John’s at a different kind of party.
What would come to be known as the Great Laguna Blizzard of 1976.
It snowed like hell inside Doc’s house that night.
Cocaine everywhere, and most of the Association boys nose-deep in it. Cocaine on mirrors, cocaine on tabletops, cocaine on magazine covers-Doc hosting like some kind of surfer-dude Mad Hatter at the tea party.
John sits back and watches the circus.
He doesn’t do coke.
Well, he did when they brought it up from Mexico. John took a couple of snorts the way a winemaker might take a couple of sips, pronounced it “okay,” and then forgot about it.
Coke is too crazy for him.
People get too jacked up.
But this is a coming-out party for coke, in Laguna at least, a sort of motivational seminar for the sales force You can only sell what you love. Is everybody excited?!
— so John could give a shit. He smokes a j, sips a little Scotch, and lets it snow, snow, snow.
And scopes the women.
Shit, Doc has really stocked the pond on this one. Sleek, long-legged women are everywhere, and they’re digging the coke. He doesn’t even have to get up from the couch and-bingo, bango-an incredibly gorgeous auburn-haired chick in a miniskirt comes up and sits down next to him.
“I’m Taylor,” she says.
“John.”
The white smudge under her nose looks cute, but John leans over and wipes it off.
“Don’t waste that,” she says. She holds his wrist and licks the coke off his fingers, then says, “Taste of what’s to come.”
Except he hears
“ You slept with my wife.”
John looks up and Stan is standing over him, looking stupid in his denim jacket and jeans, stupider with this look of rage on his face.
“You slept with my wife,” he repeats.
Taylor giggles.
John tries to go the chivalric route. “Stan, I don’t know what you’re-”
“She told me.”
John says, “Okay, I slept with your wife.”
Like, now what?
Stan doesn’t know.
He stands there looking confused and uncertain and stupid and John just wishes he would go away so that he can get back to Taylor and things to come and is about to tell him so when
Stan pulls a pistol from his pocket.