The Long Winter #16
Up in the Club part one
The Gravenreuth Institute’s library occupied the southeastern quarter of Miller Hall. It had grand arching windows that looked out on Lake Superior and a burbling marble fountain in the middle that provided a bit of soft noise for those studying nearby. The library stacks surrounded it, mahogany shelves arranged like rays of the sun spreading out from the fountain and its marble surround in the center. Two mezzanines with more mahogany shelving hung on wrought iron poles styled to look like flowering vines covered them, occupied the perimeter on the way up to the glass dome over the fountain’s atrium. Each corner had plush velvet chairs for studying, including on the mezzanines, and potted plants here and there provided some natural cover for those who wanted to study in isolation.
Penny sat in one of those plush chairs behind a potted olive tree one cloudy September afternoon. There was a light breeze blowing through the birch and jack pines outside but the lake was serene, if an unwelcoming shade of gray. She scrutinized the words on her tablet, sending them flying by with every swipe of her fingers across its screen, looking for the one thing she needed to advance to the next part of her homework, but always it eluded her. She did not notice Maddie approach and drape herself over the back of the plush chair. Not until the blonde girl reached down and tapped the screen to stop the escaping words. Penny looked up and glowered at her.
“Hi there, Penny-san.” Maddie smiled sweetly down at her.
“What’s with the -san?” Penny asked, knowing that even as she looked back at the screen she would get no further that day.
“Well, you’re half-Japanese, so I thought…”
Penny sighed. Maddie retracted her hand.
“Are you… I mean, I’m sorry.”
“I’m never going to finish this assignment. I can’t find what I need.”
“Why not just do control-F?” Maddie looked relieved and her reply was accompanied by a helpful smile.
“That was the first thing I tried. Dr. Lewan rendered the pages as jpegs so that won’t work.”
Maddie laughed. She drew a few eyes and a curt, “Shush!” and then lowered her voice again.
“Well, I’m sorry, I can’t help you with that. I didn’t mean to break your concentration, but this is important.”
Penny sighed again and put her tablet back into her bag and rose. Maddie rose with her and they left the library and walked down the burled walnut paneled corridors of Miller Hall.
“What is this important thing you have for me?”
“We’re going to Detroit tomorrow.”
“Detroit?”
“Yah. Clubbing.”
Penny stopped and gave her a helpless frown.
“And since my fiance is far, far away, I want you to be my date. We’ll keep each other out of trouble!”
“I don’t want to go to Detroit. I want to study.”
“Aw, you can study any time, but you can’t go to Detroit.”
“I don’t have money to go to Detroit. I can’t afford to buy food or a hotel room or—”
“You don’t have a thing to worry about! We’re staying at my dad’s place downtown. We’re going to walk around, you know, see someone rock out at St Andrews, shake our butts at Worxx. And my fiance will never trust me if I go down there by myself, and if you’re with me we can keep an eye on each other. In other words, you have to go. You must be there. For me. For your roommate.”
They reached the big double doors looking out at the outdoor fountain and the various flowering plants around it. The Adler Gymnasium was on the other side of the garden, all glass and steel and treated blond wood where Penny exercised every morning, and to their right was Hampton Labs, where Penny’s classes were held, a charming sandstone building with the same grand old-world charm of Miller Hall. Penny sighed as she cast tired eyes up at the labs and then gave Maddie her most miserable expression.
“We’ll have fun!” Maddie hooked her arms around one of Penny’s and drew her out into the pleasantly cool air. “Come on. We’ll go find Leah. She’ll tell you all about how much fun you’re going to have!”
Penny let Maddie drag her along the path back to the dormitory. As soon as they entered the common area her roommate zeroed right in on Leah, sitting in a plush chair beneath the banana tree at the window working her way through her own tablet. She regarded Maddie with suspicion (“Am I being set up?”) but the look went ignored and the two of them stopped right in front of Leah’s chair.
“She doesn’t want to go,” Leah said without looking up. “I told you so.”
“You said you’d make her.”
Leah looked up, her face free from expression and met Penny’s eyes.
“Have you ever been out clubbing?”
“No.”
“You must go with Maddie.” Leah looked back down at her tablet.
“Why? I have so much work to do!”
“If you haven’t been before you really must go now.” Leah glanced up again, not bothering to hide her annoyance at the interruption, however contrived it may have been. “I have had this experience. You must as well. We will exchange stories upon your return.” She swung her gaze to Maddie. “Make sure Clark and Bart know they have to protect you.”
“I can protect myself!” Maddie laughed.
Leah’s expression darkened.
“My dad’s sending Carlos anyway…” Maddie’s bravado turned into an impetuous pout. “Besides, who’s going to mess with a PMer who personally knows The Best Defense?”
“I don’t personally know The Best Defense.”
“You can lie all you want to everyone else here, but we know better,” Maddie grinned at her. “How does someone of your socioeconomic status end up here without those kinds of ties?”
“My parents are friends with my department head.”
“Oh, well, that would do it too…”
“She still has Best Defense ties,” Leah said, her annoyance turning to mild amusement. “The truth will make itself known before too long. Go, Penny. You’re going to get your first helicopter ride, too.”
Penny looked at Maddie.
“Helicopter?”
“My dad has five.”
“Three, only one that flies,” Leah said.
“Just how rich are you?”
“Not as rich as me.” Leah stood up and smirked at Maddie. “But we’re above such discussions. Enjoy your weekend with your roommate.”
Leah walked away. Maddie scowled at her back for a moment and then turned a radiant smile upon Penny.
“A frickin’ huge helicopter! And I’ll make sure Carlos sits up front with the pilot so we can relax in the back with a bottle of the bubbly!”
And that was how Penny found herself walking across a rooftop landing pad the following evening beneath the whirling blades of one of Maddie’s dad’s five helicopters. Maddie led her, Bart, Clark, and Sandra down to her dad’s penthouse with its expansive views of surrounding Detroit and Windsor across the wide Detroit river beyond the Renaissance Center. It was all very shiny and modern and Penny did not like how the stone floor felt under her bare feet. It was too smooth and too hard and too cold.
She suppressed another sigh and watched Maddie and Sandra walk ahead of her. They were wearing stylish dresses that bared belly buttons toned abs and a little cleavage and, in Sandra’s case, her entire back. She was sexy and Penny wanted to love her but she continued regarding the PMer girl with mild disgust. Penny had a fine selection of sundresses to choose from, and for this evening opted for a modest purple sundress with a floral pattern that had short sleeves and reached her knees that Maddie had initially laughed at when they emerged from their bedrooms. The boys completed them with well-fitted slacks and button-up shirts. No stoles for them, however, for neither were as stylish as Roger.
“A real shame the Roge couldn’t make it,” Clark said, taking a seat on a stool at the island separating the kitchen from the living area. Maddie joined him.
“Why not?” she asked.
“Med program is more intense than he thought, and since it’s like a warzone down there he’s forging a brotherhood with his fellow med students.”
“War zone?” Sandra shouldered her way between Clark and Maddie. “You make it sound like it’s some sort of bloodbath. What could they possibly be treating?”
“I don’t know, I’m a drama geek,” Clark answered with an insecure smile.
“There’s some fancy-pants LA surgeon doing some teaching up there this year,” Bart said. He opened Maddie’s fridge and retrieved beers and distributed them among his friends. “They get call-ins from around the world looking for his consulting services, and he uses them all as teachable moments. There are pre-med students all over who would literally kill for the challenge kids like The Roge have right now.” He took a sip of his beer. “Never have I ever killed someone.” He sipped again.
Penny glanced around at everyone, but they were staring in alarm at Bart.
“What?” He shrugged and smiled disarmingly at them.
“You killed someone?” Maddie’s mouth hung open.
“On purpose?” Sandra added.
“Yes.” He tipped the bottom of his bottle at Penny. “You’re next.”
“Next what? To kill someone?”
They laughed. At her. She blushed and looked down at her beer, its label identifying it as the product of some small brewery she had never heard of, the brown bottle hiding the color of the liquid inside. Maddie’s hand landed softly on her shoulder.
“Never have I ever, it’s a drinking game.”
“Drinking game?” She could not look up. “I thought we were staying sober. I thought we were going to keep each other out of trouble.”
“Come on, it’s just a little fun! Here—” She opened her phone and tapped through it, a series of well-practiced thumbstrokes done almost by instinct. “Some food is on its way. Carlos will bring it up. You’ll have some of that, and, you know, we’re cute, innocent little things, they’ll all be way drunker than we ever will be!”
Penny sighed, staring at her beer. It smelled like beer, bitter and a little hoppy, and she did not relish the idea of inebriation in this strange place. Especially since this strange place was a big city, something she promised she would never visit while she was off-island. She sighed again.
“Okay. What are the rules?”
“You say, “never have I ever” and then you choose something, you know, some sort of experience that you haven’t done, and then if the others have done it they take a drink,” Maddie said. “Bart chose something he did but I’m pretty sure it was just to freak us out.”
“Yeah, mostly.”
They laughed at Bart (except for Penny who regarded him with caution), and then their attention was on her.
“Ano, never have I ever… ever… went on a skateboard.”
No one drank. Penny fought the urge to take an uncomfortable sip of hers. Maddie spoke next.
“Never have I ever kissed a girl.”
Penny sighed loudly and glared at Maddie.
“What?”
“Nothing…” Penny sipped, ignoring the dirty look Sandra cast at her. Clark and Bart also sipped their beers. Sandra spoke next.
“Never have I ever gambled at a casino.”
Bart drank. Maddie drank. Clark spoke next.
“Never have I ever sucked some dude’s dick.”
Penny sighed again. Sandra, with her own beer resting on the counter, stared at her, a slight shade of alarm on her face.
“What?”
“You’re gay.”
“Yes.”
“And you’ve sucked some dude’s dick, as Clark so eloquently put it?”
Penny took her punitive sip, made a face, and nodded.
“What’s up with that?”
“I didn’t know I was gay until like a year and a half ago.”
“So you led some poor guy on until you did? What was he, some sort of experiment for you?”
“I was trying my hardest to be normal! Just like you told me to!” She glanced down at her bottle. Just two sips in and her self control had eroded away to the point she was ready to put her face in her hands and cry. “I don’t want to play this game if all you’re going to do is make fun of me.” She felt herself tearing up. Ah yes. Here was the crybaby, right on schedule. Before she could leave Maddie’s hand was on hers.
“Aw, it’s okay, we’re not making fun of you—”
“Yes, you are. You made fun of my dress and now you’re all making fun of me because I’m a lesbian—”
The door opened and Carlos, a tall, athletic man with olive skin and stylish black hair sauntered in with bags of food. He set them on the counter and shook Bart’s hand. They exchanged pleasantries.
“Everything good?” Carlos glanced at Penny.
“We’re fine. When we finish eating we’ll be heading out.”
“Worxx?”
“Exactly.”
“I’ll let Rev know.”
“Thanks!”
As he left Bart and Maddie began distributing the food: gourmet sandwiches, salads, slices of cake and pie, and three bottles of wine. Maddie set those aside and then settled back on her stool and watched Penny take a bite of her turkey sandwich.
“Good, isn’t it?”
Penny shrugged. She pulled her phone out and opened up the file she had been perusing when Maddie disturbed her the previous day.
“It’ll help you feel better to have some dinner.”
Penny nodded.
“I was making fun of you just now,” Sandra said loudly, stepping around Maddie to face Penny directly. “But this is supposed to be a fun weekend so I won’t anymore.”
Penny nodded again. She kept her eyes on her phone.
“It’s Bart’s turn.” Sandra stared at Penny for a long moment, long enough for Penny to start to sweat. “You’re still playing.”
Penny sighed. There was an uncomfortable rustle around her. She turned the screen of her phone off and looked up and, to her horror, sniffled. She fully expected Bart’s next “never have I ever” to be something about being a crybaby in public.
“Never have I ever been to Africa.”
“Oh, so that’s how it’s going to be!” Maddie took a long drink from her bottle of beer. She put her arm around Penny’s shoulders and smiled at her. Penny shuddered. “It’s your turn, dearest!”
Penny took a moment to breathe. She glanced at each of them, from the cautious look on Clark’s face to the friendliness of Bart’s. And then there was the open contempt tinged (weirdly) with sorrow on Sandra’s face, and her roommate Maddie looking at her like a predator.
“Never have I ever climbed a mountain.”
“Does rock climbing count?” Clark asked.
“I think it does,” Bart answered.
They tinked the bottoms of their bottles together and drank. Maddie made a sound of disappointment before she spoke.
“Mountain climbing? How boring! I like the sex questions better—”
“You should not be so proud of your virginity,” Sandra said. “Hearing you say anything like that makes you sound pretentious. Have you ever even kissed this fiance of yours?”
“Never have I ever caught anyone in the middle of a sexual act.”
Sandra glared at her and took a sip. Bart also drank.
“It’s a good thing my tolerance is high enough to match my experiences!”
“Never have I ever been given a diamond ring,” Sandra said, staring at the massive rock glittering on Maddie’s hand.
Maddie looked at her and snorted before taking a dainty sip.
“Well,” Clark cleared his throat. “This has been a very informative game—”
“Don’t stop it there!” Sandra rounded on him. “We’re not done being catty with each other!”
“I was never catty—”
“You were just about to bawl all over your beer,” Maddie laughed (again) at Penny. “But I’m here for you, you can cry on my shoulder and if that grosses out our resident homophobe all the better!” Maddie jabbed a finger at Sandra and glared at Clark. “Her? You have all those girls who will go out with you and you had to choose her?”
“What? Just because you two bring out the worst in each other doesn’t mean Sandra’s a terrible person.”
“It’s your turn,” Maddie glowered at him. “Just move on.”
“Never have I ever met a super-person.”
Penny sighed loudly and took her sip. So did Bart. So did Maddie.
“Who did you meet?” Clark asked the three of them.
“I met The Best Defense, current and most of the previous rosters, and Captain Powell and Alexandria Trueheart and Marty Brewer and a few other corporate sponsored supers,” Bart said. “Oh, and the Sigma Marines, and President Janson’s Chief of Staff. Probably most of the Euro super-toughs, too. And Cyber Samurai. And Lieutenant Honda. Half of Kaiju Team Infinity.” He finished his beer and laughed.
“Really? Two rosters of The Best Defense? How did you meet Crimson Knight’s team? They disbanded when I was still in primary school.”
“Well, it’s a long story. I’ll tell you some time, but not tonight. Who did you meet?”
“The Best Defense.”
“See?” Maddie beamed at her and then turned that bright smile on the rest of them. “Leah was right, Penny is totally connected!”
“Most PMers have met The Best Defense, I’ll bet. Plus, they were at our school last year…”
“That’s right! The fight over Mt. Plains High! That was your school!” Sandra’s disgust dissolved before a tsunami of fascination. “What was that like? I read all about it, but reading about something is nothing like living through it!”
“It was—” Penny swallowed hard and found it difficult to meet Sandra’s eyes. She had become used to the mild contempt but this new brightness was difficult to take and she was only moments removed from sniffling in front of all of them. She ate a bite of her sandwich and mulled over the brunette’s question. “It was scary. Morning Light ripped the roof off the gym so easily, like we were in a pudding cup or something, and…” and Kari was the key to The Best Defense beating her. Killing her…
Hold it together. You survived, all of you, and Ayumi, too.
Thanks, Marv. I’ll be okay…
“And Cosmette swooped down and picked us up and saved us. I didn’t have time to talk to her, she was very busy.”
“Wow, that’s amazing,” Sandra said, her voice soft and her eyes full of wonder. “Definitely sounds scary…”
“Never have I ever had a near-death experience.”
Bart drank despite speaking. Penny drank as well. The room took on a new tilt. She looked at Maddie.
“What super-people did you meet?”
“Pete Ostlund. I shook his hand at some event a Comerica Park.” She stood up and walked to the window and pointed. The field was lit up far below a few blocks away. “We can watch games this way.” She tapped the window and the view zoomed in on the ballpark, every blade of grass visible under those lights. “We had to pay a special fee to the Tigers, though.”
“That is fucking awesome,” Clark said, wandering across the room to the screen. He tapped the window beside it and the view widened. “I love baseball.”
“Tigers fan?”
“Big one.”
“I like the Tigers, too, you know.” Sandra put her arm around Clarks elbow and pulled him back to his beer and his sandwich. “It’s your turn, Penny.”
“Never have I ever been in a penthouse home like this before tonight.”
Bart and Maddie both drank after sharing a laugh.
“Hot damn, Bart, what haven’t you done?”
“Never have I ever—”
“It’s my turn!” Maddie shouted from across the room. She turned away from the view of Comerica Park and the windows zoomed back out behind her. “Never have I ever used a tampon.”
Sandra sighed and drank. Penny glanced at Sandra’s lap.
“Keep your thoughts out of my vagina,” she said with a shrewd smile that allowed Penny’s shoulders to relax. “Never have I ever had a pregnancy scare.”
Clark drank. Everyone looked at him.
“What? Me and high school girlfriend number two were not careful enough.”
“It’s a good thing for you I use two types of birth control.” Sandra regarded him with a haughty sniff.
“Aren’t you worried about the hormones in those things?” Maddie asked. “They do weird things to our bodies, you know.”
“Is that why you’re waiting till marriage?” Penny asked.
“Partially. Plus it’s the Christian thing to do.”
“You don’t use birth control?” Sandra asked Penny.
Penny opened her mouth to respond but Sandra laughed and shook her head.
“Nevermind, you don’t really need to, do you?”
“No, I guess not.”
“Did your friends use it?” Maddie asked.
“No. It wasn’t much of a topic we discussed, though.”
“A bunch of horny teens never talked to each other about sex?” Clark gave her a dubious look. “I find that hard to believe.”
“I had sex with a boy once, and then I—” Penny stopped and glanced at Sandra. Sandra surprised her by laughing.
“Go ahead,” she said after a sip of her beer. “I’m finally starting to feel this thing, so I won’t get all weird towards you again.”
Penny nodded. “Well, there were so many other things going on, and I guess we had those things to keep us occupied even after I started going out with girls. We had Tai-iku-sai, and Bunka-sai, and most of us had internships, and there was that thing where, well, The Best Defense ended up saving us. Neh, we were so busy.”
“And here you sit wishing you were still studying,” Sandra glanced at Penny’s phone. “Don’t worry. I wish I was, too.”
“Never have I ever wished I was studying instead of prepping for a night on the town!” Clark exclaimed.
They laughed and Sandra and Penny both drank and the two girls were plenty drunk and more than ready for their night on the town to actually begin…
Follow The Long Winter into #17 Up in the Club part two here.