“Look, Rob. I know some shit happened last night. I don’t really have an excuse, but can we just keep this between us? The last thing I need in the middle of all these college applications and responses, and lots of homework,” she started to explain.
“Don’t worry, Alexa,” I said, smiling at her. “Emily doesn’t have to know. Besides, nothing really happened. One kiss when you were caught up in the heat of the moment isn’t a really big deal.”
“Thanks,” she answered, the word matched by genuine appreciation in her face.
“I’ll see you on Monday – if you need anything while your dad is out of town, just text me or something.”
“Alright, drive safe, Rob,” she said to me, closing the door behind me.
——–
It was about a month later – only a couple weeks to go until spring break. Emily was definitely going to Guatemala or Who-the-fuck-cares-amundo for the duration of the break, living me increasingly upset. I’d agreed to go with my friends regardless of her plans, because I wasn’t about to sit around town by myself or hanging out with whatever sad sacks who didn’t make plans to go anywhere. Either way, it was going to be mildly awkward. I was going with nine other people, eight of whom were in relationships with someone else on the trip. The ninth other person was this gay guy in our class, but he was a really funny guy and you wouldn’t know he was gay in the least from the way he acted. He was just one of the guys.
I knew this trip was going to be a big test for me. In the last six months, I hadn’t gone more than three days without getting inside either my girlfriend or Mrs. Curtis. Now I had to spend ten days without either one available.
Since a lot of people were going to be busy the next weekend (the last before we left on our trip), we decided to have a big party at one of our friends’ house to incorporate all of our friends and whoever else wanted to come. Not everyone was coming on our trip, but a lot of other people had made plans with their own closer friends to go to Florida or the Dominican Republic instead. Unfortunately, Emily was still under somewhat strict rules and wouldn’t be there.
As the night went on, things got messier and messier for me. I was pretty sauced, not to the point of being out of control, but definitely not able to stand up straight without support. I was getting dangerously close to approaching blackout-Rob. This was when someone had the novel solution of cutting me off. At the time, I’m sure I made a pretty big show about everyone being assholes and me being fine to keep going, but when a few of my friends grabbed me and dragged me outside, I realized maybe I was the wrong party here. After finally being released from their grasp, I told them I was going to go for a walk to cool off a bit.
When I returned some twenty or thirty minutes later, the party was still raging. Fortunately, it was cold as shit outside, so there wouldn’t be any noise complaints on this night.
As I walked up the driveway, and half-stumbled up the steps, I saw Alexa run out the door crying.
“Whoa, whoa, ‘Lexa. What’s wrong?”
“Seth is being an asshole as usual.”
“Bugging you for sex again?” I asked, leaning against the side of the house for a bit of support.
“Not just that. I overheard him telling Bill and Ethan that we were going to be spending ten days in bed in Cancun, and he was going to get it in me no problem.”
“Were you planning on..?” I asked
“No!” she cut me off. “I didn’t even know for sure what the sleeping arrangements were going to be. I thought it’d girls and Hunter (the gay guy) in two rooms, and you other five guys in the other two rooms.”
“Ya, I don’t know how that’s all going to work. I thought we’d figure it out on the plane or when we got there or something.”
“Well, apparently Seth had other ideas. Probably thinks if I’m drunk he’ll get to finally fuck me,” she said, the last few words dripping with scathing sarcasm, clearly imitating her boyfriend.
“You’re pretty mad, eh?” I asked her.
“No shit,” she rolled her eyes at me.
“I just came back from a walk. You should try it – it was refreshing and I definitely feel a little more soberer,” I said, followed quickly by some laughter at my poor speech.
“Wanna walk with me?” she asked. “I could use some company, and I don’t want to get lost.”
“Sure, why not,” I responded, putting my arm around her, mostly for support.
Five minutes later, we were passing a park where our school teams played softball and baseball in.
“Are you going to try out this year?” she laughed at me.
Outside of my bass playing, I hadn’t really been keeping up with my agreement to put a better foot forward in extra-curricular activities.
“Probably not,” I shrugged.
“Didn’t you used to be on like every team in elementary school?”
“Ya, I dunno. I just stopped caring about that kind of shit. It took away from fun time,” I grinned.
“Fun time, you say?”
“Ya. Playing video games, partying… school sports are kind of weak. There’s like two or three good players on every team, and our school isn’t exactly known for being stiff competition. Losing’s never fun.”
“I guess,” she said, walking towards the playground near the diamond.
“That shit is probably soaked,” I told her, as she approached the jungle gym.
“Ya it is,” she laughed trying to jump and reach the monkey bars.
“Maybe not such a great idea, Alexa,” I laughed with her.
“No, I got this,” she grunted, finally grabbing hold.
She made it across one bar safely, before she lost her grip and landed awkwardly. Slipping on some ice, she fell right on her ass and her laughter quickly turned to cries of pain.
“Oh my God, I think I broke my ass,” she cried.
“I don’t think so. You probably just bruised it or something,” I groaned, helping her up. “Can you walk ok?”
“Ya, I think so,” she said, gingerly putting pressure on one of her ankles.
“Do you want me to get my van and pick you up?”
“No, don’t leave me here. Just help me back to the house, ok?”
Twenty minutes later, we had made it back to the party, and I sat her in a chair near the door as I went to find her boyfriend to explain what had happened.
Returning a minute later, sans boyfriend, a scowl formed on her face.
“Where is he, Rob?” she demanded.
“A little passed out,” I mumbled.
“What?”
“He’s passed out in the basement,” I said clearly.
“Fucking asshole,” she sighed.
“Do you want me to get some ice or something?” I began to ask her.
“No, I just want to go home.”
“I don’t think anyone’s in any shape to drive you, Alexa. I would, but I know you’re not so cool with that, and honestly, it’s for the best.”
“Well can you call me a cab?
“I’ll tell you what. Let me try to go wake up Seth, and see if he’ll get a cab with you to go to your place.”
“I don’t want that asshole in my house, Rob,” she glared at me.
“Ok, well what do you want to do? Someone’s going to have to help you home – you couldn’t even get up the steps outside without my help.”
“Would you come with me?”
“Like… leave my van here and take a cab with you to your house, then come back here for my van or something?” I asked, unsure what she meant.
“Well, ya. I’ll pay for it. Both ways.”
“That’s really generous, but you don’t have to do that.”
“Well what do you want to do?”
“I could crash in your basement like I did a month ago or something? That’s probably a good place for you to sleep, too – it’ll be easy to keep your leg up with ice on it in one of those recliners.” I said, excited by the quick thinking escaping my still somewhat-drunk mind.
“If you’re ok with that, I guess. I’ll drive you back here tomorrow to get your van, if that’s cool?”
“Ya, let me just go leave a note with Seth saying I took you home and not to worry.”
A few moments later, I returned, laughing quite hard.
“What’s so funny?” Alexa asked me.
“This,” I answered, showing her the picture I took with my phone. Her boyfriend had a penis drawn on his face, as well as a note on his chest and stomach saying what had happened.
“You guys are all the same,” she sighed, before a smile crossed her lips.
—–
“How’s that feel?” I asked her, packing surrounding her ankle in ice, her leg raised in the sweet leather seat.
“It’s sore, but the cold feels nice,” she said.
“Alright. I’m gonna go take a leak – I’ll be right back,” I told her, quickly leaving the room.
Re-entering the room a couple minutes later, I saw her furiously pounding away on her phone’s keyboard.
“What are you doing?”
“Letting Seth know that he has no chance of fucking me in Mexico.”
“Through a text message? Ouch,” I laughed.
“Better than he deserves right now,” she said, sending the message for him to read when he awoke from his drunken stupor.
“Do you need anything? Want me to put a movie on or something?” I was trying to be as helpful as I could be – it sucks to sprain your ankle and not be able to really do much while you tend to it.
“You can put something on, I guess,” she answered. “Nothing scary though!” She tried to look angry with me, but burst out laughing.
“Not to worry. I wasn’t even thinking of doing that again,” I laughed with her.
Popping some random movie into the DVD player, I sat on the chair next to her, constantly checking to see if she needed to change the ice and making sure she felt ok.
“Would you do this for Emily?” Alexa asked me out of the blue.
“Uhh, of course,” I responded, looking over at her briefly. I was kind of focused on the movie, and not really paying attention.
“She’s really lucky, Rob.”
“How do you mean?”
“You’re awesome. Like you’re a really great guy. You bend over backwards for her; you’re pretty good looking…” she trailed off.
“Err… thanks,” I said shyly, definitely starting to get a little red in the face.
“I mean it. You’re a real catch. That’s what I mean. She’s lucky to have you.”
“You’re just saying that. I’m sure if you didn’t keep going back to Seth, you’d be happy with just about any other guy.”
“You think so?” she asked, propping herself up on her arm to turn towards me.
“For sure. He’s one of my best friends, but he’s an asshole, Alexa. Everyone knows it. You know it, obviously. You have to after tonight, anyway.”
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