Page 15 of Merry Cherry Christmas
They crowded around a square dining table that was surely a hand-me-down judging by the nicks and a big stain on the pale wood that had probably been red wine. The basement had wall-to-wall carpet with its fair share of faded stains as well, although the apartment didn’t seem dirty. There were some used glasses sitting on the coffee table by the couch, but it was clean overall. Jeremy wondered what Max’s room looked like but couldn’t exactly go poke around.
He fiddled with the sleeve of a new sweater Max had encouraged him to buy. Max had liked it on him so much that Jeremy had said he was chilly and changed into it in the café bathroom at lunch. It was fuchsia pink, which Jeremy would never have picked for fear of looking too gay. Which he knew was bullshit internalized homophobia, but he still braced for Max’s friends to make some kind of comment. They didn’t, eating chips and talking more fantasy football while Max and Honey served drinks in red plastic cups.
Jeremy wondered what his parents would say if they saw the pink sweater. Also what they’d say when they got the credit card bill, even though he’d mentioned to his mom he had to buy some winter clothes. He’d bought more than he planned, but they wouldn’t be mad, would they? He’d always been responsible with his card, which they’d given him for emergencies and stuff when he turned eighteen.
Even though everything was weird and tense now, they wouldn’t cut him off. Would they? He had some savings from working at an electronics store all through high school, but that wouldn’t last long if his parents stopped paying. He’d have his meal plan for the rest of the school year, but what then? What if—
“You good?” Max asked quietly, nudging Jeremy’s knee under the table with his own.
Nodding automatically, Jeremy picked up his cup and gulped the mix of Jack and Coke that was kind of gross. “Just going over what you taught me about poker.”
Honey’s eyes lit up. “What do we have here? A virgin in our midst?” He shuffled two piles of cards together with a flourish, thumbs releasing each side.
Jeremy helplessly felt his face go hot and knew he was beet red even if Honey had just meant a virgin at poker. He fiddled with his glasses and took another gulp.
Max said, “He’s a natural, so don’t get too excited.”
“Don’t worry, buddy,” Mike said. “We’ll be gentle. While we take alllll your money.”
“I thought we were just playing for change.” Jeremy thought about the credit card again and the what-ifs. He and Max had stopped by a laundromat to use the ancient change machine that still serviced equally ancient coin-operated washers, so he had a baggie of quarters as well as whatever random change he’d had in his wallet.
“We are,” Max assured him. “But these morons get real excited about nickels and dimes.”
“That’s the fun of it,” Honey said as he dealt. “All right, let’s see what you got, kid.”
Jeremy was confident he didn’t have much. Max had bought a pack of cards from the random stuff at the checkout line at Winners and taught him the basics over lunch.
Now they played poker and snacked. When a pizza showed up, Max insisted it was on him. They’d stopped for booze earlier, so at least Jeremy had contributed by buying a bottle. It was definitely going to his head, his face pleasantly flushed.
Here he was playing cards and drinking like an actual university student instead of hiding alone in his room studying. Sure, he still had two exams, but he could study tomorrow before meeting up with Max again.
You’re going to get laid in no time.
No. Jeremy ordered his asshole brain to stop worrying about that. It wasn’t as though he had to hook up with someone. Besides, that was tomorrow. Tonight, he was one of the guys. He drained his cup and squinted at his cards. He wasn’t doing too badly, although his pile of quarters was diminishing.
“Are we gettin’ you drunk for the first time?” Honey asked.
“No!” Jeremy insisted, with honestly more offense than was warranted. “I’ve been drunk plenty of times.”
Max raised an eyebrow. “Define ‘plenty.’ Are we talking double digits?”
Jeremy opened and closed his mouth. “Well. Probably not. But I’ve been drunk more than once!”
“We’ve got a wild man on our hands here,” Tyler said. “So what did you first get drunk on? For me, it was Baby Duck.”
Everyone groaned, and Jeremy shuddered at the thought of the super-sweet bubbly. Max said, “Meg and I skimmed off the top of Dad and Valerie’s random collection of bottles in the liquor cabinet and mixed it all with Coke. We puked so hard.”
Jeremy grimaced, rearranging the cards in his hand. “For me it was Smirnoff Ice.”
