Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 17:44:49 +0000 (UTC) From: Sean R <seanr_13@yahoo.ca> Subject: A Drink with a Stranger - 13 Any feedback is appreciated, please write me to seanr_13@yahoo.ca Please donate to keep this great community going: http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html ----- A Drink with a Stranger By: Sean Roberts ----- -- Chapter 13 -- Taylor was out on a date. Lane's parents were out on a date, as well, for that matter. Lane had the house to himself. It was a rainy Saturday, and he did not feel like going out (not that he had much to do anyway). He had gotten in his swim before the rain started, after which he had caught up on all of his studying. He did some writing, cleaned his room, and then cleaned his car. Really, he thought, not drinking was rather boring. But he was happy that he had been staying sober through everything that happened. It was a personal victory. Out of boredom, he went into Taylor's room. He had not been in there for some time, and he noticed some changes. The superheroes from the wall had mostly disappeared and were replaced with posters for bands. There were more textbooks and notebooks on his desk than sketchpads. Taylor's drawings had always been pretty good; Lane wondered if he had ever shown Jessica. He picked up one of the sketchpads that was still sitting on the desk, which made the mouse move, and the laptop screen came to life. Lane glanced over, and saw an email thread. Sent: $500 on Mulberry Academy for next Friday. Received: The bet has been placed. The email was from Taylor to an email address that clearly did not have an associated name (Lane was familiar with getting these setup). He went back to his own bedroom and opened his school's website. They were playing Mulberry the next Friday. Why would Taylor be betting against his own school? Why is Taylor placing bets at all? And where would he get five hundred dollars? Lane was able to immediately answer the first question. Without Ellis playing on Friday, Deer Creek would be sure to lose; Mulberry was almost as good as St. Thomas. Lane pushed it out of his head. He would have to deal with it later. His phone rang; it was an unknown number. "Lane? This is Victoria." "Victoria?" "Yes, Victoria. We need to talk. Where are you right now?" "I'm at home. Umm, what's this about?" "We need to talk," she said. "In person. Meet me—" It sounded like a good idea. She was dating Finn, after all, and maybe he could get some information. "I'm home alone," Lane said. "Why don't you come here." She agreed readily and hung up quickly. She arrived with a large purse and a frown. Lane offered to fix her a drink. Realistically, Lane did not have to stay completely sober all the time. They did not have grenadine, but he made them both tequilas with orange juice, and they went to sit out by the pool. The day was still grey, but the rain had stopped and it was warm. "Maybe the sun will come out," he said, holding up the tequila sunrises without the sunrise. "How are your grades comparable to mine, when you can't even get a drink right? I mean it's very simple. You pour the red stuff in to make it look like a sunrise." "Listen, there's a lot of tequila in it, okay?" "Good enough," she said. She took a sip. "So I take it you've seen the GPAs?" "Actually, now that I think of it, I haven't checked in a while. Why? Am I still beating you?" "No, you aren't," she said. "We're still close though. The problem is that someone else is beating both of us." She said this sadly, staring out at the pool. She took a small sip of the drink. "This is nice," she said. She took another sip. "I guess we don't know who." She took out her phone, pulled up the website and handed it to him. There it was—the unknown person was first, Victoria was second and Lane was third. "This may not be so bad. You know, Victoria, these are all so close, I'm sure you'll get back up there. I probably could, but I won't try so hard." He turned to her and winked. She did not look amused. "Lane, just because you don't take your schooling seriously, doesn't mean the rest of us—" "Okay, okay," he said. "What can I do? I have no idea how to figure out who this is." She took out a notebook from her purse. "We need to divide them up. Who do you think are the smartest people in all your classes? We'll make a list of the most likely candidates, and I'll just flirt with them until I get their student numbers." "What if they're girls?" "Then you'll flirt with them." "Uh huh," Lane said. He took a sip of his tequila. "And what do we do once we figure out who it is?" "I don't know," she said. "Nothing, I guess. Like you said, eventually one of us will beat them out. But at least we'll know who we're dealing with." "Give me that," Lane said, holding out his hand. He took it to the kitchen and refilled her glass, this time with a bit more tequila. "Victoria," he said when he returned. "You have to let this go." "Lane," she said. She sounded like Ellis all of a sudden, with that serious, even tone. "I can't let it go. I need this. I need to be—" "The best. I know. And you'll get there." He held up his glass. "Come on, take a break." She looked at him. He smiled at her, and she returned it. She took a long sip. "Hey, can I ask you something?" Lane said. "Do you know anything about people, umm, betting on our soccer games?" She turned to him, the smile leaving her face. "Who told you about that?" she snapped. Lane stared back at her. He never thought, in a million years, that he would ever be sitting by a pool sipping drinks with Victoria Hamilton. But here he was, and he was not even uncomfortable. Their competition over the years, without them knowing it, had at least made them comfortable around each other. "Well, it seems like my brother's doing it. He left an email open, and I saw it by accident. We seem to do that a lot in this house," Lane mumbled. "But that's the first I've heard of this happening." "Shit," she said. "I mean dang!" she corrected quickly. Lane laughed. "Finn said that under no circumstances am I to tell you." Lane appreciated the honesty. "Did he say why not?" "Lane, a lot of people can get in trouble. It's better that you don't get involved." "But my fourteen year old brother can get involved, of course." "I don't know how he found out about it. But my suggestion, since you know, is to just tell him not to do it anymore." "Right," Lane said. He decided not to push it—he would have to find out another way. He changed the subject and asked her what kind of music she liked to listen to. She stayed for the afternoon. Jessica's parents had driven Taylor back from their date, and through their talking, they did not notice. Taylor came out to the backyard. "Oh, hey," he said sheepishly, staring directly at Victoria. "Hi Taylor," she said. "Hey kiddo," Lane said. Taylor turned red. Taylor looked up as James and Sally came outside. Victoria suddenly looked uncomfortable and quickly excused herself. -- It had been years since Taylor had knocked sheepishly on his big brother's door, asking to share his bed after a nightmare. "What's up buddy?" Lane said groggily. "Dude, what was she doing here?" Taylor said frantically. "Isn't she dating Finn? How are you friends with the hottest girl in school?" Taylor said all this as he pulled up the covers and pulled himself into Lane's bed. Lane sighed. "Taylor, I want you to listen to this very carefully, okay?" "Sure bro, what?" "I don't want to ever hear you talking about people like that again, got it? Victoria's very pretty, but she's also very smart. She's even getting better grades than I am. And did you know that she paints? She's amazing. She's even sold a couple things. Being hot isn't a good way to refer to someone. Got it?" "Yeah, I guess," he said sheepishly. "Good. She just came over to talk about school stuff. Anyway, how's Jessica?" "She's great!" Taylor said, cheering up. "I think she really likes me." "I'm sure she does. By the way, have you ever shown her your sketches?" "Umm, no I don't think so," Taylor mumbled very quickly. "You should, one day, when you feel like it," Lane said. "Yeah, maybe," Taylor said. "So who are you dating?" "I'm not dating anyone," Lane said. "Why not?" "'Cause I'm a loser, remember?" Lane reached out to tickle his brother. Taylor was shirtless, and instead of feeling baby fat, he felt muscle. The soccer, and being fourteen, had the same effect on Taylor's body as it had on Ellis'. The boy was hard and well defined. But Taylor still laughed for his brother's expert fingers. "You're not a loser," he said. "Thanks. Listen, we'd better get some sleep." "Yeah." Lane turned around, and felt his brother squish up closer to him before going to sleep. -- The rain had left thick humidity behind, and the boys dove into the pool to cool off. They swam together for hours, the same way they had when they were kids. When they were tired, they sat at the edge, their feet inside the water. "Hey, Taylor," Lane said. "Need to ask you something. Have you been betting on the soccer games?" Lane turned to his brother, watched the water dripping off Taylor's smooth skin and his face turn red. "Shit," Taylor said. "Look, I only—" "Taylor, I won't tell, okay? Just tell me." "It's not for me. It's for Jessica. She, well, her parents don't have a lot of money. And I got this tip, to win some easy money, so I did it for her. But I've already won like a thousand dollars!" "Where did you get the initial money?" "From Jessica. It was the last of the money she had. I can't lose it Lane. But I promise I won't do it anymore, okay? Anyway, she'll have enough after this game." "I wouldn't count on it," Lane said. "What are you talking about?" "Nothing. Who got you involved in this?" "Jessica did." "How?" "I don't know." "Yes you do. Who?" "I really don't know. Some kid who goes to St. Thomas." "Who, Taylor? If you're not going to tell me, we'll just have to get mom and dad to find out." Taylor looked up at his brother, watching him for a few moments to see how serious he was. "Frank," Taylor said sheepishly. "Fuck," Lane said. "You're losing your bet on Friday." "How do you know?" "Is it too late to change it? Or back out?" "Not unless I want to get beat up. And I don't just mean beat up. I heard one guy couldn't pay and I heard they broke most of his bones. Lane, what am I going to do? I have to win! That's all of Jessica's money!" Lane put his arm around his brother. "Taylor, look at me." He looked into his brother's eyes, which were filling with tears. Taylor was breathing heavily, the weight of what he had gotten himself into falling onto him. "I am going to take care of this for you, alright?" "How?" "Just trust me." "Okay. Thanks Lane." "Yeah, no sweat," Lane said. -- Lane walked straight into Finn's bedroom, catching him down to his boxers. Lane shut the door and walked over to Finn's desk as Finn started to say "what the fuck". "I don't know what the fuck was going through your head when you got yourself involved with some sort of high school soccer gambling bullshit, but you have fourteen year olds involved in it. Taylor included. So I need to know, right now, how he's going to get all his money back." Finn froze for a moment, staring at Lane, assessing the situation, trying to determine how much Lane knew. "I didn't know that Taylor knew about this," he said. "And there's nothing I can do about it. I'm not involved—not really." "Bullshit. You're the only person who knows that Ellis is playing this Friday, which means you're going to win a lot of money. I want you to make sure Taylor gets his back, and then never bets again. Do you understand?" There was a knock at the door. "It's Victoria," they heard a voice say. The door opened and she walked in. She stopped in her tracks, looking back and forth between the two boys. "Please tell me this isn't what it looks like," she said. "This isn't what it looks like," Finn said. "Why aren't you dressed?" Victoria said to Finn. "Because Colombo over here walked in in the middle of—for fuck's sake. Could you both just turn around for a minute?" They did as they were told, and Finn pulled on his clothes. He was wearing a good pair of jeans with a blue shirt that matched his eyes. "I was just telling Lane to leave well enough alone, so that we all don't get expelled." Victoria sighed. "To be fair, I'm not getting expelled, because I'm not the idiot who—" "Victoria," Finn said. He shook his head. "I think you'd better tell him," she said. Finn looked back and forth between them. "Can we at least go eat?" Finn said. "I'm starving. And since when have you two—" "We worked out our differences, for you," Victoria said. "Well that's great," Finn said. "But Lane, I need you to back off. Just forget about this whole thing. I'm sure you can cover whatever Taylor might lose and make sure he never does this again. Seriously, just leave this alone. Otherwise we might all get expelled." "Again, I'm most definitely not getting expelled," Victoria said, as if that were the most important aspect of the discussion. "This is the second time you've said that," Lane said. "What's going on?" "Victoria, can you give us a minute?" "Well hurry," she said. "I'm waiting downstairs." "Lane, if I tell you what's going on, then I have to tell her about your assignment thing." "How are they related?" "They just are. So can I or not?" Finn said, ignoring Lane's question. "Alright. Let's go eat."