Robin Wasserman - Lust

Kaia, after all, didn’t believe in being subtle.

She believed in getting the job done.

Harper picked up the phone on the second ring. Thanks to caller ID, she knew it was him and-irrationally-felt the need to smooth down her hair and do a quick mirror check before saying hello. As if he would be able to somehow hear her beauty through the phone. Ridiculous, she knew. But still-every little bit helped.

“Adam, what’s up?” she greeted him, lying back on her bed and relishing the sound of his musical voice in her ear.

“Great news-I think I may have found a spot for the party. I just need to drive over and check it out.”

It was just what she’d been hoping to hear. She and Miranda had already spent hours burning CDs (no way were either of them risking their personal CD collections on a roomful of drunken teenagers), and Kane had promised them that the drinks, courtesy of his older brother-and a number of mysterious other “connections”-were a done deal. But all the beer and hip-hop in the world wouldn’t be enough to make this party work if they didn’t find somewhere to hold it, and so far every possibility-the golf course, the gravel pit on the edge of town, some kid’s dingy basement-had been a major bust.

Harper knew she should have been somewhat worried, but she had other priorities right now, and one of them-the only one, really-involved getting some quality alone time with Adam. So if he’d found some suitably large, deserted outpost with ample facilities for drinking, dancing, and doing… whatever, it seemed only right that in her capacity as leader of this little party squad, she help him with his final investigations. And whatever else he might need help with, of course.

“Cool,” she said, as nonchalantly as she could. “Do you want me to-”

“Kaia and I are heading over tomorrow afternoon,” he added.

Oh.

She should have known. Since when did Adam go anywhere without Kaia by his side? She shut her eyes tight and tried not to picture the two of them creeping through a deserted building together, hand in hand. She supposed that she should be able to assure herself that Adam was too much of a stand-up guy to ever cheat on his girlfriend-but it was a little late to make that case, given that she’d spent the last couple of months convincing herself that, under the right circumstances and with the right girl (read: Harper), he’d have no trouble doing exactly that.

“So, should we all meet tomorrow night?” Adam continued, after it was clear that Harper wasn’t going to be squealing in enthusiasm any time soon. “Hopefully, we’ll have some good news.”

We . Great.

Harper sighed quietly and sat up in bed, digging her day planner out from beneath a stack of books and papers on her night table. Saturday night was free and clear-plenty of time for sitting around, staring at Adam, or aiming death glares (or at least some finely honed sarcasm) at the girls who kept standing in her way.

“I don’t know,” she hedged. “IVe got this thing… but I guess I can move it.” Not for the first time, Harper gave thanks that video phone technology had never really caught on. Adam always claimed he could tell when she was lying, something about the way she narrowed her eyes or played with her left earlobe. She didn’t really buy it-but still, better safe than sorry

“Are you sure?” he asked. “I don’t want to deprive some lonely guy out there his long-awaited chance to-”

“Shut up,” she said irritably. “First of all, this is more important. Second of all, there is no lonely guy-I don’t do desperate. Third of all,” she added, figuring it couldn’t hurt to appear a little in demand, “he can wait.”

“If you’re sure…”

“Positive,” she assured him, wondering how it was that she’d become the one talking him into this little shindig, given that it was really the last place she wanted to be. “How about eight?” she suggested, trying to muster up some fake enthusiasm.

There was a pause.

“Maybe a little earlier?” he requested. “I have to be out of there by nine-I promised Beth I’d go give her some moral support at the diner. It’s her first night of work.”

“Beths working at the diner?” Harper asked incredulously. “ Our diner?” She smirked, imagining the preppie princess decked out in the Nifty Fifties tack costume (pink tank tops and poofy fluorescent green skirts with crinolines underneath), smeared with ketchup and barbecue sauce and smelling like stale pickles. This day was looking up.

“Yeah, her last job wasn’t really paying enough,” Adam confided. “You know, her family…” his voice trailed off, but he didn’t really need to continue. Grace was a small town, and even before Adam and Beth had started dating, Harper had known exactly how that story ended. “Her family…” was packed like sardines into a tiny ranch house in a squalid development one step up from the trailer park. Her parents worked three jobs between the two of them and still struggled to buy new clothes every year for their swiftly growing twin sons. Her family’s one car, a fifteenyear-old station wagon, broke down more days than it ran. Beth’s family, in essence, worked on a simple principle: Ask not what your family can do for you, but what you can do for your family. It seemed that Beth was stepping up to the plate once again-and Harper supposed that she should dig down inside herself and find a little sympathy, or at least a little respect.

On the other hand, there were a lot of things she should do. “Should” didn’t have much of a hold over her these days. “Could” was, after all, so much richer in possibility.

“So I think it’s a great idea!” Harper enthused, as a plan began to form in her mind and a dark smile crept across her face.

“What idea?” Adam asked, confused.

“ Your idea, genius. Moral support-we’ll just have our meeting at the diner, and then we can all cheer her on. It’ll be such a great surprise.” As in: Surprise! Devoted boyfriend that I am, I brought along all my friends to watch you serve and clean and grovel for tips, and basically humiliate yourself in front of everyone you know on your first day of work. Don’t you love me, baby?

Plus, added bonus, Harper realized: a new locale for the meeting would guarantee a nonrepeat of the hot tub incident. Party planning in an empty mansion with plenty of drinks and a giant hot tub had seemed like a good idea at the time-but Harper still shuddered at the memory of the half-naked Kaia rubbing herself all over Adam. Oh, you look so tense-do you want a massage? Please, who knew people still used that line? (And why hadn’t she thought of it first?) It was a mistake she’d vowed never to make again.

“I don’t know,” Adam said doubtfully. “She might not want us all there-not on her first day and all.”

“Hey, we’re her friends, aren’t we?” Harper wheedled, twirling the phone cord around her fingers and hoping he would take the bait. “Come on, you’re a guy, what do you know about what she wants? Speaking as a girl, I can assure you that she’ll be totally grateful.”

“You think?”

Eyes narrowed, Harper smiled.

“Trust me.”

Late Saturday afternoon, Adam pulled the car into the empty parking lot and the two of them stared up at the dark, abandoned building that loomed before them.

“It’s perfect,” Kaia breathed.

And it was. The old Cedar Creek Motel (no creek in sight, of course-only a moldy drainage pipe and a dirty concrete pit that had once served as the “swim at your own not insignificant risk” pool), covered in dust and exuding a stale aura of hollow disrepair. A tilted sign with cracked neon tubing hanging over the entrance hailed the wreck as GRACE’S FINEST LODGING, complete with REAL COLOR TV and 100% REFRIGERATED AIR. The two-story motel, a fiftyroom complex on the outskirts of town, had once been painted a proud flamingo pink, standing as a boldly fluorescent oasis amidst the desert wasteland; now the grayish husk of a building, sallow weeds nipping at its foundations, effortlessly faded into its environment, an overgrown concrete cactus. Unlike the empty, gutted storefronts that littered the main streets of Grace, the Creek stood whole and complete-no boarded-up windows, no graffiti covering its walls, no garbage strewn across its empty parking lot. But it had been abandoned for months.