“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.

Tara pointed at me and asked Angus, “Her? That’s my friend Perry. I thought you two were in the same math class.”

I sighed internally and walked over to them. I gave Angus a shy smile. He was cute but not my type. “No, it’s the same biology class.”

Angus nodded quickly, thinking it over. A flash of recognition came across his freckled face. “Ah, right, Perry. You sit at the back with the Asian dude.”

Actually there were several “Asian dudes” in our class but my partner was Andy Lao.

“Listen, I better go find Adrianna. I think there are some people who shouldn’t be here.” Angus patted Tara on the shoulder and disappeared into the crowd.

She exhaled all dramatically and threw her hands up in the air. “I can never win.”

“Oh come on,” I said. “Just forget about him. You know he’s with Adrianna. Go find someone else.”

Tara shook her head angrily. “Easy for you to say. You don’t have anyone and you don’t care about anyone.”

I was a bit shocked at that. Tara made a disgusted noise and then took off into the crowd, going the same way Angus went.

Well that sucked. What did she mean, I didn’t have anyone? I had…well, her. And I had…and what about me not caring about anyone.

I looked around me awkwardly, feeling like I stood out like a sore thumb in this place. Of course, no one was paying attention to me at all. They never did.

I chugged back the rest of my beer that Tara had stolen for me from the fridge and then made my way to the back of the house, squeezing through people, too many of whom couldn’t handle their alcohol.

It wasn’t any better outside. The air was crisp but a few people were puking here and there. Mrs. Gee’s garden was going to be totally obliterated by teenage vomit come morning.

I walked out away from the noise and smell and around the side of the house. I wanted to be alone, needed time to get a hold of my heart, which was racing. I had done a line of coke in the bathroom earlier and it was already wearing off. I didn’t have any more, so I brought out another joint and lit that, taking in a deep breath and slowly exhaling it while keeping my cough to a minimum. My lungs were so used to it now, and this strain was surprisingly gentle to me. Potent as hell though, which is why I liked it.

“Perry,” I heard someone whisper.

I sprang up from the fence I was leaning against and grabbed at my pounding chest. I couldn’t see anyone in the shadows where the motion detector light didn’t reach, but eventually I heard a shuffling noise and Jacob stepped out in front of me.

The tips of his inky Mohawk sparkled in the light. He was looking unusually pale. The bandages around his wrists were gone and what remained were two vicious looking red welts. Whatever he had used to attempt suicide with must have been jagged in nature. It made me feel sick.

“I need your help Perry,” he said.

“Jacob, what are you doing here?” I asked, trying not to sound frightened. He had been so obsessive with me lately, the way he followed me around when people weren’t looking, that it was starting to freak me out. And now, he was here, at this party that he wouldn’t have been invited to.

“My girl is in there,” he said. His voice sounded strange and metallic. He nodded at the house. “Adrianna. I’ve come to free her. And help you.”

“First of all, Adrianna is not your girl. She’s with Angus. I’m sure you can go plan a line of attack with my friend Tara, she’d be happy to take him off your hands, but for now, those two are a couple. Get the net. And, help me…help me with what?”

I took a smaller toke of my joint and offered it to him. He shook his head and pushed my hand away.