Chapter 26
A full hour had passed by the time Vero and I had snuck out of the house, traipsed through the woods, met up with Cam, and picked up Zoey.
The party was in full swing when we finally arrived at the fraternity house.
The run-down, two-story Colonial was nothing like the pristine, stately McMansions I’d seen on Frat Row.
It was in sore need of new shingles, a lawn mower, and a paint job, but judging by the other neglected homes all around it, I didn’t imagine the neighbors cared about the state of the place or the music blaring inside it.
More than a few heads turned when we drove slowly past the frat house and parked. The Eggplant was … a lot. Between the disco ball on the ceiling, the iridescent purple paint job, and a chassis that bounced with more zeal than my checkbook, we had managed to make quite an entrance.
“Stop showing off,” Vero said as Cam played with his hydraulics. “We’re not trying to draw attention to ourselves.”
Cam cut the engine and killed the lights. We sat in the dark vehicle, checking out our surroundings.
Cars lined both sides of the street and filled the driveway, spilling over into the front lawn.
Every light was on inside the house. A deep thumping bass pumped through the windows, and pockets of people stood laughing and talking in the front yard.
Cam rolled down his window. The smell of vape smoke and weed wafted into the car.
He reached eagerly for his door. “We should go scope the place out. I’ll get us some drinks.”
“No drinks.” I reached over his seat and yanked him back down by his collar. “You’re underage, and you’re driving. You’re going to stay right here and wait for us to get back.” Depending on how this meeting went, Vero might need to make a fast retreat.
“I’ll stay and keep you company,” Zoey offered. “These parties are just pukefests anyway. You, me, and Arnold will have more fun here.” She scratched the dog’s ears.
“Seriously?” Cam schooled the excitement from his face. “I mean, yeah … okay.”
“We’ll be back in a few minutes. Stay in the car,” I reminded him. Vero and I slipped quietly out of the Eggplant and started up the driveway. Loud voices and cheers echoed off the neighboring houses. It sounded like they were coming from the backyard.
“Think it’s safe to go in?” I asked Vero. Every room of the house was brightly lit and packed with people. She’d worn long pants to conceal her ankle monitor, but it still seemed like a risk. Between the lights and the crowds, someone in that house was bound to recognize her.
“Let’s check around back first,” she suggested. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and Mia will be outside.”
We kept to the shadows, sticking close to the hedges, avoiding clusters of intoxicated partygoers as we circumnavigated the front yard.
Vero led the way around back, waving away clouds of pot smoke.
We paused at the edge of a large patio. A spotlight had been positioned over a folding table containing a punch bowl, several bottles of clear liquor, and an open bag of red plastic cups.
A silver cask was set up beside it, and a group had gathered to watch as a line of girls took turns doing keg stands.
A crowd chanted Drink! Drink! Drink! from a second-floor balcony overlooking the lawn.
A kidney-shaped swimming pool glowed an eerie blue in the center of the yard.
Tiny votive candles bobbed on the water’s surface, along with a few empty red cups and a patch of something that might have been vomit.
Suddenly, I remembered why I had always hated the frat parties Steven used to drag me to in college.
“Do you see her?” I asked, standing on my toes for a better look.
Vero squinted at the windows. “She must be inside.”
“Maybe there’s a way to draw her out,” I suggested.
“Or better yet, a way to get in.” Vero took me by the arm and led me around the far side of the house.
She pointed at the only window obscured by a set of blinds.
“I’ve been to parties in this house before.
That’s a bathroom. Everyone has to use the bathroom sometime, right?
It’s the only room in this place where I’ll be able to corner Mia and get her alone.
We’ll climb in here just like we did at the church. ”
“You fell in the toilet.”
“This is a ground-level window. There’s nowhere to fall.” Vero crept to the window and looked both ways before attempting to shoulder it open. It wouldn’t budge. “Go inside and unlock it for me.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’ll hide in the bathtub while you find Mia. Wait for her to head to the bathroom and text me when she’s coming.”
“How? You don’t even have a pho—” Vero held up a cell phone. “Where did you get that?”
“Slipped it off the drink table while some guy was tapping the keg. Don’t look at me like that.
I only need it for a few minutes. I’ll give it back when I’m done.
” She opened his messaging app and entered my number.
A second later, my phone buzzed with a notification from someone named Mitch. “That’s me,” Vero said.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this.” I walked out of the shadows toward the house, squinting against the bright light over the drink table as I reached for a plastic cup and poured a splash of punch into it.
I grimaced at the smell. It was definitely spiked.
I searched under the table for a cooler of sodas or bottled waters, but all I found was a cardboard box of more of Jackson’s flyers, advertising another party.
Resigned, I carried my cup of grain-alcohol punch toward the house. No one looked more out of place at a college party than a sober person with empty hands. Or the thirtysomething mother of two who couldn’t remember the last time she’d attempted a keg stand.
I pretended to sip as I approached the door at the back of the house.
A trio of tipsy girls stumbled out of it, their drinks splashing over their hands when they all tried to squeeze through the opening at the same time.
These parties rarely ended well, and I didn’t imagine much had changed since the last one I’d attended nearly a decade ago.
I stepped around them into the house, the smell of sweat thick in the hot, close air.
My ears rang with the assault of voices and laughter, everyone practically shouting to be heard over music that was loud enough to vibrate the walls.
I cradled my cup to my chest, shielding it from shoulders and elbows as I wove between animated conversations and the occasional swaying drunk being bounced like a pinball through the crowd.
I extended my other arm out in front of me, using it like a phalanx to part the crowd as I navigated toward the bathroom.
A line had formed in the hallway in front of it.
By the time the door opened for my turn, my bladder was threatening to burst. I hurried inside and locked the door, taking a moment to relieve myself before reaching between the slats in the blind to unlock the window for Vero.
It slid open with a screech. She shoved aside the blinds and tumbled through it.
“Took you long enough,” she said, closing the window and dusting herself off.
A loud knock rattled the door.
“Go find Mia,” Vero said, climbing into the bathtub.
“You can’t hide in there! What if someone sees you?”
“I’ll cover my face with a towel and pretend I’m drunk and sleeping it off.” There was another loud knock. Someone shouted at me to hurry up. “Just get out there and find Mia. Do you remember what she looks like?”
I nodded, remembering the statuesque young woman in the pantsuit I’d seen coming out of the sorority house.
“If she’s here, she’ll be in a group,” Vero said. “It won’t be easy to get her alone.”
“Stay out of sight. I’ll text you when I find her.” I tossed Vero a towel and drew the shower curtain shut, making sure it concealed her completely before opening the door and returning to the party. I maneuvered through the chaotic rooms, but they were too crowded to get a good look at anyone.
I spotted a set of stairs ahead of me. Grabbing hold of the banister, I pulled myself out of the mosh pit of people until I was high enough to get a better view of the room.
Even in the full house, Mia was surprisingly easy to spot.
She and her friends had commandeered a sofa in the corner and, just like Vero suggested she would, Mia sat squarely in the middle of them.
Mia was not going to be easy to approach, much less single out.
Thankfully, Ava didn’t appear to be there.
The only thing I had going for me was that no one in this room knew me; nothing makes people more curious at a party than the sudden arrival of a shiny new face that clearly doesn’t belong.
I made my way briskly toward Mia’s corner. The girls’ chatter paused as I stood close enough to insert myself into their conversation. They cast awkward glances at one another, then at me, as if they were trying to place me.
“I’m looking for Ava,” I said brightly. “Have you seen her?” I was too old to pass for one of them, but maybe I could make it seem like I had a legitimate reason to be there. Mia’s friends seemed to relax.
“She couldn’t make it,” one of them said. “She had an exam to study for.”
I tried to make myself look disappointed by that. “What about Zoey?” I asked, hoping she had stayed in the car with Cam.
“Zoey? She never comes to these things. You can hang with us if you want though.” One of the girls slid over to make room for me on the sofa.
“Thanks!” I said, squeezing in next to her.
“How do you know Ava and Zoey?” Mia swirled the contents of her half-empty cup. Her eyes were clear and alert, and her makeup was still fresh, not so much as a hair out of place or a smudge in her eyeliner, suggesting she hadn’t been here very long.
“We had a class together,” I said dismissively, hoping they wouldn’t bother to ask me which one.