Forever (Empire High Book 8)

Chapter 13

Friday

Matt

“THIS. IS. SPARTA!” Mason yelled and raised his sword in the air.

He was dressed like King Leonidas from 300 and Bee was dressed like the queen, in a very revealing draped white dress.

“Um…why are you dressed like that?” Rob asked. “Did you not read the invitation?”

“What?” Mason looked around at all of us. Then looked over his shoulder at literally everyone else dressed as characters from comedies and romcoms. “Fuck, what did the invitation say?”

“Mason, you told me the theme was movie characters,” Bee said. “Is that not right?”

“Yeah,” Mason said. “I definitely said that. But…I also may have skimmed the invitation.”

“What?” Bee started looking around at all the costumes too.

“I was too busy to read the whole thing.”

“It literally would have taken two seconds,” Rob said. And then he poked the side of Bee’s breast that was exposed. “I love boob.”

She swatted his hand away. “What are you supposed to be? A pervert?”

“No,” Rob said. “Well…kind of.”

“He’s dressed like Nigel,” I said. “When he showed up with a hand grenade the other night.”

Bee laughed.

“I’m not dressed like Nigel.” Rob chucked his grenade into the center of the room where people were dancing.

Someone screamed.

“It’s not real!” Rob yelled over his shoulder. He shook his head.

Apparently Rob did not want to be mistaken for Nigel. And I was a little worried that now that I’d said his name, he’d pop out like he’d promised. I looked around. He was nowhere in sight.

“We’re not the only ones that didn’t read the whole invitation,” Mason said. “That guy is dressed like the guy from Scream.” He pointed to someone who’d just walked in.

“Or he’s dressed like the murderer from Scary Movie, which does fit the theme.”

“Son of a bitch,” Mason said.

But I was much more distracted by the two people next to him. They were both dressed like Dr. Evil from Austin Powers and they kept glaring at each other. Or maybe the shorter one was supposed to be Mini Me? She was dressed in a low cut grey shirt dress and had a bald cat in her arms. The skin-cap on her head and drawn in raised eyebrows just made her look insane though.

“Is that Poppy dressed like Dr. Evil?” Brooklyn asked.

I squinted to get a better look. “Oh shit, I think you might be right.” No wonder I thought she looked insane.

“Bold move with the bald cap,” Daphne said. “And I thought my mustache was good.”

Brooklyn laughed. “I much prefer your mustache.”

Kennedy rushed over to us in what I could only describe as a filled burlap sack. “There you guys are!”

“What are you supposed to be?” Brooklyn asked.

“I’m a sandbag of course.” She put her hand on her hip, like she needed to sell it. But we all saw it.

Felix put his arm around her. He was wearing a pair of khakis and had no shirt on. And half of his chest was waxed. “Nope, she’s a boob,” Felix said and poked her.

But unlike when Rob did it, this made complete sense. I laughed, remembering when Steve Carrel’s character said breasts felt like sandbags in The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Because he’d never touched one before.

“Dude, that’s epic.” I high fived him. They totally deserved to win best costume.

Kennedy flicked Felix where he was partially waxed.

“AH! KELLY CLARKSON!” Felix yelled at the top of his lungs.

Brooklyn laughed. “You two totally deserved to win best costume,” she said, reading my mind.

“What about me?” Rob said. “I’ve been in character almost the whole time. Look.” He screamed at the top of his lungs and knocked a tray out of a passing waiter’s hands.

“You and Daphne need to stop making a mess,” James said. “Someone is going to trip over all this stuff.”

Rob screamed again.

Honestly, it was exactly what Brick would do.

“I see your parents,” Brooklyn said and grabbed my hand. “Let’s go say hello.” She pulled me through the crowd to my parents.

They were dressed like the couple from How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Well, kind of. My mom was in a satin yellow dress and my dad was in a tux. But they were both covered in fake blood.

“You just couldn’t resist making it gory,” I said.

“Ah I’m so glad you could both come!” My mom went to hug me, but the frame was kind of in the way. “At least I’m clothed.”

I laughed.

My dad snapped his fingers. “Wedding Crashers, right?”

Brooklyn nodded.

“Ah, there you are,” James and Rob’s dad said as he pushed himself in between my parents. He had glasses on and had left his hair curly like James. “I saw you across the room, Matt. And I noticed that although you’re naked and your date looks gorgeous, you’re not tenting your fig leaf. There’s an easy fix for that. I brought some magazines.” He lifted the paper bag in his hand. “Plenty of nudies. They’ll help.”

My dad burst out laughing and slapped Mr. Hunter on the back.

Wow, James wasn’t kidding when he said his dad was going around giving awkward sexual advice. He was just like the dad in American Pie. And so much more fun as their third than Nigel was as ours.

“You must be Mr. Hunter,” Brooklyn said and offered him her hand. “James looks so much like you.”

I’d forgotten that the two of them had never really met before.

Mr. Hunter smiled and took her hand. “Well I should hope he looks like me. I made sure to put it in the right hole. Unlike when I caught him with that pie.”

Brooklyn laughed.

“Who is that?” Mr. Caldwell asked.

I turned to see an old man walking into the party. I laughed. No, not an old man. Even though the wrinkles and crazy white hair looked very real, you could tell the guy wasn’t actually old because he was ripped. He was in swim trunks and wearing a wrestling helmet, and he had his arms slung around two topless girls in cutoff jean shorts. They were wearing gold pasties, but it didn’t make it any more tasteful. Tanner and I had watched Old School together recently. But I never would have guessed he’d come as that character.

“Is that Tanner?” Brooklyn asked. “He makes an incredibly realistic old man.”

I laughed. He really does. “Yup, that’s Tanner.”

“Who is he supposed to be? And why does he have two topless girls with him?”

“It’s from Old School,” I said.

“Oh. Right. Are either of those girls the one he brought to prom?”

“Doubtful.”

“Huh.”

“My boy, Blue!” I yelled over to him.

Tanner smiled and walked over to us.

“You old sailor, you,” I said. “Are they built for speed or comfort?”

“I actually am a navy man. World War 2. Thanks for noticing,” Tanner said.

Was that in character? Or was he saying that for real? But then I got distracted because he leaned down and motorboated the brunette.

She giggled.

It had been a while since I’d been out with Tanner. I’d forgotten how quickly he went through women. And how sexual literally everything he did was. I wasn’t sure Brooklyn had ever seen this side of him though. Despite the fact that they’d hung out quite a bit before I knew she was back in town.

“Definitely speed,” Tanner said and then repeated the action with the blonde. “And I’d say comfort for these.” He slapped both their asses.

I glanced at Brooklyn. Her eyes were completely round.

“Well I see you don’t need any of my advice,” Mr. Hunter said.

Tanner laughed.

“Except to stay safe and wrap it up.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t set anything on fire here.”

Mr. Hunter frowned. “What does that have to do with anything? If it burns when you pee, it might be syphilis, son. One time when I was your age…”

“Definitely clean, man,” Tanner said.

“Well then. Have fun with your harem.” Mr. Hunter turned to my parents. “Who should I mess with next?”

“Let’s do Mason,” my mom said and the three of them hurried off to torment my brother.

“Give me just a minute,” Tanner said to his girls and tapped them on their asses again.

The two of them wandered off into the crowd.

“Wow.” Brooklyn cleared her throat. “Are you dating both of them at once?”

“I don’t really date,” Tanner said with a shrug. “And actually, I’ll probably try to set them up with someone here if I can.”

“Swinger!” Rob yelled.

I jumped. I hadn’t seen him walk up to us.

“That’s it! You’re a swinger. That’s what you’ve been hiding!”

Tanner laughed. “I wouldn’t classify myself that way. If I was a swinger, I wouldn’t hide it. There’s nothing wrong with group sex, Rob. I do dabble in it occasionally. There is something about having chicks in twos that I love.”

Brooklyn’s jaw actually dropped.

Yeah, Brooklyn did not know about this side of Tanner.

Rob glared at him.

“You’re very unenlightened, Young Robert.”

“And you’re…you’re…you’re great at being old.”

Tanner laughed. “Nice comeback. And I am old, so it’s not really an insult.”

“You’re younger than me,” Rob said.

“Time is a funny thing. It’s not as linear as one might assume.”

“I need to go find my trident,” Rob said and stormed off.

I laughed. Had he actually brought a trident? When he said he killed someone with a trident earlier, I thought he was just quoting the movie.

“You look lovely,” Tanner said and gave Brooklyn a hug.

“Tanner, I have so many questions,” she said and pulled back. “But also somehow so much is clear at the same time. Like the two of you hanging out in this city together like a bunch of whores.”

Tanner smiled. “I’d hardly classify myself that way either.”

“You and Matt were terrible influences on each other. You were both hurting and instead of dealing with your feelings you just slept your way through half of New York.”

Well, she wasn’t wrong.

Tanner pressed his lips together. But he didn’t say anything.

I didn’t really know the extent of their friendship. But I knew they’d talked a lot. I knew he’d helped Brooklyn open her heart up to love again. So they must have shared some intimate details. And I could also tell that her words hurt him.

I cleared my throat. “Brooklyn…”

“I’m sorry,” she quickly said. “I wasn’t trying to judge you, Tanner. Things just started clicking into place in my head. I hadn’t really pictured you as Matt’s wingman. But of course you were. All his other friends are married.”

I didn’t think this was helping. She was making it sound like Tanner was some kind of replacement for my other friends. “Brooklyn, I don’t think…”

“But it’s like you said,” she continued. “Everyone handles grief differently. And I’m really glad you were there for Matt. Truly. But when Matt told me you usually hang out with models I didn’t really believe him. It doesn’t really seem like…you.”

Tanner still didn’t say anything.

“If that is you, that’s fine. I just couldn’t picture it until literally a second ago because when we talk you just seem so down to earth. I definitely see it now though. It’ll be a little hard to unsee, actually.” She laughed. “But for some reason I just feel like maybe you’d love a sweet girl to settle down with.”

Tanner grabbed a glass off a passing tray and downed the whole thing. “Maybe in a hundred years, Brooklyn.” He sighed and put the glass back down on the tray.

“I don’t get it,” Brooklyn said. “You like setting matches for everyone else. Why not yourself?”

He opened his mouth and then closed it again. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I need another drink.” He walked off.

“Brooklyn, what was that?” I said. “You basically just said you used to think he was a nice guy, but now you think he’s a womanizing asshole.”

She put her face in her hands. “I’m so sorry. I’m mortified. It was like I couldn’t stop talking.”

“Hey.” I pulled her hands down.

“Tanner is such a sweet guy. I just never in a million years expected him to show up with two topless women.”

“It’s Halloween. I mean, look at me.” I gestured to my fig leaf.

She groaned. “I know, I’m such a jerk. I should go apologize.”

I caught her hand before she could follow him. “Maybe give him a second, okay?” Or maybe several minutes. Because he’d just tossed one of the girls he’d come with over his shoulder and was walking out the door.

Tanner and I probably were bad influences on each other. But he was also one of my best friends. I wasn’t sure what I would have done if I hadn’t met him a few years ago. All my other friends had moved on with their lives. And I was just…stuck. Tanner understood that. He was there for me when no one else was.

Just because I was ready to settle down now, it didn’t mean he had to be too. I knew what it was like when all my single friends got into serious relationships. I hated feeling like the odd man out. I knew exactly how Tanner was feeling right now. And having one of my friends’ girls tell me to settle down hadn’t helped me either. Despite Penny’s best intentions.

“He’s a good guy,” I said to Brooklyn.

“I know he’s a good guy. He’s a great guy. He’s honestly one of my best friends. And I feel like such an ass.”

I laughed. “Well if you feel like an ass, maybe I need to make an ass out of myself too.” I shimmied my shoulders to the music.

She laughed. “I really should go apologize.”

I grabbed her hand and pulled her onto the dance floor where the rest of our friends were already dancing. Tanner definitely needed some time. And I wanted to dance until sweat dripped down Brooklyn’s chest and I could trace the path with my tongue.