A PARTY

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The light spilling from the windows of the house glittered on the beer cans and bottles littering the front yard. Cars were parked in a seemingly unbroken line on both sides of the street, choking the steady flow of traffic searching for parking spaces of their own. Grant made his way slowly through the crowd of teenagers adding their own litter to that already in the yard, slapping skin, punching shoulders, and giving hey nods in greeting. He carried the two remaining cans of a six pack of Schaefer by the plastic ring, had a bottle of Michelob in the left pocket of his letter jacket, and a pint of peach Mad Dog in the right. The crowd thickened by the front door and Grant squeezed through to the two enormous football players, linemen, collecting a cover charge at the door.
“Hey, man, you gonna make pay?” Grant asked one of the brutes.
“Hell no, man, I wouldn’t make you pay. I am kinda thirsty, though.”
“You seen Karen?” Grant asked as the big guy nearly ripped the top off the Schaefer Grant gave him.
The gorilla emptied the can, crumpled it in his fist, and threw it into the yard. “Nope.”
Grant plunged into the mob inside and slowly made his way over to a group of people hunched around he coffee table playing Quarters.
“Grant, man, what’s going on?” Chuck asked from his chair.
“Not much Chuck. You seen Karen?”
“Uh-uh. Hey, sit here while I go to the john.”
“OK. Hurry up.”
Grant sat in the chair looking around for Karen. He finished the last Schaefer and set the can precariously on top of the pile next to him.The structure fell over, making a sound not unlike a high speed car wreck. Nobody seemed to notice, so Grant ignored it as well.
The hulk taking money at the front door walked up. “Hey Grant, Sharon’s here.”
“Who?”
“Sharon! Weren’t you looking for Sharon?”
“Karen, dipshit, I’m looking for Karen.”
“Ah. Sorry.”
Grant hoped Karen wasn’t mad at him for not taking her out last night, but he wanted to get high with his friends. He was starting to feel stifled but he didn’t want to give her up for good. She could be a stubborn bitch sometimes and she would probably stay home tonight just to make him mad. He’s left a couple of messages on her answering machine but she hadn’t called him back.
“Grant, can I have my chair back and where’s Karen?”
“Who cares!” Grant jumped out of the chair, knocking over more beers. He went over to the phone and dialed Karen’s number. He let it ring twenty times before giving up. Grant slammed the phone down and turned around to leave. Karen was standing so close behind him he almost knocked her down.
“Where have you been?” Grant yelled.
“I was looking for you,” Karen replied innocently.
“Bullshit! I asked everyone if you were here, and they all said no!”
“Well, I was here. What do you care anyway? You wouldn’t even take me out last night. All you want to do is chase pussy with your football friends.”
“I knew you were pissed off about that. And we weren’t chasing pussy. We sat around and watched TV.”
Grant walked off with Karen close behind.
“Grant, wait.”
Grant spun around and grabbed Karen’s arm, taking her into a bedroom and closing the door. He threw her down on the bed and paced around the room.
“Karen, the reason I didn’t take you out last night is because I’m bored. We do the same things every time we go out and I’m getting bored with it.”
“Well, what makes you think I’m not bored?” She looked and sounded like she was about to cry.
“Are you bored?” Grant asked, pacing.
“No.”
“Then don’t be stupid!” Grant was relieved to see that someone had stashed some beers in here earlier. They were still cold and he opened one, taking a long slow drink of courage.
“We’ve been dating for six months, that’s a pretty long time.”
“Six months isn’t very long at all.” Karen’s eyes were filling with tears.
Grant burped. “Maybe it’s not long but it’s a long time for me. Anyway that’s not the point.”
“You brought it up.” Karen started crying.
Grant was starting to feel bad. “I know it’s my fault. Stop crying.”
Someone started banging on the door. “Hey, who’s in there?”
“What do you want?” Grant yelled at the door.
“That’s my parents’ bedroom!”
“Chuck, it’s me, Grant. Everything’s cool.”
Grant stepped toward the bathroom. “Don’t walk out, Karen. OK?”
“OK.” Karen quit crying and got a beer. Grant came out of the bathroom, got a beer, and sat down beside her.
“Look, Karen, I don’t want to stop seeing you but you’re being too possessive.”
“I’m not possessive. You can’t handle commitment.”
“What do you think I’ve been for the last six months if not committed? Shit, Karen, if I even talked to another girl you get mad and don’t talk to me, so I quit talking to other girls. If I go mess around with my friends you say I’m out chasing pussy, so I quit going out with my friends. All I do is hang around with you all the time.”
“I thought you like to hang around me all the time.” Apparently Karen wasn’t going to let Grant see her cry anymore.
“I used to, but it’s booooring.” Grant opened another beer.
“Does that mean that you want to stop seeing me?”
“No, that’s not what it means.” Grant burped again. He took a long pull on his beer, finishing it. When he looked at Karen there were two of her.
“Then what does it mean?”
“It means…” Grant trailed off as his alcohol-soaked brain began wrapping up for the night.
“It means what, Grant?”
“Be quiet for a sec, OK?” He laid back and closed his eyes.
“It means you still love me?”
“Mmmm.”
“I love you too,” she said solemnly and covered him with a jacket as he slipped into unconsciousness.