Experiment in Terror 04 Lying Season (30 page)

She nodded quickly, composing herself. The look of relief flooded across her brow. And for the next bit, Jenn was a lot more relaxed with me. Drunk, but the competition mode was turned off, at least a smidge.

Soon, Bradley showed up. Actually, it was really soon. As if he was in the same club with us this whole time.

“
Perry, this is Bradley,” Jenn said as a tall, strikingly handsome man gave her a quick hug and turned his sights on me.

He was tall and well built, in a dapper shirt. Longish light brown hair, a stylish five o’clock shadow, sparkling blue eyes and one hell of a devilish grin.

I shook his outstretched hand. He smiled, perfect teeth that matched Jenn’s in the veneer category, and cocked his head to the side. “So you’re the girl…”

“
I’m the girl?”

“
Yes. The girl who somehow tore Mr. Foray from the Wine Babes. I’m surprised.”

How amusing. “Oh yeah, how is that?”

“
You’re taller than I thought.”

“
I’m wearing really high heels,” I answered. “Was that it?”

My voice was totally accusatory. I was sure my face was as well. I didn’t have to listen to Bradley any more to know Rebecca’s assertion was correct.

“
Nice to meet you, Perry,” Bradley said, and then pointed upstairs. He turned to Jenn. “Jenn, there’s a friend of mine I’d like you to meet.”

He looked at me quickly, all false charm. “Perry, you don’t mind. I’ll return her soon. I’m sure you won’t be here alone for long.”

Before I could open my mouth to say anything, Jenn and Bradley walked off across the club, toward the stairs. I watched them like a hawk the whole time. Just as they were about to disappear from view, I saw him put his arm around Jenn’s waist.

I was so angry. Not only was I just ditched in some shitty-assed night club, but it was quite obvious that Jenn and Bradley were having an affair, or something close to it. I felt the frustration fill up my veins and turned my attention to the bar. Once again, I got the bartender’s attention pretty quickly, which was a needed ego boost, especially after all of Jenn’s comments. I ordered a glass of Jack on the rocks in honor of Dex and sipped it slowly. I gave Jenn and Bradley as long as the drink. If they didn’t return by the time I was done, I was leaving.

It took me twenty minutes to drink it. It was the longest- lasting drink of my life. Then I texted Jenn and told her that I was thinking about heading back to the apartment. I waited for a response to that but after ten minutes, there was nothing.

Fuck that.

I marched out of the club, ignoring the gross leers of the grody men in there, and got the first cab that was waiting outside. It took me straight to Dex’s apartment.

In the meantime, I got a text from Jenn that said, “Oh, you are? We’re just upstairs with friends, are you sure you don’t want to wait around?” Again, fuck that.

I got out of the cab and, after tipping the cabbie too much, I looked up at the apartment. Dex was standing on the balcony, looking down at me with a feeling of shock. He was smoking, a cloud of it surrounding his head despite the slight breeze.

“
Perry?” he said, sounding scared. “Is Jenn with you?”

I turned and watched the cab drive away. “Obviously not. Can you let me in?”

He nodded and put the smoke out on an ashtray. I went to the door and was buzzed in.

He answered their door in plaid pajama pants and a grey T-shirt. His eyes were red and he reeked of pot. He stuck his head out into the hallway, looking all paranoid.

“
I’m not with Jenn,” I told him again, and pushed past him into the apartment. I leaned against the kitchen counter and kicked my wretched shoes off. They hurt like hell and almost fell off a bunch of times while dancing.

“
What happened? Why are you home so soon?” he asked, sounding panicky.

I leaned against the counter and put my head down on it.

“
I don’t know. Clubbing sucks,” I mumbled. I didn’t know what to say. Part of me wanted to tell Dex what I thought about Jenn and Bradley, or at least to mention he was there on our “girls” night and that they ditched me. But the other part felt that if I did that, she would deny it and I would look like his psycho jealous partner.

“
Where’s Jenn?”

I opened my eyes and stared blankly at the far wall, glad he wasn’t in my line of sight.

“
She saw some friends and wanted to stay. I didn’t. So I came back.”

“
Oh. Well, did you have fun?”

I turned my head the other way to look at him. “Do you think I had fun, Dex?”

He smiled to himself and let out a funny giggle. “OK then.”

He walked over to the couch and plopped down on it. “Want to join me?”

“
What are you doing?”

“
Watching
Mitchell
. Mystery Science Theatre 3000. I know you love it. We’ve had drunken conversations about it.”

“
That works out well then. Cuz I’m drunk right now.”

“
And I’m high,” he said, and patted the space beside him on the couch.

I was drunk, drunk enough to know that sitting next to him wouldn’t be a good idea, especially after all I found out tonight. So I sat down on the armchair, splaying my body across it like Fat Rabbit, who was doing a similar pose on the rug in front of the television’s blue glow.

Dex pressed play and started laughing away. I’d seen the episode enough that I didn’t need to pay attention. I focused my attention on him. He had a stupid look on his face and his eyes were red, but I was guessing it was from the pot and not because he saw Abby again. Perhaps pot wasn’t a bad idea for him after all. Anything that kept him smiling and not cowering in an alley in fear was a good thing.

After we watched about half the movie, Dex lowered the volume and said, “How are you kiddo?”

I turned my body over and shrugged. “Tired.”

“
All danced out?”

I laughed. “No. Not danced out.”

“
You should learn to dance one day. It’s fun.”

“
Excuse me,” I gave him a look. “I know how to dance.”

“
Oh really,” he said, straightening up on the couch, giving me a flirty look.

“
What?”

“
I’d like to see these dance moves.”

“
I’m sure you will on Friday.”

“
Oh, come on baby.”

I paused at that. He hadn’t called me baby since our time on the island. He didn’t seem to notice though. He got up, a bit wobbly, and walked over to the stereo.

“
I bet Jenn has some good dance music,” he said, flipping through the settings.

“
Dex…I’m not dancing. I’m tired. I’m done. I’m going to sleep soon. It’s like the middle of the night.”

He ignored me and settled on the recognizable synth beats of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face.” He cocked his finger at me.

“
No, no way,” I protested.

But he turned it up. And as soon as the backbeats broke in…Dex started dancing.

I tried not to laugh but it was impossible. My face cracked open and the resulting guffaw scared Fat Rabbit enough that he ran away into the kitchen. Either that scared him, or it was Dex’s dancing, which was silly and over the top, yet still skilled. I hadn’t forgotten that the boy knew how to dance; he was quite adept at it at the bar in Red Fox.

“
Come on,” he said, waving his hands at me. He started singing along with the chorus and doing Madonna face moves. The volume went up again.

And so did I.

I got to my feet and started dancing like an idiot. And when I say idiot, I mean doing the hustle, the lawnmower, the skier, the shopper, the sprinkler system.

By the time “Bad Romance” started pumping through the speakers, both Dex and I were helicoptering and jiving in a circle in the living room. Fat Rabbit stopped being afraid of us and tried to get in between us, wiggling his little butt around.

I was just drunk enough to start singing along with this song; all the lyrics were way to applicable to our situation. But he sang them too. It was surprising that he knew them, but then again, how did I?

“
Are you sure this is Jenn’s CD?” I asked suspiciously, breathing hard between moves.

“
It might not be.” He didn’t hide his sheepish look.

By the time he got to singing the French parts of the song (which he pronounced perfectly) I was starting to feel awkward. Stupid sexy language. But Dex just grinned at me, put his arms around my waist and pulled me closer to him, so we were doing a sort of fast-paced slow dance.

Our bodies were moving, our hips were grinding against each other. Sweat was flying. Our faces were close, mouths grinning, shared intoxication.

And then the song ended.

“
What the hell?”

Dex and I immediately took our hands off of each other and turned to the doorway. Jenn was standing there, looking haggard and drunk.

“
Perry,” she said, shutting the door behind her and stumbling over to us. “Why did you leave like that?”

She turned her attention to Dex, not seeming to find a problem with the way we were dancing, or the humor in finding of us both dancing like idiots to Lady Gaga.

The next song came on, which made us jump, and Dex quickly turned it off. Jenn just watched him with her sloppy eyes until his attention was back on her again. Then she continued, “I went to get some drinks with some people and then Perry just left. Just like that.”

Seriously? Was that seriously her version of events? She eyed me so fast it was almost imperceptible, which told me she was afraid I would contradict her. I wanted to. Did I ever. But what would be the point.

Dex didn’t even bother looking at me. I think he could tell that it wasn’t something I did on purpose. He put his hand on Jenn’s head. “It’s OK, I’m sure it was a misunderstanding. Time for bed, OK?”

Jenn nodded and stumbled past us toward the bedroom.

The door closed. I looked up at Dex. “I didn’t ditch her.”

“
I know you didn’t. I’m surprised you went out with her in the first place. That was really big of you.”

“
Really?”

He walked over to the kitchen and poured us both a glass of water. “I know you, kiddo. That was one for the team and I appreciate it. I don’t think you could ever get out of my good books for that one.”

I sipped at the water. I wasn’t too sure about that. I looked him over. “How are you? While I was gone…did you…see anything?”

He shook his head. “No, thank God. Maybe the pot helped. Or being distracted. Or just having the dog here. I felt fine enough to dance with you, so I guess I’ve been doing OK.”

“
I was worried about you,” I admitted.

“
I know,” he said, placing a hand on my shoulder and slowly leading us back to our rooms. “And knowing that you were, it made me feel…safe.”

That warmed me a little.

“
Good night, Dex,” I said, stepping into my room.

“
Good night, Perry,” he said in return. I shut the door and climbed into bed. I finished half the glass of water and then closed my eyes. As I drifted off, my thoughts turned to Dex. I wondered what would have happened between us had Jenn not come home so early.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“
Who’s your friend here?”

I turned my head and looked over at Tara, who was sidling up to Angus, her lanky arms hanging at her sides, unsure of what to do with them. The party was absolutely packed with people, some I recognized from class, some a bit older, maybe college-aged. The air in the house was filled with clouds of pot and tobacco smoke, music was blaring from three different rooms and beer and hard liquor was being spilled in all directions.