“Yeah, but I’m starving,” Sean said. “Come on, it’ll be hilarious. We’ll go somewhere cheap, and sit there in our suits.”
“We’re late, though. Let’s just get there,” Melissa said.
I turned around and gave her a half-smile. “I agree.”
“Okay. You guys are probably right,” Sean said. “I still think it’d be fun.”
He reached over and turned up the car stereo’s volume, and the music was sort of blaring. This wasn’t really me, I thought. Also, the music was so loud that I couldn’t talk to Sean then, the way I wanted to. I hadn’t realized we were going to the party in a group.
The song stopped just as I was saying, “I need to talk to you!” in a loud voice.
“Uh oh, sounds serious,” his friend Philip said.
“You’re in trouble, dude,” Duke added.
Everyone started laughing and pushing Sean’s shoulders from the back seat and flicking the top of his head.
“Uh, later. At the party. That would be fine,” I said, smiling at him.
He rested his hand on my leg. “No problem.” Then the next song started to play, and we went screaming down the highway on-ramp at top speed.
The house was breathtakingly beautiful, with white lights strung across the arched portico. A gigantic white wreath hung on the front door, and a snowman held a sign that said “Enter here—Valet parking” in fancy script. We turned over the car to the valet and headed for the entrance, me still clutching my down jacket, Melissa still looking fantastic. I thought she might be there with Philip, but I couldn’t tell. We were all sort of traveling as a pack.
There was a guest list that the doorman checked our names against, then all the girls were each handed a white rose. In the front entryway, which was as big as our entire house at home, there was a large ice sculpture of a king and queen, representing the Winter Carnival royalty. This was without question the fanciest, most elegant party I’d ever attended.
“What do Kevin’s parents do for a living, exactly?” I asked Sean as I gazed around the luxurious mansion, like a little kid seeing Disney World for the first time.
“I have no idea,” he said.
“Well, whatever it is, they should keep doing it,” I said, and we both laughed.
The gigantic room where the party was being held was more like a ballroom than a living room. The lights were set low, and the setting was very romantic, if crowded. There was a cart in the corner, serving Sno-Cones; caterers circled with trays of fancy, homemade versions of Hostess Sno-Balls and glasses of ice water and punch—and fake snow was sprinkled here and there, on top of small, potted pine trees, on skis that were hung on the wall, beside two pairs of old-fashioned skates. Winter Carnival buttons were hanging from silver ribbons dangling from the ceiling, along with silver icicles.
“Wow,” I said as we walked around the room, looking at everything and everyone. “This is so cool.”
“Yeah,” Sean said, nodding. “It was like this last year, too.”
“How many people do you think are here?” I asked.
“About a hundred?” Sean guessed.
“At least,” I said. “More like two hundred, maybe.”
We stood there people-watching for a minute or two. It was sort of weird that we didn’t have anything much to talk about.
“Good band,” I commented.
“Yeah.” Sean nodded.
We were both still standing there surveying the scene, and the crowd. It was like we barely knew each other, we had so little to talk about.
I had to tell him that I’d changed my mind, that I didn’t think we should go away for the weekend after all. Why was this so hard? I didn’t think he’d be crushed, exactly, but it was something I’d never had to do before.
“You want to dance?” Sean asked as a new song started.
“Sure,” I said.
I’d left my jacket at the coat check, and I set my tiny purse on a table, along with the white rose. For some reason this seemed like a crowd you could trust not to take your stuff.
We moved to the center of the dance floor, where about fifty other people were dancing. The band was playing covers of popular songs. Sean and I looked at each other a couple of times as we danced. Suddenly, out of nowhere, all of his friends descended onto the dance floor, surrounding us. It was actually kind of fun, except for the way Melissa kept trying to get close to Sean and bump his hips with hers.
After a couple of songs I decided to take a little break, so I moved off the dance floor. I walked around for a bit to check out the rest of the house, and as I was going past the front entryway, suddenly I saw Conor walk into the house.
The most surprising thing wasn’t that he was wearing a cool, retro suit, with a skinny tie, and suede sneakers. It wasn’t that he didn’t see me right off.
It was that he had walked in with a girl on his arm. A petite, dark-haired girl with light brown skin and a very cool black-and-white wool checkered coat.
I couldn’t believe it. What was he doing with a date? Then again, why shouldn’t he be allowed to bring someone? Just because we’d hung out together and had a good time, that didn’t mean he was banned from seeing someone else.
I kept sneaking glances at them as they checked her coat, and walked into the big room. Every time I did, they were laughing.
I walked back over to Sean, who was hanging out by the Sno-Cone cart with his friends and the other girls. He didn’t even seem to notice that I was back, or that I’d been gone.
“So I just saw Conor,” I said, sidling up beside Sean.
“Oh, yeah? You want a cone?” Sean asked.
I shook my head. “No thanks. I’m holding out for a snowball,” I said. “So, uh. Conor. He has a date for tonight?”
“Yeah. Guess so.” Sean nodded.
“Really,” I muttered.
A minute later, Conor and the girl he’d come in with walked past us and gave us a small wave. I waved back, my arm completely lifeless. His date gave me a friendly smile.
Yeah, I’d be happy, too, I thought, as I listened to Sean and his friends go on and on about how great the season was going to be, and whether they’d make it to the tournament, and where they wanted to play college hockey…. If I were with Conor.
About half an hour later, after dancing to a few more songs and making some more small talk, I was sitting on a window seat, looking out at the snow that had begun to fall, and wondering how long I’d have to stay. Because we had come to the party with other people, I’d have to wait for them to want to leave. It didn’t look as if I was going to get a chance to actually talk to Sean about things, and it didn’t seem like I would see Conor much, either. The night wasn’t exactly going my way, and I wasn’t sure what to do about it.
A waiter walked past with a tray of the round snowball-shaped cakes, and I jumped up, nearly knocking him down. “Oh. Excuse me,” I said.
“No problem,” he replied.
“I just kind of wanted one of those,” I said, feeling my face turn red.
He held the tray out to me and I lifted up one of the snowball cakes on a napkin. “Enjoy.”
“Thanks.” I took a bite of the coconut-covered cake, wondering why they’d serve something that was so difficult to eat without making a mess. There must be some etiquette about how to eat something this crumbly at a party. But if there was, I didn’t know it. No doubt Gretchen would.
I was taking another very delicate bite when suddenly Conor was standing beside me. “Wouldn’t these be great for a snowball fight?” he asked.
I was so surprised to see him that I nearly choked on a coconut flake that went down the wrong way.
“I could totally see this place breaking into mayhem,” Conor added.
I brushed my mouth with a napkin. “Food fight, you mean?”
“Yeah.” Conor grinned. “Should we do it?”
“No,” I said, looking around at everyone, all dressed up. “I don’t think we’d be very popular.”