?”

“Oh! He’s
also a catch. Frankly, I would’ve been fine going out with either of them. I’ve
heard other girls say that he has celebrity looks. Like a musician, you know?”

“What kind
of musician? Like a rockstar?”

She tilted
her head toward the ceiling and put her finger on her chin. “Don’t think so.
Maybe more alternative? Not sure.”

Hmm . . .
someone artsy. If he was down-to-earth and not an egotistical rockstar type,
maybe we could hit it off. Who knows? I decided to be optimistic about Justin.

“Well as
long as he doesn’t have high expectations, I could see us getting along. I’m
not exactly the perky, blonde sorority-type, if that’s what he’s looking for.
You did tell him a bit about me right?”

“Oh yeah.
Of course. I said Lorrie Burnham is my best friend. She’s wonderful, has a
wicked sense of humor, and is overall a great girl.”

I frowned.
“So basically you told him as much about me as you’ve told me about him.”

The edges
of her lips curved into a smile. “Sure, whatever. It’s more fun if it’s a
surprise anyway right?”

“I guess.”

I knew
where she was coming from. Daniela had good intentions. Except in my
experience, surprises could be a bad thing. A very bad thing.

The plan was to meet Cody
and Justin at the bar so we called for a cab to pick us up outside our dorm.
The driver was a young guy with brown hair and lovely green eyes who turned out
to be not much older than us. He explained that he was a senior English major
and took a part-time job driving cabs on weekends to help pay for his tuition.
He was friendly and I found myself thinking that if my date turned out to be
half as pleasant as him, I would consider the night well-spent.

The cab
slowed to a stop outside the front entrance to the bar. There was a large pink
neon sign out front of a bearded cartoon squirrel that had a beer mug in hand.
Toward the side was the parking lot which was mostly full with cars and trucks.
A few vehicles even spilled out onto the open grass area nearby. This place was
apparently very popular. I hadn’t been to many bars but from what I could tell
by the number of people flooding inside and the cars parked all around, this
one was unusually large. From the outside, the wooden square building didn’t seem
that big, so it either extended further back than I could see from the front or
it would be ridiculously packed when we got inside.

“Ladies,
here you are,” the driver said. “I hope you have a wonderful night. Name’s Ryan
by the way. Here’s my card. Call me if you need a ride back to campus.” He
winked one green eye. “My shift goes until five AM.”

“Thank you
so much!” Daniela said, handing him a twenty and taking his card. “We’ll
definitely give you a call when we’re ready to head back.”

I offered
my thanks and gave him a tip. After giving us a salute, he drove off.

Daniela
turned to me. “Night’s off to a great start already huh? Aren’t you glad you
came out?”

I had to
admit it felt good to be out instead of being cooped up in my room like I
usually was. “Ryan was actually kind of cute,” I found myself saying to her.

“If you
thought he was cute, you’re gonna love Justin!”

I smiled.
We followed a gaggle of girls up the wooden steps to the entrance to the bar. A
big burly guy with a black skullcap and a scruffy beard with braids in it stood
by the door with his arms crossed across his barrel chest. Uh oh. Security.

“Ladies,
welcome.” His voice was low and gruff.

Daniela
reached into her purse for her wallet and flashed her fake ID. Her hand was
still and she beamed a confident smile, having practiced the routine more than
a few times. I was about to do the same when the guy waved his hand
dismissively. “No worries, you’re good. Just don’t get too rowdy or I’ll have
to kick your asses out. Got it?”

We both
gulped and nodded.

He smiled,
uncrossed his arms, and gestured inside. “Enjoy your night.” He flashed us a
pearly white grin that seemed too kind for someone that looked like he
manhandled “rowdy” college kids on a nightly basis.

Once we
got inside, I turned to Daniela. “Did that just happen? They don’t even check
IDs here? Won’t they get shut down?”

Daniela
shrugged. “Who cares, right? That’s not our problem. As long as we’re in, we’re
good to go.”

We scanned
the bar, craning our necks over the crowd of people to try to spot our dates. I
didn’t know who I was looking for, but that didn’t stop me from looking. The
bar was brimming with people but not wall-to-wall crowded as I imagined it
would be. I didn’t recognize the loud rock music playing probably because I was
more a Taylor Swift fan than a Nine Inch Nails one. It was probably a
fifty-fifty mix between college students and recent grads but there was
definitely nobody older than forty.

Daniela’s
cell phone chimed and she checked the new text message she received. “They got
a table near the back. It’s supposed to be next to a giant moose head mounted
on the wall.”

We
maneuvered our way through the crowd toward the back and spotted the moose
head. It looked like an ordinary mounted moose head except it had black X’s
over its eyes and it had a long tongue sticking out. The decoration fit the
over-the-top grizzled animal theme they had going on.

“Cody!”
Daniela shouted over the noise.

Two guys
seated across from one another turned to us, smiled, and waved. The one named
Cody had brown eyes with flecks of amber in his irises and donned a white
baseball cap turned backward. He wore a pink polo with the collar popped and
sleeves that showcased his muscular arms. There was only one label flashing to
my mind: frat guy.

“Daniela!”
Cody shouted. “You guys made it! Come sit with us.” He patted the seat beside
him.

Daniela
sat next to Cody and I took my seat next to Justin.

“Cody,
Justin,” Daniela said gesturing to each person in turn, “this is my suitemate
and best friend Lorrie. Lorrie, this is Cody and Justin.”

“It’s
great to finally meet you,” Cody said, smiling.

“We’ve
heard such good things about you from Daniela. You’re much hotter than I
expected,” Justin said, as he put his arm around my shoulder and rubbed gently.

“Thanks .
. .” I said, unsure how to react to his sudden contact. I’d barely gotten to
know him and he was already acting like we were dating. It made me
uncomfortable. “You look good yourself.”

Justin had
mid-length, brown hair in a layered purposely messy look that was popular with
teenagers these days. He had a boyish grin and large dark brown eyes that
matched the polo he was wearing. The collar was also popped but his arms were
scrawny unlike Cody’s. Daniela had said that he looked like a musician. Now I
knew what she had meant. Looking at Justin made one word come to mind: Bieber.

“Yeah, I
remember seeing you on TV during that whole trial thing going on. Man, that’s
crazy. I can’t imagine having my mom being killed by my stepdad. That must
really suck.”

I looked
at Daniela and she looked back at me with wide, concerned eyes. I coughed. “Um
. . . yeah. It does suck,” I said, suddenly making a one-eighty on my decision
that I was glad to come out on this double-date. I took his hand off my
shoulder and set it in his lap.

“What’s
the matter?” Justin asked.

“It’s a
bit warm in here. Your hand is making my shoulder sweat,” I said sarcastically.

Justin
grinned. He apparently didn’t take the cue. “There’s a lot of heat between us I
know. But it’s only going to get hotter, I assure you.”

“Well.”
Daniela clapped her hands together. “Let’s order some drinks shall we?

I was
considering calling Ryan and having him take me back to the dorms, but I didn’t
want to leave after just arriving. I hoped to god that Justin only made bad
first impressions and that the rest of the night would be better.

We ordered
drinks. Daniela got a margarita, Cody got a mug of Miller Lite, Justin got a
Coors Light, and I had a mojito.

“This is a
cool place,” Cody said taking a sip of amber liquid from his mug. “I’ve been
here once before but it was never this packed. I think they opened like a year
or so ago.”

“Yeah,”
Daniela said. “I heard this place is pretty hype. A lot more exciting than the
bars around campus.”

“No doubt.
This place is ill,” said Justin. “Check out this moose head.” He pointed to the
large pink tongue hanging out. “Doesn’t he look like he’s thirsty?” Justin
poured a little bit of his beer on the tongue and it sat there while he and
Cody laughed. Daniela and I laughed as well but we weren’t laughing with them.
We were laughing
at
them.

“So are
you guys seniors?” I asked, hoping to divert their attention so that they
wouldn’t get our asses kicked out of the bar for messing up the decor. I’m all
for having fun, but Cody and Justin were just being dumb.

“I’m a
senior econ major,” Cody said. “Justin’s a junior. Anthropology major.” He
snickered at Justin.

Justin
snickered back and brushed his bangs away from his eyes before turning toward
me. “I study people. That makes me specially attuned to people’s needs and
desires. You might say I’m a sensitive guy.” He grinned mischievously. “You
want to hear my insights on you?”

I really
didn’t want to hear anything more from Justin’s mouth after what he’d already
said about me but decided against being rude. It would make things more awkward
than they already were and it would ruin Daniela’s date with Cody as well.
Considering Daniela invited me out, it would be a pretty bitchy move for me to
do that to her. “Uh . . . okay,” I said then took a big gulp of my drink to
prepare myself for his response.

“You’re a
smart girl, but lack direction in life.” He took my hand in his. “You’re kind
of down a lot, especially after what you’ve been through. You need a strong man
to care for you, to take care of you.” He wiggled his brows then pointed his
thumb to his chest.

Wow,
just when I thought he couldn’t get any worse.
This guy was a real catch all right . . .
a real catch right out of Lake Peepee. I wasn’t sure if that was the most
insulted I ever felt in my life, but it was definitely up there. I clutched my
drink in my hand and lifted it off the table. A vision of throwing the contents
into Justin’s grinning face flashed through my mind. Just as I was about to
make that vision a reality, someone nearby slapped a nearby lounge seat in
exclamation.

I turned
to see a group of guys and girls standing near us talking excitedly.