Winger

“I’m sorry for what I did, Chas. I apologize. A guy should never do the kind of crap I did to you.”

I figured this could officially count as an apology for making him drink my pee, too, if I worded it vaguely enough.

“I guess I let things get out of control, and so I apologize. I also said I’m sorry to Megan, and I promise you both it won’t happen again. So, sorry, Chas. I know you’re probably still going to kill me, but at least I got it off my chest.”

Then I put out my hand for him, and he shook it.

“You have balls, Winger. But I still fucking hate you.”

Fair enough.

“I hate you, too, Chas,” I said, and smiled.

Then, beyond Chas’s shoulder, at the edge of the dance floor, I caught a glimpse of green surgical scrubs and soft black hair draping over the glint of a stethoscope.

It was Annie. She hadn’t seen me yet.

I moved behind her, stalking her. I put my chin right over her shoulder and whispered, “I know you’re probably booked up, but do you think you could squeeze me in for a quick physical?”

She turned around suddenly.

At first, I thought she was going to slap me, but then she looked shocked and surprised at seeing me, and she gave me that awesome smile where her eyes tear up, and I hate to say it, but just looking at her there kind of made my eyes tear up too.

“Oh my God!” she said.

Then she threw her arms around me, and we hugged like we hadn’t seen each other in years. That felt so good, because I was practically naked anyway, and all sweaty, and here I was hugging an out-of-control physician.

What could be better than that? Well, except for the quick kiss we stole. Kids get in trouble for kissing at Pine Mountain, so you have to be discreet. And the best place to be discreet was out there in the middle of the dance floor, so the Wild Boy of Bainbridge Island took a tight squeeze on Annie’s hand, so we wouldn’t get separated, and I pulled her out through the crowd and into the deepest, darkest, wildest kiss we ever had.

“How did you get in?” she said.

“They let us out of O-Hall, and I dirty-talked Mr. Wellins into letting us come in.”

Annie laughed.

She put her hands in my hair, and we danced.

“I love what you’re wearing,” she said.

“I am the Wild Boy of Bainbridge Island,” I said. I lifted up my loincloth. “With Pokemon undies.”

She laughed and pretended to cover her eyes (but not very convincingly, I noticed), and I said, “Okay. I showed you mine, now you have to show me yours.”

“You are such a pervert, Ryan Dean.”

“I think your pug infected me.”

We danced until we were both exhausted.

When I led her off the floor to get something to drink, I finally remembered that there was one more important thing I had to do, and it wasn’t apologizing to Casey Palmer. I would never do that, no matter how many times I made him drink pee.

“I bet Seanie and Isabel haven’t moved from that couch all night,” I said. “Let’s go see.”

Annie’s cheeks were red from dancing.

I watched her as she drank lemonade tea.

“Wait a second,” I said.

I pulled her back so we were face to face. She looked at my eyes, and I knew she was playing that game we have between us. She knew I was doing it, too.

I whispered, “You can be in love with me.”

She hugged me and put her mouth to my ear and said, “I know.”

And I looked at her and said, “Oh. Now, about that physical, doctor . . . .”

She pushed my shoulder back. “Shut up.”

We held hands, and I led her over to the sofa, where I found the Seanie-gap-Isabel arrangement had not changed since I left. Annie and I sat down on the small side of the L, so I could sit facing Seanie with my legs uncrossed.

Seanie nonchalantly flipped me off.

“Annie, can you wait here for a few minutes? There’s one last thing I have to take care of,” I said.

“What?”

“I want to go get JP and make him come to the dance before it’s over.”

“I don’t know if you should. He’s pretty pissed, Ryan Dean,” Seanie said.

“It’s okay,” I said. “One more try.”

I rubbed Annie’s knee and kissed her cheek, quick, so no one would notice. “And don’t let Seanie try to get you to play the want-to-see-what’s-under-the-raincoat game.”

“Oh. He already did that,” she said, and rolled her eyes.

Chapter Eighty-Nine

THE COLD AIR FELT GOOD on my sweating skin, but only for about half a minute.

That’s when I started shivering.

Then I decided I should run to the boys’ dorm.

In the dark, I saw the black and white stripes of what could only have been Joey, walking down the trail ahead of me, like he was going home to O-Hall. And I could just tell by the way he was moving that he was pissed off about something.

I called out, “Hey Joe.”

He stopped and turned. I could see his shoulders relax a bit.

“What’s up?” I said.

“I’m going home.”

I walked over to where he stood.

“I found Annie in there,” I said.

“I saw you dancing. You guys look great together, and it’s about fucking time, Ryan Dean.”

“Is everything okay?”

Joey said, “I’ll tell you about it later.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Yeah. Something happened.

I knew Joey would tell me about it later and that it was probably something ridiculous, too. Casey Palmer was on a tirade, no doubt. The asshole just wasn’t going to let things go.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“I’m going to try to get JP to come out to the dance before they send us home,” I said. “He’s in his room, pouting. I can try, at least.”

“Well, I’ll see you later, then,” Joey said.

“You sure everything’s okay?”

He sighed.

Something was wrong.

“Ryan Dean? I figure that between you, Kevin, and Annie, I have about three real friends here. So, thanks for that.”

“You’re my best friend, Joe,” I said, and he smiled. “Hey. Do you ever listen to the Who?”

“Um, do I look like I’m fifty?”

“My dad loves them. Sometimes he walks around with his shirt off, singing, acting like he’s Roger Daltrey,