I didn’t turn around to look, but just in case he was watching me, I walked away with all the sway my hips could handle.
"Be careful," he shouted after me.
Chapter Five
The Statesman Bar and Lanes was an even nastier dive than I remembered. If they made any money, which with the prices they charged you had to wonder, then none of it was being invested back into the place. Paint peeled off the walls. The lights that hung over the booths and pool tables were thick with dust-caked grease. The bathrooms... it was better just to hold it.
But if the setting wasn’t picturesque, the night held other charms. Like walking in and having the likes of Dennis Kamp, Jaime Marshall and Kevin Fisher all slobbering over my legs and cleavage when I took off my coat. They were some of the cutest boys to go through Bloomfield High, and not one of them had given me the time of day.
But it looked like they had plenty of time to share tonight. Even when Jaime and Kevin were standing with pretty girlfriends who didn’t seem to like the fact their boyfriends’ jaws were on the floor.
Did it make me a terrible person that their grazing eyes made me feel so good about myself? I decided I didn’t care. I had suffered enough at the hands of these people to enjoy myself a bit. I deserved a little bit of fun.
There were other alumni around, even guys and girls in James’s class or even older. But so far, I hadn’t spotted many of our own classmates.
"No queen bee?" I said as Tessa walked over with a pitcher of tap beer and a stack of plastic cups.
"Audrey Lipman?" Tessa said. She flashed a wicked grin as she served our beer. "Oh, man. You didn’t hear."
"What? Cheers," I said, pushing my plastic cup into hers and sipping at the skunky beer.
Tessa made me wait as she drank half her cup in three big swallows. "She’s pregnant."
"She’s what!"
Tessa nodded, topping off her beer. "Yeah, she’s huge. Like—huge. I think she’s due next month."
I counted the months off in my head. "But... that means she was pregnant already at the end of the school year."
"Yeah. And it gets better."
"It’s not Parker’s," I guessed.
"Nope."
"Shut up."
"Some guy from Fairport, I guess. I’ve never seen him.” She shrugged and added more beer to her cup. “Parker’s not having anything to do with it. Few months ago he made this huge scene at Morgan’s, called her a slut in front of the entire grocery line. The old ladies were scandalized."
I imagined Audrey being humiliated in the line, but I couldn't get any pleasure from it. Usually, her downfall would have made me wet myself with joy, but picturing her pregnant when it happened... "That actually makes me kind of sad."
Tessa practically spit out her beer on me. "Since when did you have any love for Audrey? The girl would have literally crucified you if she could have gotten away with it."
"Yeah, but it’s different if she’s pregnant."
"I think she’s an idiot. She should have had it taken care of. She’s going to ruin her life for a kid nobody wants."
My jaw dropped. "You’re horrible! It’s not going to ruin her life," I said. "She’s going to have a beautiful little baby."
"Oh, that’s right. I almost forgot you were baby crazy."
"I’m not baby crazy."
"You definitely are. And speak of the devil," Tessa tilted her head towards the door behind me. "Classy girl, coming to this shit hole with a belly like that."
"Stop it," I said, turning around to look. Audrey was big, but the belly suited her. In fact, she looked beautiful, her face full of color and happiness. I was jealous. "She looks great."
"So she gets knocked up by some scumbag she hardly knows and now you’re her number one fan?"