“I didn’t know you’d invited girls here,” I said to Malcolm when the gaggle of females came in through the front door.

Malcolm glanced at me askance. “Of course I invited girls. It’s my birthday. What kind of birthday would it be without pussy?”

I rolled my eyes. The door opened again and Aubrey, my ex-girlfriend, walked in. Her eyes immediately found mine and then they darted away. I groaned. “Why did you invite her?” I hissed.

“Because she’s hot,” he murmured back.

We ate a dinner that Malcolm’s housekeeper’s husband cooked on the grill. Malcolm’s parents were out of town again, but the party went on nevertheless. Then we all retired to the pool for high school pranks. Who could get the girls out of their clothes the fastest? Who could make the biggest belly flop? Who could be the first to throw up in the bushes? Apparently, it would be Malcolm on all three counts.

I spent the next couple of hours taking care of Malcolm while avoiding Aubrey.

Malcolm finally took one of the girls into the pool house and Aubrey sidled up next to me. “Hey, Mason,” she said quietly. She had a red party cup in her hand and her eyes were a little glassy.

“Aubrey,” I said.

“How are you?” Her eyes searched the crowd and then came back to me.

“Fine. You?”

She blew out a breath. “Are you ever going to speak to me again?”

I turned to fully face her. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Us.” She glared at me. “I want to talk about us.”

I shook my head. “There is no us.”

“Well, not since her,” she sneered.

“Lynn,” I corrected. She had a name.

“Not since Lynn,” she said, but with less venom. Silence fell upon our little area of the pool deck. “Are you going swimming?” she asked casually.

I was standing there in my swim trunks. Of course I was going swimming. If the noises coming from the pool house were any indication, Malcolm would be back out in a minute or two. “Maybe,” I said, stalling for time. I really wanted to leave. I wanted to go by the clinic and maybe run into Lynn. But it was my buddy’s birthday.

“You want to go out some time?” Aubrey asked. “Maybe catch a movie?” She looked hopeful and it killed me inside.

I fidgeted. “I can’t.”

“Because of her.” She set her cup down on a nearby table and punched her fists into her hips. She was wearing a one-piece swimsuit.

“Lynn,” I said succinctly, sounding out the word.

“Are you really dating that freak?” she asked.

I saw the blur just before it happened, but that was all it was to me, a blur. One second Aubrey was standing there completely dry, and the next she had a pitcher of punch poured over her head. I looked for the perpetrator, and found a girl our age standing behind her. She wasn’t grinning. She just stared at Aubrey as Aubrey blew red punch from her lips. Aubrey’s hair hung down in her face, and she brushed back the wet clumps sticking to her skin.

“Keep talking about Lynn like that and I’ll toss you into the pool next,” the blonde said.

She was wearing a tiny bikini and she had a body that was svelte and lean. Little pink triangles with lace covered her breasts, and strings tied on her hips. She had blonde hair with a ribbon tied in it, and even with the bikini on, she had a strand of simple pearls around her neck, and high heels that would look ridiculous on most girls. But on her, the effect was stunning.

She held up her hand and gave a little friendly wave. “Hi, I’m Shelly,” she said, “and she’s a bitch, so you should stay away from her.” Then she sauntered off toward the house.

“Who the fuck was that?” Malcolm said as he came out of the pool house. He was wearing swim trunks and nothing else, and a girl from our school slipped out of the pool house behind him and melted into the crowd.

“I have no idea,” I said. I stared after Shelly’s retreating form, stared at that little pink triangle that covered her butt crack and very little else.

Malcolm threw Aubrey a towel, and she tried to mop her hair but it was hopeless. “Come on,” I said. I motioned her toward the house. “I’ll show you where the bathroom is.”

I took her upstairs to Malcolm’s section of the house—yes, he had his own wing. And then I showed her where he kept his shampoo and things in his guest bath. “You should get cleaned up.” I turned to leave, but she grabbed my arm.

“I shouldn’t have said that,” she said meekly. “About Lynn.”

I sighed. “No, you shouldn’t have.”

“You really love her, don’t you?” she asked, and her eyes welled up with tears.

I looked right at her and said, “I really do.”

“Even with all her problems?”

“Yeah. I love all of her problems, too.”

“I’m sorry I was rude. I just…” She shook her head. “I just miss you.”

“I’m sorry, Aubrey,” I blurted out. “I really am.”

She smiled softly. “No, you’re not. You’re in love. With her. I should be happy for you, and part of me is. It’s just hard, you know? You broke up with me and I didn’t even have any warning.”

“I didn’t mean to—”

She held up a hand. “I know. The heart wants what the heart wants, I suppose.”

I smiled a bit sheepishly. “Yeah. You’ll meet the right one.”

“Are you sure Lynn’s the right one for you?” she asked.

“Positive.” I’d never doubted it.

“Then I hope you’ll be happy.”

“Thanks.”

I stepped out of the bathroom and closed the door behind me. I ran straight into the girl in the pink bikini. “What were you doing in there with her?” she demanded.

“Who are you?” I replied.

“You first.” She cocked her hip and stared at me.

“You dumped a pitcher of punch over her head. She needed to get cleaned up. I showed her where the bathroom is.”

She narrowed her blue eyes. “And that’s all you did?”

I took a menacing step toward her but she just stood up taller. She didn’t retreat. “What else could I have been doing?”

“Doing her,” she bit out.

I shook my head. “I have a girlfriend.”

“Where is she, by the way? Your girlfriend?”

I glanced down at my watch. “She should be here by now.”

She took two steps toward me, her gait slow and leisurely. “I have a word of caution for you.”

I said nothing.

She lifted her hand and let it play in the light dusting of hair on my chest. Fear shot down my spine. “If you hurt her, I’ll kill you. I won’t even think about it. It’ll just happen. You won’t expect it, and I’ll try to make it quick, but it’ll happen. Do you understand?”

I grabbed her hand, because her rubbing my chest was making me uncomfortable. When I did, she twisted my hand until she pulled my thumb backwards and then she pressed hard, making me wince.

I nearly fell to my knees. I didn’t, though. I stood there and fought the urge to punch her in the face. She was a woman, after all. A sadistic, messed-up woman, but a woman nevertheless. She stopped bending my thumb when the dull ache became a roaring pain. I clenched my jaw and took it, shaking out my hand when she finally let go.

“Do you understand?” she repeated.

“Who are you?” I asked again.

She laughed and stepped back a little. “I’m Shelly,” she said. “Nice to meet you.” She stuck out her hand to shake. I didn’t take it. She shrugged her shoulders, smiled at me, and then she strolled away down the hall and disappeared from sight.

I found Lynn a few minutes later. She was in the kitchen stirring a pot of something with Malcolm’s housekeeper. She smiled at me. She was wearing shorts and a tank top and I’d never seen her look more beautiful. “When did you get here?” I asked, as I grabbed her around the waist and drew her to me.

“Just now.” She giggled as I kissed the side of her neck. “Stop it,” she hissed, and the housekeeper, Mrs. Daniels, smiled at us.

I let her go, but only marginally.

“Did you bring a swimsuit?” I asked.

She nodded. “I just need to go and change.”

I took her up to Malcolm’s room, and we passed Aubrey in the hall. Lynn smiled at her. “Aubrey, it’s nice to see you again.”

Aubrey looked at her askance. “Um, you too,” she said, and then she turned sideways and scurried past us in the hallway.

“What was that about?” Lynn asked as she followed me into Malcolm’s room.

“Someone dumped a pitcher of punch over her head,” I said. I watched Lynn closely.

“Oh, no,” Lynn cried. “Do you think she’s okay? Should I check on her?”

“Later,” I said. And then I kissed her. Because when you’re faced with that much crazy, you have no choice but to embrace it.