Last Year's Mistake - Gina Ciocca Page 0,19
another cooler with them, and effectively ending my and David’s conversation.
The way his eyes moved over me as I went back inside—filled with questions and judgment—told me it wasn’t over for good.
From there, I can’t say the fun factor picked up. Maybe it was because of the pains I took to avoid being within twenty feet of David for the rest of the night. Or maybe it was because I was the only one not drunk, or even the slightest bit tipsy.
I wanted to gouge my own eyes out by the time Ryan and Matt were playing their umpteenth round of beer-buzzed video game race car driving in the basement. Nearly everyone had left, Violet had disappeared, and Candy was curled up in an armchair snoring softly.
“Grab a controller, babe,” Ryan said. “I want to race against you.”
“Not tonight.” I stood up and stretched. “I’m going to find Violet and say good-bye. Finish up your game, okay? I want to go home when I get back.”
“Kiss me first.” Ryan gave me a bleary-eyed smile and puckered his lips. When I leaned in, he grabbed me around the waist and tried to pull me on top of him. “Candle Wax is sleeping,” he slurred, his booze breath hitting me full in the face. “How ’bout she stays here with Vi and I come home with you?”
I kissed his cheek before freeing myself from his grip and smoothing my dress. “Not tonight, Ry. I’ll drive you home, and Matt can bring you to get your car from my house tomorrow.”
“Totally,” Matt agreed, his eyes never leaving the TV screen.
Ryan scowled, and I felt his eyes following me as I headed toward the stairs that led up to the main level. The moment the quiet darkness of the stairwell surrounded me, I felt relieved. I could not wait for this night to be over.
I made my way through the kitchen and opened the screen door to the deck. The sound of David’s voice and Violet’s giggle made me stop in my tracks. I got the distinct feeling I’d be intruding on something if I made my presence known. Goose bumps stood up on my arms in spite of the warm night air as I maneuvered behind a tall potted plant and looked down at the pool.
“Come on,” Violet said conspiratorially, leading David by the hand to the steps that descended into the water. He still had his T-shirt on, but he’d traded his jeans for swim trunks. “Everyone’s gone. Let’s go for a swim.” She released his hand and glided into the water.
He hesitated at the second step, protesting that the water was cold, even though Violet seemed fine at waist-deep. She stuck her lower lip out and tugged at his hand. “Just for a little bit? I won’t make you miss curfew. Promise.”
“All right. But I can’t stay much longer.”
Violet bounced and clapped as David threw off his T-shirt, hurried into the water, and submerged himself. The ripping-it-off-like-a-Band-Aid approach, as he’d always called it. The one he always tried to get me to use on our summer vacations, when he’d be up to his chest in ocean water and I’d still be at the shore tiptoeing my way in.
David ran his hands over his face and hair as he came up for air. “Your turn,” he said.
“No way!” Violet tittered furiously and made a half-assed attempt to get away from him, but he grabbed her around the waist and pretended to overpower her as she laughed like a yelping Chihuahua. No wonder girls like Amy Heffernan and Isabel Rose turned into doe-eyed tramps around him. The boy knew his way around the flirting game. It was a side of him I didn’t care to see.
And yet, I couldn’t. Stop. Looking.
“I’m just kidding.” David released her and put his hands on the outer edge of the pool, leaning up against it. If it was a tactic to put distance between them, which I doubted, Violet didn’t take it that way. She draped her arms around his waist and propped her chin against his chest.
“See? This isn’t so bad, is it?” she said.
“Nope. It isn’t.”
One of her hands moved up toward his face, and she traced the scar beneath his lip with her finger. “How’d you get that?”
Even with only a slice of his profile visible from where I stood, I knew David was embarrassed by the way he turned his head and rubbed at his chin, as if he were trying to scrub