Bloodlust

by Alex Duval

  “Yeah.”

  “Most guys wouldn’t do that.”

  “I guess I’m not most guys.”

  Sienna smiled that slow smile of hers. “Good. We need someone different around here. New blood.”

  Is she flirting with me? Jason wondered. He felt a huge grin struggling to break across his face and quickly turned away from her. “Be right back.”

  Dani was waiting for him in the passenger seat, flipping through a magazine. “Finally,” she said when she spotted him. “I need to get home and have a nice, private panic attack.”

  “It can’t have been that bad,” Jason said.

  “First day at a new school? First day ever in my life as the new girl?” Dani gave him her patented sarcastic head shake. “Are you kidding? I’ve definitely had better days!”

  “I need two more minutes,” he told her. “And I need the cell.”

  Dani handed the phone over, sighed, and returned to her magazine.

  Jason hesitated. He wanted to come up with something memorable to ask Sienna. Something that would intrigue her, not something unimaginably lame, like, “If you could be any kind of animal, what animal would you be?”

  Maybe something with girl appeal, like, “When were you the happiest ever?” Jason thought as he walked back to Sienna. Or maybe…“Do you have a boyfriend?” If he could bring himself to ask what he really wanted to know.

  As it turned out, he didn’t have to waste a question on the boyfriend thing. Because Sienna wasn’t leaning against the Alfa Romeo anymore, she was leaning against Brad Moreau. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, his hands were plunged into that amazing black hair of hers. And they were kissing as if they never planned to stop.

  Three

  The next day after lunch period, Jason headed straight to the locker room. A bunch of younger guys hung around near the bulletin board just inside the doorway.

  “Don’t even think about it, bro,” Brad said, clapping Jason on the back.

  Jason jumped. He hadn’t noticed Brad in the throng of guys. But what was Brad talking about? Had he seen Jason flirting with Sienna by her car yesterday? Was he pissed?

  “No need to check the list. You definitely made the team,” Brad continued, steering Jason away from the group.

  Oh, that. Right. Jason’s heart rate returned to something around its usual beats per minute. “Great,” he said.

  “So listen, I’m having a party this weekend,” Brad told him as they joined the crowd of students making their way across the sunny courtyard to the next period. “I stuck an invite in your swim locker with the info. The whole team will be there.”

  “Sounds good,” Jason replied. “Is it just a guys’ night? Team bonding?”

  Brad laughed. “No way. It’s a house party—my parents’ place on the beach. Bonfire, barbecue, bikini-clad chiquitas, absent mother and father, the whole deal.” He slapped hands with Van Dyke, who was waiting outside a classroom. “Van Dyke will be there. But he shouldn’t bring us too low.”

  “I tolerate that only because…actually, I don’t tolerate it,” Van Dyke said, disappearing into the room.

  “Best friends since preschool,” Brad explained. “See you at practice.”

  “Yeah, later.” Jason made his way toward English. English and Sienna. Would it be awkward to see her? Screw it, he told himself. He’d managed to cover his awkwardness yesterday when he had found her and Brad making out. It would be no big deal to see her today, especially now he that he knew he didn’t have a chance with her. The pressure was off.

  And at Brad’s party, he’d make sure he made the acquaintance of a few other DeVere “chiquitas,” as Brad called them. Sienna couldn’t be the only female around who would make his pulse race.

  But the moment he stepped into the classroom, his gaze fell on Sienna. She wasn’t even looking at him. She was deep in conversation on her cell. But Jason suddenly felt intensely alive and aware of her—she was the only thing in the room that mattered.

  She’s Brad’s girlfriend, Jason thought. And Brad’s agood guy. Like today with the team list and the party invite. Besides, Jason just wasn’t the kind of guy who hit on somebody else’s girlfriend.

  But none of that seemed to matter when she was so close.

  “Hey, Michigan.” Sienna’s voice jerked Jason out of his thoughts. He turned toward her, steeling himself to meet her eyes as if she were just a normal girl who got a normal reaction out of him.

  “Hey,” he said, happy to hear that his voice came out steady.

  “Did Brad tell you about the party?” she asked.

  “Yeah. Sounds cool.”

  “And…?” Sienna prompted. When he didn’t answer, she turned in her seat to look at him more closely. Jason got an extra jolt when she brought her long, honey-tan legs into sight. “Are you coming?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “I have to cart my sister to the movies first. Sacred promise. But maybe after.”

  Sienna laughed. “Hold it.” She pointed her cell at him. “I need a picture of a guy who would rather spend time with his sister than go to one of Brad’s parties.” She hit a button, capturing his image with her phone.

  Jason felt a blush creep up his neck—caused by both embarrassment and pornographic thoughts about those legs of hers. At least the blush had started post-photo. “She’s having a hard time here,” he explained. “Adjusting, I mean. She was, like, the queen of the school back home.”

  “Dani, right?” Sienna asked.

  Jason raised his eyebrows. So everyone really did know everything about him and his family. “Right.”

  “Well, bring her to the party,” Sienna said. “Pourquoi pas?”

  Jason thought, from the one year of French he’d taken, that that meant “Why not?”

  She turned away from him, using both thumbs to click in a text message before class started. He hoped it wasn’t about him and what a family-centric, boring little mama’s boy he was.

  Jason stared at her back. Her silky hair shone in the soft light from the wall sconces. What did it mean that Sienna wanted him to go to the party? It was Brad’s party, which meant it was basically her party too. So maybe she just wanted to be sure they would have a good turnout. Don’t be an idiot, he told himself. They’re two of the most popular people in school. Everyone will be at their party.

  Sienna threw back her head and laughed at something—probably the return message. She’d completely forgotten Jason was there.

  He busied himself pulling Macbeth out of his backpack. What did it mean that she wanted him to come to the party? It meant nothing.

  “Do you have any idea what this means?” Dani cried. “Brad Moreau is the hottest guy at DeVere! This party will be killer.”

  Jason couldn’t help smiling.

  “Nobody said you were allowed to go, missy,” their mother pointed out from across the new cherry wood dining room table.

  “Allowed to go?” Dani repeated. “Since when do I have to ask permission to go to a party?”

  Jason shot his father a look. His dad shrugged. They’d both learned to keep out of arguments between the women in the Freeman family. Mostly because neither Dani nor Mrs. Freeman ever paid attention to anyone else when they were arguing with each other.

  “We’re not in Fraser anymore,” Mrs. Freeman said. “Things are different out here.”

  “What are you talking about, Mom?” Dani exploded. “Aunt Bianca knows all these people, remember? She found us the house here because it’s a safe place to live! I’m probably safer here than I was in Fraser.”

  “Bianca doesn’t live in California full-time,” Mrs. Freeman argued. “And she doesn’t have children of her own. She doesn’t know the kinds of things that go on.”

  Dani rolled her eyes. “Like what? What ‘things’?”

  “You know what I mean,” Mrs. Freeman responded. “These kids grow up too fast. Who knows what kind of parties they have?”

  Dani sighed, exasperated. “You’ve been stealth-w
atching The OC, haven’t you? Just because ‘these kids’ live in Malibu doesn’t mean they’re not normal.”

  “So this Brad Moreau’s parents will be there?” Mrs. Freeman asked. “And there won’t be any drinking?”

  Jason took a bite of his mashed potatoes, hiding what he was sure was a guilty expression. He agreed with his mom that the kids out here seemed a little more experienced than his friends back in Michigan. But if his mother thought that Michigan parties were supervised and alcohol-free, she was dreaming. “Mom.” Dani put on her “reasonable” voice. “Even if there is alcohol there, I won’t drink it. I’m not stupid. And besides, you have to let me go. This party is vital.”

  “Vital to what?” Mr. Freeman asked.

  “Vital to making friends. To achieving some kind of happiness at the new school you’re forcing me to go to. Isn’t that what you want me to do?”

  Their parents exchanged a look. Dani’s constant misery over the move had been worrying them, Jason knew. Dani was totally using it to her advantage.

  “Look. I ate lunch with Kristy Blane today and yesterday,” Dani said. “She’s really cool. And if I can get her an invitation to a party like this, it will solidify our friendship. Jason, help me out here.”

  Jason sighed. The last thing he wanted to do was chaperone Dani and this Kristy person. But this was the first time he’d seen his sister excited about anything since they’d arrived in California. “Mom, Dani’s been going to parties for years. You can’t change the rules just because we moved.”

  His mom sighed, still unsure.

  “And besides,” Jason added. “I’ll be there to keep an eye on her.”

  “Okay. But be careful,” Mrs. Freeman reluctantly agreed. “I hope I don’t regret this.”

  I hope I don’t regret it, Jason thought.

  “Dani, we’re going to be late,” Jason called up the stairs on Saturday night. He was talking late late, not just don’t-want-to-look-desperate late. He’d been sitting on the couch for half an hour, waiting for Dani and Kristy to finish getting ready.

  “What do you think?” Dani asked as she came down the stairs. She did a turn in front of him. “Too slutty?”

  “Oh, that is so not a question you ask an older brother. An older brother does not even want to hear the word ‘slutty’ come out of his sister’s mouth,” Jason replied, covering his ears in mock horror. Then he looked at her outfit. It was a tight, short T-shirt and some kind of ruffled miniskirt.

  “It’s a Stella McCartney. How can it not be perfection?” Kristy demanded from the stairs. She was wearing almost the same outfit in different colors and had her shoulder-length blond hair styled just like Dani’s. “Besides, it’s a beach party.”

  “Fine, then. It’s great. Wear it.” Jason stood up. “Let’s go.”

  “No, now you’ve ruined it for me. I have to change,” Dani said.

  “How did I ruin it for you? I didn’t even say anything!” Jason protested.

  But Dani had disappeared up the stairs, taking Kristy with her.

  Jason sank back down with a sigh. Maybe it didn’t matter how late they were. He had a feeling that this party would run all night. The way kids at school had been talking about it for the whole week, you’d think Brad’s parties were the wildest bashes ever thrown, with people hooking up on the beach until sunrise. He was curious to see if the reality lived up to the hype.

  He grabbed the remote and clicked on the TV. There was never anything good on, on Saturday nights, but he had to distract himself somehow. He couldn’t just keep staring at the wall until Dani was finally ready. Why did girls work so hard at their clothes, anyway? Were they all like that? Was Sienna? He wondered if she’d be wearing some little Stella McCartney skirt to the party. He wouldn’t mind seeing her in that. Then again, maybe she’d just wear a bathing suit—it was a beach party, after all. Would she wear a bikini?

  “Dani!” Jason yelled. “We’re leaving. Now!”

  “Valet parking?” Jason murmured as a guy in a white jacket waved him to a stop in Brad’s car-studded driveway.

  “Of course,” Kristy said. She shoved open her door and tumbled out of the convertible, followed by Dani. The two of them took off toward the house without a backward glance. Jason gave the valet his keys and looked around. The house was a Spanish-style mansion with a red tile roof. And glass. Lots of glass. Floor to ceiling, in some places.

  It didn’t look much like a beach house. He’d always pictured them as sort of small and rustic. Places you could track sand into, where you could let your bathing suit dry on the porch rail and leave giant towels lying around. But this place oozed elegance.

  Remember your mission, Jason told himself as he walked up the granite path. You are here to meet girls who go to your school. Unattached girls. Converse with them. Share a beverage. That sort of thing.

  “The newbie gets his first look at a hot Malibu party,” a voice said from behind him. Jason glanced over his shoulder to see Adam with his camera. “Stay right there.” He circled Jason, filming him from all sides.

  “I’m beginning to suspect that your movie’s about me,” Jason cracked.

  “It would be classic,” Adam replied. He turned off the camera and walked with Jason toward the house. “A stranger arrives in town and shakes up the small, tight-knit community. Very Footloose.”

  “I don’t think I’ll be shaking anything up,” Jason said. “Or dancing like Kevin Bacon.”

  “You never know. Maybe you’ll end up being the hero of DeVere Heights,” Adam joked.

  Jason stepped through the open door into Brad’s house and surveyed the scene. “I don’t know, it looks like a typical party to me. No one in need of heroics.”

  Adam sighed. “Then I’ll go to Plan B: find a girl to film. Point a camera at a girl and she’s your new best friend. “He clapped Jason on the back and waded into the crowd of kids at the large bar in the living room. Jason headed for the back door instead. He wanted to see the beach part of the beach house.

  The wide French doors led out to a perfectly manicured lawn surrounding an enormous, lagoon-shaped pool with a hot tub at one end. The hot tub overflowed in a waterfall into the main pool, and a couple was making out under the spray. Eight other people crowded into the steaming hot tub, giggling and kissing. Two girls floated on lounge chairs in the pool while a few guys splashed around in the water beside them.

  Jason followed a stone path lit with five-foot-high tiki torches. The path wound around the pool and through a thicket of fruit trees heavy with flowers. Voices floated on the warm summer air—from people hiding in the darkness under the trees. Probably making out where they could get some privacy, Jason figured. So far, he wasn’t too impressed. Sure, the house was nice, but the party seemed like any other party he’d ever been to.

  Then he stepped out of the little orchard—and gasped. He stood on the edge of a tall bluff. The Pacific Ocean spread out in front of him. The moon hung low in the sky, casting a silver path across the water and right up to Jason’s feet.

  “You don’t get that in Michigan,” he murmured.

  A tangy, vanilla scent drifted by on the warm breeze. Jason’s heartbeat sped up. Sienna. He didn’t even have to turn around to know she’d come up the path behind him—he recognized her perfume.

  “Welcome to California,” she said. “Nice view, huh?”

  “Yeah.” He kept his eyes on the ocean. He knew she’d be a pretty nice view as well. But he wasn’t the kind of guy who went after someone else’s girlfriend. And not looking at her sure helped him stay that way.

  “Have you seen the beach yet?” Sienna asked.

  “Uh…no. I thought maybe this was the beach.”

  “Do you see any sand?”

  “No,” Jason acknowledged. “But the water’s at least fifty feet below us. I thought maybe the whole ‘beach house’ thing was a euphemism.”

  Sienna snorted. “We don’t do euphemisms. Coming up with clever wordplay would take valuable time away
from the grooming and shopping that is essential to SoCal life. You’ve heard how vain and materialistic we are out here, right?” she joked. “When we say ‘beach house,’ we mean it. Come on.”

  She led the way over to a jumble of rocks on the edge of the cliff. In the middle of a boulder a deep step had been cut. Jason peered over Sienna’s shoulder to see a steep stairway plunging down the side of the cliff. In the moonlight he could make out a stretch of pale sand below. “Looks dangerous,” he said.

  Sienna shot him an amused look. “Sometimes dangerous is worth it,” she said.

  They don’t do euphemisms. But do they do double entendres ? Jason wondered. Was Sienna trying to tell him something? He shoved the thought out of his head and followed her.

  She skipped down the steps as if she’d done it a million times. She probably had, Jason knew. Adam had told him that Sienna and Brad had been together since they were freshmen. She must’ve spent a lot of time at his place.

  When they reached the beach, Sienna slipped out of her sandals and took off across the sand barefoot. Jason pulled off his Tevas and left them in a pile of other shoes at the foot of the steps. He looked around at the soft white sand and the ocean—black in the darkness, except for where silver moonlight rippled across the surface. It took his breath away.

  He turned his attention to a giant bonfire that had been built about twenty feet out from the base of the cliff. He hadn’t seen it from the top. He got it now: This was where the real party was. A bunch of kids from school ranged along the beach, some swimming, a few playing Frisbee. But most of them were just sitting in groups and couples around the fire, drinking beer.

  “Think fast!” Sienna tossed him a bottle from the row of huge coolers set up away from the heat of the fire. He caught it easily but didn’t open it. For one thing, it might explode from being shaken up by her throw. For another, he didn’t plan to drink tonight; he had to drive Dani and Kristy home.

  “Come meet my best friend, Belle.” Sienna tugged him over to a tall girl with short blond hair. Jason’s skin tingled where Sienna’s fingers touched him. “Belle, this is the new guy,” Sienna said.