Imaginary Grace (11 page)

Chapter 13

Grace

A
s soon as the doorbell rang Ryder came shooting down from her room and Jagger came running up the stairs from the basement, hopping into his reserved seat on the couch. Even Troo came scurrying in from the kitchen and jumped up on the couch next to Jagger, wondering what all the fuss was about.

I quickly jumped in front of Ryder to stop her from getting to the door. “Mom,” I shouted, “can you please deal with her before she embarrasses me!”

“Calm down, everyone,” Mom said in a hushed whisper. “Ryder, take a seat and let your sister answer the door for her friend. No smart talk. And you either, Jagger. Show some respect for Grace’s guest.”

My father rounded the corner, looking exasperated. “Would everyone please stop arguing and just answer the door?”

I nodded, took a deep breath, and prayed Tanner hadn’t heard all the commotion. My hand on the doorknob, I whispered, “Everybody act natural,” then slowly pulled the door open.

As always, my breath caught at the sight of him. “Hi,” I said, trying to strike a balance between casual and happy to see him. Scott was standing behind him, wearing dark sunglasses and his usual cat-that-ate-the-canary smile. “Hey, Scott. Did you guys find the house okay?”

“Oh, yeah,” Tanner replied, “your directions were stellar.”

“Come on in,” I said, and stepped aside so they could pass. From the whispers and giggles coming from the living room, I assumed my parents had gathered everyone in there. When we walked in, Jagger and Ryder were sitting on the couch, with my dad standing nearby. Mom was nowhere in sight. “Tanner, Scott, this is my dad,” I said, trying to keep the proud grin from my face.

“Nice to meet you, sir,” Tanner said, holding his hand out, looking every bit the hopeful suitor.

As Dad, Scott and Tanner exchanged pleasantries, I glanced at Jagger and Ryder to see their reactions. True to form, Jagger looked mildly bored while Ryder’s face held an absolutely priceless expression of awe. I caught her eye and allowed myself a smug smile.

I would have expected Troo to run over and greet them, but she just sat still as a stone next to Jagger. That’s odd, I thought, but before I could go to the dog my mom came in from the kitchen.

“Would you boys like a drink?” she asked after I’d introduced them.

“Yeah, sure, that’d be great,” Tanner replied with a winning smile.

“Okay, have a seat,” Mom said as she headed back to the kitchen.

“Well, if you kids’ll excuse me I have some work to finish upstairs,” Dad said, nodding to Tanner and Scott, “It was nice meeting both of you.”

I turned to introduce them to the twins, but Ryder had already gotten up. “Hi,” she said, and to my horror, she sounded a lot like me when I spoke to Tanner—nervous as hell. “I’m Grace’s sister, Ryder. It’s nice to meet you.” She then stood there, practically drooling, although I couldn’t tell whether it was over Tanner, Scott, or the collective hotness of two college boys.

My brother also introduced himself. “Hey, I’m Jagger,” he said, as he got up from the couch and confidently stuck his hand out. Troo let out a low growl. What was up with that dog?

“Ryder and Jagger, cool names,” Scott said as he shook Jagger’s hand.

Tanner smiled. “Hey, what’s up?”

Just then, Mom called Ryder to help her with the drinks. She slunk reluctantly toward the kitchen, returning with my mother a few minutes later. They were carrying a pitcher of lemonade, a pitcher of iced tea and some glasses, which they put on the coffee table. “Grace, I made you guys a tray of sandwiches and there are some salads in the fridge. Whenever you’re ready, just help yourselves. It was nice meeting you boys,” she said, then she too turned and went upstairs.

I told Scott and Tanner to have a seat then began pouring the drinks. An awkward silence fell on the room, and I was almost grateful when Ryder started in with her million-and-one questions. Tanner and Scott seemed to find her amusing, or maybe they were just being good sports; all I knew was that it took pressure off me.

After about fifteen minutes, Jagger stood up and said, “I’m hungry. Let’s go eat.”

Ryder continued with her chatter as we carried our drinks to the kitchen and gathered around the table. I tapped her on the shoulder, trying to get her to shut up and help me with the food, but she ignored me.

At some point after we finished eating, Jagger mentioned
Call of Duty,
which was an Xbox game he often played.

“Dude, I’m like phenomenal at that game,” Scott said.

“You wanna play?” Jagger asked excitedly. “’Cause I betcha I kick your ass.”

“You’re on!” Scott said, and they both got up and headed for the basement, leaving me, Tanner, and Ryder at the table.

“So, Tanner,” Ryder began, “how did you meet Grace?”

“Uh, well, we have a class together and we go to the same gym, but the first time I met her was in class, I think,” he said.

“The
gym?
” she questioned looking at me incredulously. “Since when do you go to a gym?”

“Since the beginning of school,” I answered, annoyed. As I stood and started putting the leftover food away, I heard Ryder say in a sort of flirty tone, “So…Grace tells me you guys are just friends…is that true?”

I abruptly halted what I was doing.
She did not just ask him that, did she?

I turned and shot her the most menacing look I could summon, but she only had eyes for Tanner. Before he could reply, I jumped in quickly with, “Do you guys want to go downstairs?”

“Yeah, sure,” Tanner said as he stood up from the table, obviously relieved that he didn’t have to answer that question.

I shoved the tray of food into the fridge, then walked over to the basement door. “It’s right this way,” I said, pulling it open for him. Ryder went to follow him down, but I grabbed her shirt and spun her around to face me. “Cut the crap!” I said in a fierce whisper. Still clenching her shirt with one hand, I poked her forcefully in the shoulder with the other, causing her to stumble back. From the look of surprise on her face, I had clearly made my point.

“All right, all right, don’t have a cow,” she said sulkily. “No more questions. Can I go downstairs now?”

“Go,” I said, and let go of her shirt, allowing her to pass. As I followed her down the stairs, I could hear Jagger and Scott hurling good-natured insults at each other as they played Call of Duty. Tanner was watching their game from the black leather sofa, and seemed to be rooting for my brother. He smiled as I sat down on the couch next to him, while Ryder took a seat on the opposite couch, as far away from me as she could get. She didn’t say another word to Tanner, now focusing all of her attention on Scott. Over the next several minutes she inched closer and closer until they were shoulder-to-shoulder.

Tanner didn’t say much, but he did put his hand on mine, making my heart race. I thought about the last time we were on a couch together, and suddenly wished we weren’t in my parents’ basement with his roommate and my siblings.

We hadn’t been down there for long when Tanner said, “Scott, I think we better get going. It’s getting late and I gotta meet up with Cole.”

“Oh, yeah…Cole. I forgot about him,” Scott said without lifting his eyes from the television.

I turned to Tanner. “Oh, you guys really have to go already?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I got a lot of work to do.”

I wondered what kind of work involving cars would go into the night. Must be something important, if they needed him to drive all the way up here to take care of it.

Tanner stood up as Scott reluctantly relinquished the Xbox controller and stretched. “This was a great afternoon, right, T?” Scott said, smiling.

Tanner looked at me. “Yep.”

We all headed back up to the living room—including Jagger, which was a big compliment, considering he didn’t leave a game for anyone. When my mom heard the commotion she came out of the kitchen. “Oh, are you boys leaving already? I would have fixed dinner...”

“No, Mom,” I said with a pointed look, “They have things to do.”

“Right, of course,” she said, “Well, it was so nice meeting the two of you. Come back anytime.”

Then she called upstairs to my father, who came down to say his goodbyes. I had to admit, I thought as I walked them out to the truck, my parents had handled the whole thing exceptionally well. The same couldn’t be said for Ryder, however, who continued to flirt mercilessly with Scott. Despite their age difference, he did not discourage her, which I found sweet and creepy at the same time.

“It was really nice of you to have us over, Grace,” Tanner said softly, gently running his hand down my arm. “Your family is great. I’ll see you back at school next week.”

“Okay,” I said, my arm tingling from his touch. “I’m glad you came by.”

Tanner turned to Scott, who was talking to Ryder and Jagger. “Ready?”

“Sure am,” Scott said, and they slid into the truck and pulled away, with Ryder waving after them like they were on a cruise ship leaving port. I just stood and watched as they disappeared around the corner, slowly running my hand up the arm that Tanner had touched.

I walked back up the paved pathway and into the house, with Jagger and Ryder right behind me. When Ryder came in, she gently closed the door behind her and, leaning back against it, announced to everyone in a snarky tone, “Well, I guess we can all agree – Grace and Tanner are
definitely
just friends.”

Chapter 14

Tanner

N
either of us said a word as we drove away, but out of the corner of my eye, I could see Scott grinning from ear to ear. I knew he was just dying to put his two cents in.

“Well,” I said, “go ahead. Get it out of your system. Let’s hear it.”

“Well,” he started, “between the polite mom and dad, the sandwiches, and the fresh-squeezed lemonade, I think we just met the Brady Bunch; I mean, aside from the totally hot sister.”

“Scott, give me a break. She’s like fourteen.”

“Hot is hot, whether it’s fourteen or forty,” he said matter-of-factly. “But all kidding aside, when this is over, I got dibs on Grace, if only for the sandwiches.”

I just shook my head. “I’m just glad we’re out of there. How far is it to the motel?”

“Not far,” Scott said, studying the directions Cole had given us, “it looks like it’s just a few miles from here.”

A few minutes later we pulled up to the motel, got out of the truck, and looked around. It was your typical roadside motel, a bit of a dump, but it would serve its purpose. We went around to the front desk, where an overweight, middle-aged woman with overly-dyed blonde hair took our information and gave us our keys. We found our room and brought our bags in, leaving all the equipment in the back of the truck, except for my guitar which I also brought into the room.

Considering the shabby exterior of the motel, the room wasn’t that bad --with two double beds, a TV and a small table with two chairs in the corner. There was a lime-green shag carpet on the floor that looked like it’d seen better days and thick dark orange curtains which I immediately pulled closed, blocking out the late afternoon sun. There was a faint scent of cigarettes, but I’d stayed in worse.

The show didn’t start until ten o’clock, which meant we should be there by nine, still giving us plenty of time to chill out. I kicked off my work boots and laid down on one of the beds, hoping to get a little shut-eye.

Unfortunately, Scott had other ideas. “You know, it’s none of my business, but Grace didn’t look half-bad today; at least she wasn’t wearing one of those gigantic sweatshirts that she usually has on…and her hair looked different, too. It wasn’t in a stupid ponytail.”

“I didn’t notice,” was all I said, because honestly I didn’t, and I didn’t care either.

“You know,” he continued, “in all the time I’ve known you, you’ve never dated anyone. What’s your story?”

“No story. I just don’t do the girlfriend thing,” I answered, absently running my finger along the scar over my right eye.

“Whatever, dude. Like I said, it’s none of my business.” He kicked his shoes off and lay down on the other bed.

My mind drifted back to the humiliation I’d felt that night at the battle of the bands, and I thought about how much worse it would have been had it been a girl I’d actually cared about. It wasn’t worth it. Besides, finding someone to have sex with was never a problem. In fact, being a dick seemed to work to my advantage most times and if it didn’t, I just moved on to another girl. There was always someone willing.

Now that Scott was finally quiet I closed my eyes, but sleep eluded me. I always had trouble sleeping when I wasn’t in my own bed-- heck, who was I kidding? – I even had trouble sleeping at home. I looked enviously at Scott, out like a light and snoring softly. Eventually, eight o’clock rolled around and, having not slept a wink, I jumped up and headed toward the bathroom.

When I finished showering I woke Scott up so he could get ready, and by eight forty-five we were out the door. When we arrived at the club fifteen minutes later, the rest of the band was already there, so we brought in what equipment we had and began setting up. It was a decent-sized club, similar to J.D.’s, but Cole had mentioned that the crowd this place drew was a bit more hardcore than we were used to. It made no difference to me, but Cole wanted to tweak the lineup a bit, play more heavy metal than we usually did.

It wasn’t that busy yet, but as I scanned the faces of the people sitting at the bar, I came to the conclusion that Cole was right – this was definitely a rougher sort than we were used to. Lots of leather jackets and tattooed metal-heads. By the time I finished my second beer, it was just about time for us to go on. I noticed that the club had filled up since we had arrived earlier.

As I climbed onto the stage and picked up my guitar, I could feel the adrenaline starting to pump.

“Tanner,” Cole called from the other side of the stage, “you ready?”

“Yeah,” I said, and he stepped in front of the microphone. Instead of the DJ giving us our intro, which was how it was done at J.D.’s, Cole introduced the band, then each individual member in quick succession. The response was lukewarm, but I knew that would change as soon as they heard us play.

This was Hudson-Nash’s first time playing in this area, so instead of them paying us directly we’d get a cut of the door. It probably wouldn’t be much, but it was great exposure for us. Cole gave the signal and we jumped right in with some Led Zeppelin. We touched on some older Van Halen and Judas Priest, but also played some AC/DC and Black Sabbath - even threw in a couple from The Doors, which the crowd loved. About halfway through the show, we took a short break.

I scanned the crowd for Scott. It took me a while to find him, but I finally saw him over by the bar talking to two semi-hot chicks.
Come on, Scott, you can do better than that.
He was probably using his standard “I’m friends with the band” line, which always seemed to work.

I hoped he wasn’t planning on bringing them back to our motel room; I didn’t want to be stuck with them all night and then have to drive them to God-knows-where in the morning. I made my way over to them, planning on laying down the law. “Hey, Scott. You gonna introduce me to your friends?”

“Hey, T,” he said. “Great show. Uh…this is Tina and…uh…Karen.”

“Nice to meet you, girls,” I said, smiling as I quickly gave them the once-over. They were both bleached blondes, although one was “bleachier” than the other. Both had rockin’ bodies and were wearing
very
short skirts and heels. The one on the right, Tina I think, had an odd tattoo on the inside of her forearm that I couldn’t quite make out. Still smiling, I turned to Scott and said, “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure,” he answered. “Girls, I’ll be right back.” Then he turned and followed me towards the other end of the bar. “What’s up?”

“Do me a favor, will you? Don’t drag anyone back to the motel room. Either we go back to their place or we do them in the car.”

“Deal,” he agreed, then we both headed back to the girls. That was the great thing about hanging with Scott—ninety-nine percent of the time we were on the same page. We chatted them up for a few minutes, then I said, “Well, it was nice meeting you girls. I’ll stop by after the show.” From the looks on their faces, they wanted me to do more than stop by.

We started the second half of the show with Metallica, but by that time it didn’t matter what we played because the crowd was ours. They were ripped and out of control, and they loved us. I had no doubt in my mind that we would be back here next summer. As we finished the last set I looked around for Scott, but he was nowhere to be found. The bar would still be serving drinks for at least another hour, so after most of the stuff was packed up I made my way over to the bar, where bleached-blonde number two was waiting for me. I grabbed the stool next to her and ordered us a round of drinks.

When I asked her how she liked the show, I made sure to place my hand on her thigh—it was a surefire way to gauge the level of interest. Sure enough, she didn’t move my hand away, and I knew it would be an easy score. She said she loved the show and wanted to know if we were playing anywhere else in the area. I kept my voice casual as I explained that we’d probably be back in the summer, but all the while, my hand was inching further up her thigh. That’s when I heard someone call my name.

I turned around to see Cole and Bryan walking over with another guy I didn’t know. I told the blonde I’d be right back and walked towards them.

“Tanner, I want you to meet someone,” Cole said as he turned to the guy next to him. “This is Dave. He owns this club along with a couple others in the area.”

I shook his hand and nodded. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too, Tanner. You guys put on a great show.”

“Thanks!”

Cole said, “Dave’s interested in having us play a summer concert at one of the local lakes.”

I felt my pulse quicken. “Oh wow, an outdoor concert! That’d be great!”

“I told him I would check the schedule when I get back,” Cole added, “and we could try to work out a date.”

“Sounds great, guys,” Dave said, then he turned to Cole. “I’ll be in touch.”

“Man, that’s great news, Cole!” I said as Dave walked away.

“Yeah, it is,” he agreed.

Bryan looked as excited as I was. “Hopefully we’ll get a few more shows in the area and we can add it to the summer tour.”

We talked for a few more minutes about it, then Cole said, “Okay, I think we’re going to head out. Scott put your equipment in the truck and locked your guitar inside.”

“Where is he?” I asked. “I haven’t seen him since the show ended.”

“He was outside with some blonde. He’s probably still there,” Bryan said.

“Bryan, Marty, and I are heading towards South Jersey,” Cole said. “We got some friends in Belmar and we’re gonna crash there for the night.”

“Okay, cool,” I said. “I’ll catch up with you when I get back.”

“Great show,” he repeated and high-fived me before he headed out.

I went back to the bar where Tina was saving my stool and flashed her a killer grin. “Thanks. Now…where were we?” I said as I moved my stool closer to hers and slid my hand back up her thigh.

Just then, the bartender slid me a bottle of Jack Daniels and two shot glasses. “It’s on the house, compliments of the owner. Awesome show.”

“Thanks, man, I appreciate it.” I said as I reached for the bottle and poured a round of shots. Good thing I wasn’t driving. “Cheers,” I said as I downed the shot and then quickly poured another and downed that one, too.

It didn’t get much better than this. Here I was, playing lead guitar with an awesome band and downing shots with a hot chick – well semi-hot, anyway. Although, I thought as I looked over at her and downed another one, she seemed to be getting hotter by the minute—or at least by the shot. I laughed to myself.

By the time she finished her second shot I had finished my sixth and she was practically in my lap. “Ya know…” she slurred into my ear “…I give great head.”

Jackpot!
I thought, but managed to keep my expression neutral. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to see about that.” I stood up and held my hand out to her. “Lead the way.”

I downed one more for the road and threw some bills down for the bartender; then she grabbed my hand and we started walking towards the exit. That’s when I realized how drunk I actually was. I hadn’t eaten anything since the sandwiches at Grace’s house and my head was spinning.

As we got nearer to the exit I heard the bartender yell, “Last call!” I half-heartedly scanned the room for Scott. “Do you know where our friends went?” I asked the blonde—at least I think that’s what I said--but she just giggled and kept walking.

We stumbled outside and found the truck, but Scott wasn’t inside, and the doors were locked. “Hey,” someone yelled, “you looking for the dude whose truck that is?”

“Yeah,” I slurred back as I walked over to a group of about four guys. “You seen him?”

The guys started murmuring and laughing amongst themselves.
What the hell did he get himself into?

“Seems like your friend messed with the wrong girl—someone else’s girl—and they got into it. The cops took ‘em away.”

Oh shit!
I grabbed my phone from my pocket and took it out – seven missed calls. Just then, from out of nowhere, came Bleached Blonde Number One.

“Tina, I’ve been looking all over for you,” she whined. “We gotta get out of here. Dennis heard about what happened and he’s coming to get us. If he’s see’s you here with him--” she jerked her head toward me—“he’s gonna flip.”

“Oh, shit,” Tina slurred and then turned to me. “Sorry, I gotta go. Come on, Karen, let’s get out of here.”

They took off as I was dialing Scott’s number. He finally picked up on the fifth ring. “It’s about fucking time!” he yelled. “I called you like ten times!”

“Where the fuck are you?” I yelled back at him.

That calmed him down a bit. He basically repeated what the four guys had told me ---the blonde’s boyfriend had caught them and tried to pound Scott’s face to a pulp. The cops came and took them both to the police station, where he was now, and oh, by the way, this was all
my
fault for telling him not to bring the girls back to the motel room.

Whatever, I thought. All I knew was he’d ruined what had started out as a great night. I realized Scott was still talking.

“They said they’re not gonna book me, but someone – someone sober – has to come down and pick me up.”

I listened quietly, then calmly explained that I didn’t have the keys to his truck and that I had no way to get there and that, needless to say, I was definitely
not
sober.

He was silent for a minute and then said, “Can you call Grace?”

“Are you kidding me?” I said. “No fucking way am I calling Grace! Christ, that’s the last thing I want to do.”

“Well, can you think of anything else?” he said.

I didn’t say a word. He was right. I had no other choice. But man, I was no way in the mood for the ‘Grace charade’. Talk about a buzz-kill.

“Fine,” I said. “I’ll call her. Where did you say you are?”

He told me to hold on a minute, and I heard him asking someone—presumably a cop - for directions. Then he said, “T, do me a favor, will you? Can you ask her to bring some of those leftover sandwiches? I’m starving.”

“Fuck you, idiot,” I said as I hung up.

I angrily shoved the phone into my pocket, then looked around at the now-empty parking lot. How did such an awesome night turn into this shit storm? I slowly walked around to the back of the truck and fell against it, trying to stop the world from spinning. Stalling wasn’t going to do me any good-- I had to get myself into boyfriend mode. The mere thought made me start laughing; then again, it might have been the Jack Daniels.