Since Devin is the cook, I leave most of the food planning to him for the party. I do manage to throw together the ingredients for pulled pork in a slow cooker and buy Hawaiian rolls and cole slaw as my contribution. At the store I purchase some hot dogs and ground beef for burgers and grab a few packs of buns. We aren’t expecting too many people so I try and keep it simple, but I’ve never had a party before so I go all out, not knowing what people will expect when they show up. Devin and Justin make a very large beer run and have purchased charcoal for the grill. We are stocked with plastic silverware and paper plates and napkins. It’s that kind of crowd, and I don’t intend to wash any dishes. We only have seven plates and maybe three and a half place settings of silverware anyway, most of which I’d stolen from Appleseed when I worked there and hit up the kitchen for supplies.
I’ve invited a few old friends from Appleseed, including Alicia and Carlos, George the bouncer, DJ Long, who is actually a very tall and skinny Korean boy named Alex. I also asked two other cage girls named Sarah and Yaara to come by. I had an ulterior motive when inviting Yaara, who is a shy Israeli girl working her way through college any way she can. Appleseed is one of three jobs she has. She also works at the bookstore at University of Chicago where she attends school and tutors other students in math. I asked Sarah to bring her along, since I don’t know Yaara all that well. Sarah and I were always pretty good friends, and I don’t make friends easily. I think Yaara and Devin might hit it off. If Sarah didn’t have an on again off again relationship going with the same guy for four years, I’d try and fix her up with Devin, but it seems like her boyfriend is back in the picture based on the last time I spoke with her. Sarah is one of those people who likes to be single, and then realizes that dating is a horrible process and reconnects with Brandon, her boyfriend. She has no trouble getting dates, since she’s practically a Barbie doll and nearly six feet tall. I’m pretty sure most of the issues come from when she mentions her job to the guys she’s dating, since she usually goes for geeky types with regular jobs. If they are from some place where corn grows, all the better. Brandon is from Nebraska, and she’s introduced me to guys from Idaho, Indiana and Wyoming. I have no idea how she finds these guys in Chicago, but we joke about how she has “Farm-dar”, which is radar for farmers. She secretly wants to be a farmer’s wife and wear red gingham and pigtails.
Devin invited a few railroaders who have a day off. They’re a different breed altogether. Most of them work constantly and have no social skills at all. I imagine there will be a lot of train talk, some of which I follow from knowing Devin but most of which is gibberish to me. They’ll likely stay with each other, eat a lot, drink a lot and take off to get some precious sleep before they’re called in to work. I also asked Justin to tell his mom and dad to stop by, and Louisa walks in a half hour before the official start time carrying a huge tray of sausage and peppers. Joe Fiero trails behind her carrying a salad, a cake and meatballs. Louisa embraces and kisses me like family and immediately busies herself in our kitchen, arranging, tasting, seasoning and cleaning. I help her out for a bit, though I am more nervous around her since the last time I saw her for dinner at her house the night we moved in. I’ve never officially been around the mother of a man I’m sleeping with and wonder if there’s a pop quiz or anything I should have prepared for. Louisa is as warm and friendly as ever, though, and doesn’t say anything that makes me uncomfortable. She asks me about how settled I am and I gratefully tell her about how Justin and Devin have redone the downstairs bathroom and how we’ve painted the front room and kitchen. The kitchen is now a bright golden yellow and the front room is a soft sage color. I’m thinking about purple for my bedroom. Devin will probably paint his black to help him sleep during the day when he’s waiting to be called to work.
The doorbell starts ringing and I leave the front door open with the storm door closed (another home improvement feature) so people can just let themselves in as they arrive. Alicia and Carlos come first with sangria, which is Alicia’s specialty. It comes in a big cooler like they have sitting out on football fields full of Gatorade, but I prefer the sangria. It’s light and syrupy and sweet and Alicia even brings cut up apples and grapes to float around in the cups. Sarah, Alex and Yaara arrive together, bringing hummus and pita and olives, which Yaara picked up before they met up to come over. I know Sarah can’t even make macaroni and cheese out of the box, and Alex doesn’t seem like the domestic type, so I’m grateful that Yaara took charge of the food. Devin’s railroad friends come by, including a skinny black guy named Steve who I’ve met several times and always enjoyed because he tells really silly jokes that are a lot funnier with four cups of sangria in me. Most of the railroaders are older guys who are big and burly and park themselves on the sofa after a generous helping of Louisa’s food. George the bouncer arrives an hour after most people are here, telling me that he has been stuck in traffic the whole time. Then there is another unexpected guest who arrives when the housewarming party is in full swing. Out of the corner of my eye while I’m chatting with Justin, Sarah, Yaara and George I see Devin light up and go to the front door. I whirl around to find out who he is so happy to see. “Holy shit,” I say. “It’s Holly.”