Not-So Short Story Part II

His short reminiscing over, Evan's head now turned to pounding.  He rubbed his eyes and made his way over to the couch.  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone.  Three missed calls:  two from Carl, one from Shawn.  It was already 11:15.  The sun had gotten high enough in the Hawaiian sky to peer through the living room window.

"Close the fucking shade," a voice said in a raspy, worn-out tone.  "It's too early."  Shawn had finally sat up on the floor.  Unable to stay upright, he had eventually crawled over and propped his back up against the wall.

"It's already past 11:00 ass hole," Evan replied.

"You guys look like shit."  A new voice interrupted.  Evan looked to his left to see that Carl was up on his feet.  "Where's the spic?" joked Carl.  "Did he have to get up early to get to Home Depot?  If you get there early you have the best chance of getting trabajo."

"Fuck you asshole."  Brian was untangling his legs from the mess of wires and cables that had somehow attacked him in the night.  "I'm Puerto Rican, not Mexican."

"Ha."  Carl had always been the wise ass of the group.  "That just means you stand outside of Home Depots in Florida instead of Cali."

By then Shawn was coming back from his kitchen tossing Gatorades and pain killers to each of them.  Shawn's house thought Evan.  We're at Shawn's house.  After winning his small fortune in Vegas, Shawn had paid off his student loans, finished up college, and invested the rest of his money in a small software company.  That company had eventually grown into one of the leaders in the video game industry, and had left Shawn with nothing to worry about monetarily speaking, when they decided to sell out to Nintendo.

The house in Hawaii was the first big purchase Shawn made.  Evan had always heard how awesome it was.  Beachfront property, maids and butlers, a giant swimming pool with a grotto bigger than the Playboy mansion.  Come to think of it, mansion was probably a better way of explaining it.  The most important thing about the place, was that it had six bedrooms, all of which were master suites with adjoining bathrooms and walk-in closets.  All the bedrooms were on the second floor, and each had its own lanai with a view of the ocean. 

As he sipped on his Berry Blast Gatorade and washed down his pain killer, Evan once again looked around the room.  "What the fuck happened here?" He stood up shaking his head and stretching.  "I thought we went out last night."

"We did," responded Carl.  "I specifically remember going to that new club in Waikiki.  Shawn called a limo for us."

"No."  Brian interjected.  "That was Monday.  We went to Sidelines last night."

Sidelines had been their favorite sports bar for at least the last decade.  There were summers when they claimed they used it as their meeting place to get the night started, but ended up staying until closing.  When the original owner had decided to retire, it was all too perfect timing for Shawn to buy the place.  He didn't make any money off of it.  In fact, he barely broke even.  But the memories and having a familiar place to call home made the investment well worth it.

"Yeah, we went to Sidelines."  Shawn was laughing obviously remembering what had happened.  "I'm pretty sure we ran them out of Grey Goose.  Which is why we brought the party back here..."

"That's right," agreed Evan.  "The whole bar came with us.  I think some of the waitresses too."

They were more right than they realized.  Even though it was a sports bar, Sidelines was their own private playground.  They had finished the first three bottles themselves, and the rest of the bottles were used up in Lemon Drop shots that Shawn had mistakenly decided to buy for the entire bar.  After four or five rounds of these shots, when the bar manager had explained that they were out of Grey Goose, Shawn stood up and announced that the party was moving.

There had been over a hundred people in the bar, and they must have spread the word, because it seemed like more than a hundred and fifty people showed up at the house around 1:00am.  Evan had images and short flashes of what he could only assume were memories running through his head.  "Brian slapped a waitress' ass."

"I know, and I'm pretty sure I saw Carl making out with a college chick."  Brian was quick to change the subject.

"Her name was Tasha."  Evan nodded in agreement.  "...Or Tyra."  He held his head in his hands and squeezed, hoping to get some juice out of the damaged fruit that was his brain.  "...no Tanya.  Yeah.  I'm pretty sure it was Tanya."

Making out with a college chick wasn't that bad.  Definitely not a crime, not even a peccadillo.  It was all in fun.  It was a party after all. When Carl looked up, all three of his friends were laughing at him.  There was nothing to do but laugh back.

The rest of the morning was spent trying to remember the rest of the previous night's events.   Brian had recalled trying to shotgun a 40 ounce beer, but successfully drinking only twenty ounces of it.  The rest had gone all over his shirt.  Evan remembered carrying a bottle of champagne around wearing just a wife-beater and boxers.  At that same moment Shawn had been throwing people into the pool, and yelling, "He shoots he scores," every time someone went in. 

An hour later, Evan's stomach made a curious sound.  "I'm starving."

"Yeah, let's grab lunch," Brian and Carl both agreed, almost in unison.

"Alright," Shawn said as he stood up.  "I'm gonna shower.  You guys figure out what you wanna eat."

"Rainbow's?"  Brian was nodding as if he meant to agree with himself.

Nobody argued, and the three of them had started to return to their rooms to get ready when they heard the splash.  They couldn't help but smile as they saw Shawn in the pool, and almost laughed as they saw what his idea of a "shower" was. 

They paused a moment, then walked down the hallway, and started up the stairs.  Carl was in front and Brian was quick to kick him in the back of the heel as he took a step causing Carl to trip and almost fall face first on the stair landing.  They chuckled like 8th graders and kept going.  Evan, who was behind Brian, decided to flick his right ear.  When Brian turned to the right in annoyance, Carl turned around and slapped him on his left cheek.  It was like the three stooges reunion tour.  All three were laughing like kids on a playground as they headed to their rooms.  All their laughter stopped in an instant.

"WHAT THE FUCK!!!"  Carl's scream echoed through the whole house.

Evan almost ran into Brian as they met in the hallway, they raced for Carl's door not knowing what was going on.  He and Brian found Carl staring at his bed.  Carl was trembling as a soaking wet Shawn came rushing into the room only seconds later.  Even he had heard the scream.  Evan followed Carl's stare to the bed and his jaw dropped faster than a lead weight in water.

It wasn't so much the amount of it, but the placement of the blood.  It had soaked through the pillow and was rolling off her fingers.  Her mouth was slightly open, and her body was completely still.  The fact that she was completely naked, save for the twisted bed sheet slightly covering her from knees to waist, made it all the more obvious to the four of them how young and lifeless she was.

Evan turned when he heard a sound coming from Carl's bathroom.  Alarmed at first, he relaxed when he saw Carl's back, and then winced as he heard him throw up.  Evan almost threw up himself as he heard the chunks land in the toilet.  Carl's knees hit the floor with a thud as he hurled more of last night's alcohol into the toilet again.  Then a muffled sound came out of his mouth.  Evan thought Carl was going to puke up the purple Gatorade next, but as he walked towards him, Evan realized he was trying to say something.  A word...  No... a name.

"Tanya..."

to be continued...