All That and a Bag of Chips

Chapter 31

After about ten minutes, the front door opened and then Tom walked up the stairs.

When he reached the top, Collin gestured to the foamy mug on the coffee table. "Already poured you a pint," he said.

"There's no way that's a full pint, but I appreciate it anyway," Tom said as he walked around to the living room and sat on the orange couch.

"So, do you have the number?" Sam asked, cutting to the chase.

"Of course." Tom took a sip. When he put the mug down, he had a foamy mustache, which he wiped away with the back of his hand. "Why would I have come over here if I didn't?"

Collin and Sam exchanged a look.

"So," Tom said. "What do you want me to say when I call her? Should I ask her to have Heather call you?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "I don't think Heather wants to talk to Collin right now, so letting Veronica know you are with Collin right now would probably, most definitely, just backfire."

Tom chugged the rest of his beer. "Liquid courage. Can I have another?"

Collin stood up. "Sure. Here, let me." He took Tom's empty mug and carried it into the kitchen, where the keg stood in one corner.

As he refilled the mug, he heard Sam explain the general plan to Tom.

"So, just pretend that I am calling her randomly? What if she thinks I want to take her out to dinner or something?" Tom was asking as Collin walked back into the living room.

"Nobody does that," Sam said.

"Yeah," Collin agreed, handing the mug to Tom. "Just ask her what her plans are for the night."

"What if she doesn't have plans?" Tom's knee bounced.

"Dude, when's the last time you called a girl?" Collin asked. "Middle school?"

Tom tilted the mug back and then placed it down on the coffee table, half empty. "Like, I'm okay talking to a girl face-to-face, but I just hate phones. I don't know why."

"I get that," Sam said, probably trying to sound reassuring. "Just assume she has plans. But, if she doesn't, you can say that you were planning to hit the clubs, and you had hoped to run into her. That's all. Easy peasy."

"Lemon squeezy," Collin added with a smile of encouragement.

"Okay." Tom flipped open his phone. "Here we go." He pressed a button and brought it up to his ear. "What if she doesn't answ– Oh, hey Veronica, it's Tom... Tom as in Collin's friend?... Yeah, the smoker... Ha, yeah.... Mmm hmm... Oh, cool, cool. Totally. Maybe... Yup. Later." He hung up.

"Dude, you didn't ask her anything," Collin said, palms in the air.

"What did she say?" Sam asked.

Tom smiled, cool as a cat. "They're hitting the club tonight and she said that maybe we'll bump into each other."

"Okay, well, that worked out better than expected." Collin jutted his lower lip out and nodded. Although part of him was waiting for the other shoe to drop. "Did she say anything about me?"

Tom shrugged one shoulder. "Just that it would be better if you didn't come with."

It was like a punch to the gut. All the air sucked out of him. Everything had been going so well between them. Why did Avery have to tell Heather about the bet? He was sure he would have told her eventually. Like, maybe on their fiftieth wedding anniversary in front of their grandkids. Like a, "Do you want to know a funny story?" kind of thing.

"Hey, it's okay, man." Sam patted his back. "That was expected. And maybe they'll be on the lookout for you now, but all that matters is that you get your shot to clear up this misunderstanding."

"Sure," Collin said, even though he didn't really believe her. He looked out the window and realized that the sun was setting. "What time is it?"

"Almost seven," Sam answered. "Want to order a pizza before getting ready to go out?"

"I don't do clubs," Tom answered.

"Tonight you do," Sam said. Then she walked into the kitchen to grab the pizza takeout menu from where they kept it in the pullout drawer next to the dishwasher. "I don't do straight clubs, but I'll be going to one tonight. And you'll be right by my side."

Later, at ten o'clock, the three of them were almost ready to leave the house. It was a warm night and Sam had put her hair up and was wearing just a black tank top and tight jeans. Collin couldn't remember if he had ever seen her look so femme. She was even wearing body glitter and make-up.

"Tom will keep the gross guys away from me, won't you?" she teased.

Tom was standing somewhat awkwardly in a blue rayon shirt that Collin happened to own, even though it was too big for him. But it fit Tom perfectly. "As long as you keep me drunk." He'd already emptied more of the keg alone in just one night than the group of roommates had in almost a week. Collin didn't know how his words remained unslurred, but if hadn't known better, he would have assumed that Tom was stone sober.

"Let me just run to the bathroom one more time, guys," Collin said, before disappearing into his room. He hated gendered bathrooms in general, and at straight clubs specifically, but that wasn't why he had gone back into his room.

Collin stared at himself in the mirror. His hair was gelled, his teeth brushed, and his shirt looked flat against his chest and muscled arms. "You can do this," he said to his reflection. Then he turned to leave.

But before he left his room, he stopped and opened his desk drawer, slipping something into his pocket, just in case.

"Okay. I'm ready," he announced as he shut his door.

And then the three of them headed out, walking the familiar streets that led to the downtown strip.

"Which club are we headed to?" Sam asked.

"They only seem to go to one," Collin muttered.

His suspicion was confirmed when Tom answered as he lit a cigarette. "The Irish one."

Ten minutes later, they reached the entrance and navigated through the small crowd of smokers that congregated outside. Tom stubbed out his cigarette and the three of them showed the bouncer their IDs, received their hand stamp, and then walked up the sticky staircase and into the chaos of the upper floor.

Loud music was blaring, and the press of bodies made it difficult to move. But, standing against the bar, Veronica and Monica's shiny straight hair was easy to spot. Heather, however, was not with them.

"I better split off from you. Don't want Veronica to see that you lied about me not coming," Collin shouted towards Tom.

"Yeah, good idea," Sam shouted back. "Go dance, and then we'll find you."

"Should you go if Veronica thinks Tom is on a date with her?" he asked Sam, suddenly realizing how flimsy their plan was.

"Don't worry! I'll say I'm his sister!"

Collin laughed at what had to be a joke. That was ludicrous. Unless, of course, she said they both had been adopted. But Tom was already walking towards the bar, his copious amounts of liquid courage preventing any hesitation. "Well, there your brother goes," Collin said, pointing.

"Okay. I'll find you in a few minutes." Sam turned around and pushed through the crowd.

Collin elbowed his way towards the dance floor as Outkast demanded that everyone, "Shake it like a polaroid picture."

But then he froze because he knew why Heather wasn't standing by the bar with her friends. She was on the dance floor.

Dancing.

And he couldn't believe with who.