Romance and Pig Skins

Late the following night, ok, well it wasn’t that late. It was only ten o’clock but the girls were in their dorm, cuddling on the floor with all of their blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals surrounding them. “The Exorcist” was playing on the TV in front of them. Emie was clutching a water bottle in her hands as Vicky held on to the crucifix she had gotten as a gift from her youth group leader. The scene where the possessed girl, Regan, starts spider-walking down the stairs with blood pouring out of her mouth flashed across the screen.

“Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.” Vicky repeated, rocking back and forth. Emily, on the other hand, was too busy hyperventilating to say or do anything then cover her eyes.

“No, just leave,” Vicky was saying quietly to herself. “Just leave now. People are so stupid if they just left then there’d be no need for the scary part in movies and then no need for scary movies and then everyone would be happy!”

“Stop talking!” Emie yelled. Both girls fell silent but there was another noise that wasn’t coming from the TV.

“What is that?” Vicky said as she scooted closer to Emie. Emie put her hand over Vicky’s mouth to get her to stop talking and then pointed to the door. There were shadows in the light under the door and the handle was jiggling. It stopped for a moment and the girls slowly exhaled. But their relief didn’t last long because then there was the sound of a key sliding into the lock.

“Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.” Vicky started again as the girls quickly picked up their blankets and moved back until their backs hit the wall. But by that time the door had already started to open.

“THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!” Vicky screamed, throwing the crucifix at the first of two intruders. There was a loud thump, a few profanities, and the sound a hand slapping the wall, looking for the light switch.

When the lights finally did flash on, the girls recognized the intruders as none other than Scott and Dan.

“The power of Christ compels you? Really?” Dan said. “What the hell are you doing?” He put his hand up to his head in the spot where the crucifix had hit him.

“Oh my god, are you ok?” Vicky said, standing up and going over to him as Emie crawled on the floor next to her. Just as they passed the TV, someone from the movie screamed. Both girls screamed back at them. Emie curled into a ball on the floor which caused Vicky to trip over her in her mad dash to get away from the television. Everyone was quiet for a second except for Emie’s quiet sobbing.

“Baby,” Scott said walking over to her and picking her up off the floor, despite her protests. “It’s just a movie.”

Emie, still clutching her water bottle, started to crawl into Scotts arms. But just then there was more loud screaming from the possessed girl on the TV making Emie jump. She threw her water bottle into the air, which just happened to be slightly open, spraying water all over the room. Scott looked at her questionably. She smiled weakly. “Holy water.”

Dan rolled his eyes and turned the TV off before offering his hand to Vicky. “Come on,” he said. “The big bad monsters are gone now.”

Vicky glared at him. “They weren’t monsters. They were demons.”

“Oh, my bad.”

She took his hand and then frowned at the big red spot forming on his forehead. “Are you ok?” She brought her hand up to his face to look at the damage.

“Yeah I’m fine- don’t touch it!” Dan whined.

“Oh, stop being a baby.”

“Hey, I wasn’t the one crying over a movie.”

“I wasn’t crying.” Dan looked at her skeptically. “Emie was.”

“Hey!” Emie yelled, now under the protection of Scotts’ arms. “What are you guys doing here anyway?”

“It’s our first day back!” Scott exclaimed. “Do you really think we were gonna leave you two up here alone?”

“Yeah! It’s time to party!” Dan yelled and Vicky smiled.

“Fine, but we have to get changed. We’ll meet you outside in fifteen minutes.”

“I can’t wait.” Dan said, taking a step closer to Vicky but she rolled her eyes and pushed him out the door.

“You know, we could just skip the party and have our own little party up here.” Scott suggested and Emie smiled.

“Or you know what else we could do?” Emie said, pushing him back towards the door.

“What?”

“Get really drunk first.” She said, slamming the door in his face.

A half hour later the four of them were walking into the party, well like they owned the place obviously. They were finally seniors after all. Emie looked around, taking everything in. “I have a feeling this is going to be a good year,” she said, smiled.

“A great year,” Vicky corrected. “You think Jess is here?”

Emie laughed at the mention of their friend. “When isn’t she at a party? Come on, Scott, we’ll go look for her by the drinks.” Scott smiled and draped his arm around her shoulders before walking off into the crowd with her.

Vicky turned to Dan. “So where should we start?”

“Well there are three steps to start partying.” He said and Vicky smiled.

“Really? And how come I’ve never heard of these three steps?”

“There a very well kept secret.”

She laughed. “Ok, what’s step one?”

“Step one is…” he looked around for a second then grabbed two beers from some guy walking by. “Thanks,” he said ignoring the guys protests and turned back to Vicky. “Drinks.”

Vicky took the drink then took a sip. “I like step one.”

Dan laughed. “Step two is,” he pointed vaguely to the sky, “good music. Since we already have that, all that’s left is-”

“Step three.” Vicky finished. “Which is what exactly?”

Dan pointed to himself as if he was shocked she didn’t already know the answer. “An amazingly hot guy, duh.”

“And I’m’ assuming that amazingly hot guy is you?” She laughed as she starting walking into the crowd with Dan right behind her.

“Well, obviously.” He had to side step to avoid being run over by a drunken stampede but then was back by Vicky’s side. “I mean come on; girls just can’t stay away from me. I’m like the campus stud.”

“The campus stud, huh? That’s a big responsibility.”

“Yeah, well, somebody has to do it.” He seemed to puff out his chest as he said it and Vicky laughed. Just then, Jess came running to them through the crowd.

“Vicky!” she screamed, immediately hugging her.

“I knew I’d find you here!” Vicky said through the hug. “How was your summer?” she asked when they finally pulled apart.

“Oh you know, another summer, another trip down the shore, another hot guy…”

Vicky laughed. “Who was he this time, snowboarder, foreign exchange student, some hot Hawaiian chef?”

“Doctor,” Jess said, smiling.

“You got with a doctor this summer?”

Jess sighed. “Ok, well he was interning to be a doctor, but it’s like the same thing.”

“Right... Anyway, you remember Dan.” He seemed to stand up taller at his recognition.

“Were you even listening to our conversation?” he said. “What girl doesn’tknow me?”

This made Jess laugh. “Yeah, I remember you. You were the funny one.”

He smiled. “Is funny good?”

“Yes, funny is good.” Then Jess seemed to remember something. “Oh, right, I almost forgot. We’re trying to get people for a game of spin the bottle. Are you in?”

“Isn’t that a little high school-ish?” Vicky asked but Dan seemed more than happy to agree.

“I think it sounds fun.”

“Yeah,” she said, looking up at Dan. “I guess I could find some campus stud to go home with tonight.” His heart skipped a beat; not that anyone noticed.

Jess squealed with delight. “Yay! Now come on, they're starting soon!” she grabbed Vicky’s hand and started pulling her away.

Right before they were lost to the crowd, Vicky looked behind her at Dan who was still standing where they left him. “You coming, lady killer?”

A smile slowly crept onto his face before chasing after her into the crowd.

When they reached their destination there were about ten people sitting in a circle, waiting.

“Jess, what took you so long?” A blond haired boy said. Neither Vicky nor Dan had ever seen him before. His hair was slightly messy and his skin was beautifully tanned.

“Oh come down, Clay,” Jess said. “I was just getting a couple of more players.”

Vicky grabbed her arm before she could sit down. “Who is that?” she asked, nodded in Clay’s direction. He was staring at them, smiling, and Vicky smiled right back.

“That is Clay Anderson” she answered quietly. “He just moved here from California. Rumor has it, he was one of his school’s star football players.”

“Really…” Vicky said, locked in thought. “What position does he play?”

“Defensive tackle… and just so you know-”

Vicky snapped out of her thought and looked at Jess, “dibs.”

“Damn it!” Jess yelled. “Why do you always do that to me!”

Vicky just smiled and sat down in the circle, across from Clay. She was smiling at him and barely noticed when Dan sat down next to her when the game started. The first person was a few people down from Clay, not that she was paying attention. Instead she gave Clay a small way which made him chuckle but he waved back.

What’s your name? He mouthed. Oh thank God she was good at reading lips.

Vicky.

I’m Clay.

I know. She laughed quietly and pushed back her hair. Clay nodded to the side, asking her to get out of there with him, and she was about to jump up and follow him anywhere but Dan’s voice got in the way.

“Dude, it’s your turn.” He said, taking Clay out of his silent conversation with Vicky.

“Huh? Oh sorry, man,” he said and spun the bottle. Vicky’s face fell. How was she supposed to go hook up with the hot new guy now that each girl sitting in that circle had an equal chance at him?

Just then Clay’s hand landed on the still spinning bottle, forcing it to stop as it pointed to Vicky. “Opps,” he said, staring at her as her smile quickly returned to her face.

“Hey! You can’t do that!” Dan yelled but Vicky absently hit at his arm.

“No, Dan, it’s alright.” Clay had stood up and offered his hand to Vicky as he bowed.

“My lady,” he said making her giggle.

“What a gentleman.” She took his hand and he pulled her up, holding her close to him for a second before pulling her off, away from the group.

After not finding Jess by the drinks, Emie and Scott had gone to dance with the crowd that was by the DJ. After almost a half hour, three “just one more song!”, and two “but I love this song!” later, Scott finally managed to pull Emie away. He handed his girlfriend her drink before leaning back against the makeshift bar.

“Where do you think Dan and Vicky got to?” Scott asked after taking a swing of his drink.

“Oh, there they are!” Emie said pointing to a group of people sitting in a circle under the trees at the side of the yard. She squinted. “Are they playing spin the bottle?”

“What?”

“Yeah, look! There’s Vicky and Dan. Oh, and I found Jess!”

Scott followed her gaze and found their friends just as Clay was standing up. “Who’s that?” he asked.

“I don’t know but he’s…” She trailed off as she realized Scott was looking at her. “stupid looking. I mean, God, who would ever think he was attractive.”

Scott laughed then looked back to the group. “Who is that he’s helping up?”

“Oh, it’s Vicky!” Emie exclaimed and then stopped. “Oh. That mean’s…”

After Vicky was pulled away by the mystery man, Dan quickly stood up and walked out away from the circle. They watched him quickly finish off his drink before throwing it behind a bush.

Emie sighed. “I’m gonna go steal Jess.” She said and then she was gone.

Scott picked up another drink and walked over to his friend. When he got to him, he handed him the beer and slapped him on the back. “It’s alright, man. There are other parties.”

Dan stood there, staring off into the trees where Vicky had left. It took him a few seconds but slowly he nodded. He grabbed the beer and took a long swing before walking off into the crowd.