Boys and Girls, Part I

“Hello, ladies,” Spankman said in his oiliest voice. “Welcome to my humble abode. My name is Stan, but feel free to call me Spanky.” Spankman’s fixated his leer on Lani as he punctuated the ‘k’ sound of his nickname.

“Oh, God,” Lani whispered into Delaney’s ear, “I feel like I need a bath already.”

Delaney suppressed a giggle. But even as she and her friends walked into nasty Spankman’s house, she couldn’t suppress the feeling of excitement that was building within her. It had been a long time since her last on-campus party, when Delaney’s old floormates had taken her to some ex-felon’s house to get hammered. Delaney hadn’t had anything to drink, but unfortunately, had the awful task of holding back the hair of the girls who had gotten plastered, while they puked into the toilet.

Spankman’s house was lit by disco lights and really overdone Christmas decorations, which he probably never took down anyway but the gaudiness was almost a comfort to Delaney. His house was like a big playground, and for once, Delaney didn’t feel bad for wanting to be a kid.

“I’m gonna find some boys!” Stephanie yelled out over the music.

“I’m gonna get drunk,” Jacy mumbled before trudging to the refreshments table.

“I’m gonna use the washroom,” Lani told Delaney.

Delaney began panicking and instinctively grabbed at Lani’s arm. “No, Lani, don’t’ leave me! Take me with you.”

Lani started laughing, “Delaney, I am not going to be able to pee with you watching me. Just…start dancing. You’ll have a great time, I promise.”

Delaney slowly let go of Lani’s arm. She watched Lani descend to the basement. Hmm, Lani sure knows this place well…she must have been here before.

Delaney inched towards the dance floor. All she could make out was a tangle of male and female bodies gyrating to the rap music that blasted from the speakers. She nervously stayed near the edge of the dance floor and began biting her nails. Lani would be back any minute now, so all Delaney had to do was to wait for her –

“Hey, baby, how’s it hangin’?” a muscular black guy approached Delaney. She was deeply frightened by him. He was cute, but he was an extremely big guy. He began inching his body ever closer to Delaney’s. “Hey, tell me something, are you a real redhead? Cuz, you know, I could really go for that.”

Delaney stood awkwardly planted to her spot on the edge of the dance floor, while the black guy circled around her. She felt him stand behind her and circle his hands around her waist. She tried to smile and get into the music, but she felt uncomfortable and instantly wished she hadn’t come here after all.

“Hey, Roy!” a familiar male voice boomed from in front of Delaney.

“Hey man, what’s up?” the black guy answered from behind Delaney. He released one of his hands to high-five the guy in front of her. Delaney looked up and was instantly relieved to see that Jason Kent was standing in front of her.

“Hey, what do you think of this one?” Roy asked, referring to Delaney. Delaney’s jaw dropped at being demeaned by Roy in front of Jason.

“She’s a winner, Roy. But…already taken, man.”

“No kidding,” Roy asked, quickly releasing his grip on Delaney. “By who?”

“Me,” Jason answered, arching his eyebrow and taking a sip from his beer.

“Damn, Kent. You get all the good ones, brother!” Roy turned to Delaney. “I’m sorry, Miss. I didn’t know –

“That’s okay,” Delaney answered immediately, hoping Roy might leave soon.

Roy shook his head in good humor and began pushing his way further into the crowd before turning around and addressing Jason. “Hey, Kent! You sure you don’t wanna share this one?”

“Positive, Roy? You know I’m not into that shit.”

Roy started laughing before disappearing into the crowd of rowdy college partiers.

“Thank God you were here to save me,” Delaney cried out.

“What? From Roy? He’s as harmless as they come.”

“But he’s so big –

“I’m bigger than him,” Jason pointed out, taking another sip from his beer bottle.

“And he’s so strong –

“I hate to toot my own horn,” Jason continued, “but I’m no wimp as it is either.”

“Well, he’s…

“Come on, Delaney,” Jason started again, “why does Roy scare you when I don’t?”
“He’s…

Delaney’s voice faded, and Jason arched his eyebrows, “I’m sorry. I couldn’t hear you.”

“He’s…black,” Delaney answered a little more loudly but still just loud enough that only Jason could hear her.

“Uh-huh, that’s what I thought you said.”

Delaney regarded Jason ashamedly. Jason continued nursing his beer from the bottle and regarded Delaney with what could best be described as ambiguity.

“I’m not racist,” Delaney said.

“No, you’re just admitting what 90% of the population isn’t honest enough to admit,” Jason began, putting his empty bottle on the table next to him. “Look, Delaney, I don’t judge people. That’s not my thing. But just for the record, everytime I step out onto that football field during a game, I gotta thank my lucky stars that I’ve got five of the best offensive linemen in college football. And they’re all black. And Roy Turner – he’s just about one of best backs in college football. He helped get us to that Bowl game.”

“Which you lost.”

Okay, that caused Jason to scowl a little.

Delaney stared down at the ground. “I-I’m…sorry…for all the stuff that I just said. God…I just can’t talk around you, I guess.” She brought her cerulean blue gaze back up to meet Jason’s own piercing green eyes and was surprised to see that his scowl had already transformed into a huckster’s grin.

“Come here.”

Jason wrapped his strong hands around Delaney’s arms and pulled her a little closer to him. The music had slowed down, and couples were taking all over the dance floor. Delaney was a little taken aback by the unexpected show of intimacy, but she was thankful to know that she was in the arms of a guy she could trust…even though they had known each other for literally less than twenty-four hours.

As the front of their bodies brushed up against each other, Delaney felt her cheeks flush. Thank goodness the party was dark, save for Spankman’s gaudy disco lights, or else Jason would see that the color of her cheeks matched her hair color.

“You okay?” Jason asked, looking down into Delaney’s eyes. She looked back up into his cool green eyes and wanted to say yes, but the truth was that…she wasn’t. She was feeling way too comfortable in the arms of North Mission’s starting quarterback, and it simultaneously made her feel safe and uneasy.

“Delaney?”

A familiar female voice sounded next to Delaney. She snapped out of her stupid daze and turned to see Lani looking questioningly at the image presented before her. Delaney instinctively pulled out of Jason’s strong embrace and nervously tucked a curl of her red hair behind her ear.

“L-Lani, umm…this is Jason.”

“Hi,” Jason said, extending his hand.

“Hey,” Lani responded, shaking his hand. “You’re from the restaurant, right?”

“Yeah, name’s Jason.”

“Lani.”

“Delaney told me,” he answered.

Lani nodded her head but was clearly uncomfortable around Jason and Delaney. She tried to make eye contact with Delaney, who had now conveniently begun biting her nails. She tried to change the conversation.

“Delaney, would you like to get a drink with me?”

Delaney sensed where this was going.

“Could you excuse us, Jason?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ve actually gotta look for my friend, Ry.”

As soon as Jason walked away, Lani pulled on Delaney’s arm.

“I thought you weren’t into this guy.” Lani didn’t look as mad as she looked confused.

“I’m not.”

Lani looked skeptical. “You guys were glued pretty close together out there on the dance floor.”

“We were just dancing.”

“Delaney…maybe you should slow down a little. I mean, you just met this guy yesterday.”

“Lani, there is nothing between us,” Delaney gritted out, growing more and more frustrated. “We were just dancing.”

“I just don’t want you to get hurt again. I saw you guys dancing for a while…you seemed really into him, Delaney. You gotta remember…he’s just a football player…a jock.”

Something in Delaney snapped. “Fuck you, Lani.”

Lani straightened. “Excuse me?”

“FYI, you’re a jock too, Lani.”

“He’s a guy, Delaney, who plays football! That means that there are two things that are constantly on his mind! Furthermore, -

“And what makes you so sure I’m gonna get hurt? What makes you so goddamn certain that he’s interested in you and not in me?”

“I really don’t know what to think, Delaney. I’ve literally known this guy for five minutes.”

“Well, I’ve known him a little longer than that, and just so you know, he told me that he’s not into you. He likes me, not you, okay? So you can put your best friend conscience to rest because he’s just not all that into you, Lani, as shocking as that might be.”

Lani’s violet eyes narrowed. She said nothing and just stared at her “best friend” of two and a half years. Shaking her head, Lani just turned around and walked away from Delaney.

From somewhere in the back of the party, Delaney could hear Stephanie woo-hooing about something inane. She saw Jacy knock back what must have been a fifth bottle of beer and looking a little tipsy. She searched the room for Jason but couldn’t find him. Suddenly, a dark demon began pulling the strings of suspicion within Delaney: Had Jason found an irate Lani and attempted to offer her solace. Now that Delaney had bitched out her “best friend,” Lani had no pledge of loyalty to Delaney. For all Delaney knew, Jason and Lani could be heading back to the apartment for a little TLC.

Delaney wanted to bang her head against the nearest wall? Why was she being so suspicious? Jason had told Delaney that he wasn’t looking to start something with Lani. He had told Delaney that he liked her.

As a friend.

Delaney sighed. She was angry with Stephanie for having blackmailed her into coming to Spankman’s party. She was angry with Lani for obvious reasons. She was angry with Jason, and with boys in general, for causing the female population so much grief. But more than anyone else, Delaney was pissed at herself for having created a mess that, for once, might be disastrous if not cleaned up.

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