"Hey, want a beer?"
I wave off and thread through the crowd. Everybody is dancing, which amounts to drinking and getting high and bouncing up and down on wet concrete around a swimming pool, which is pretty high up there on the list of fantastic ideas. Finally, I spot somebody I know. Todd. He's been a mainstay in the audio-visual club, which meant he got a free period, basically, since the teacher who runs that doesn't give a shit. I grab his arm and give a tug.
"Oh hey, Dee Dee."
"Dee Dee?" Apollo asks. Shouts, more like it. The deafening noise turns every conversation into a screaming match. I think Lucas actually hired a DJ, but one of his friends might have the equipment to do it all themselves. Half his friends think they're going to be rich and/or famous, and a lot of them will be right. Lucas himself already has a football scholarship lined up.
"Who's that?" Todd shouts, swinging the base of his beer at Apollo.
"No time to explain," I yell back. "Where's Charity? Is she here?"
"Yeah, she came with Leo. I think she's inside."
Inside. The smell of smoke is heavy. I find myself rooted to the spot, my feet like chunks of lead. Apollo edges closer, and somehow his voice, barely more than a whisper, carries to my ear.
"I've got your back."
I glance back at him. I really have no reason to trust this complete stranger, and yet I let him ride here with me and he's following me inside. He knows how to handle himself, though. That's a plus. I steel myself and forge ahead, like walking into a strong wind, until I pass through the open french doors. There's as many people inside as outside, it seems. The music is loudest in the living room, a huge expanse with a vaulted ceiling and leather couches currently decorated in the early underage drinking style, and if I take a deep breath, under the stink of pizza, chicken wings, and marijuana, I can smell a healthy eau de vomit. It's so enticing, I can't imagine why I stayed away. I glance back to make sure I haven't lost Apollo and head inside.
I could just scream 'Hey, anybody seen Charity' but one, no one would hear me, and two, nobody would know who Charity is anyway, and three, Lucas would be all over me. He can probably
feel
that I'm here.
"Any idea where she'd be?"
"Nope. I guess we look for Leo."
"I don't know any of these people."
The noise is unbearable, between the music and the chorus of CHUG, CHUG, CHUG from the middle of the living room. I haven't spotted Charity yet. I scan the crowd, work my way into the kitchen past a couple making out against the refrigerator. Apollo looks at them with a kind of curious disdain. Nobody seems to notice us.
"She might be upstairs," I shout back at him.
He nods.
I trudge up the stairs and hear it. Charity's distinctive giggle. I rush towards the sound, almost forgetting Apollo behind me. I push through the door and find Charity sitting on the floor, wearing only a bra from the waist up, laughing her ass off and clutching a bottle of blackberry schnapps in one hand. A boy I don't know reaches over and urges her to tip back a healthy swig. She coughs some up over her chin, strains to breath and breaks out laughing. I know from experience she's a giggly drunk.
"Charity," I shout.
She looks up. "Hey, Dee Dee," she slurs. "I lost my date."
"Yeah. Come on, time to go sleep it off."
I move towards her and the guy that just dumped cheap booze down her throat gets up and gets in my face. Or rather, gets his chest in my face. He's got about eight inches on me.
"Fuck off."
"I'm taking her home. She's drunk."
"It's a party. She's supposed to be drunk."
"Then why aren't you?"
He puts his hands on me. Before I can even think to defend myself, Apollo's hand moves over my shoulder so fast it's like the guy has been struck by a snake. Apollo's fingertips slam into his throat and he stumbles back and goes down, gagging and choking and squeezing his own neck, dragging for air. Apollo lightly brushes me aside, grabs the guy and rolls him on his side, then on his back. He pulls his hands back from his throat.
"Breathe. Slowly. It'll stop."
"Um," I say.
"Not much time. Get her and let's go."
I get the booze bottle out of Charity's hand and she just stares at me, half smiling. Getting her shirt on turns into an exercise in futility so I just button it around her, arms and all. Then I have the problem of getting her up. Trying to move her only seems to make her sleepy as a dreamy smile spreads on her face and her eyes flutter closed. Apollo snaps his fingers in front of her eyes.
"She's pretty bad off. We need to go. I'll get her."
With surprising grace, he pulls her over his shoulder and stands up, bearing her weight like it's nothing. He offers me a hand and pulls me to my feet, and I let him go first down the stairs, deftly balancing the dead weight of Charity on his shoulder as we round the turn from the bottom of the steps and back out through the kitchen, the way we came in. I tuck in close to Apollo's back, hoping nobody raises a fuss about us just carrying Charity out of the house. We've made it this far, just a bit further to go.
Then, of course, Lucas appears.
He's spotted us. I see him pushing through the crowd.
"What are you doing here?"
"Picking up Charity," I shout back at him. "Her mom was worried."
A convenient lie, but whatever.
"Not you. Him."
Apollo, who still has
Charity over his shoulder, glances back at me. "She asked me along."
I don't contradict him.
"We'll be going now."
Except we won't, apparently. Lucas isn't alone, he has backup in the form of another six hundred pounds of goon spread between two of his friends.
Gulp.
Lucas lowers Charity to her feet. She's come around enough to stand up, or at least she's aware enough to hold on to me so she doesn't fall off the planet.
"We're leaving," Apollo announces, calmly. "Excuse us."
Lucas and his three friends don't move.
"Um," I say.
"Come on," he says to me, over his shoulder, and we start forward.
Lucas claps him on the shoulder, hard enough to stop him in his tracks. His buddies have their hands balled into fists, their bodies rigid with tension. It's about to start. I try to get Charity around them but one of Lucas' buddies cuts us off, taking our path.
"Take your hand off me," Apollo says, calmly.
"No."
"Best not," he says.
I expect them to fight, but a fight implies mutual participation. Apollo moves so fast he almost blurs, dipping in a weird way that kind of pulls Lucas in to him, and when Lucas makes a grab, Apollo twists out of the way with a stunning flexibility and does something with his arm that sends Lucas flying, right into one of his friends. The pair of them bowl over in the grass, and the third one comes at me.
I haul off and kick him right in the balls, drive my foot between his legs. I go down, hard, but so does he. Apollo grabs his ankle and drags him right off of me and Charity, and pulls us to our feet as our attacker curls up in a ball, clutching the family jewels. I don't think I could have pulled that off he wasn't drunk.
Apollo grabs my arm, pulls me, and then lifts Charity back onto his shoulder, fireman style. From there it's a rush down to the sidewalk, trying not to slip in the grass. I pop open the back hatch so Apollo can lower Charity into the back seat, and hurriedly get in next to him.
"Are we taking her home?"
I throw the car in gear and pull out.
"No. Her mom probably isn't even there. We'll take her back to my place."
I blink when I realize I'm talking about showing this guy where I live. Hell, I can't get Charity in the house alone.
"Should we take her to the hospital?"
"She's drunk, but I don't think she has alcohol poisoning."
"Are you even old enough to drink?"
"Is she?"
"Good point."
Okay. Mom should be home by now. If not, I've got my phone and Bob is a call away. My mind is made up. I drive.
It's about a twenty minute ride from Lucas' house back to the museum. When I pull up to the gate, the security guard takes a good, hard look at Apollo before we pass through and drive up to the house.
"Fancy. You have your own guards?"
"No. We live on the museum grounds. My mother runs the place."
"Oh, that's pretty cool. Can I get a private tour?"
"At least you're not asking for a tour of my privates."
He raises an eyebrow and leans back. "Are you offering?"
I can
feel
myself blushing. I don't even know where
that
came from.
Charity stirs in the back seat, and mumbles. "That's right, Mister Giraffe. Get all the marmalade."
"You think she's okay?"
"Better than she'd be if we just left here there," I sigh. "Here we are."
Once I pull in the garage, the two of us carry Charity inside, and to the couch in the sitting room. Apollo props her up with a pillow and turns her head as she begins to snore.
"We need to make sure she doesn't choke on her own puke."
"Lovely," I sigh.
Apollo drops into one of the side chairs, and yawns. "What was she even doing there?"
I shrug. "Not much else to do around here."
"Why weren't you there?"
I glance at Apollo and sigh. "Something to drink?"
"Sure."
I bring him a can of Coke and sit down to crack mine open. I feel like I'm a million years old and my joints are made of balsa wood.
"My mother thinks Lucas and I are a perfect match. She's been pressuring me to go out with him for years. I can't stand him."
"Need I ask why," Apollo says, smirking. He downs half the can of soda and burps into his hand. He's even hot when he's burping.
"Anything to eat around here?"
"You like tofu?"
He makes a face that makes for a passable imitation of one of the ornate Japanese samurai masks in the museum collection.
"That's a no."
"Can you order food here? Like pizza?"
"Yeah. I'll call something in."
He reaches for his wallet, twisting to reach his back pocket.
"It's okay."
"I insist."
He gives me forty. I order three mediums and a triple order of boneless chicken bites, in case Charity comes around, and the breadsticks are free with the order and so on and so forth. After I call George the gate guard to let him know the food is coming, I settle back down in the living room.
"So, um, I have no idea who you are. Why are you here?"
He laughs. "We just moved to town. My father wants to retire here. He's out on a date with some local girl tonight, so I'm on my own. I wanted to explore, and the bookstore felt like a good starting point. Are you into all that stuff? Crystals and spells?"
I shake my head. "Nah, I just like to drink the coffee and hang out with Charity, and it's the only bookstore in town. They have some regular stuff, too."
After staring into my soda can for a while, I sigh. "I should thank you. That would have gotten really weird if I didn't have your help. How did you do all that stuff? Like that neck jabby thing and the swingy stuff with Lucas."
He shrugs. "Practice."
"So you're just a man about town," I say, eyeing him. "What are you planning to do here now that you've moved here with your father?"
He shrugs. "I don't really need to work. It's sort of taken care of. I saw a help wanted sign at the bookstore. I might start there."
"I think that's a joke. Like, the owner needs help because he's crazy. Charity is the only employee."
"Oh."
The pizza chooses that time to arrive. I add some cash of my own to make for a generous tip. Apollo takes it all from my hands and moved it to the kitchen, spreading it out on the table. Paper plates and some microwaving later, we sit at the kitchen table while Charity groans and wanders into the room, plops down, and looks at Apollo.
"Are you a vampire?"
He blinks at her a few times. "No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
She looks at me. "Did
he make you invite him in?"
"Eat your chicken."
She shrugs and pulls the tray of chicken in front of her, slathers the pieces in the buffalo sauce lining the bottom of the tinfoil pan, and scoops up great big gobs of blue cheese dressing before gobbling them down. I resolve to eat some pizza before I lose my appetite from watching.
"Damn," Apollo blurts out, "This is better than I expected."
"It's Antonio's. Local place. They know me."
The three of us eat in silence. Charity eats almost all the chicken, but Apollo tries it and eats the rest, complete with the dressing, while I polish off half a triple cheese meat sensation pizza by myself. Antonio is creative with his naming. When Charity finishes eating, she wanders back into the sitting room and sprawls out on the couch, thankfully laying on her side as she begins to snore.
"She's going to have a monster headache in the morning," Apollo notes, peering past me to watch her.
"She only has her mother?"
"Yeah, her Dad was killed in Iraq."
A pall falls over the room.
"Oh. Shit."
"You didn't know. She's a mess. Charity's uncle does a lot for them, gave her the job. She'll probably take over the shop one day. She likes it."
"She have a boyfriend?"
"No. She did but they broke up when he moved away."
"How about you."
"No, I don't have time for-"
He's grinning.
Oh.
I turn beet red. "As I was saying, no time. You don't get a 4.0 average at a private school by twiddling your thumbs. It took a lot of work."
"School's over, right? You can let your hair down."
"Hardly. Now I have to go to college."
He turns solemn, staring at nothing. "That's how it is, isn't it? You finish one thing and then there's another thing and something else after that, and it's like all the time between them just goes up in smoke."
I get up and move to the fridge, to grab another soda. As I pass he catches my wrist, lightly, and pulls me to him. A squeak jumps out of me as I fall right in his lap, wide-eyed. Our faces are inches apart. I can feel his breath tickle my chin, warm my lips. Holy crap he's handsome, like model handsome. Just looking at him makes my heart flutter, and more than that, I feel a stir between my legs that makes me bite my lip and rub my thighs together, like an itch.