Chapter 14
Ty and Nancy were making the rounds, shaking hands, touching elbows, offering drinks. It was almost midnight and most of the regular guests were dancing to music a DJ was playing, collapsed on various pieces of expensive furniture, or watching
Licence to Kill
in the home theater. One of the side rooms had a few expensive video game systems that I'd never seen blaring brightly-colored space battles onto the big-screen TVs within. Several partygoers were outside in the gardens and grounds around but were being ushered back inside by the staff in red vests, which led me to believe we would be going out there next.
"Having fun so far?" Ty asked both of us as he approached. "How are you doing for drinks?"
"Ready to flush some of this out with Pepsi or water," I said. I usually couldn't drink this much without being royally sick. I was either building up a tolerance, or adrenaline and horniness were staving off the effects.
"It's fun," Cary answered in what I had come to think of as her 'on stage' voice. "You obviously put so much work into this, and it shows!"
Ty beamed with pleasure. "I hope neither of you is uncomfortable. To be honest, this was originally planned for a slightly older crowd, and I gave sort of a lot of prep to the other folks. I think it was why Roy and Stacy bailed; they're a fairly new couple and I think they figured they wouldn't be able to handle this. But hey--how long have you two been an item?"
"Since about four hours ago," I answered honestly.
Ty went pale. "Jesus. Uh... that's a lot. This is your guys first date?
My party
?"
Cary nodded. "It was really important to Matt to come support you and be here, and the chance to get all dolled up and let loose sounded good. I was delighted to be his plus one."
"So if you two break up, it could be because my raunchy games took things too far. No pressure." Ty took a swig of his bourbon and looked at Nancy. "What do you think? We should probably let them out of this before the big finale, huh?"
Nancy looked conflicted. "There will be a lot of disappointed partiers. You two have certainly made an impression."
I gave Cary's hip a squeeze with my free hand. "I'm going to bet that it's mostly been Jane here who has done the impressing."
Nancy smirked. "You're just being modest. Carla was basically pulling her panties off for you on the dance floor." She glanced back at Ty. "But you're right, baby. If they're not comfortable, I'd give them a free pass."
Cary and I locked eyes. "No sex, right?" I asked. "Just fooling around."
Ty held up his hand. "Scout's honor." I smirked; we both knew he had dropped out of Boy Scouts as a Tenderfoot. He stammered, "Okay, you get what I mean. In fact, I think I have an idea for how to keep things... safer."
"We appreciate it, dude." I gave both Ty and Nancy a reassuring look. "We've talked about this, and as long as there are limits in place, I think we're good."
Cary smiled in tentative agreement. "It's really just making me want to get this guy all to myself, afterwards," she said, blushing a little. I wondered if she had any specific ideas.
Nancy giggled. "Oh my God, you're blushing, that's soooo cute! I can't believe you're just done with college and still so shy. You must really have something together."
"You'll like this next part, I think," Ty said. "More up your alley than the first few games. Maybe hit the restroom and meet us in the garden out back."
The bathroom sounded great--I needed to pee off some of this alcohol and get a clearer head. I left Cary and wandered past a few knots of people either chatting, laughing, or drinking. A few more of the darker nooks on the way to the bathroom had been occupied by couples making out.
Almost at the bathroom, I was shouldered aside by somebody who was clearly holding their alcohol with less success than me, and seemed about to spew. I let him go ahead and waited in the hall. As the wretched sounds of retching echoed from behind the door, another tuxedoed guy came and stood in line behind me.
"Killer party, right?" he grinned. "They've got a Japanese TurboGrafx in there! I can't believe I scored an invite."
"How do you know Ty?" I asked.
"The graduate? Never met him. Friend of a friend. My dad works for his dad, and part of the deal for having this big blowout with no parental supervision was apparently letting some of the riffraff in." He indicated himself ruefully. "How about you? Riffraff or rich kid?"
"Junior high friends from when he was held back a grade and his dad was still only sort-of rich," I answered. "We're in a bluegrass band together."
"Oh, the band! You're
inner circle,
" he replied. "Apparently he's got some super-raunchy event going on. A party within a party. Know anything about that?"
"I know he's been scarce for a bit," I demurred.
"I heard there's a power couple there that everyone wants to fuck. Some college fox and her real-life Bond." He looked wistful. "I'd give my left nut for a peek at what they're doing."
I shrugged. Miles and Carla were the most likely candidates, although I couldn't forget Nancy's remarks. It made me almost laugh aloud to think that somehow my awkward, history-nerd self and shy, reserved Cary could have been distorted and recast through the grapevine as a smoking hot power couple.
But it was probably Miles and Carla.
"Wait," I said, as the door creaked open, revealing a pallid, sweaty partygoer. "How do
you
know what's going on at his secret party within a party?"
He gestured towards the door. "You going?" I nodded and started to head in. "People talk. I heard some of the staff who are working the party talking about it. Sounds like it's all the games at this party combined and then some. Lots of people losing their clothes."
I smirked and closed the door. The unmistakable sounds of rhythmic bumping and moaning filtered through the air vents into the bathroom, making me glad that I had not tried to use the upstairs commode. As I pissed out a healthy supply of the night's beer, wine coolers, and bourbon, I felt myself coming back down to earth a bit. My showdown with Cary's ex-husband seemed a lifetime ago, despite having been only a few hours back. I wasn't tired yet, but I felt like when I crashed, I was going to crash hard. I needed some water.
"Enjoy," I said as I exited. My conversation mate nodded familiarly and entered the bathroom.
I waited for Cary where I had last seen her, but after a few minutes I assumed she had already headed out to the garden. The fresh air on the veranda was cool and reviving. While waiting, I got a clear view of the grounds behind Ty's house and sipped some ice water, which was even more reviving. I had been here for his birthday a few times, but rarely at night. The last time I had been here was for the Haunted Hedge Maze, when it had been all done up in fake cobwebs with strobe lights. In the glow of footlights along the garden paths, it looked completely different than I remembered.
Beside the lawn stood what looked like a tiny shed--almost the size of an old phone booth from when I was a kid. It had been draped with curtains, which looked like they could be pulled aside with fancy satin cords. A gleam of glass shone between the folds of the curtains. I wondered what voyeuristic purpose it would serve during the game.