Painless (28 page)

I trudged down to the bottom of the lecture hall and dropped my blue book on the pile of finished exams already on the table, then I trudged back up the stairs.

Justin Tomlinson was waiting for me outside the lecture hall. As always, he appeared fresh from a boy band music video, or like he had just finished hosting Saturday Night Live. Justin flashed his matinee idol smile at me. “How’d you do?” he asked.
 

I slumped my shoulders as I walked toward him and rolled my eyes. “Kill me now,” I groaned. “The T.A.’s will recognize my blue book because it’ll be the one with all the flies buzzing around it due to all my stinky b.s. answers.”

He chuckled, “That good?”

I sighed, “How’d you do?”

“It went pretty good, but I can’t say for sure until grades come out.”
 

I think he was trying to be supportive. He’d probably aced it. I said, “I don’t know about you, but I’m desperately in need of caffeine before my next final. Do you want to get some coffee at Toasted Roast?”

“Sure,” he smiled.

We walked toward the Student Center together and chatted the entire way. Ever since Justin had first approached me in History class, I couldn’t decide if he was being flirty or not. Unlike Hunter Blakeley, whose flirtations were as subtle as Britney Spears climbing out of a limousine in a short skirt, Justin was hard to read. Whatever. I wasn’t going to worry about it. If Justin was interested in me beyond my art contributions to The Wombat, he wasn’t letting it show or get in the way, which I totally appreciated. If it became a problem, I’d deal with it then.

“Have you guys voted about which drawing to pick for Potty the Pot Smoking Wombat?” I asked.

“Not yet. I think people were too busy studying for finals. I want to give everyone a chance to submit their own drawings before the vote.”

“That’s cool,” I said, hiding my disappointment.
 

I was really hoping one of my drawings would get picked because I was pretty sure my final grade for History was going to suck donkey balls. When the grades for Winter Quarter came out next week, I was going to need some good news to offset the inevitable bad. Because, sooner or later, I would have to talk to my parents, as much as I loathed the idea.

It would be nice if I could show them some proof that my desire to become an artist wasn’t completely idiotic.

On second thought, I don’t know what I was worrying about. It wasn’t like my parents could do anything more than they already had to make my life miserable.

Chapter 13

SAMANTHA

“Spring Break!” Romeo, Kamiko, Madison and myself all squealed as we clinked wine glasses together. We stood on the backyard deck at the Manos Mansion. I had invited them all over for a house warming party. The weather was perfect for it. San Diego was having a heat wave. It was seventy-two, the skies were blue, and only a few cotton candy clouds puffed above.

Wine splashed out of our glasses onto our naked toes. Madison and I were in bikinis, already working on our tans.

“Where’s your swimsuit, Kamiko?” Madison asked.

“In my bag,” she said bashfully. She wore boy shorts and an Adventure Time baby tee.

“You gotta get that rockin little body of yours tanned up,” Madison said. “You look like you spent all winter inside studying.”

Kamiko groaned, “I did spend all winter inside studying.”

“And painting,” Romeo added. He wore a black short sleeve tee and black jeans. I think it was his version of swimwear.

“That’s right!” I smiled at Kamiko. “Are you still working on paintings for Brandon’s Contemporary Artists Show?”

“You bet I am,” Kamiko scowled. “I’m not letting that stupid Brandumb bring me down. I’m getting my art into his show even if it kills him.”

“Him?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Kamiko smiled mischievously, “if I don’t get a painting into his show, I’m going to assassinate him with my ninja skills while he’s sleeping.”

“Does that mean you’re going to seduce him into bed, then kill him?” Romeo asked.

“Ew,” Kamiko grimaced, “why would anyone want to sleep with a jerk like Brandumb?”

“I often wonder the same thing,” Christos said as he and Jake walked up to join us. Both of them had beers in their hands and wore nothing but low riding board shorts. Their rippled abs Veed down to the waistbands of their low riding swimsuits. They were a sixteen pack attack of muscled manliness.

Romeo openly ogled Christos and Jake. “I just came in my pants,” he said casually.

Christos rolled his eyes and smiled wide while giving Romeo a good natured fist bump.

“Ew!” Kamiko grimaced. “TMI, Romeo!”

“Admit it, Kamiko,” Romeo goaded, “the second you have a moment alone and your fingers are free to roam, the first thing on your mind will be a slow motion replay of Christos and Jake walking up with their abs flexing. I know that’s what I’ll be thinking about.”

“Dude,” Jake joked, “if you keep talking like that, I’m going to put my shirt back on. I totally hate being treated like a sex object.”

“Yeah, right!” Madison said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wearing a shirt except at my parents’ Thanksgiving!”

“True,” Jake smiled thoughtfully.

“And you had to borrow that one!” Madison continued. “Do you even own any shirts?”

“Nope,” Jake grinned. “I never need ‘em when all I do is surf.”

“You give surf bums a bad name,” Madison smiled at him.

Jake wrapped his arm around Madison, “And you love it.”

Madison rolled her eyes at me and said, “Men. What would they do without their precious egos?”

“Hey, Madison,” Romeo said, “if you get tired of Jake, let me know.”

“Back off, buddy,” Madison grinned. “He’s all mine.”

“Women,” Jake quipped to Christos, “what would they do without our precious egos?”

“I’ll drink to that,” Christos said as he clinked beers with Jake.

“Romeos,” Romeo said, “what would you all do without me?”

Everyone chuckled as we toasted again.

“Spring break!” Madison squealed.

“Spring break!!!!” everyone else shouted.

===

Shish kebabs sizzled on the grill as Spiridon turned everything over. “Meat’s ready,” he said, “come and grab a plate.”

We all lined up and Spiridon served everyone.

Christos was busy putting out more pita bread to go with the fresh hummus he’d made. I noticed he had yet another fresh beer in his hand and was already buzzed. Oh well. It was Saturday. He could enjoy himself for the weekend. His paintings for Brandon could wait until Monday.

Once we all had plates full of food, we sat down at a table under a big sun umbrella and Spiridon joined us.

“Wow,” Kamiko smiled, licking her fingers which were sticky from eating the juicy shish-kebab, “This is so yummy!”

“Thanks,” Spiridon said. “There’s more if you want it.”

Romeo leaned into me and whispered, “Is Spiridon single? Because I’ve always had a thing for hot older men. If Christos looks that good in forty years, you’ll never leave the bedroom. I know I wouldn’t.”

I chuckled and shook my head. “Geez, Romeo. You have a one track mind.”

“What?” Romeo said defensively. “He’s hot!”

“He’s not gay. Even if he was, I wouldn’t want you dating my boyfriend’s grandfather.”

“Oh, pish posh. We could totally double date.”

I shook my head, “Eat your lunch, Romeo.”

After lunch, we all jumped in the pool. Except for Romeo and Kamiko. There was a small diving board at the deep end, so I dove off and swam to the other end of the pool in one breath. Blue green glimmers danced across the bottom of the pool as I breast stroked my way to the far wall. I still kept up my running regularly, and the pool wasn’t olympic sized, so it wasn’t too hard to swim it in one breath. But I was totally ready for air when my head popped out of the water at the end.

“Look at you, Aqua Girl,” Kamiko smiled.

“You should put your suit on, Kamiko,” I encouraged.

“I don’t want to leave Romeo alone,” she smiled. In a low voice, she said, “he keeps staring at Christos’ grandfather like he’s going to eat him.”

“I think Spiridon can protect himself. You should get in the pool.”

“Maybe later,” she smiled.

Christos and Jake took turns doing flips off the diving board. I think their goal was to splash as much water on me and Madison as possible. We moved to the far end of the pool and cheered them on.

Romeo and Kamiko were also egging them on.

Christos climbed out of the pool after his last jump, water dripping down his tattooed muscled body, and strolled to the diving board, where Jake stood ready to dive.
 

“Show us what you’ve got,” Christos said to him.

Jake took a few quick steps on the short spring board and launched himself forward as far as he could and landed in a cannonball. He made huge splash and water rained everywhere. When he rose out of the water he did that wet hair flip thing that made him look like he was filming a TV commercial for men’s cologne.

Madison and I were leaning against the wall in the shallow end.

I nudged her and whispered, “Do you think Jake could be any hotter?”

“No,” she smiled proudly.

I laughed. “You know, he’s totally spoiled all other men for you.”

“I know!” she grinned. “He better marry me or I’ll end up a lonely spinster. No other man can hold a candle.”

I winked at Madison, “Well, I can think of one man.”

“Dude!” Christos shouted at Jake, “that was nothing! Check this shit out!” Christos hollered as he backed up a few steps on the deck behind the spring board. He sounded a little slurry from drinking.

“What’s he doing?” I asked Madison, suddenly concerned.

She narrowed her eyes and turned to look at Christos. “I don’t know.”

“Christos?” I said. “Maybe you shouldn’t—”

Before I could do anything, Christos ran toward the board and leapt onto it, continuing to accelerate. He hopped and landed on the front edge of the board. For a second, I feared he would slip right off and hurt himself. But he didn’t. The board bowed under his weight and he was flung high into the air at an angle. Instead of heading toward the middle of the pool, he was sailing diagonally toward the cement side. Everything that happened next happened in slow motion. His body turned languorously in a forward flip. But he was going too slow to get his feet back under him. His head was aiming right at the side of the pool. Oh my god, he looked like he was going to hit it head first.

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod—

My heart jumped into my throat and my eyes popped out of my head.

CRACK!!

At the last second, Christos’ back flopped onto the surface of the water, making that sickening slapping sound you hear when someone does the most painful belly flop of all time, except on his back. He had missed the cement side by inches, yet he still sank slowly into the water.

Kamiko gasped, “Oh no…”

Was Christos okay? I didn’t know. I swam toward him as fast as I could to check.
 

The backyard had gone suddenly silent.

Romeo stood up from his chair where he sat in the shade like he wanted to help somehow.

Jake had swum over to check on Christos too.

I was about to dive under the water to pull Christos out when he slowly rose to the surface head first, bubbling water out of his mouth. “Man,” he laughed, “that fucking hurt.”

“Are you okay?” I asked nervously.

“I’m fine,” he smiled.

“What the fuck was that?” Jake asked.

“Did you miss it?” Christos quipped. “I can do it again if you did.”

“No!” I shouted. “We don’t need to see it again. Maybe we should be done with the diving board?”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Madison said, now floating beside us.

We all climbed out of the pool and everyone stood around Christos. I think we were all still shaken.

“Are you okay, C-Man?” Romeo asked.

Christos nodded, “I’m good.”

Spiridon had been inside and came walking out onto the deck. “Does anybody need anything?” He’d missed the whole thing.

“Maybe some towels?” I suggested.

Spiridon nodded and went inside. He returned with a stack of towels.
 

After toweling off, everyone laid out on the loungers in our damp swimsuits. Romeo and Kamiko sat under a sun umbrella around a circular glass table.

Ten minutes later, I think my heart was still doing a drum roll in my chest because of Christos’ brush with disaster.

Christos stood up and stopped at the foot of my lounger. He asked, “You need another beer?”

I shook my head, “I’m good.”

“Anybody else?” Christos asked the group.

“I’ll take one,” Jake said.

When Christos was gone, Madison leaned over to me and muttered, “Is it just me, or is Christos drinking too much today?”

“You noticed?” I winced.

“Yeah,” she scoffed, “but I wasn’t worried about it until his back flop. I don’t remember him drinking this much before. Has something been bothering him?”

“I think he’s just blowing off leftover steam from his trial.”
 

“Oh,” Madison said thoughtfully.

A few days after Christos’ court case had been dismissed, I’d asked if he minded me telling Madison and the gang about it. He said he didn’t care. So I’d given them a rundown of all the hair raising events over fish tacos a couple days later.

I said, “Do you think I should talk to him about his drinking?”

“Maybe you should,” Madison said seriously.

I resolved to have a conversation with Christos about it tonight. In the meantime, I just needed to keep him out of the pool and off the diving board until he sobered up.

I eased back onto my lounger and closed my eyes, letting the warm sun wash over me. I should’ve been more relaxed, but something nagged at me, like I was missing some obvious looming threat that would inevitably injure Christos or take him away from me forever.

But I couldn’t figure out what it was.

===

When people were ready for a shade break from tanning, Romeo and Kamiko asked Christos for a tour of his art studio, which neither of them had seen. Christos took everyone inside to check it out.