The party was exactly what she’d expected. Take an old house, add a keg and a couple bottles of bourbon, mix with fifty people she either worked with or had grown up with, or in a few cases, like Margaret Louise and Mary Katherine over there, both, and you got a party that was identical to every party she’d been to since she was 15. CCR on the CD player, people wandering into the smoky back bedroom and then out giggling and hungry, boys in visors taking shots in the kitchen, tanned girls in little madras sundresses sprawled on the couches, Bud Lites in hand.
    “Hey! Carolina!” someone called from the kitchen, “Beer?” Caroline called back “Don’t call me Carolina,” as she turned around smiling at the guy who’d been her best guy friend since before she could remember. “Well, nothing could be finer,” he grinned, eyebrows waggling.
    Jimmy’s mom, Andrea, was her mother’s best friend. According to the story her mom told, when Caroline was just one, she toddled over to Jimmy, who was just two months older, kissed him (her 1st kiss!), and then pushed him over and took his truck. For the next two some odd decades they were a team; no one messed with either one if the other was around, although the lesson had been hard taught.
    When Rhett Jordan had broken Caroline’s heart in eighth grade, he’d gone home with a bloody nose, and when Emily Patterson had cheated on Jimmy with the track team junior year, Caroline started a very subtle rumor about what Emily had really done on Spring Break. The stories ranged from a secret baby to rehab to an STD, which was Caroline’s favorite. Emily couldn’t even get a date to prom.
    At least they had been a team, Caroline thought, as Jimmy grabbed her in a bear hug, until Jessica. She could hear Jessica hurrying over, the long vowels flying, “Why Caroline Moultrie, aren’t you just a sight for sore eyes!” Caroline leant forward for the obligatory air kisses, bracing herself for a flood of conversation from Jessica, a conversation Jessica was completely prepared to carry on with no encouragement whatsoever.
    Jessica grabbed her hand and started to pull Caroline out to the porch. “You just come on out here with me and get some fresh air. I don’t see how someone could even breathe in there.” Caroline wasn’t sure how Jessica could breathe she was talking so fast. And pulling her away from Jimmy at the same time. Of course.
    Digging in Birkenstocks, Caroline stopped short at the front door. She managed to get her hand back from Jessica, promised they would sit down and have a nice chat later, and headed back into the party. I’m not running away, she assured herself, but I’m not going to let her ruin this party when I haven’t even seen Jimmy in ages. Every time I call, he’s busy and he hasn’t called me in forever.
    “Caro, I’m sorry about that,” Jimmy pushed a beer into her hand. “Jess is so intimidated by you, she…” he trailed off, as Caroline choked.
    “Intimidated? Intimidated! That’s a good one. I’m sure your girlfriend, your tiny, tan, skinny, blond, yacht club member girlfriend is intimidated by me.”
    “No, seriously, Caro, she is,” Jimmy insisted, wrinkling his forehead earnestly. “You’re so beautiful and smart. She told me she doesn’t know what to say around you.”
    “Wait, Jimmy. This isn’t how you talk to her about me is it? You didn’t actually say I was beautiful and smart, did you?”
    “Well, yeah, I mean, I told her I could never date you, but that I couldn’t understand why you hadn’t been snatched up years ago, I mean, um…” He came to a halt, remembering why Caroline was still single.
    “Never mind, James. You’re not the first person today to wonder why I haven’t moved on from the ex. I know y’all mean well, but I just haven’t met anyone else. Anyone I would trust, she thought to herself. But back to Jessica, no wonder she doesn’t like me. What were you thinking? You don’t tell your girlfriend how wonderful another girl is.”
    “Hmm, I guess I shouldn’t have told her that you know me better than anyone either, huh? Maybe that’s why she’s so tetchy when I mention asking you over for dinner.”
    “You think? Idiot,” Caroline said fondly. “If you want to keep her around, you need to fix this. Start subtly telling her how much I irritate you. How I correct you and cramp your style.”
    “Cramp my style?” Jimmy was laughing so hard he could barely get the words out. “Cramp my style? Jess knows I have no style. She would never believe that.”
    “Whatever! Just start picking at me and maybe she’ll calm down.” Caroline huffed. “Then we can get to see the latest Tarantino before it leaves the big screen, cause that kind of mayhem is never as good on DVD. Now you go out to her and I’m going to get some little smokies.”
    Jimmy dodged around a couple arguing by the door while Caroline headed for the snack table. She knew what the snacks would be—velveeta queso, little smokies and onion dip. Predictable but tasty. Keg parties didn’t used to have snacks. She supposed it was a sign everyone was growing up. In fact, she realized as she stared at the party, she might be too grown up for this altogether. What would it be like to go to a party where no one threw up? she wondered. Retching sounds behind her told Caroline she wouldn’t get that answer tonight.
    I’ll just get some queso and leave, she promised herself. Stirring the melted cheese, she reached over for the chips and found someone’s hand instead. “Oh, sorry!” she exclaimed, snatching her hand back.
    “No problem,” said a quiet voice. “but these are not the chips you are looking for.”
Caroline didn’t mean to laugh and if she had, it would’ve been a ladylike giggle, but instead she almost snorted cheese dip up her nose.