“At this point, the party has gone from played out to exciting and back again maybe thirty times.”
I laughed again, enjoying her enthusiasm, but part of me was wondering where she found the energy. She looked as if she were just as exhausted as she was earlier in the day, and her hair was still pulled back in a tight bun, but she didn’t seem nearly as tired as she had. I wondered if she even slept at all, but she must have.
“Like the car?” she asked me.
“Yeah, I do. Where’d you even get something like this?”
“Craigslist, obviously. It’s old but it’s still got some life left.”
I looked around at the tiny little sports car and guessed it was from the mid-nineties, but wasn’t sure. It looked a little beat up, but Linds obviously loved it.
“How can you afford it?”
“Surprisingly inexpensive.”
“Huh, maybe I need to start looking at Craigslist.”
“Hell yeah you do, girl!”
The night was cool and comfortable, and the forecast said it wouldn’t rain. We drove through the mostly-empty roads with the top down, the wind whipping through our hair, and I had to admit that I was already feeling a little bit better. I wished I had seen Reid before I left, but he was still out somewhere. I didn’t want to call his cell for fear of looking like a psycho stalker, so I just left a note for our parents and headed out.
We pulled up to the same spot as last time, and it looked like the exact same party from last time had never ended. As I climbed out of the car, yanking down my skirt as I went, I felt like I was entering some weird time warp.
That was the strange thing about small towns. It felt like time moved differently, like it dragged and dragged and then suddenly caught up. Parties seemed like they lasted forever, the same party over and over, until one day that party ended. Everywhere else kept up with the times, but small towns moved slowly and then all at once, big huge stuttering steps to the future.
I followed Linds into the party, smiling at a few people that I recognized from the flip cup game. We quickly got some beer and then found the same exact chairs we had sat in last time.
“Cheers, to Ridgewood,” Lindsey said.
I clinked her plastic cup with mine and sipped the cheap foamy beer. “Lots of people tonight,” I said.
“More than usual.”
“So,” I said, turning my head toward her, “I’ve been dying to ask. Any guys in your life?”
“Guys in my life?” She laughed. “How very quaint.”
“What am I supposed to say? Fucking anybody?”
“That’d be better.” She sipped her beer and gave me a mysterious look. “There might be a guy or two.”
“Tell me!”
“He’s here right now, actually.”
I looked around at the party again but couldn’t pick out anyone I thought she might be with. The more I looked, though, the stranger the vibe suddenly felt. There were older guys interspersed throughout the gathering, guys that didn’t look like they belonged.
“Where is he?” I asked, looking back at her.
She nodded toward the trailer. “He’s probably in there.”
“Is that who you were seeing when you ditched me?”
She gave me a sly look. “Maybe.”
“Oh come on! I want to meet him.”
“I don’t know. He’s private.”
“Private? What, is he married or something?”
She laughed. “No, not married. At least he fucking better not be.”
“How old is he?”
“Older than us by a few years.”
“What’s he look like?”
She sipped her drink. “Tall, dark, and handsome.”
“Oh come on, Linds, just introduce me.”
“Maybe a little later.” She looked around and spotted someone. “Oh hey, Tommy!”
We fell in with another crowd of people and Lindsey introduced me to everyone. As we talked and joked, I kept glancing around the party, the feeling of unease growing in the back of my mind. I could tell something was different about the party.
On the face of it, everything was exactly the same. But the difference was subtle, a slight shift in the mood. There were the older guys, serious looking guys, but there was something else, too. Like people were afraid to be a little too loud. The first time I had come, I could barely hear the music over the roar of people yelling and laughing.
But tonight I could hear the music just fine.
I followed Lindsey and the others across the party and ended up standing by a makeshift beer pong table watching a few people play. It was boring, but Lindsey kept chattering on about the people we were meeting, mostly talking shit.
And she kept the drinks coming. I only had three, but I was feeling a little giddy, a little light-headed. I wasn’t drunk, not yet at least, but I was well on my way. Lindsey seemed even more manic than she had when the night started.