Come As You Are Ch. 01

"Just set them down," Colette said, moving one of the pitchers of ice water to make room. "We'll figure it out after we order."

"Got it." Rosemary handed the tray to the busboy before taking out her ticket pad. "Here are the specials for the evening..."

X X X X X

"So when are we going to meet Andrew?" Brenda smirked. "We've got to vet him after all."

"I keep telling you, you're more than welcome to visit anytime. Colette and Sadie have come out twice already, even if Sadie spent more time as a lodge bunny than as a skier."

"Always play to your strengths," Sadie laughed.

"Next winter," Brenda promised. "I'll ask for time off as soon as I get back to Denver. I haven't put on a pair of skis in a couple of years, though. You'll have to give me remedial training."

"I'll give you a private lesson when you come out. On the house."

"Don't think I won't take you up on that." Brenda turned in her chair to face Colette. "You didn't answer my question. You said Garrett said Gio was coming into town tonight. When did you talk to him?"

Colette reached behind her to scratch the back of her head. "He mentioned it... Wednesday night?" After a moment, she gave a firm nod. "Yeah, two nights ago at Pike's."

Brenda leaned forward. "Wait, Garrett's already in town?"

"He's been in town for the past two weeks actually." Colette leaned to one side, putting an elbow on the table in order to rest her chin in her hand. "I got interrupted before I could say anything. He came back from Florida two weeks ago and Vienna voluntold him to help me out around the store. He's been a huge help. Definitely made the opening a lot less stressful... don't." She pointed over towards Sadie, who had her mouth open, comment at the ready.

"Did you know about this?" Brenda asked Sadie.

"I found out after the fact. According to Colette I left for Seattle the day he showed up, and I just got back from LA this afternoon. Figures the two weeks I'm out of town were the two weeks Garrett broke radio silence. We texted back and forth after graduation and one day, bang." Sadie gently clapped her hands together.

"Nothing. How's he doing?"

Colette tilted her hand in a see-saw motion. "Physically, he's doing better. No one's going to be calling him 'Scarecrow' anymore. Mentally? He's working on a couple of issues."

"Let me guess," offered Michelle. "He's still hung up on Danny. That guy did everything he could to make Garrett's life a living hell for most of high school. Now there's someone I'm not looking forward to seeing tomorrow night."

"The good news is that Danny's not going to be in town," Colette said. "He's got a big game in Philly Sunday afternoon. Just giving you a heads up," she said, nodding towards Brenda.

"Any feelings I had towards Danny died after I caught him cheating on me." Brenda shook her head. "Sometimes I don't believe I dated that guy for a year and a half."

"Don't beat yourself up," Michelle said. "He was the most popular guy in school, a star athlete, and attractive as hell. You were 18. It happens. Everyone at this table has dated a guy who turned out to be a loser in the end."

"Hell," Colette added, "I married mine."

"They still worship Danny around here," said Sadie. "They show all his games down at Pike's, local boy done good and all that. He might have been a massive dick, but no one could deny that he put in the time and effort to make the pros."

"Good for him," Brenda said. "Basketball was his entire life. Still, it would have been weird seeing him tomorrow night... first love and all that."

"You ever think about him?" Sadie asked while taking a sip of wine.

Brenda lightly bit her lower lip. "Yes and no. The only time he crosses my mind is when we have basketball on in the kitchen and he's playing. I don't tell people we dated in high school. If anything, I think of Garrett more than I do Danny." The platinum blonde took a large gulp of wine before adding, "Did I ever tell you guys he's the reason Danny and I broke up?"

Colette glanced up from her lap, Michelle turned to look at her, and Sadie paused in mid-sip. Brenda sighed with her entire body, nodding her head slightly as the breath escaped her. "OK, that's not exactly accurate. He's the reason Danny and I got into our final fight. Danny could be a nice guy, he truly could, but he would NOT let a grudge go. You guys remember that huge blizzard we got senior year?"

"Storm of the damn century," proclaimed Sadie. "Four feet of snow in two days. My Mom and I couldn't leave our apartment because the steps were buried."

"It took them the entire day to get around to plowing our street," Michelle added. "My dad and I had to shovel a path so he could hitch a ride with Colette's dad to make it to work. The storm caught everyone off guard with how strong and fast it blew in."

"Garrett and I had to do an extra credit project for history class. He came over Sunday afternoon so we could knock it out before the blizzard started. But he got snowed in with me because the front moved in a lot quicker than either of us expected..."

"Garrett got snowed in with you?" Colette glanced at Sadie and Michelle for pre-confirmation of her next statement. "I remember you working together, but you never said anything about him staying over!"

"Yeah," added Michelle. "You told us he left right before the storm broke."

"There's a reason. Danny was upset when he found out Garret and I were working together. Then he got pissed when he found out Garrett was snowbound with me. Then I found out that Danny had been cheating on me, and..."

Brenda's shoulders slumped, and she looked at her friends with a resigned, embarrassed smile. "I kind of slept with Garrett to get revenge."

"You SLEPT with him?!?"

The patrons at the surrounding tables didn't quite catch the words of Michelle's outburst, only the volume and intensity of her words. Brenda and Sadie both motioned for Michelle to lower her voice, only for Colette to fill the silence. "You hooked up with Garrett? You never told us THAT!"

"I never told anyone! I was upset, I was frustrated, and I wanted to stick it to Danny. Garrett was a warm body in the right place at the right time."

"Well then start talking!" Sadie grabbed the nearby decanter and eagerly refilled Brenda's wine. "You can't drop a bombshell like that and leave us hanging!"

"I really..."

"Oh no, you don't." Colette wagged her finger at her friend sitting across the table. "Sadie's right. I just spent two weeks with the guy, and he never brought this up. I'm dying to know all about this!"

Brenda glanced over at Michelle, who shook her head. "Sorry. I want to hear what happened too."

"I don't suppose the salads are coming out any time soon," Brenda said before giving in to her fate. "Alright. It was the Friday before the storm. My folks were in San Francisco for business so Danny was going to spend Saturday night at my house..."

X X X X X

"Go Danny!" Brenda's clapping echoed across the gym as her boyfriend ran backward to get on defense after landing a perfect jump shot.

"There needs to be a mercy rule," Michelle noted while sitting next to Brenda on the bleachers, with Sadie and Colette seated one row down. "The Shirts are getting crushed."

Brenda glanced up at the scoreboard. She whistled upon seeing both the score and the time remaining. "That is ugly. You know Coach Walters, though. He'll run them to the final second."

"I am not complaining," Colette quietly proclaimed. "I just wish Gio was a Skin instead of a Shirt." Sadie raised her hand and accepted a fist bump from her friend as a show of agreement.

As before any official weekend game, the Emerald Pines High School Men's Basketball team was holding a 15-minute scrimmage against the other boys in their Friday gym class as a warm-up for the next day's match against Roaring Fork. The scrimmage always turned into a blowout within the first two minutes. However, Coach Walters would wind the game clock all the way to 0.0. Any show of weakness or letting up on the throttle by the players under him would result in punishment, usually in the form of laps and suicide runs during the following practice. The girls were regulated to the bleachers, free to do what they wanted as long as it didn't disrupt the game.

Of the thirteen girls, twelve of them had eyes on the court, following one of three players. Anthony Giovanni, known to students and teachers alike as "Gio," was the dominant player on the Shirts. Six-three, co-captain of the school ski team alongside Michelle, muscular, tan, Italian, friendly, outgoing, and absolutely gorgeous, it was Gio's size and athleticism that made him a competitive threat in the weekly scrimmages. Lining up opposite him on the other side of the court was Tyler Hammond, assistant captain of the basketball team. His ebony skin was covered with sweat. Droplets flicked through the air as he rubbed his forearm across his face.

Both Gio and Tyler, however, paled in skill, popularity, and looks to Danny Eastman. Six feet and five inches tall, with sandy blonde hair and a body sculpted from years of cardio and conditioning, Danny possessed that rare quality seen only in the most popular high school students - the "it" factor. In his case, "it" was defined by a talent for basketball that had college scouts attending his middle school games and several universities angling to recruit him since his sophomore year. Danny was the reason three Colorado basketball state championship banners were displayed in the gymnasium's rafters after years of mediocrity, and there was little doubt a fourth one was on its way this year. His status as a "golden one," Brenda admitted, gave him a hint of superiority complex underneath his self-confidence, but it only added to his status among the students of Emerald Pines.

More importantly, Danny and Brenda were the loves of each other's life, having dated since the end of sophomore year He was Brenda's first real boyfriend, the first person she ever felt an actual romantic attraction to, and as of Homecoming a few months earlier following her 18th birthday, her first lover.

Popular, talented, and as guaranteed a future success as a high school senior could be, almost everyone in Emerald Pines looked up to Danny - the underclassman, his fellow seniors, most of the coaches and administrative staff, and the town boosters, who finally had something other than the ski team to throw money at. Only two people truly didn't get along with Danny. One, an athletic young woman with a dirty blonde ponytail pulled back against a dyed-black scalp, was sitting by herself at the other end of the bleachers, as far from everyone as she could get. Her arms crossed over her chest as she slouched against the wall and watched the scrimmage with bored disdain. The other, a scrawny young man with unkempt brown hair, was currently on the court, exchanging words with Gio as Coach Walters called out from the sidelines.

"Giovanni, let someone else inbound the ball for once!" Gio nodded towards Coach Walters before motioning for Brian Turner to take the ball. "And don't pass it right back, Turner! My boys need practice guarding five men, not just the one player on your team worth a damn!" Brian scanned his side of the court before bounce-passing the ball to Caleb Layton. "Let them get set," Walters yelled to his players.

The five Shirts players set up in a loose formation as Caleb dribbled the ball across half-court. The Skins players did likewise, spreading out over their side of the gym as they played man-to-man. "It's like before-and-after pictures of a 90-day shred program," Michelle commented as Brian Virgil stepped in front of Caleb, keeping his arms low and trying to keep Caleb from making a pass.

"Or one scuffle away from guy-on-guy." Colette gestured to where Gio and Tyler were jockeying for position underneath the basket.

"Spontaneous gay makeouts would get me to attend more basketball games," quipped Sadie.

A click of disgust came from nearby. A few rows down, Amy Yates was looking over her shoulder at Sadie. "Don't be gross."

"Don't tell me you wouldn't want to be in the middle of a Tyler/Gio sandwich," responded Sadie.

"No thank you. Unlike you, I have respect for my body, as opposed to that glory hole you call a vagina."

Sadie shot back, "Good luck respecting your body after all that plastic surgery your sugar daddy's going to pay for."

"You're one to talk." Amy gave Sadie a sweetly poisonous smile. "Your grades say marry rich, but your face says study more."

"Hey," Michelle said sharply, "mind your own business, you hormonal bag of salt." Amy turned away, but not before Brenda caught the look of smug satisfaction on her face.

"Ten seconds!" Coach Walters' voice drew Brenda's attention back to the court, where the ball had just been passed to the scrawny young man. He quickly set his feet as Danny barreled towards him, hand raised in an attempt to block the shot.

The ball was arcing through the air by the time Danny reached the young man and brought his arm down. A loud, meaty thwack echoed through the gym as he slapped his opponent square in the chest. The scrawny player staggered back, wincing in pain from the blow. The ball bounced off the rim only to be recovered by Gio standing underneath. He easily bounced the ball off the glass and through the net, despite Tyler's best efforts. It was the Shirts' second basket of the scrimmage, as opposed to the seven by the Skins.

"Rebounds! You have to get those damn rebounds, Hammond!" Coach Walters jammed his fingers towards the other end of the court. "Alright, set up, Star Blue, Star Blue!"

Brenda watched Danny run to set for the designated play. From the corner of her eye, she saw the scrawny young man holding his chest as he moved up the court. "That should have been a foul, right?" she asked Michelle. "Danny caught him pretty hard."

"You know Coach Walters," Michelle replied. "No harm, no foul."

"Giovanni, Layton, wings! West, in the paint! Skins, I want three passes before you shoot!" The Shirts did as the coach said, setting up the zone defense Star Blue was meant to counter. The five Skins set up - Joshua Smith holding the ball at the top of the key, Tyler in one corner, and Danny being guarded by Gio in the other. There was more noticeable shoving on the part of Danny than there had been with Tyler as he and Gio fought for position.

Garrett West, the scrawny young man whom Danny had hit in the torso, moved to guard Joshua. There was a smirk on Joshua's face as he began trash talking Garrett. "Over your head, Scarecrow," he taunted. "Over your head and in the basket..."

"Coach said to pass," Garrett responded. "Three passes, then shoot."

"Don't tell me how to play!"

"PASS THE DAMN BALL, JOSH!"

The smirk instantly dropped from Joshua's face when Danny roared at him. He immediately whipped the ball towards a teammate before attempting to push his way past Garrett, only for Garrett to easily match his steps. The two players remained side-by-side for a moment as Garrett moved towards the basket, but a loud comment from Coach Walters saw Joshua retreat to the top of the key, staring daggers at Garrett the entire time.

"And there it is." Michelle shook her head as Brian Virgil dribbled around the key for a moment before throwing a no-look pass to Tyler in the corner. "Garrett can't go one gym class without antagonizing someone."

Tyler threw a head fake that his defender bit on, giving him enough room for a bounce pass towards Danny as he managed to come around Gio and catch the ball. His sneakers squeaked against the hardwood as Danny drove for the basket. In front of him stood Garrett, having dropped back quickly, ready to make Danny go over him.

Danny dipped his shoulder and drove it directly into Garrett's chest. The young man flew backward, hitting the hardwood floor outside the paint as Danny gracefully laid up the ball into the basket from the opposite side. As the teams began to set for the next play, Garrett took Tyler's offered hand and got back on his feet. Brenda thought she saw Garrett mutter a word of thanks as Tyler gave him a reassuring slap on the shoulder.

Once play transitioned to the opposite end of the court, the Shirts passed the ball along the outside of the three-point line. With the shot clock winding down, Garrett suddenly darted towards the basket, hands outstretched to catch a pass. He leaped into the air, attempting a fadeaway jumper, but before the ball could leave his hands Danny charged in and blatantly shoved him in the back. The ball rolled off of Garrett's fingertips as he sprawled to the floor, stumbling for a moment before landing face-first on the hardwood. Tyler easily scooped up the ball and charged down the court. The fast break ended in a picture-perfect lay-up, with Tyler even catching the ball as it fell through the hoop so he could hand it off to the opposing team.

On the other end of the court, Garrett was motioning wildly to Coach Walters with a look of shock on his face. "Come on, Coach," he cried, "that was charging!"

"Man up, West! Every incidental contact isn't a foul! Don't be such a baby!"

"Seriously," Danny added. "You want me to call your mom, have her come down here and breastfeed you? Get that weak-ass shit off my court."

The Skins increased their lead as the game rolled on. Despite the on-court massacre, they never let up, scoring points and keeping the defensive pressure on the demoralized Shirts. With two minutes left in the game and a lead of over twenty points, Coach Walters called out, "Don't slack off! I see one of you call it quits, I'm going to have you running suicides until you wish you were dead!"

"Coach Rivers isn't this bad, is he?" Brenda asked Michelle.

"God no. Coach trusts us. She's more about fixing mistakes and encouraging us to go balls-out on the slopes. This," Michelle said, motioning to the game, "is pure drill-and-kill."

Danny cut across the court before throwing a pass in Joshua Smith's direction, only for a blur of white and green to streak in front of him and snatch the ball away. A cry of frustration escaped Danny as he began to chase after Garrett. Garrett was pushing the ball in front of him, barely keeping it under control, sprinting directly towards the basket at the other end of the court. Danny easily caught up with him and reached in to strip the ball, only for Garrett to somehow switch hands and keep the ball out of Danny's reach.

"Stop him!" Coach Walters yelled. Danny tried to push Garrett with his hip but to no avail. Garrett leaped into the air, ball on his fingertips as he tried to roll it towards the basket.

Which was when Danny grabbed Garrett's gym shorts and yanked them down.

The ball going through the hoop was forgotten as Garrett landed on the floor with his gym shorts around his ankles. Danny roared with laughter as Garrett overcompensated in trying to keep his balance and landed squarely on his butt. The entire gym got a good view of Garrett's royal blue boxers in the process.

Embarrassment was evident on Garrett's face as the young women on the bleachers erupted with laughter. Even Michelle gave a grim chuckle as Garrett tried to simultaneously pull his shorts up and get to his feet, failing at both tasks in his flustered condition.

"That was kind of a dick move," Colette said, laughing despite herself.

"No. If Danny had gotten his boxers down too, then it would have been a dick move!" Sadie whistled from the bleachers. "Oh yeah," she catcalled, "shake it for mama, Scarecrow!"

On the other end of the court, even the Shirts had joined the Skins in laughing. All save for Gio. "That wasn't cool," he told Danny.

"Aw, it's just a scrimmage game! It's all in fun!"

Garrett pulled his gym shorts back to his waist. Brenda watched as he ran both hands through his hair, fingers separating the brown strands. "Coach," Garrett said in a tone that already knew defeat, "that's gotta be a flagrant foul."