Romancing the Afterlife

White Lagoon

When they finally did go back in the house, it was packed full. Cain felt a little claustrophobic, rubbing shoulders and elbows with everyone as he tried to get anywhere. Slowly the two of them made it to the kitchen to discover the keg was already out. Someone they didn't recognize was nice enough to reach into one of the coolers and pass them a forty ounce bottle of malt beer to share. They opened it and each had a taste, the guy and his friends had a laugh at their disgusted reaction. Cain and Jonas thanked him none the less. It was then that Bruce came in with his arm around Lucy. “What are you doing giving beer away?” he asked of his buddy.

His friend shrugged, “No big deal, we got more. Besides they make a cute couple.” A few of the party goers that were near enough to hear this had a laugh at Cain and Jonas' expense. Before they could defend their sexuality, Bruce moved towards them. Letting go of Lucy he approached Cain looking him over a little suspiciously.

“You can't just give charity to every pity case. Besides these guys aren't gay; they're just gay for eachother. Couple of dorks. I’ve seen them around school.”

“We're really not gay at all.” Jonas piped up, “Just wanted some beer.”

“Well you got some, so get lost.” Cain couldn't help but look toward at Lucy to get her reaction to this. Did she even care? She wasn't smiling like some of the others, instead she looked a little uncomfortable. She noticed him looking at her and lifted her head quickly to indicate they should leave, but it was too late. Bruce caught eyes with Cain and shook his head to himself, suggesting some sort of disbelief. His look of annoyance became one of mild amusement, like he was anticipating whatever came next. Cain felt himself tense up. “You go to school with Lucy?”

“Yeah, we're ....friends.”

“Friends?” He seemed to find Cain's answer a bit funny, turning his head back towards Lucy for confirmation.

“I know him. He just has a crush,” she said somewhat defensively. Cain understood why she said it, but did not stop him from feeling disappointed and a bit deflated.

“Alright, well that's sweet but she's with us. So go find some other girl to annoy tonight.”

Jonas took a step away, not having much problem with the request. Cain didn't move though, he was almost afraid to. His mind was a blank. He stood frozen staring back at Bruce and Lucy. Feeling confused and frustrated that this would probably be his last moment around her, and this is the way it ended. It had always bothered him to see Lucy with someone like Bruce. Even if he wasn't good enough for her, why was Bruce? Bruce was a jerk to a lot of people that weren’t considered his friends, and on top of that he felt the need to hang around a high school where he could feel superior to others. Everything he did seemed to be influenced by his inflated ego that probably came from spending an unnecessary amount of time in a gym. Time that should only be needed if one was training for the Olympics or mixed martial arts competitions. He walked around the school like he owned it, when he didn't even go there!' Many times Cain had wanted to call him on his s**t as he passed by, but he was a coward. That's why he couldn't move now. Bruce was a dickhead and Cain was emotionally and chemically distraught.

“Why are you always such a dickhead?” Cain was almost as surprised the words had come out of his mouth as everyone else in the kitchen. Jonas took a few more steps back, clenching the malt beer tight. With the exception of the loud music, a moment of quiet went over everyone. The attention of others who hadn't even heard what Cain said was gained, by just recognizing something was about to go down. Bruce stared at Cain without any facial reaction for several very long seconds. Cain braced himself for the worst. He hadn't been in a fight since the third grade, and he had lost that fight by peer consensus. Bruce shoved him hard and he fell to the floor.

“What the hell is your problem?! My friend gives you beer and you talk s**t about me. To my face?! f**k you kid, get the f**k out of here. You're a joke!” Bruce turned back to his friends, as one of them started consoling him and trying to calm him down. The rest stared at Cain looking like they would happily fight him on Bruce's behalf. Jonas helped him up and they made there way to the front door, as people parted to make way. Once they were out, the party resumed like nothing had happened.

Jonas took a big gulp from the large beer bottle and passed it to Cain. Cain took it and sat down on the front porch leaning against the house he took a drink and sighed. Jonas called a taxi (there were no Ubers in the area) and the two of them finished the bottle while they waited for it to arrive, neither of them really enjoying it. A few comments were made by passing party goers. One told him “You should have gone for it, just hit him. He's not as tough as he looks.” Another walked by a few minutes later and shook his head muttering “Uncool man,” while his friend agreed by reiterating “Uncool.” The taxi arrived and the two got up, Cain got in the front of the cab giving him the driver his address, but Jonas stood at the door. Cain put down the window to see what was wrong. “I think I'm going to stay. I'm sorry I think I'll be fine if I avoid them. I just want to talk and mingle a little longer. I'll try and get a ride home with Justin, if I can't find someone else. Here,” Jonas reached into his pocket and handed Cain $30. Cain didn't say anything he just took his friend's money and put up the window. The cab turned around and left Jonas standing out front of McRoyce's cottage.

Lucy didn't know what to think about the scenario. She felt bad for Cain, but he should have known better than to antagonize Bruce, especially when they had been drinking. Bruce apologized to her after Cain and his friend had left the house. He worried that he had embarrassed her, and he promised he did not come to the party looking to get in a fight or harass anyone. He was already trying to make up for showing up late to the party. She trusted his sincerity to be on better behaviour for the rest of the night. Very few people knew Bruce like she did, he could be sensitive sometimes. He had suffered a rough childhood, to the point that he had emancipated himself at sixteen. So he needed some understanding at times when he lost his cool. They hugged it out, while his friends made fun of him for getting mushy.

The hour was late and the party was still going. More than half of the party had headed home, or were already passed out somewhere. For most of the survivors though fun was still looking to be had beyond the absence of booze. The place had run dry an hour before. Too much had gone to waste being spilled or vomited. A lot of people were still jamming to music inside. There was a crowd watching a high stakes poker game in the living room. A few bedrooms were being used for hook ups. There was a bunch of people in line for the bathroom. Amber and Danielle were running around outside with flashlights playing some night time form of tag with several others. There were only a couple people hanging out on the dock with their feet in the water, occasionally splashing someone. One weirdly responsible kid with drunken remorse was slowly trying to clean up a bit, but not making much headway.

Lucy sat in a circle outside with Bruce, two of his friends, Jane, Jacks and a girl named Alice one of Bruce's friends was still trying to sleep with. They played Truth or Dare, because Never Have I Ever lost its mojo once they didn't have real drinks. The game had been going on long enough that it had started to slow down into small conversations broken up by an occasional truth or dare. Lucy was on her second bottle of water and was close to being ready to lay down somewhere. It was then that one of the guys on the dock yelled something that grabbed everyone's attention and changed the evening completely. “We're all skinny dipping. Let's do this! Get naked, the water is awesome.”

Under normal circumstances such an invitation should have maybe intrigued one to four others to join their small exhibitionist swim group. This night was not an average night though. Everybody was finished with school and felt a sense of freedom, or they were trying to make memories with their friends before they split up to go to different post secondary schools, or they hoped to get a glimpse of someone they were currently around naked, or some would even give in to peer pressure not wanting to be left out, but mostly they were all just very inebriated and the wild idea just hit them at the right moment. Within five minutes almost everyone had stopped what they were doing and were lining up to pull off their clothes and jump into the water, like free burritos were being handed out.

Lucy had only agreed to skinny dip because Bruce was interested, otherwise she would never have risked the indecency. More than a dozen kids were already in the water before Bruce and others had managed to coax Lucy into the water. She tried to cover herself a bit with her arms as she took off her underwear and quickly jumped in, just in case anyone was trying to sneak a good look. Where with Amber she just threw her clothes off several feet from the shore and practically strutted in, like she was on a fashion runway. The guy who had shouted for everyone to swim was not wrong, the water was pretty nice for an evening swim. She swam out away from the dock with the few others in her social circle, trying to keep a safe distance from any known perverts, and not too far from Bruce or her friends. She smiled at Bruce and he smiled back, and she gave him a smug look as she reminded him to keep his head up and not be looking down. In truth, they had already seen eachother naked before, but not so much that it wasn't still exciting. They were having a nice moment swimming together just enjoying eachother's presence, when they were rudely splashed by two jocks play fighting in the water. It was one of those things better off not questioned.

The water started getting crowded as more and more people slowly joined in. Jonas sat in a beach chair watching the fun from the back porch with great amusement. He did not have the courage to be out there himself and neither did the girl sitting with him. They had met and been spending time together ever since he rejoined the party. They were in one of the bedrooms when the skinny-dipping had been openly initiated, and had mutually decided it would be interesting to observe how it played out. The two of them cuddled and joked about some of the swimming participants. While Jonas found himself thinking that this was more than the best party he’d ever been to, and possibly the best night of his life. They both failed to notice someone wandering around the shore picking up pieces of clothing.

Bruce and Lucy swam off to the side under a canopy of overhanging trees to gain some privacy. The water was a bit deeper here, so they swam while embracing eachother. Every time they kissed they stopped kicking their legs and then sank some, forcing them to break apart underwater and resurface. They would pop up and giggle then start the sequence all over again. Soon she wrapped her legs around him and he kicked for the both of them. She noticed him getting turned on with her body so tightly against his. She held onto him while kissing him as he pumped his arms to pull them closer to the shore. It was sharp drop off, so they still weren’t touching the bottom. The edge of land was a foot above them. Suddenly they heard lot of angry and distressed shouting from the other swimmers. They broke apart just as the cause ran passed them.

Justin Caldwell came running by through the trees carrying more clothes than he could hold on to. “That’s what you get for being a bunch of tramps!” he shouted gleefully. Bruce turned and quickly swam to the edge, pulling himself up onto the ground ledge, leaving Lucy alone in the water.

“Get back here asshole,” he growled at Justin. He picked up a shirt and tried to tie it around his waist while beginning to pursue him. Justin panicked, not expecting Bruce’s close proximity. He attempted to double back around a tree instead of running into the bush. Bruce started to chase after him as he passed and Justin threw all the clothes he had into the water, so he stood a better chance of getting away from the brutal beating he knew Bruce would likely impose on him. Bruce ran after him practically naked, cutting and bruising his bare feet as he stepped on rocks, pine needles, and twigs. It only fueled his rage. Justin almost made it back to his car parked on the dirt path leading to the cottage, when Bruce caught up to him. He suffered many strikes and blows, along with a sense of inadequacy from the flashes of Bruce’s naked genitals. Few people were witness to the fight, as a lot of them were still naked in the water trying to sort out the few pieces of clothes still remaining, and whom they belonged to. They would all be talking about Caldwell’s beating for days though.

Lucy swam around doing her best to collect the wet clothing as it drifted in different directions. She had a few momentary surprises with some of the sizes she was grabbing. ‘Some people could stand to lose a little weight’ she thought, as something suddenly grabbed her feet. Her ankles were tangled in a bra, making it hard to kick. She released the clothes in her hands and ducked underwater so she could release her feet from the double D’s straps. It was dark and she had to feel around for the strings. She managed to pull one foot out before coming up for air only to collide with all the clothes she’d just let go of above her. She managed to take half a breath lifting the clothes up with her head, but as she fought to push the clothes away a thong somehow found its way across her head and slowly made it’s way over her head and around her neck. She struggled to stay a float with one arm and the kicking of her feet, as she pulled off and pushed away the clothes from above. The more she fought the more clothes that ended up bogging her down though, her swimming arm ended up becoming wrapped in two shirts stuck together. She started panicking. The underwear around her neck felt like it was getting tighter. The numerous drinks of the night and small meals of the day caused her to cramp. She was managing to pull herself above the water less and less. She went unconscious wrapped in shirts, shawls and a showy dress, knowing someone’s panties, possibly her own, had semi-strangled her.

Upon the discovery of Lucy’s body and the paramedics unwrapping her, people were forced to claim the clothing that had restrained her. The Rainbow Brite thong panties that were found around her neck and tangled in her hair were never claimed by anyone. She was pronounced dead to the despair of many at 3:18 a.m. It went on record as the most random, questionable and embarrassing drowning of all time. Police questioned all of the drunken half naked teenagers well into the morning. The tragedy was chalked down to a random accident and no one’s fault, though no one talked to Justin Caldwell ever again and his family inevitably had to move far away to avoid public scrutiny. The McRoyce’s managed to escape any jail time as there was no evidence to suggest they supplied the party of minors with alcohol, but they were heavily fined. No one saw Jacks for the rest of the summer, including Jane. Mrs. Little did not find out about her daughter’s demise until 8:25 a.m. due to her phone being turned off.