Unbreakable (23 page)

Gwen frowned. "You want the others to find snow? What will you do with it if you get it?"

Nina rolled her eyes and pointed toward the door. "Go," she mouthed. "I want to go."

Gwen shook her head firmly, the movement nearly causing her to slosh the contents of her drink onto the floor. "Nuh uh. I'm having too much fun." She'd had several beers already and needed to concentrate to keep Nina's face in focus. She plucked at Nina's wet sleeve. "What happened?"

Nina made a face. "Some jerk spilled beer on me." Then a warm hand settled on her shoulder and she smiled without bothering to turn around, quite certain who it belonged to. While neither Jacie nor Nina had had the courage to take their relationship to the next level, both knew that they shared something more than friendship.

"Hi, Jacie," Gwen said, taking another long sip of the heady brew. "You don't look like you're having much fun."

Jacie plucked Gwen's glass from her hand and polished off the contents in one long sip. "Sure I am." She grinned wildly and licked away her foam mustache.

"Uh oh. Somebody's going to be sick tomorrow," Nina teased. "And boy am I glad she's not my roomie."

The smile suddenly slid off Jacie's face as she absorbed Nina's words. "Are you really glad?" she asked with surprising seriousness, a tiny pout forming.

Nina's heart clenched and she chided herself for letting Jacie's words affect her so, knowing it was the alcohol that was talking. "Of course not, Jace," she said tenderly, reaching up to clasp the hand that still rested on her shoulder. "I was only teasing."

Jacie's face was suddenly transformed by a lopsided grin. "Don't worry. I won't be sick."

Curious, Gwen watched her friends, seeing them as if it were the very first time.

Nina poked Jacie's belly with mock fierceness. "But if you were sick–"

"You'd be right there." Jacie's grin grew. "Disgusted, but there."

Nina laughed. "Exactly."

Dumbfounded, Gwen continued to silently observe her friends. The rest of the room, she realized, had faded away for them; they only had eyes for each other. She blinked slowly, letting the information penetrate the fog that shrouded her senses. The shared smiles, the position of their bodies, the gentleness in Jacie's normal brash personality, and the openness in Nina's often quiet demeanor, all told her one, utterly impossible thing. She grimaced as she felt an irrational stab of envy at their obvious closeness, along with a wave of revulsion.

Jacie's expression gentled and she leaned forward to say something directly into Nina's ear.

Gwen couldn't hear what was being said, but the look on Nina's face said more than words ever could. Suddenly, she felt sick to her stomach. Their relationship wasn't like that! It couldn't be. She'd known them forever, and though it had been a while since either had been on a date, that was just a social slump, not something more catastrophic.
Of course
, she mused silently,
even Audrey goes out more than they do, whereas they only seem truly contented with each other's company.
On the other hand–Gwen's rust-colored eyebrows contracted–she'd seen them both with boys, seen them kissing boys, in fact.

She scrubbed her face with one hand, then hiccupped loudly. It was all so confusing. Jacie suddenly handed her back the empty plastic cup. Dully, Gwen stared into it, as though the answers to her questions might be written on the bottom.

The front door opened, pushing aside a group of students who were standing in front of it, and Malcolm Langtree strode in, proud and tall. On his heels another small group of rowdy-looking men and women, most of them several years older than the college kids who already filled the house, pushed their way inside and headed straight for one of the kegs of beer.

Instantly, Gwen's thoughts were derailed. Malcolm was so handsome and funny and his smile was so beautiful that she found herself sighing out loud. She glanced back at Nina and Jacie, who were still talking. She looked harder, but this time was unable to see what she'd thought she'd spotted only seconds before. She swayed back a little into the person behind her. "This beer is making me think the craziest things!" she announced good-naturedly, putting her ridiculous thoughts behind her and focusing on something much more pleasurable, like her new boyfriend.

"Whoa." Jacie's and Nina's hands shot out to grab Gwen, who seemed to be tipping over.

"I'm fine," she protested, slapping their hands away.

"You're drunk," Jacie corrected, keeping a light grip on Gwen's elbow.

"So are you," Gwen shot back, irritated at Jacie for pointing out the obvious, and a little ashamed for overindulging. She turned toward Malcolm and waited impatiently for his searching gaze to find hers.

"I sure am," Jacie agreed, suddenly sounding surprisingly sober. "But you don't see me falling into people."

"It's after midnight, you two. We all drank too much and it's time to go home," Nina said, yawning around the words. "Let's go. We've still got to find Audrey in all this mess. She's driving."

Gwen chuckled to herself, recalling Audrey's groaning protest that it wasn't fair that she always ended up as the one who had to stay sober and drive when the drinks were free.

A loud crash caused everyone to jump. And for a long second the room was silent as everyone held their breath. Then a wave of laughter rolled over the crowd as a young man opened his eyes, shook his head, and rolled off a pile of wood that formerly had resembled a dining room table. His hysterical buddies helped him to his feet, before he collapsed down upon the pile again.

Jacie shook her head. "We are never having a party at our place. This house is going to be trashed by morning."

Nina's eyes widened as she took in the destruction around her. "You mean it isn't already?"

"Hello, ladies." Malcolm, dressed in a tight-fitting, mint green Polo shirt with the collar turned up, sidled next to them and then focused on the young woman who had captured more than his attention. He smiled boyishly. "Hello, Gwendolyn."

Gwen fought hard not to swoon.

Jacie sniggered. "Gwendolyn?" She'd never heard Gwen go by her full name.

"What is it, Jacie Ann?" Gwen asked in a sugary voice, emphasizing the full name Jacie's family usually used.

Nina covered her mouth to keep from laughing at how quickly that wiped the smug look from Jacie's face.

Malcolm wrapped a long arm around Gwen's shoulder. Clearly smitten, he pulled her close. "There were rumors all the way over at my fraternity that there was a party going on here and, more importantly, that there was a beautiful girl here who was not to be missed." He kissed her cheek. "The rumors were true."

Gwen blushed becomingly, and Jacie and Nina both rolled their eyes, quite sure if there were a rumor like that floating around that Gwen would have been sure to have started it herself.

"We were just leaving," Nina announced, seeing that her friend wasn't going to want to go any time soon. She wrinkled her nose and sighed. "I have to work tomorrow."

Malcolm's eyes went round. "But tomorrow's Saturday!" He protested in horror, clutching Gwen a little tighter as if to ward off the disgusting words.

"No kidding," Jacie said dryly, doing her best not to hold Malcolm's privileged background against him. She had to work the next day and she knew that Gwen did too.

"Let's dance," Gwen said abruptly, before Jacie went and did something stupid and told Malcolm about her own afternoon shift at JC Penny's the next day. She wrapped her arms around his belt and began tugging him in the direction of a corner of the room where the people were, despite the fast tempo of the deafening music, slowly swaying and playing tonsil hockey.

His eyes lit up. In the weeks they'd been dating, she hadn't done more than give him gentle and all-too-brief kisses on the cheek and lips. "Yes, ma'am!" he replied happily, waggling his fingers at Nina as he allowed Gwen to drag him where he most certainly wanted to go.

"Guess she found her ride home," Jacie surmised, happy for Gwen's good fortune with Malcolm. Despite being ignorant of the realities of middle and lower class life, he truly seemed like a good guy. Maybe Gwen's mother had been right all long. It was just as easy to fall in love with a rich man as a poor one, she'd said. And that appeared to be the truth, at least for Gwen Hopkins.

Nina rubbed the bridge of her nose and whimpered. "Is the music getting louder or is it just that my head is getting ready to explode?"

Jacie gave her a sympathetic look. Her parents were both smokers and the thick cloud that permeated the room was all but unnoticed by her. She knew, however, that it didn't take long to make Nina feel puny. "We're off. We can walk and let Audrey drive Gwen home if Malcolm doesn't."

Nina smiled, relieved. "Deal." They set out to find Audrey and Katy to let them know their plans.

Large, cardboard signs that had been placed all over the house declared the upstairs bedrooms off-limits and so the crowd was sparse there compared to the rest of house. It held only a few brave couples who were using the rooms as hiding places to make-out, and a snaking line of partygoers waiting impatiently to use the house's only working bathroom.

A pair of angry girls were banging on the bathroom door and cursing. "C'mon, your turn's up!"

Jacie's eyes traveled the length of the line. "I don't see them," she said loudly.

Nina looked toward the bathroom, hearing the faint sound of raised voices from behind the bathroom door over the noise in the hallway. "They must be in the bathroom."

Jacie's eyes widened. "Together?"

The word was still hanging in the air when the bathroom door flew open and a red-faced Katy stormed out with Audrey following right behind her.

The line of people all cheered.

"Yeah, yeah," Katy mumbled in acknowledgment, flipping them the bird as she headed for the stairs.

"What's wrong?" Nina asked Audrey.

"She's mad," Audrey explained, pushing her way between two rather large men. "Excuse me. Uff… Coming through."

"I can see she's mad," Jacie said. "Steam is pouring out of her ears like on the cartoons. But why?"

They made their way down the stairs, with Katy leading a fiery path to the front doorway.

"Because," Audrey continued, setting her near empty cup on a coffee table as they moved. "I told her she couldn't sleep with every guy she thinks is cute. The bathroom was the only place with a little privacy."

Katy whirled around and pointed an angry finger at her cousin, beyond caring that they were now having this discussion in public. "I do not do that, Audrey," she ground out, her eyes flashing.

Audrey lifted her chin along with one eyebrow and Jacie and Nina exchanged worried glances. That meant she wasn't backing down. "And just where did I find you after I spent 30 minutes looking for you?" Imperiously, she tossed a shock of curls over one shoulder as she waited for Katy's answer.

"Where I was is none of your business."

Audrey turned to Jacie. "She was in one of the bedrooms with some guy she met ten minutes earlier."

"Shut up, Audrey," Katy warned darkly, a flush working up her neck. "His name is Frank and I met him a couple of hours ago and all we were doing is kissing." She swallowed, her mouth already feeling cottony after several hours of drinking. "Which we would still be doing if you hadn't so rudely interrupted us!"

Audrey's eyes softened, but she pressed forward because she truly believed what she was saying was for Katy's own good. "Do you really know this guy?"

Katy's cheeks flushed even darker when she was forced to admit that she didn't know much more than she was attracted to him and that the feeling was mutual. "You are walking home!" She waved a jangling set of keys in front of Audrey's face.

"Why did Audrey give her the car keys?" Nina whispered loudly to Jacie. "Now we'll have to wrestle them away from her."

"Nuh uh." Jacie could hardly contain her laughter as she pointed to the keys that Katy thought were her car keys but was too tipsy to notice were really the keys to Audrey's gym locker.

"The hell I'm walking home," Audrey said, easily waving off Katy's threat. "It might be your car, but I'm the designated driver tonight." She put a hand on one hip. "And just so you know, no guy is going to buy the cow if he gets the milk for free."

"Jesus, you sound just like Granny, or even worse, Gwen!" Katy rolled her eyes petulantly, but her anger was already draining away. Audrey had always been there to watch her back, and she hers; it was comforting as few things in her life were. And yet, sometimes, especially now that they were in college, the closeness was like wearing a tight wool sweater in July.

"This is the 1980s, not the ‘50s, and I control my own body," Katy said. Her tone was as serious as Jacie and Nina had ever heard it. "It's my milk to give."

"And are you happy with all these boyfriends who don't mean anything?" Audrey asked pointedly, unfazed by the fact that they were having such a private conversation in the middle of a party. "Because if you are, you can make ice-cream with your milk for all I care." She crossed her arms over her ample chest. "I want you to be happy, but I don't think you are."

"Audrey!"

"Yeah, yeah." Audrey held up her hands. "I just get worried about you, Katy. It's dangerous to go off alone with a virtual stranger. And what happens when you meet some guy you really love and he finds out you've made out with every other guy on campus?"

"He'll wonder why he wasn't lucky enough to meet me sooner?"

"He'll think you're easy."

"But I–" Katy paused mid-sentence and sighed. It wasn't that Audrey was a prude–she wasn't–it was more that she was a starry-eyed romantic who didn't seem to understand that real life wasn't like the Harlequin Romances her mother bought by the dozen at every yard sale in Hazelton.

Katy nodded a little, reluctantly acknowledging Audrey's genuine concern. When she didn't say more as she turned around and started walking again, her friends knew the argument was over.

*  *  *

An hour-and-a-half passed with the party still going strong, but by two a.m. the crowd had thinned considerably, leaving behind mostly latecomers and those too drunk to travel.