1982: Maneater (Love in the 80s #3)

by Cambria Hebert

  “If you want to make them actually think you are going out with me and my friends then you have to dress like it.”

  “I go out like this all the time,” I said, looking down at my pants and plain t-shirt.

  “Exactly,” she muttered, like that was some kind of argument.

  “Where’s all your clothes?” she asked, going through all the empty drawers in the dresser. Like I’d bother to unpack. We were going home soon.

  “In my bags over there.”

  She went over and started going through all my stuff.

  “Sure, help yourself,” I remarked dryly.

  “You need help,” she retorted.

  I admit, I didn’t argue as much as I usually would because she was bent over my things and giving me a really nice view of her ass.

  That skirt hugged all the right places.

  Which is exactly why she shouldn’t be wearing it.

  “I look fine,” I grunted. “Let’s go.”

  “Put this on,” she said, handing me a plain white t-shirt.

  “It’s the same thing I’m wearing now, but a different color,” I said, staring at it.

  “I like it better,” she sniffed.

  “Fine.” I snatched it out of her fingers. Clearly we weren’t getting out of here until I changed.

  I yanked the faded blue shirt over my head and tossed it on the bed.

  She made a sound and I glanced up. She was staring. I lowered my hands to my sides and let her look.

  “Like something you see?” I asked.

  She spun around with a huffing sound.

  I grinned at her back and pulled on the shirt. “What about the jeans?” I said, gesturing to my faded denim.

  “They’ll do,” she said.

  On the foot of the bed was the jacket I’d let her borrow on the way home from the planetarium. She scooped it up and held it out. “Here.”

  I shrugged it on and started toward the door.

  “Wait,” she caught my hand and I stopped instantly. I looked down, staring at where we touched.

  Touching her now was more exciting than when we first touched. Now I knew what it felt like, I knew how my nerve endings sizzled beneath my skin.

  “Your hair.” She released my hand and stepped up close.

  She smelled good… like hairspray and perfume.

  Her fingers delved into my hair and my vision went a little blurry. “What are you doing?” I asked, trying to sound annoyed.

  I’m pretty sure I failed.

  God, I liked when she touched me.

  “You need a haircut,” she fussed, pushing the curls that always fell onto my forehead up off my face.

  If I got a haircut you wouldn’t need to fix it, I thought. But all I said was, “No. I don’t.”

  “That’s better.” She pulled back and I had an urge to shake my head and mess it all up again. “C’mon.”

  I followed her out into the hallway and down the stairs. Before we went in the kitchen she said, “Remember—mall and the movies.”

  I rolled my eyes. She acted like I was an idiot.

  Course, maybe I was, going along with all this.

  “Mom!” Kelly said. “We’re ready to go.”

  Her parents and my mom weren’t in the kitchen, so we went into the living room and they weren’t there either. I trailed along behind her back out into the entry when all three of them came down the steps.

  “Perfect timing!” her mom said. “We’re just on our way out, too.”

  “Great,” Kelly said. “Can I have the car keys?”

  “Sure,” her mom said and pulled them out of the bag hanging on her shoulder on a gold chain. “Here you go.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You two kids have fun tonight,” her dad said.

  “Yes, sir,” I replied.

  My mom smiled. “So good to see you too hanging out again!”

  Kelly’s dad opened the front door and held it for everyone. When Kelly didn’t head outside, he glanced at her. “I just forgot something upstairs,” she said. “You all go ahead. I wouldn’t want you to be late.”

  I gave her a look. She was totally stalling so they would leave first and not see me stay home.

  “We’ll wait!” her mom called from outside.

  Kelly made a show of running upstairs and then right back down. She patted her purse for the sake of it and then rushed outside.

  I muffled a laugh when I noticed the car we were taking was blocking the one everyone else was piling in to.

  Kelly climbed behind the wheel and I got in the passenger side. She backed out of the driveway and her father followed behind. When she pulled down the road, he followed right along behind her.

  “So much for dropping me off the next street over,” I mused.

  Our parents followed us halfway to town before they finally turned off and left us on the road without a tail. “Finally,” she muttered.

  “You can just drop me off here,” I said.

  “No way!” she gasped. This is too far to walk. And it’s dark out!”

  “So?”

  “So tons of kids just up and disappear these days. Haven’t you seen the news?”

  “I didn’t know you worried about me.”

  Her eyes left the road for a second to look at me before glancing back on the road. “When we get to the party, you can just take the car and drive back to my house. I’ll get a ride with Mandy and Tad.”

  “What if someone see’s us!” I gasped.

  “Shut up.” She rolled her eyes.

  “At least I look acceptable in this fresh outfit you picked out,” I joked.

  “Your hair is already falling in your face again,” she complained, but there was a big smile on her face.

  “You like it,” I argued.

  “Maybe I do.”

  “Was that a compliment?” I teased.

  “No.”

  “I think it was.” I grinned at her widely and she chuckled.

  We turned onto a street of large houses with large green lawns. Between every house was a row of hedges that gave each yard some added privacy. Maybe that’s why this guy’s parties never got busted and parents never found out.

  “So, why didn’t you just have Mandy and Tad drive you tonight?” I asked.

  “Guess I just felt like driving,” she said, suddenly very interested in the road.

  “Was it because of Tad?” I pressed.

  Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Why would you think that?”

  “C’mon, Kel, I’m not stupid,” I said, irritated. “I have eyes. You’ve totally been hitting on him lately.”

  “Has it been that obvious?” she asked, a slight frown pulling at her red pout.

  Well, yeah. Hence the nickname. “To me it has,” I said. “But I pay attention.”

  “You must think pretty low of me,” she whispered. The car slowed and I figured we were approaching the house. Cars were parked along the sides of the road, but they were scattered a bit so it didn’t look so obvious someone was having a party.

  I wasn’t sure what to say. It seemed whatever I said would probably get me in trouble.

  Luckily, I was saved from answering because she pulled to the curb and let the car idle. “I can walk from here.”

  “Which house is it?” I asked. Seemed I should be able to tell which one was the party house.

  “It’s a few up.”

  I shook my head. “No way. You aren’t walking alone in the dark.”

  “There’s people right up the block.”

  “No.” I meant it. “It’s not safe.”

  She measured me in the dark interior of the car for long moments, a challenge sparking in her eyes. I stared back and didn’t blink.

  Finally, she relented and looked away.

  “You’re bossy, you know that?”

  “Not really, I just don’t let you roll over me like everyone else.”

  “I don’t roll over everyone,” she snapped.

 
“Maybe I should ask Tad about that.”

  She jerked like I slapped her. I felt bad, but not enough to apologize. It kind of pissed me off she was getting out of this car and going into a party where he was. Where any guy was.

  “I can’t make anyone do anything they don’t want too,” she reasoned.

  “I think you are probably pretty convincing.”

  “I’m getting out,” she announced, anger behind the words. Kelly left the car running and flung open the door to vault out onto the pavement.

  I muttered a curse, shoved open my door and stepped out onto the sidewalk. Her heels slapped against the road and then on the concrete as she stepped onto the sidewalk in front of me. She didn’t even glance in my direction, but pivoted and practically marched away.

  “No you don’t,” I said and caught her wrist, forcing her to stop.

  She snatched her arm back and glared at me. “I’m going.”

  “Then I’ll follow.”

  “It’s just right up the street!” she exclaimed and flung out her arms. “Who cares?”

  “I do,” I growled low.

  That shut her up. It shut me up too.

  We stood there, glaring at each other, and I tried to make sense of the dynamic swirling between us. She made me so crazy. Crazier than I’d ever felt. Like no matter how long I tried, she was a puzzle that would never be solved.

  She was smarter than this and it pissed me off she didn’t seem to care.

  I kissed her. Took her to my spot and she didn’t seem to care.

  “Just get in the car,” I said finally. “I’ll drop you in front of the house. No one will know it was me driving. After tonight we can go back to the way it’s been for years. As if we don’t even know each other.”

  The whites of her eyes grew larger and I thought for just a fraction of a second maybe she didn’t like that idea. But then she glanced away. “Fine.” Her voice was tight and low.

  Because I didn’t trust her not to run off in those clunky heels, I wrapped my hand around her arm, just above her elbow. My fingers almost touched and it kind of amazed me at how much bigger I was than her.

  I guess she was just so large in personality and presence, sometimes I forgot I was the bigger one.

  Surprisingly, she didn’t try to pull back. Leading the way, I started down the sidewalk to where the car was still running.

  I got maybe two steps.

  Two figures materialized out of the dark in front of us.

  “Kelly?” the girl said. She was wearing heels too and a dress with a ruffled skirt. It wasn’t nearly as tight as Kelly’s, and I wished Kelly was wearing that right now instead.

  “Uh, hi, Rebecca. I didn’t see you there,” Kelly said, her voice surprised and wary. “Hey, Todd.” She waved to the guy.

  “Are you and Eric here together?” Rebecca asked. The disbelief, shock and underlying thrill in her tone made my back teeth come together.

  “Well, uh,” Kelly stuttered, trying to come up with something. She looked like a deer caught in a pair of headlights.

  Bet she regretted trying to run off now.

  “They’re holding hands,” Rebecca told Todd like we weren’t standing here within earshot.

  I wanted to roll my eyes. We weren’t holding hands.

  Kelly yanked her arm out of my grasp and laughed. “Stupid heels,” she said. “You know how it is to try and walk in these things.”

  “Totally,” Rebecca answered, her eyes bouncing between us.

  There was a glint in her eye, like she’d found a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

  “You and the science geek, huh?” Todd said.

  “Yeah, that’s me,” I said abruptly. “The science geek, don’t have an actual life outside of science or anything.”

  My sarcasm went right over Todd’s head. Maybe it was because he got hit so much when he played football.

  Or maybe he was just an idiot.

  “He was helping me with my science extra credit,” Kelly jumped in. “I totally bombed that pop quiz.”

  “Me too,” Rebecca answered. “It was totally hard.”

  Todd nodded and I wondered if I was the only person who passed.

  “But so, why are you here?” Rebecca asked, like she was confused. “Together.”

  It must be a permanent state for her.

  Kelly faltered.

  “Because I asked her to bring me,” I said. “In exchange for helping her with her science. I asked her to get me in to a party. You know, since all I ever do is study. I wanted to see what a party was like.”

  “Tubular,” Todd grinned. “Like a charity project.”

  I nodded because if I opened my mouth, something nasty was going to come out. Did these people really act like this all the time? I looked over at Kelly to see what she thought about me being her “charity project.” She refused to look at me, choosing instead to look at her shoes.

  “Let’s get this party started!” Todd launched forward and slung his arm around my shoulders. “C’mon, dude you can walk with me. I’ll find you a nice spot in the corner and you can watch and learn.”

  I glanced over my shoulder as Kelly ran around to shut the car off and drop the keys in her bag. She looked panicked and relieved all at once.

  When she saw me looking, she mouthed the words “thank you.”

  I looked away.

  I just lied for her. I’d pretty much sold myself out so she wouldn’t have to tell people why I was really here.

  She let me.

  It didn’t feel good.

  In fact, it kinda felt like shit.

  Jam – to leave abruptly.

  I wasn’t proud of myself.

  I was adamant no one know Eric was at my house, or that I even knew him. I was so close, so close to having it all blow up in my face. And at the biggest party of the year, no less.

  But it didn’t.

  Eric could have totally ratted me out. Just seconds before we were spotted on the sidewalk he’d been angry at me, he said some things that hurt…

  I couldn’t even be mad about it though.

  Because the things he said were true.

  Still, he covered for me. He stood there and played his “role” as the science geek.

  He wasn’t a geek.

  He wasn’t less cool than anyone in The Choice.

  If anything, he was better. Eric didn’t have to pretend to be someone. He didn’t have to put on an act every single day. He made no apology for who he was… and that guy was pretty great.

  I’d seen so many glimpses of the Eric I used to know.

  He was funny and kind. Smart and eager to learn. He was good at telling stories and he didn’t laugh at my fear of the dark.

  He was my friend.

  Even when we weren’t friends.

  Even when I didn’t deserve it.

  I’d let Todd and Rebecca call him a charity case and insult him.

  Since he came to stay at the house, I felt like I was viewing things from different eyes. The reality I lived in was much more skewed and cruel.

  I didn’t know what to do.

  You know what to do, a voice inside me argued.

  I shied away from that voice.

  Everyone stared when we walked into the party with Eric under Todd’s arm. The interest in every eye in the room was overwhelming.

  Rebecca and Todd were together, so automatically Eric and I were paired up in people’s minds.

  I heard some giggling, and then it turned into full blown laughter.

  The boom box was turned down real low as people stared.

  Todd seemed to eat up the attention while I wanted to shrink into the shadows. I looked at Eric to gauge his reaction, but it was too hard to tell. His face was impassive. Almost bored.

  “So, like,” Todd yelled out over the crowded room. “If we get a dork drunk, will he still be able to do math?”

  Everyone roared with laughter and people started chanting, “Drunk, drunk, drunk!”

 
“So, I have a question,” Eric said. He didn’t yell like Todd, but everyone heard. It was like they were waiting to see what he would say. “If a stoner gets drunk, will it make him smarter?”

  I burst out laughing and Rebecca glared at me. I pressed my lips together, contrite.

  “You calling me stupid?” Todd said, his whole laid back demeanor changing. His arm dropped away from Eric’s shoulders and he settled into a challenging stance.

  People in the room watched. I could see their hope a fight would break out.

  “Just following your lead,” Eric said. “Making a joke.”

  He didn’t act threatened at all by Todd. It was as if he didn’t notice the intimidating way Todd faced him.

  I respected Eric, I don’t think I realized how much. In fact, in this moment I respected him more than anyone else in this entire house.

  Even myself.

  “Dudes,” Aaron said, breaking away from the crowd. Aaron was the jock having this party, so he was the man in charge. “You’re bringing down my rager.”

  I hardly would call this party a rager, but whatever.

  “Kelly brought someone who doesn’t belong here,” Rebecca said, tossing me a harsh look.

  Aaron glanced at Eric and then at me. “You brought a geek to my party?”

  “He’s totally lame, man,” Todd said.

  I rolled my eyes. “Two seconds ago you wanted to have a beer with him.”

  “Geeks don’t belong here,” Rebecca snapped. “This party is for cool people.”

  “Then why are you here?” I retorted.

  She gasped like I smacked her.

  I wanted to.

  “I was just on my way out,” Eric said, turning for the door.

  My stomach dropped a little. I didn’t want him to go.

  But he couldn’t stay.

  “Hey, you forgot something!” Todd called out.

  Oh no.

  Eric turned around.

  “Watch out!” I shrieked.

  My warning came too late, Todd was already swinging, payback for the insult Eric delivered. I should have seen it coming sooner. Todd couldn’t just let that go. Not here. Not in a room full of people.

  I understood that more than anyone. Guys paid back people with violence, but me? I paid people back with games.

  Right before the punch hit, Eric swerved out of the way and grabbed Todd just above his fist. Adeptly, he twisted the arm around Todd’s back at an awkward angle. Todd was rotated around so his back was to Eric and he faced the watching crowd. Eric yanked a little harder and Todd’s knee’s buckled.