Blue with Black Dots (The Caprice Trilogy Book 2) (4 page)

              “Someone brought coke?” said Patrick, “You’re right Diane.  The party starts now.”

              “And Patrick is an idiot,” said Alan.

              “I’m the bad boy of the group,” said Patrick, “And ladies love a bad boy.”  Patrick who was still seated climbed over the boys’ bed and jumped to the girls’ bed with Diane on it.

              “Why does the village idiot have to live near me?” said Diane.

              “Because you’re so sweet and so cute,” said Patrick, “And I love you so much.”  Patrick kneeled down on the bed and gave Diane a hug that resembled a chokehold.

              “Am I supposed to be enjoying this?” said Diane.

              “That depends,” said Patrick, “Are you?”

              “Don’t flatter yourself,” said Diane.

              “Well, I was just using you to get near Gigi,” said Patrick.  Patrick got up and went back to his chair.

              “Always a bridesmaid never a bride,” said Diane, getting up and heading toward the bathroom.

              “And what’s your strategy?” said Alan, “Love ‘em and leave ‘em.”

              “My strategy is love ‘em, love ‘em, love ‘em,” said Patrick, “Then love ‘em some more, then leave ‘em.”  Diane started laughing as she came back into the main room with her Tequila and margarita mix. 

              “He’s a charmer,” said Diane, “I’ll take him.”

              “Are you that drunk already?” said Tanis.

              “Not yet,” said Diane, “But that’s the plan.”  Diane held up her bottles as a forewarning.

              “Here to help you in that plan is
Justerini
and his sidekick,
Brooks
,” said Alan.

              “No, I don’t want Scotch,” said Diane, “I’ve got here cheap tequila and lime margarita mix.”

              “Do we have limes?” said Bryan.

              “No,” said Hagan.

              “Then you wanna just drink tequila and the mix together?,” said Alan.

              “Well,” said Diane, “Patrick’s such a charmer I was wondering if he’d be so kind as to go grab some salt packets from the restaurant.”

              “Salt packets,” said Patrick.

              “Come on,” said Yvette, “A lady’s asking.”

              “Ok,” said Patrick, “If the Queen of Diamonds makes it worth my while.”

              “Promise,” said Diane.

              “You guys all saw that,” said Patrick.  Patrick got up from his chair and walked over the boys’ bed and landed on the floor.  He walked toward the door.

              “Use your training,” said Tanis.

              “Well,” said Patrick, “I wouldn’t use yours because you were last on forms.”

              “But I was first in the physical trials,” said Tanis.

              “Yeah,” said Patrick, “First out of the girls.”  Patrick opened the door then shut it behind him.

              “Smart man,” said Alan.

              “Asshole,” said Diane.

              “Yeah,” said Alan, “But he left right on time.”  Hagan brought Alan his bottle of scotch.  Diane held out her right pinky finger and wiggled it quick.

              “Wrapped,” said Diane, “I got that boy wrapped.”

              “Can we get that ice bucket on the dresser?” said Alan.

              “Yeah,” said Hagan, “Good idea.”

              “Do we play another drinking game?” said Bryan.

              “Cuz the last one worked out so well or what?” said Tanis.

              “How about this?” said Georgia, “How about we talk about what we liked most and least about the last forty-two weeks.”

              “Good idea, Gigi” said Yvette from Georgia’s lap.

              “Well then,” said Bryan, “Who goes first?”

              “Why do we always have to have some sort of structure?” said Alan.

              “Because it’s easier without the Bama boy,” said Hagan.

              “Agreed,” said Diane.

              “I have an idea,” said Alan, “And I know everyone will agree.  Let’s have Gigi start.”  Yvette started the applause.  Diane and Tanis followed.

              “Let’s go Gigi,” said Tanis, “Lay it on us.”

              “Week seven” said Georgia, “The beginning of psych-eval.  The beginning for me at least.”

              “Who was your first?” asked Hagan.

              “Tanis,” said Georgia.

              “What did you think of me?” asked Tanis.

              “I had you down as Type A,” said Georgia, “I scored you high on physical courage and willingness to protect others.  I thought perhaps personal trauma at a young age.”

              “Why?” asked Tanis, “I don’t remember you asking anything in that direction.”

              “I took everything together,” said Georgia.  Tanis suddenly seemed unusually timid.  Georgia noticed more intimately because Tanis was leaning on her, shoulder-to-shoulder. Tanis quickly withdrew her contact with Georgia and didn’t say anything.  Everyone swallowed the ensuing silence.

              “What about me?” asked Bryan, “What was your take when you interviewed me?”

              “Devilishly handsome,” said Alan.

              “Shut up,” said Bryan.

              “I thought you were the youngest in your family,” said Georgia, “Displaying a subconscious need to be seen as mature or insightful.  Judging from your posture when you entered the room and the way you sat I said you were the youngest in your family because you stand so perfectly tall and sit straight.  I thought you must’ve tried to stand as tall as your siblings when you were younger and it became a trained habit.  Proving yourself was at the forefront of your psyche, not necessarily better but equal.”  The right side of Bryan’s mouth raised ever so.

              “What about me?” asked Hagan.

              “I remember you being different than the other boys,” said Georgia.

              “Different how?” said Hagan.

              “I didn’t think you were Type A or Type B, just balanced,” said Georgia, “All the boys were type A in my evaluations.”

              “I thought everyone was Type A,” said Yvette, “All of you guys, except you Gigi.”

              “Yeah,” said Alan, “It’s likely all of us are goal-oriented Type A personalities.  Otherwise, why would they have chosen us?”

              “Well,” said Diane, “We all have different assignments so who knows?”

              “How do you know our assignments are different?” said Alan, “Maybe they got us all going after the same thing eight different ways.”

              “Because that makes so much sense,” said Diane, “Pay all of us to do the same job.”

              “Maybe they expect some of us to die in the process,” said Bryan.

              “None of us would know,” said Alan, “We can’t talk about our assignments with each other.  Despite how drunk we get.”

              “Probably for the better,” said Yvette.

              “We should probably stop talking about assignments,” said Georgia, “Something might slip.”

              “Agreed,” said Bryan. 

              “Hey, Gigi, what about my Myers-Briggs?” said Hagan, “Where did you have me?”

              “I had you as leaning toward introversion with sensing as your perception modus.  Then for decision-making I can’t remember, thinking or feeling.  But you were the opposite inflection for judging/perceiving.  I think I had you as thinking for decision-making then perceiving for how you examine the space around you.  What was your favorite part about training?”

              “Me?” said Hagan.  Georgia nodded.

              “I liked the negotiation practice,” said Hagan.

              “Why?” asked Alan.

              “I just liked the psychological cooking,” said Hagan.

              “Psychological cooking?” said Alan, “What’s that?  Julie Child made it with Carl Jung and had a kid.  Tha fuck you talkin’ about Gerard?”

              “I just like throwing different things in the soup,” said Hagan, “It was cool.  Trying different strategies.  It’s like playing Chess with no real rules.  I can make my Rook move like a Bishop or my Knight move like a Rook.  I wish we could have done more negotiation.  I was getting good at it.”

              “You had no choice but to get better,” said Alan, “In the beginning it was like being caught with your pants down.  You conceded stuff and made mistakes that you didn’t realize but I did.”

              “That’s why I liked it,” said Hagan, “It was a chance to get better at something.”

              “That’s a good point,” said Diane, “I do feel like it was quick.  I mean at first when they tell you you’re gonna be here for over forty weeks, that feels like a life sentence.  But it was non-stopped—six days on, one day off.  And we’re going against each other and reteaming.  I feel like I know each of you better than my cousins I grew up with.”

              “Really?” said Yvette.

              “Well,” said Diane, “I mean me and Hagan were stuck in a steel box with a bunch of trash and we had thirty minutes to figure a way out with the air being sucked out.  You start to see red and you’re trying to figure something out.”

              “What did you do?” asked Bryan.

              “We failed,” said Hagan, “They had to start pumping the air back in with three minutes left because they were worried about us going brain dead.”

              “What did you try?” asked Bryan.

              “We tried to drill a hole through the side, then bore the hole so we’d have more breathing air and give us more time,” said Diane.

              “Yeah,” said Hagan, “We used a hammer and flathead screwdriver as a center punch.  Then we just started trying to pound a hole into the side.  But we could only dent the metal and you start to get tired as the oxygen goes.”

              “So what were you doing?” asked Alan.

              “I took inventory of the junk we had,” said Diane, “Then I tried to figure out a way to open the lock.”

              “Did you try to pick it?” asked Tanis.

              “Nah,” said Diane, “It was an electric lock.  So we couldn’t short it or it would stay locked.  There was an aluminum can which I tore open and tried to wedge between the seal to try to diverge the current or something.”

              “How was that supposed to work?” asked Alan.

              “I don’t know,” said Diane, “I don’t know anything about electronic locks.  They only taught us about pin-and-tumbler locks.”