WTC7: Dance Invites

Early Wednesday evening, Lennon and Pauly were as usual at Twinnie’s parking lot, drinking iced coffee in Lennon’s car. A black Porsche Cayenne SUV backed into a spot in front of them. 

-        That’s a sick car – Pauly commented wistfully.

As in response, the car’s headlights blinked a couple of times, seemingly addressing the two friends. Confused, they focused their sight on the driver to see if they know him. It was a bit too dark and too far to tell. After several moments, the driver stepped out and gave them the answer: it was Theo. 

-        What? – said Lennon. In surprise, the two friends stepped out of the vehicle and went straight him.

-        What’s going here? Haha – asked Pauly.

-        You like my new ride, eh? 

-        This is your car? Get out of here – said Pauly.

After some teasing Theo admitted he’s renting it for the week. He needs to impress some people, especially for the weekend, when he’s going to cottage country. He explained that Neil McCracken has invited him to his country mansion for lake swimming and hunting. Lennon and Pauly were impressed; they went as far as to formally congratulate their friend with a handshake and a hug. They could not believe how Theo got such an invite and demanded he tell them. Theo told how he and Marvin were hanging out one Saturday at the Long Lounge and how they ran into Tammy and Lisa, how Lisa liked him, and how now they are seeing each other. McCrackens were a happy bunch hosting parties throughout the summer, and through Lisa he befriended Neil and Tammy McCracken and their friends. He did not mention anything about his drug sales.

-        You guys want to come with me this weekend? – asked Theo.

-        Hehe, sure we do, man – said Lennon – Besides, I what are we supposed to do among all those rich fat cats. 

-        Why, you are an accountant. Get some clients, man, offer to do their taxes. You are a good accountant too – said Theo – and Pauly can get them to his restaurants. 

-        Yeah, but we’re not invited – insisted Pauly.

-        I can invite you. I’ve got a couple of rooms and I’m supposed to bring my own crew. It’s going to look lame if I go alone. The only thing is, you guys need to bring some girls. Maintain the ratio, and all that.

Neither Lennon nor Pauly were in an official relationship at the moment, which was a big part of the reason why they spent so much of their time with each other in the parking lot. They were at a loss whom to invite; they begun discussing potential dates.

-        Ask Laura – said Theo – and tell her to bring those friends of hers. You guys are friends since high school. It doesn’t have to be an official date, though if you want to go for that of course … 

Theo smiled suggestively while his two friends smiled and almost blushed. 

-        That’s going to be awkward, man – said Lennon.

-        Well, up to you guys. If you want to come, we need to bring some girls. It’s not acceptable I bring a sausage fest to the place. Let’s figure it out together. I mean this is going to be a sick party, any chick will want to go.

-        All right – said Pauly – it’s not a bad idea. Laura’s been hanging around here, we will ask her. How about we ask her now. I can text her.

The three friends settled into the Cayenne and assumed the chilling position while Pauly worked his smartphone. He texted Laura to drop by Twinnie’s and hang out, saying that Lennon and Theo were there, and that he had a story to tell. He insisted it can be only told face to face. He also told her to bring her girl friends from the other day.

Before Laura arrived, Martin showed up and hopped into the Cayenne. He got to Twinnie’s by bus. His body created a predicament in that now there was no place to host the ladies in the car, so after some debate it was agreed that Marvin and Lennon would remove themselves to Lennon’s car. 

Laura showed up after it became dark, with only one of the girls from the last time they all met at Twinnie’s. 

-        Wow, nice car, Theo! – Laura said right away.

She and her friend climbed into the back seat, infusing the car with that unmistakable scent of hot girls. Theo and Paulie could not observe them directly from the front seat, but the smell helped them visualize their pretty faces, their hair, their supple bodies, clothed as they were in jean shorts and tank tops, one gray and tight, one black and loose, and both revealing. The perfume helped them walk their minds’ eyes across separate features of their female physique, dismembered though they were by the fetishistic male imagination and employed by it in fantastic scenes. But Theo and Paulie couldn’t float too far in their imagination. The women were right there, and there was an imminent need to act, to do something to disguise their fancies. 

After some small talk Laura asked to be told what the big story was. It wasn’t that Theo bought a fancy new car, so what was it? In response, and as a way of introduction, Pauly summarized Theo and Marvin’s adventures in Pine Grove, with some interruptions from the two protagonists – Marvin overhearing some words from the next car – and concluded with the prospect of the country mansion party the next weekend.

-        So we wanted to invite you two girls to come with us. We can’t just all be guys, and we have room for like three more people, right Theo? Right, so we need to invite some girls. There is a separate guest room with three beds. It will be fun! There will be a party at the mansion, beach party at the lake, and also they plan to go hunting and to the casino, though I don’t know if you ladies are into that. 

-        Are you asking me out on a date, Pauly? – asked Laura, and giggled with her girl friend, whose name was Nikki.

-        Well, if you like … 

-        Yes, he is! – yelled Marvin from the other car.

-        Fine, yes I am – concluded Pauly.

- I don’t know, sounds a little snobby - said Laura - and we are definitely not into hunting or casinos.

- It’s not like that - argued Pauly - it’s a cool crowd, a mixed crowd. Right, Theo?

- Yeah, it’s nothing like that. They are very down-to-earth - confirmed Theo.

-        Well, who’s going to be Nikki’s date?  

-        I’ll be your date Nikki! – yelled Marvin again.

-        What about Theo and Lennon? – Laura continued. 

-        I’ve got a date already – said Theo – and we do need a date for Lennon. 

-        I don’t know, maybe I can find someone – said Laura – we can find someone right, Nikki? It sounds interesting and fun and all that, but we don’t know these people.

Theo had never been the center of attention like this before; he had never been responsible for getting a whole group of friends to polarize around a single mission, a single desire. He sat at the wheel of his rented Porsche Cayenne, listening to the excited chatter of his buddies and the two girls, and he felt that it all revolved around him: his idea, his accomplishment, his party, his reputation.

He listened to Marvin, and as always Marvin was speaking from below, cracking jokes, ingratiating himself – nothing new there. But he also heard Lennon and Pauly, and for the first time he heard them speaking form bellow well. These two had always seemed above from where Theo stood; cocooned in financial safety and middle-class comfort, they always talked with detached reassurance about the world, either about having things and women or mocking those who chased them. But tonight Theo heard for the first time Lennon and Pauly talk with excited anticipation of a gift, like children excited about a trip to an amusement park, or better yet adolescents excited about a high school dance. He heard them talk respectfully about Theo, exerting themselves to make Theo appear in a good light, hyping the party and hyping Theo. Even Nikki, whom no one had ever met before, was quickly drawn in. She simply took Theo to be the alpha-dog in the crew, not knowing anything about his belabored past.

A feeling of elation, a sweet heaviness possessed Theo. He felt a sense of importance, but also a heady sense of responsibility for meeting his friends’ expectations, and a nauseating anxiety about the moment when, inevitably, everyone will find out the truth behind his odd success – his drug dealing. He felt sick in the stomach, and he got out of the vehicle to go to the washroom in Twinnie’s and wash his face with some cold water. 

As he pushed the door on his way out of the toilet he nearly bumped right into Laura, who was on her own trip to the ladies’ room. She touched his collar playfully.

-        The man of the hour! So you never explained who’s your date? 

-        This woman named Lisa; she’s a friend of the host family. 

-        Ooh, a woman named Lisa! She sounds very important.

-        She is important. She and I are doing some serious business together, too. 

-        I see! So there is love and prosperity for you two.

Theo didn’t know what to say for a minute. He looked at Laura sideways, up and down. 

-        There’s definitely something there, something more than there is here. At Twinnie’s, I mean.

With that he went back to the car, but as he passed by Laura he brushed intentionally against her body. That smell made him feel offended and resolute. Back in the car, after some ten minutes, he announced that he better head home soon, as he had another workday at the construction site tomorrow. The party wrapped up and his friends filed out. All except Marvin, who needed to be dropped off.

Theo and Marvin drove together down Dartmouth Road, the broad three lane avenue around which they grew up. They turned on Blane Street and into the high-rise projects where Marvin lived. As they pulled up to Marvin’s building’s entrance, Marvin shook hands with Theo and commented on his impression for the night. 

-        You are on a roll, my man. Keep it up. Take advantage of that, trust me, squeeze everything out of it while it lasts. And I’ll be there to watch you do it this weekend at the mansion!

Marvin stepped out to his home. “How pathetic”, thought Theo, “‘squeeze everything out of it’. Like I am some sort of a beggar, like I’m trying to ingratiate myself. If he was in my position he’d squeeze everything and everything would snap, and that’s why no one would trust him with anything. But I need the guy; at least he’s dumb enough not to notice my transactions.” Theo then drove his rental Porsche home. He played no music, he lit no cigarette. He was very lucid. Memories mingled in his mind with projections of the future. 

Later that night he dreamed of Lisa and Laura. He first dreamed of them as friends, then as lovers; first they were smiling at him separately, then they were together, seducing him as a team. In the middle of it, Maya showed up out of nowhere and joined them. It was pleasant, but it became hard to breathe. He then saw Lennon and Pauly smiling at him and applauding him. He then dreamed of Larry and the dead pit bull; he saw in his dreams the smiling, tanned visage of Neil and his henchman Abhay, and he saw Tammy’s face, disguising her uneasiness in a tense smile. He dreamed of diving in Neil’s pool, swinging his arms towards the bottom, his floating body illuminated by iridescent green, and he swung deeper, and in his amusement he forgot that he was underwater. Suddenly, he was out of breath, but he couldn’t swing his way up to the surface; in deadly panic, he woke up. He was in his suburban bedroom.