It was so late and Shauna really, really just wanted to sleep. She’d told Stan she’d make an effort and she was but fuck, this was too much. Bill and Rod were over and they were all playing video games and she was just sitting there being totally ignored. If Stan wanted her around so much then why didn’t he pay attention to her? Why did he just do stuff with his friends and not even look at her all night, except to say how much she sucked at Grand Theft Auto and snatch away her controller and take over her game?
Maybe if she moved slowly he wouldn’t notice. She could just get up off the couch real slow like or maybe just go to the bathroom, which she had to do anyway. In fact she’d had to go for hours but was too nervous to move so she’d been holding it in.
Stan gave her an out when he told her to get them some more beers. She shot up immediately and returned from the kitchen with the drinks. Then she went to the bathroom and peed and brushed her teeth and then as quietly as she could she snuck off to bed, closing the door behind her. She could still hear them playing but hopefully they hadn’t noticed her absence. She crawled into bed and put a pillow over her head, trying to block out the sounds of their cheering. Hopefully he’d be so drunk by the time he came to bed that he wouldn’t be mad at her for leaving. Hopefully.
“Hi Terry.”
Terry looked over to see Christina smiling at him. Wow, blast from the past. “Hey Chrissy,” he smiled.
He looked around to see where Cerise was. She’d joined the nerd guys at their table and they were all playing with the little tiny pool table Sarah had gotten him. Ok, so Cerise would play baby pool but not real pool? Whatever.
“Wow, I haven’t seen you since grad,” Chrissy smiled.
Oh right. Chrissy. She was looking cute as ever. How come all the old crew was here? St-Anne’s wasn’t exactly their old stomping grounds. Erica wasn’t gonna show up next, was she?
“So happy birthday,” she said.
“Oh thanks. You too. I mean, yeah, thanks,” he stammered awkwardly and Andrew laughed like it was hilarious.
“Come on man, your turn,” said Andrew, suddenly grabbing Chrissy and sticking his tongue down her throat.
She pushed him away with a laugh, but sort of looked annoyed.
“Are you guys still going out?” asked Terry.
“No,” Chrissy insisted.
“Just fuck friends, same as ever,” laughed Andrew.
“What about you, are you seeing anyone?” she asked.
“Yeah. Cerise. She’s over there.” He indicated the table where Cerise sat and there she was, looking up at them. He motioned to her and she got up and joined them.
“Hey Christina,” she said.
“Hey,” Chrissy said back.
Terry and Andrew kept playing their game and Christina and Cerise looked at one another awkwardly. They spoke a bit about school and how Cerise was going to JAC and Christina was going to Marianopolis and how she was thinking of moving downtown. Cerise mentioned that she was in Theatre Workshop with Karine, which seemed to surprise Christina.
“So you guys like, hang out now?”
“Well yeah I guess. ‘Cause of how we’re both friends with Terry I guess. I mean she’s friends with him and I’m going out with him. So we all hang out. And stuff.”
“It’s cool that you guys are still together. You and Terry I mean.”
“Um yeah, thanks,” smiled Cerise. Tonight really was like a flashback. Another awkward conversation with Christina while Terry ignored her. But at least Christina didn’t seem to be quite so wasted this time.
“You know, I used to be in love with him,” offered Christina.
“Yeah,” nodded Cerise.
“Erica would always try to convince me that it was just a crush or whatever but... I really was totally in love with him.”
“Yeah.”
“I mean I’m over him and everything but… seeing him now it’s like, whoa, you know?”
“Yeah.”
“You know it’s like, just looking at him even. You know when you’re totally far gone on someone and how they can affect you, it’s like so crazy.”
“Yeah.”
“Have you ever felt that? Like when you’re with them it’s like, they can totally change your mood just with a look.”
“Yeah.”
“So you’re in love then?”
“Uh,” Cerise wondered how to respond. She wasn’t sure she knew the answer but Christina didn’t seem to need one.
“‘Cause that’s like, so amazing. Seriously. I think it’s good for you guys you know? It’s good for him to have that. I mean, even in high school, it was obvious he was totally into you. It’s good that he’s you know, found someone he can love. I’m happy for you guys. Seriously.”
“Thanks.”
“Hey, what are we talking about?” asked Terry, leaning over to them.
“Cerise was just saying how things are going really great with you guys,” smiled Christina.
“Oh yeah?” Terry smiled, seemingly quite pleased with this news.
But then the whole world imploded into horrifying yuckiness as Erica Mackey appeared out of nowhere to suck all the fun out of everything.
“Oh my god! Cherry the fucking Raspberry! I haven’t seen you since high school!”
“Yeah. Hey Erica,” Cerise responded, trying to keep her voice neutral.
“You haven’t changed a bit! Seriously, carbon fucking copy! I swear to god.”
“Well it’s only been like three months.”
“Still though. It’s nice to know some things never change. Like some people just always stay the same you know? No matter what, they’re just always what they always were.” She sneer-smiled in that way she had.
“Yeah,” agreed Cerise. “Some people never change.”
Terry put his arm around Cerise’s shoulder and kissed her cheek, completely ignoring Erica’s presence, which was pretty awesome.
“Terry, you loser!” squealed Erica. “You never call me.”
“Gee, I wonder why, bitch,” he drawled, not even trying to contain his disdain.
“So wait a second! Are you two crazy kids still together? That’s insane! Some kind of record, eh Terry?”
They both simply glared at Erica, willing her to spontaneously combust.
“Oh I get it,” she went on with a giggle. “You guys still haven’t done the nasty. So hilarious! I mean you know his deal, right, Cherry? You should probably try to hold out as long as you can.”
“Are you seriously doing this right now?” asked Cerise, incredulous. “Do you even realize that you’re making a complete ass of yourself? Do you seriously have such a massive lack of self-awareness that you don’t see how pathetic you come across? You just ooze bitterness and it makes you so ugly.”
Yep, just like the good old days. Terry snickered while Erica’s face turned red. Christina even allowed a sliver of a smile to develop on her lips.
“Come on, Terry,” said Cerise. “Let’s go join everyone. Wanna come, Christina?”
Thankfully Terry didn’t miss a beat and he went with Cerise to join the gang at their table. Christina came along too and Erica was left behind with Andrew where she belonged.
“So awesome,” laughed Terry. “I love it when you do shit like that. I think I actually missed that. You putting Erica in her place all the time.”
“I didn’t miss it,” sighed Cerise. “God, I just feel sorry for her. She’s so bitter.”
“No shit,” said Christina, almost inaudibly.
“She’s so insecure, always rejecting people before they can reject her. Whatever,” scoffed Cerise.
“Yeah,” nodded Christina.
“Why do you still hang out with them?” asked Cerise, feeling bold.
“What?” asked Christina, looking like a deer caught in headlights.
“Andrew and Erica? They’re both such assholes. Why do you even still hang out with them?”
Christina seemed to be at a loss for words but Terry wasn’t.
“Aww, lay off of Andrew already! Fuck, you know!”
“Ok, ok,” Cerise rolled her eyes. “Let’s dance.”
They all three went to the dance floor where that Lee guy the boys were so fond of was dancing with Cassie. Jojo was with them, sort of swaying back and forth. It was a rather odd display.
“I was just trying to show how they were hypocrites you know? And they don’t actually care about the causes. I mean, they don’t even have any causes. They just think it’s cool to act like they care,” Lee was yelling into Cassie’s ear.
“Yeah, I get it,” smiled Cassie.
“’Cause if you can find something you actually care about then yeah, it’s cool to like, try and support the cause you know?”
“Yeah, totally,” nodded Cassie. “Well that’s how I feel. I want us to have worthy causes but you’re kind of right. I mean we don’t really do anything in that group except discuss what we’re not doing. But we never actually do anything. You know?”
“That’s exactly my point.”
Cassie nodded and a second later Lee gently took her chin in his hand and kissed her. She pulled away instantly and turned to Jojo, who was stunned. Lee shrugged nonchalantly and joined the boys at the table. Cassie and Jojo walked off together, him looking none too please and her looking sort of embarrassed.
Terry danced obliviously, apparently having failed to notice any of that and pulled Cerise towards himself while Christina danced alone.
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