Trick-or-Tito's
Previously: The team speaks with the Dean of Xavier prep and begins chatting with Seb Podesta.
Sebastian stared at Mark, fear taking over his shadowed eyes.
“Let me ask you about the Trick-or-Tito’s, Seb,” Mark began again. “You said Tripp Hartman gave you a handful - how many would you say that was?”
“I guess maybe 4 or 5?” Seb’s voice was a hoarse whisper.
“And you said Jen Tyson drank one in full in front of you, so that leaves 3 or 4 left. One of those was still in the pocket of your jacket, half full - where do you think the remaining 2 or 3 went. Did you drink them? Did you give them to Alexa or someone else?”
“I know I drank one.”
“When?”
“Um, like right after I saw Jen down hers, I went for it. It was before we left the house.”
“Okay, so now we’re down to 2 or 3 from the handful Tripp gave you. Who drank those?”
“Um, some girl - it was a girl I didn’t know - she was in a flapper outfit, like blue sequins or something. I - she asked me if I had one and I just gave her one. And then - and then her friend came up and asked if I had another one and I gave her one.”
“When was this?”
“On the way to Inspiration Point. With Dash - they were these girls Dash had been talking to - they were younger. I didn’t know them.”
“So, doing the math, you received a “handful” of Tripp’s Trick-or-Tito’s, and then Jen Tyson drank one, you drank one, and then you gave two away to two girls on the way to Inspiration Point.”
“Yeah.” Seb nodded, his eyes glazed as he remembered.
“And…did you have another Trick-or-Tito’s once you got to Inspiration Point?”
“Um…I think so, yeah.”
“Was it in your pocket or did someone give it to you? Think for a minute Seb. Put yourself there and try and think of the moment.” Mark said quietly, gently. Seb rolled his lips over his teeth and was quiet for a moment. Mark could tell he was replaying it over in his mind.
“S-someone…” Seb tilted his head slightly and squinted a little. “Someone - it was Jen. Jen came over and said that Tripp had given her some Trick-or-Tito’s for Alexa - that she needed to catch up.” Mark was silent, daring a glance at Jeannie who was staring at Seb.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yes.” Seb’s eyes narrowed and he looked at Mark darkly. “Yes. Jen came up and kissed me, like with tongue, right in front of Alexa. And she then said that Tripp had given her some of the Tito’s just for Alexa so she could catch up to the party.” His voice was firm with certainty. Mark considered him. This squared with what Jen Tyson had told them.
“Okay Seb. And do you remember how many bottles Jen gave you?”
“Well, she gave them to Alexa. And she sort of dumped them in her hands.” Seb made a gesture, joining his hands together into a bowl shape. “So, it was probably 3 or 4, I guess?”
“Okay, and did Alexa drink any of them?”
“Yeah, she did. We both had a full one. And then I asked her if we should split another one, and she agreed but….” His eyes squinted again. “I think I took the first half and I remember handing it to her, but I don’t know if she finished it.”
“And the other bottles?”
“I - I don’t, um… That was kind of when I gave her my jacket and I can’t remember past that.” The kid looked like he was going to cry again.
“Well, you’d just downed about 7 ounces of vodka in about 20 minutes — each of those little bottles is about a shot and a half, 3.6 ounces. So, one at Tripp’s house and another at Inspiration Point - memory loss kind of tracks. ” Mark said as Seb leaned back again. “But it sounds like maybe it was more than that. Seb have you ever ingested GHB? Because it sounds like you may have had some on Friday night.” Mark hadn’t planned on asking this, but it seemed like the right direction to go in.
“From the Tito’s?”
“Yes. Has that ever happened to you before? Have you ever known Tripp to have GHB?” Seb scoffed and bent his head forward, wiping his bangs back with his hand. His brown eyes were deep-set and hollow.
“Fuck.” He choked out in a whisper, almost a sob.
“Seb?” Mark prodded gently.
“That’s what happened this summer in Tahoe. Tripp dosed us with GHB. Well, me. He tried to give some to Alexa but she was too smart, she knew something was up.” Seb’s chest heaved. “So…to answer your question. Yeah, Tripp has had GHB before.” An errant tear went down his face. “Fuck.” He whispered again.
“And you know this…?”
“Tripp told me. When I confronted him about Tahoe a few days after we’d all been home. I was so pissed. Alexa had broken up with me because of what happened and Tripp laughed and told me he’d roofied me and that I should just shut up and be cool about it, and that I shouldn’t stress over a girl who wasn’t putting out.” Mark inhaled quietly and looked at Jeannie, who didn’t look like she was breathing at all. “And yeah, same headache.” A few moments went by before Jeannie began again.
“Seb. Can you maybe take us through your relationship with Alexa? Like, when did you meet? How long did you date?”
“We met at the Xavier/Bishop game in January. She was with Carolina and some of the girls from Holy Heart. And then we actually met at the Lyon Street Stairs afterward - there was a party. And then, the next weekend I went to her house in the Presidio and asked her out.”
“How did you get her address?” Jeannie asked.
“Um, I asked Jen - she goes to Academy, so I knew she’d have it in her roster.” Mark felt his own eyebrows rise at this.
“And, what did Jen think about that? You knew she was into you - in fact, she told us you two were already hooking up.” Seb sighed.
“Jen was cool about it. I mean, she knew we were just about hookups. I didn’t want to date her, and she knew that.”
“Okay.” Jeannie let that go, surprise on her face. “So you asked Alexa out. And you dated. How quickly did it become serious?”
“Serious?” Seb seemed surprised at this word. “I mean, we dated. We would meet up at parties, sometimes we’d go to the movies, or her family had me over a few times for dinners. They - they’re really nice.”
“They are really nice.” Jeannie said flatly, leveling Seb a look that Mark was grateful wasn’t aimed at him. “But it wasn’t serious to you because Alexa wasn’t putting out. Was she? Which is why you kept Jen around. Is that correct?” Seb was squirming in his seat at this.
“I didn’t - Jen just, she just…I don’t know how to say - she just made herself available.” Seb’s eyes were pleading.
“So of course, you couldn’t pass that up, could you?” Jeannie said, not bothering to hide her disapproval. “So Alexa was the girlfriend and Jen was…what, exactly?”
“A friend.”
“With some benefits, would you agree?” Seb dodged her look this time. “We talked to Alexa’s parents - they liked you too. They told us you dated all last spring into the summer? That Alexa came home from Tahoe after July 4th in tears and told them she never wanted to see you again.”
“I went over there to apologize afterward when Tripp had told me about the GHB.” Seb was on defense now, his voice firm.
“And did you talk to her?”
“I did. I told her what Tripp had admitted about the drugs, and that - that was the reason why…” he faltered.
“Why you let Jen Tyson instruct her on how to give a BJ?” Jeannie asked quietly. Seb’s eyes darted between them. The Dean leaned back, shock on his face.
“Yes.” Seb was firm in his admission. “Yes, and - and I confessed to her that Jen and I had been hooking up the whole time we had been dating.” Mark heard Jeannie huff softly.
“And how did she take that?”
“Not well.”
“Yeah I’ll bet.”
“I mean, she said she wasn’t surprised since Jen was always making eyes at me at parties and things, but that wasn’t very often. Mostly Alexa and I were on our own, and honestly we couldn’t do much because she played sports and I played sports, and we were both busy. But she said she’d felt it all along.” Seb’s muscled shoulders drooped.
“What else did she say when you made your confession?”
“That - that she never wanted to talk to me again. That I shouldn’t try to talk to her.” Seb faded. “And then her Dad came out and told me off too. Told me not to come around there.”
“But you did try, didn’t you?” Jeannie prodded quietly.
“When school started, yeah. I sent her an email.” Mark made a mental note to scrub Alexa’s email for this message.
“Any response?”
“No - not right away. But later on, actually right when Tripp put it out that he was having the Gatsby Party…She reached out to me. It was maybe, like, two weeks ago.”
“What did she say?” Mark asked.
“Not much. Just hello and hoped that she’d see me at Tripp’s party.”
“And what did you think about that?”
“I didn’t know what to think. She sounded sort of chill, like everything that had happened…like she wasn’t angry any more. It - it kind of gave me some hope.”
“Some hope?” Jeannie asked softly. “Seb - I don’t understand. Why would you want to be with this girl if, as you seemed to have told everyone, she wasn’t having sex with you, and whatever sex you were having wasn’t up to your standards? Why did it matter to you?” Seb stared into space, and finally offered up a shrug.
“I mean. No one’s ever broken up with me before. I guess - I guess I just wanted to make it right, or at least okay between us. I didn’t really believe she’d want to get back together, but I was going to give it a shot.”
“Why not date Jen Tyson? She’s pretty crazy about you.” Seb sort of shook his head softly.
“She’s - she’s not Alexa.”