“Where do you plan to throw the party?” David asked.
“Downstairs,” Andres said and took them to the basement.
David knew from talking to his mom—who sold real estate for a living—that basements were rare in LA. They were mainly found in much-older homes and had been used to house the mechanicals. While this basement was dank and dark, they’d set up a bar and wired the large, open room for music.
For a party room, it was perfect. It had the added bonus of having a drain in the middle of the floor for easy cleanup. All you would have to do is run a hose and spray the room down the next day.
“It reminds me of Animal House,” David said.
“Come again? Why would they have livestock?” Seamus asked.
Andres and David laughed. When David was in New Zealand, he’d noticed it was almost overrun with sheep. There were inappropriate jokes about their use. He wondered whether it was the same in Ireland.
“He’s referring to an old movie about a frat house. Don’t tell the guys because next thing you know, they’ll be throwing up Greek letters out front,” Andres said.
“You do have a sorority coming over,” David pointed out.
“Sometimes they just want to let their hair down, and we’re just the guys to help them do that,” Andres said suggestively.
In the back of his mind, David was a little worried.
Andres put the two boys to work getting ready for the party. He made David drive him to the liquor store to pick up a keg. David suggested they get a case of Guinness for Seamus since he’d declared American beer unfit for consumption.
David also offered to make a punch for the girls. When he’d been filming in Australia, the crew had thrown a party where they made a concoction that he’d liked. It had cranberry and pineapple juice, sugar, ginger ale, and the secret ingredient: almond extract. David stopped at a supermarket to get all the ingredients he needed. Of course, he’d also bought Everclear to give it that sneaky kick all party punches needed.
Andres tapped the keg. It must have acted like a dog whistle because their teammates started to show up to grab a cup and get a start.
Before the girls arrived, Andres gathered the baseball team in the living room.
“Mason’s in charge of collecting money for tonight and putting in the pizza order. Tell him what toppings you want.”
A pitcher was passed around. David noted that each guy put a twenty in it. For a night out in LA, that was a bargain.
“I want everyone to be on their best behavior,” Andres ordered to the moans of some of the guys. “That includes you, Mason.”
That brought some chuckles.
“You’ve all complained about the quality of the jock bunnies that have been coming around. I promised the Alpha Mus that there wouldn’t be a repeat of what happened last time ... Mason,” Andres said, which caused laughter to erupt.
“Give me a break. We even have a sign on the way in that says ‘Consequence Free Zone,’” Mason complained.
“That may be, but if you’re going to get busy, take it upstairs. No one wants to see your hairy, naked ass in the middle of the living room. If that weren’t enough, you sent the rest of them running for the door when you made your announcement. ’I’m going to fuck you like you’ve been begging a man to fuck you for your entire life,’” Andres said, mimicking Mason’s voice.
That gave David a mental picture that he wished he’d never composed. From the shit the guys were giving Mason, they had the same wish. It was all done in good-natured fun, though, so David figured that they all liked Mason. David had found him to be funny at times. He suspected that with his roguish swagger, athletic good looks, and sense of humor, Mason was successful with the ladies. David also mentally put that line away for future use.
“The other reason the Alpha Mus agreed to show up is they wanted to meet our two newest team members. That alone is reason enough for you to all get over yourselves and welcome Seamus and David to the team ... Jorge,” Andres said to bring the growing rift to a head.
“I once saw David convince twelve models to join him in his hotel room and strip down to their bras and panties so he could take their pictures,” Allard announced.
Every head in the room was suddenly pointed in David’s direction, like it had just been announced he was handing out hundred-dollar bills.
’Here we go,’ David predicted.
“Don’t make me tell tales about the women you dragged back to the room. I wasn’t the one that got himself a girlfriend that summer,” David threatened his teammate.
One of their USA Baseball Under-18 teammate’s sisters had volunteered to be a batgirl. While she and David had become good friends, she wasn’t a natural beauty, to put it nicely. At her high school, they’d nicknamed her ‘Mr. Ed’ for what they considered her horse face. She’d embraced the insult and had everyone call her ME. Somehow, she and Allard had connected.
With their marching orders in place, the guys broke up into small groups.
Andres grabbed David and pulled him upstairs.
When they were in his room, Andres gave him a sheepish grin.
“Seamus filled me in as to why you wear the clothes you do, and I understand. Tonight, though, I need you to be David Dawson, not some guy sporting the farmhand look you’ve cultivated.”
“Why?” David asked, getting suspicious.
“What I’m about to tell you stays between us, right?” Andres asked.
“Depends, but in general, ‘yes,’” David conceded.
“Alpha Mu has probably the best-looking women on campus.”
“That’s a good thing, I would think,” David said.
“One of them I’ve had the hots for since I laid eyes on her junior year. Last spring, I was working my way into her sphere when Mason pulled his stunt. She wouldn’t have anything to do with me after that. She even said that no Alpha Mu would ever darken our doorstep again,” Andres admitted.
“What changed?” David asked, even though he suspected.
“I sort of overheard her talking to a friend over lunch at the Verde in the Ronald Tutor Campus Center. They have great Mexican,” he said, to play off that he’d been stalking her.
“I’ll have to try it,” David said and then got Andres focused on what he’d done. “What happened?”
“She told her friend that she’d heard a rumor that you were on campus. She went on and on about how great it would be if it were true. I sort of mentioned that I knew you.”
David chuckled. His buddies, Tim and Wolf, always joked that he attracted enough women for them to snatch up his cast-offs. It looked like Andres might actually make it work for him and the rest of the baseball team. He would have to let Tim and Wolf know that they must have been doing it all wrong.
“Okay, fine. But I don’t feel like going to my dorm room to change,” David said.
“We’re about the same size,” Andres ventured.
It turned out they were. David borrowed some clothes, took off his glasses, and quit slouching. When he was done, Andres shook his head.
“You do know that I might be blowing my cover for you tonight,” David said.
“It’s for a good cause,” Andres assured him.
’Yeah. Getting you laid.’
By the end of the party, David was committed to his Allen persona for as long as it lasted. At first, the Alpha Mus had swarmed him. He made it a point to be friendly and talk to whoever wanted to speak to him. Not that it was a real trial by any stretch because Andres was right, they were hot. The problem was, they all had stars in their eyes.
As the night wore on, the punch kicked in, and the advances became more blatant. He had no doubt all he would’ve had to do was to point, and whichever girl was picked would follow him upstairs.