Hurricane Party

The water was getting choppy. Lila felt the current change behind her knees, tossing her into the wave when she hesitated instead of getting on top of it. She closed her eyes, tucked in her arms, legs, and head, and let it tumble her, holding her nose to keep the salt water from flushing her sinuses. When it released her, she gained her feet just in time to get knocked down again. Salt water assaulted her nose and eyes, and when she found the surface again, she swam for shore, then strode out of the water.

Several clouds dotted the horizon when she got in, but they’d been absorbed by a larger mass coming into view, and more had formed overhead. The wind picked up as she realized she was about two blocks farther down the beach than expected. The first drops of rain pelted the sand as she made her way up to Masie’s house.

She hadn’t seen a single seagull or pelican all morning, and Rusty, Josh’s Springer Spaniel, had been restless all morning. She heard Josh, Sam, and Masie clattering in as her bare feet slapped down the stairs. They were soaked to the bone.

“Turn on the TV. We passed a fucking Weather Channel van on our way back from the course,” Sam said. “Storm’s coming.”

“How bad can it be?” Josh asked. “It’s Masters Week—hurricane season is two months away.”

Lila picked up the remote and found The Weather Channel in time to hear “More April updates when we come back.”

A red storm warning band stayed on the screen through the commercials, county names scrolling through it in white capital letters.

“Masie, you here?” Billy Adams’s voice boomed into the room before he tumbled into it with a full entourage behind him. He gave a whoop when he saw Josh, Sam, and Lila, fist bumping the guys and wrapping Lila in an embrace and planting a kiss smack on her lips. “Let the hurricane party begin!”

Masie plucked the bottle of Jim Beam out of his hand and took a swig. “Hold your horses, there’s work to do first.”

He took the bottle back from her and kissed her cheek. “On it.” Then he looked all around, raised the bottle, and said, “Shots and storm shutters, let’s go, guys!” Everyone followed him into the kitchen, and he explained how to secure the shutters, then assigned a window to each person as he poured their shot.

After the windows were all accounted for, Billy turned to Masie and said, “Can you believe this damn thing’s name is April? Talk about tempting fate. Next we’ll have the one that starts with W named Winter and stretch the season into December. I wish they’d let me name them.”

“As if. No one’s ever even let you name a dog. I don’t think NOAA’s coming to you for a list.” Masie shook her head, pulled a brick of cream cheese out of the fridge, and set it on the counter to soften.

Lila pulled an unopened jar of pepper jelly from a cabinet and put it next to the cream cheese before helping herself to a shot from the bottle. “I’ll fill the bathtubs,” she told Masie. Then she treated Billy to a bourbon-laced kiss before disappearing up the stairs in a flicker of tanned legs.

“Billy, you need to behave. She’s here with Sam,” Masie cautioned. “And you better have a cooler full of beer in your truck.”

“Tell her, not me. I was sitting here minding my own business. I can’t help it that Lila’s always been hot for me.” Billy leaned back and grinned at Masie.

“No, but you can control whether or not you put your tongue in her mouth.” Masie smacked her brother upside the back of his head. “Ready to clear the deck?”

“Hell, yeah!” Billy answered, standing and taking another swig from the bottle. People started filtering back into the kitchen. “All right! Who wants to throw chairs in the pool?”

A cheer rose from his friends, and they followed him onto the deck in the rain.

Lila finished filling the tub in Masie’s room, then slipped into her room to change. Her heart hammered in her chest as she brushed her hair and smoothed cocoa butter lotion into her legs and wished she’d brought the red and white striped top that hung off her shoulder like a hammock. Billy loved her shoulders.

Masie stormed in as she slid lip balm across her bottom lip and rubbed it against her top one.

“Goddamnit, Lila. No. You know how this ends.” Masie crossed her arms over her chest. “How many times has my brother derailed your life? Don’t let him fuck things up with Sam.”

Raucous laughter drifted up from the deck, followed by a loud splash.

Masie tilted her head. “That was the table. They’ll be back in soon. Quit primping and get your ass down to the kitchen and help me.”

“Right behind you. And Sam knows about Billy.”

“Knowing and seeing it in live-action are two different things.”

“Well, duh!” Lila rolled her eyes.

“I saw that,” Masie replied from in front of her on the stairs. “And the two of you practically had heat waves radiating at each other downstairs.”

“Sam was upstairs.”

“I mean from the second he walked in. The kitchen is another episode entirely.”

They abruptly ended the discussion as they entered the crowded kitchen. Masie cut through the crowd, pulling things out of cabinets and the fridge, opening bags of chips and arranging a cheese board, then dumping the jelly over the cream cheese on a plate. A stack of Solo cups was on the table, where Billy was making his version of the family hurricane punch in their great-grandmother’s punch bowl.

“Where’s Sam?” Lila asked the room at large.

Billy caught her blue eyes with his brown ones and pointed toward the living room. “In there, watching the hurricane and playing blackjack.”

A petite redhead slid a manicured hand onto Billy’s shoulder and took a step closer to his chair so that the back of his head was touching her body. She glared at Lila, then said, “Billy, will you get me a beer?”

Lila dismissed her with her eyes and left the room without waiting to hear Billy’s response.

Sam looked up at her when she approached the card game assembled around the coffee table. “Deal you in?”

She shook her head. “I’m just getting the board games.” She leaned down beside him to pull several long, flat boxes promising hours of fun from the bottom shelf of the bookcase behind him. “But I’ll play chess after you finish taking their money.” She kissed him before she stood up. “Watch out for Billy’s punch. It’ll sneak up on you in a hurry.” She addressed the last to the room as a whole.

Back in the kitchen, someone had put some music on, and several coolers of beer were lined up against the French doors to the deck. A piece of printer paper was taped to the middle one, proclaiming “Don’t cross the beer line, or April (and Masie) will kick your ass.”

One of the girls with Billy, Stacy or Tracy, grabbed Twister off the top of the stack while someone else took Monopoly, leaving Lila holding Scrabble and a backgammon set.

The Twister group set up in the living room with the mat on the floor behind the loveseat, where Sam was dealing a fresh hand of blackjack. The guy who claimed Monopoly asked to clear the kitchen table. Masie and Billy looked at each other across the room, burst out laughing, and shouted, in unison, “Floor! You’re not taking this table for three days!” Then they raised their glasses to each other and shared a silent, private toast to their grandmother’s memory.

Scrabble and backgammon were pushed aside for a pay-to-play game of quarters initiated by Billy. “Come on, Lila. Put those away. This is a party. I’m surprised you didn’t ask if anyone wants to play chess.”

As Lila opened her mouth to retort, lightning flashed and crackled in the sky, briefly brightening the house through the slats of the shutters. A crash of thunder followed by a boom shook the house beneath it, and the lights went out.

Masie switched on the LED candles in the living room and turned on the battery-powered lights attached to the bottoms of the cabinets. Red jumped into Billy’s lap and squeaked that she was scared in the most absurd, little girl, Minnie Mouse voice Lila had ever heard. She rolled her eyes, and Masie said, “I saw that,” without missing a beat.

Billy stood up and pulled a joint from his pocket. “Lights out, light up!” he shouted, and a dozen or so lighters flicked their little tongues of flame into the half-light.

After the joint left the table and a few more began circulating through the house, Billy held up his bottle and said, “Everyone in the living room! It’s time for spin the bottle!”

“Billy—” Masie began.

“The party gods demand it. Where’s your Dionysian spirit?”

After the circle formed on the floor, Billy handed the bottle to Masie, seated on his right. “Our charming hostess, my sister and yours, the lynx of the links, Masie Adams will open the game with the first spin.”

Masie took the bottle, cast her eyes around the circle, weighed the bottle in her hand, and spun it straight to Josh. She winked at him before they crawled to the center of the circle to kiss.

Josh spun the bottle next, landing on the redhead. He crawled back to the center and gave her a perfunctory peck on the lips. She spun and landed on Sam. Lila glared at Masie when she failed to suppress a chuckle.

Sam took his turn, and the amber glass of the bottle flashed as it spun until it landed on Lila. Masie and Tracy/Stacy watched Billy watch Sam kiss Lila. When Lila put her hand on the bottle to spin it, Masie shook her head at her, but Lila spun the bottle to Billy anyway.

They swam around in each other’s eyes as they prowled toward each other. The redhead practically had steam coming out of her ears, but Sam didn’t appear troubled. Masie was afraid they would fuck right there on the floor in front of everyone, but Lila brought her lips to Billy’s in the lightest kiss, nearly pornographic in its seeming innocence. Billy looked dazed as he put his hand on the bottle and spun it back to Lila, and they eye-fucked again on their way back to the center of the circle.

Billy put his right hand on Lila’s shoulder and kissed her like they were alone.

She spun it back to him, and one of the guys with Billy said, “Lucky sonofabitch. That’s three in a row! Seven minutes in heaven.”

Another bolt of lightning flashed, and Masie ordered her brother and Lila to the downstairs bathroom. “Don’t even think about sneaking upstairs.”

“Somebody set a timer,” Sam said.

“Already did,” the redhead replied, holding up her phone.

Masie thumped Lila on the leg as she passed her.

In the bathroom, Billy said, “Lila.”

She looked up at him and melted into his eyes and arms, and then their mouths were joined with tongues dancing and shared breathing. Billy’s hands found their way under Lila’s top, and she moaned into his mouth.

“Time’s up!” the redhead yelled from the other side of the door, her voice an octave or two lower than earlier.

Lila slid her hand across the front of Billy’s shorts and said, “We shouldn’t, but I’m dying for you.”

The redhead yanked the door open, shining her phone on Billy and Lila, and howled louder than the wind outside.

“Casey,” Billy called after her as she stormed back to the living room.

“That whore had her hand on my boyfriend’s dick!” she announced to the room. “She needs to leave!”

Lila sauntered back into the room, gave Casey a level look and blinked once. “No one is leaving. There’s a fucking hurricane outside.”

“There’s about to be one inside if you come near my boyfriend again!” Casey hissed into Lila’s face. “Billy’s mine! The two of you are through!” She glared at her, then screamed, “Billy! Get in here!”

Lila managed to look haughty in the midst of Casey’s outburst.

Then Casey turned toward Sam. “Oh my God, you’re her boyfriend! I probably got whore herpes from kissing you!”

Sam, Josh, and Masie all stood up, but Billy backed out of the room.

Lila looked around the room slowly, pausing on each face in the darkness before resting a contemptuous look on Casey. Then her eyes found Sam’s and she winked. “Who wants to play chess?”