Someone to Love(16)

“Um,” I start, briefly losing myself in her shiny gold ball gown, “the dorm actually—”

Pennington crashes next to me and wraps an arm around my shoulder. “She’s just getting settled at Russell Hall.”

“Oh, hon.” Aunt Jackie touches her Cheeto stained hand to her chest. Everything about her has an out-of-this-world appeal to it, from the foil-colored suit from the future, right down to the I flew too close to the sun radiation burn she’s sporting. “You gotta get yourself in Delta, Delta, Delta. Your mom and I were both chapter leaders. We threw the best parties.” Her eyelids elongate like frosted Easter eggs as she relives the memories.

“I will. I plan to.” At least I did. I totally had my sights on Tri Delta until my housing options dwindled down to survival mode. “I’ll have to wait until rush.”

“Rush, smush.” She fans her fingers in the air. “I’ll make a few calls. Russell Hall is for losers. I’ll have you home with family in less than a week.” She punctuates it with a slap to her thigh. “Presents!” She jumps up and claps her way around the room, slipping now again to annunciate the fact she’s dipped into the brandy-laced eggnog or broke into the special brownies a wee bit early, both perhaps.

Pen leans in. “Someone hit the rum balls a little too hard.” His breath rakes over me, putrid and illegal. “Speaking of hard.” He glances down at the rather nonexistent bulge in his khakis. “Dude, you are fucking hot tonight.”

I straighten and shoot a look across the room to Cruise. Andrew sits on a chair next to him, talking about purchasing gold bars and moving to the Caymans. I hope to God he plans on taking Pen with him.

Cruise steals a glance my way, and our eyes lock. My stomach melts as he secures his gaze over mine.

“Okay!” Jackie gives an impromptu tap-dance that ups the discomfort in the room several notches. For her sake, I hope Santa leaves an industrial-sized bottle of Ritalin in her stocking or at least a trial pack of Xanax. “I usually don’t do gifts before dinner, but since we’re all here…” She fans the room with her wine glass and a trail of merlot splatters over the floor. “What the hell, right?” She breaks out into a cackle while mopping up the errant vino with the bottom of her skirt.

“Cruisy.” She tosses a small bag at him that looks rather plain compared to the glitzy-packaged boxes adorning the potbellied tree.

Cruise dips in and pulls out a brown leather wallet. He cracks it opens and plucks out a bill.

“Ten.” He flashes a smile and is quick to thank Jackie and his father for his early inheritance. I get the feeling, if Aunt Jackie gets her way, Cruise might be staring at the sum total of his payout.

“We really weren’t expecting you.” Jackie places us all in that awkward situation where she makes Cruise feel like an unwanted guest. “Pen, why don’t you see what Santa brought?”

Pennington unwraps a rather ornate box embossed with silver snowmen. I’m kind of hoping Santa decided to be honest and deliver Pen what he most likely asked for, a roach clip. Instead, he pulls out a large leather bag with a strap and… is that a purse?

“You could put all your stuff in there.” Aunt Jackie is quick to defend her androgynous purchase. “You know, your wallet, your phone… your shit. It holds a ton.”

God, Pen is so wasted he might actually take his mother’s advice and defecate in the butter-soft pouch. And I’m pretty sure “it holds a ton” is code for “gram.” It’s going to house his stash. Basically it’s a stashelle.

“Thanks Mom.” He rises and gives her a quick kiss on the cheek.

I guess “Cruisy” got off easy with a rather masculine-looking billfold and some spending cash at the ready.

Jackie lands a bright pink box on my lap with a fuzzy green bow. It’s so pretty and festive I sort of want to save it for the tree Cruise and I put up today and place it beneath it.

“Let’s go!” She claps up a storm prompting me to wrestle with foil that refuses to tear. Jackie is more than anxious to show off her ode to Christmas commerce. I wrangle the box open only to reveal a duplicate of the purse Pennington just unwrapped.

“I…love it.” Truthfully, I find it odd. Maybe Jackie was simply being frugal and this was a buy-one-get-one offer she couldn’t pass up.

“Couple gifts, so soon?” Cruise glides into a half-smile. He looks sexy as hell seated over there all by his lonesome, and suddenly, I want to head straight back to our soon-to-be love shack and round out the bases in record time.