it true that anyone you had sex with was attached to you forever? Was he down in LA by now? Up in Portland? Would my life ever be as good as it was that night?
I went over our love making in my head. So magnificent. I went over it again, slowly, remembering every detail. What a woman, he had said.
“I knew it!” It was Tara. She’d found me. “Get out her, April Linn. I told you I wouldn’t leave you alone, so you leave me alone.” I came out of the sall. “I thought you ran off with Danny Leonard until he came up and started telling how he made six figures.
“Oh please.” I said.
“Come on, a lot of people are getting here. It’s going to be such a rave.”
“You’re such a hick,” I said. I loved her.
We went back down to the reunion and she was right, It was getting packed. The DJ was actually quite talented. He had all kinds of samples that he was looping, while also mixing in vinyl, and he even had a female vocalist. The joint was jumping’, I’ll give him that.
Another thing that was cool is that it wasn’t just blasting. At the end of the gym that was set up as a dance floor, it was pretty loud, but down by the tables you could carry on a conversation. I made my way around the dance floor and hung out around the edge of the little stage that was set up for the DJ. I was really getting into the beat. It was turning out to be a really nice time. That’s when I saw Jessie and Leo and their entourage. I ignored them, but felt a sting from the other night in the store.
Then Jessie was next to me. “What’s your problem, wide load,” she said loudly over the music. She was always an instigator. I guess it’s what she had to do. She didn’t get enough attention from being gorgeous and sexy. I couldn’t believe it, she was going to make a scene. I could feel it coming. I just didn’t know if I could stop it, or if I wanted to.
“What?” I said. I could feel all the frustration of the last week coming to a head in me.
“I saw the look you gave me when I came in,” she said getting in my face. “I didn’t come all the way back to the sticks, just so some loser cashier could give me dirty looks.”
“Come on, Jess,” Leo said, “She’s not worth it.
“Kick her fat ass,” someone called out and the DJ quit spinning the vinyl. A drum beat was still looping, but it had suddenly gotten quiet in the entire gym.
I shook my head in disgust. I took a step back, spread my arms to the side, palms up, and shrugged. Jessie mimicked my movements, but screwed her face up. “You should think twice before you fuck with me, you fat bitch,” Jessie said for everyone’s benefit. There was a murmur through the crowd. Even the DJ and his vocalist were looking over at us.
If I would have just walked away, that would have been the end of it.
If she would have just shrugged, made a face, and not said anything, that would have been the end of it, but she had to call me a fat bitch.
“Fuck you, Jessie.” I said. “You can’t talk to me like that. I let you talk to me like that in High School, but I’m a big girl now, and...”
“You’re a big girl alright,” Leo said. The crowd around us laughed.
“Kick her fat ass, Jessie,” a girl’s voice said.
“Feel like getting stomped, Fatty?” Jessie asked. She always acted like such a badass. There had always been rumors about the girls she’d beat up. Most of the girls back in high school had been scared of her. I used to be, too, but I wasn’t that night.
“I don’t think you got it in you,” I said loudly, a sudden tranquility coming over me.
“I’m gonna mess up your big, fat face,” she hissed at me as she stepped forward.
“No, I really don’t think you are,” I said, taking a step back into a defensive pose. It was infuriating her. The DJ’s drum track was just looping and the whole place seemed to be watching us. There was no Vice