by Jenna Reed
After the first three videos, I become aware that Travis is sitting really close to me on the carpet. There’s a whole floor available, but his knee is almost touching mine. It gives me flashbacks to the night we were together, and I don’t want to remember any of that. I don’t want to relive my feelings for him or how he broke my heart by disappearing.
I pull my leg away, making sure we aren’t touching anymore. “Oh, this is the orgy painting,” I tell him, pointing at the screen as she holds up a sheet.
Travis brings his drink to his lips, and my eyes linger there for a moment as he asks, “Wait, she filmed that?”
“Not the unfortunate sex I walked into,” my cheeks heat, “but she goes into great detail about how this piece of art was created.”
The deeper we get into her videos, the weirder they get. I see some she’s made since she left, and I’m angry to find my purple couch is in the background of one. I reported her when she left, but the police couldn’t find her. I wonder now if they can track her through her YouTube account. Probably, then again, I’m not sure I would even want my couch back now. Who knows how many more orgies it has been through.
I find myself drinking more than I normally would as Travis and I laugh and eat together. Drinking and watching Vicki try to copy a Cat’s makeup tutorial is amazing. She signs off every video with, “This has been Vicks, not the Vapor Rub.”
Every time she says that both Travis and I lose our minds laughing. My stomach hurts so bad, but laughter is the best cure. I know it’s terrible to make fun of someone, and I’m probably going to hell for it, but she took all of my furniture. I think she deserves a little bit of ridicule.
“Does she have a lot of followers?” Travis asks, leaning back against the wall, putting an arm behind his head. I try not to look at the rippling bicep near my head. I could take a damn bite out of that thing.
Averting my gaze, I reply, “Like a thousand, but I kind of think they make fun of her too. I’ve read some of the comments on her videos.”
“Okay, we’re making a fake account and commenting,” he puts his cup down and reaches for the laptop, “it’s too good not to.”
“What are you even going to say?” I ask, half laughing, and lean back a little too far. I fall down on the carpet and realize I’m drunker than I thought.
“You’ll see,” he snickers, grabbing my wrist and pulling me back up.
Travis starts signing up for a new account to troll Vicki, but then my moral compass starts spinning. “You know what,” I say, “It’s okay to make fun of her, but let’s not take it any further. This borders on online bullying, and I’m not into that.”
“That’s really sweet of you, Nina,” he pins me with a hard stare, “she’s nuts, steals your furniture, and now you’re protecting her.” He stands up and leans on the wall beside me.
“Shut up, I hate her, and I’m really sad we don’t have furniture,” I say, laughing and shoving him away from me. He puts his arm around my shoulder, and I sober up suddenly. This cannot happen right now.
“I gotta go,” I yell in an embarrassingly strange way and walk, well stumble, to the bathroom.
“I’m sorry, Nina, don’t go,” I hear him say, but I’m already gone.
“No, it’s okay,” I yell across the house. “I have work in the morning. Getting up early...” My neighbors can probably hear me yelling through the walls.
I sort of stumble to the sink, brush my teeth, and then make my way into the bedroom. Curling up in my bed, I pull the blanket all the way up to my chin. The room is spinning a little bit, and I count in my head how many bottles of beer I had.
Unable to figure out an exact number, I decide in my head it was just one too many.
Next thing I know, it’s morning, and I don’t even remember going to bed. My head throbs as I sit up too fast, and there’s a knock at my door. Opening one eye, the room tilts, and I close it again.
“Hey,” Travis slowly enters the room, the door creaking as he opens it, “you’re not allergic to eggs, are you?”
“No,” I groan, wondering about his sanity.
“I made you my classic hangover cure.” He hands me a concoction that looks absolutely disgusting.
“Hold your nose,” he tells me and pushes the glass into my hand. There’s two of him when I look up, but I somehow manage to take it from the right one anyway.
Bringing the glass to my lips, I almost vomit but keep it together just barely. I choke down the disgusting drink and gag several times as it makes its way into my stomach. It’s not the sexiest thing to do in front of someone, but it’s Travis so…
“Thanks.” I barely get the words out as I push past him and go into the bathroom to sit on the shower floor and let the water spray on me for a long time. My head still hurts as I get dressed. Walking out into the kitchen, I find Travis sitting on the floor in what should be the dining room, eating bacon.
“Bacon?” he offers, holding it up to me.
“No, thank you. I’ve got to get to work. I’ll grab a bagel while I’m there. Might soak up all the shame I feel from getting drunk on a weeknight.”
“You weren’t that drunk, plus we had fun,” he says before taking a bite of bacon.
I immediately feel the walls going up around me, and without thinking further, I snap at him, “I can’t be drinking when I have to go to work, it’s irresponsible.”
“Uhh, sorry, I guess. Didn’t think it was a huge deal. It’s not like you were partying or anything.” Annoyance laces his words, and I don’t have the time to stand here and argue with him. With a huff, I grab my stuff and leave the apartment. The whole way down to my car, I feel like a dick for saying that to him. It’s not his fault I gave in to the call of alcohol. I’m a grown woman and can make my own choices.
Looking at the clock, I realize I’m late now. Great.
When I get to work, I walk in and immediately run into Sam. It’s not just that we see each other, no it wouldn’t be that simple. When I say see, I mean, I physically plow into him and almost knock him to the ground. I bounce back into the desk next to the door, and everyone who was talking while waiting to use the Keurig stops to look at me. As a bruise forms on my ass from the corner of the table, I give everyone an awkward smile. Most everyone turns back to whatever they were doing, and the heat in my cheeks lessens.
“Are you okay?” Sam asks, placing a soothing hand on my arm. I look up into his eyes, the warm smile he gives me makes me want to tell him all my secrets.
“Yeah,” I nod, “just a little hungover. My roommate and I drank a little too much last night.”
“Oh, you got a new roommate?” He lifts a questioning brow.
“Yeah, he’s just a guy from my past,” I say, not even thinking about how that sounds. “My brother’s best friend.”
Sam looks hurt or maybe confused for a minute, but before I can latch onto anything, he shakes out of it, “And the furniture?”
“Still working on it.” Suddenly, I realize I took a whole day off work to fix a problem, and I didn’t even fix it.
He leaves me alone the rest of the morning, and I find myself wondering if I’ve blown it. It’s all I can think about as I answer phones and print ten thousand copies of documents. By lunchtime, I’ve made a decision to be bold. If you want something, you have to go out and get it, right? Wandering over to his desk, I stare at the small silver sculpture he has sitting on the edge.
“Do you want to grab some dinner? Like together… you and me?”
“Tonight?” he asks, before I can respond, he continues, “I’m busy tonight, but maybe another time this week?”
“Yes,” I blurt out, a little too loudly. Turning down the volume in my head, I say, “Just text me when you have a chance, or whatever...” I try to play it cool, clearly failing.
“I will,” he answers, giving me a panty-melting smile.
“Cool, cool, cool…” God, shut up, Nina. I force myself to turn around and walk away, wondering why I have to act so d
umb sometime.
I spend the rest of the day in a good mood, despite the headache that won’t die. I need to let Travis know his hangover cure did not work. When I get home after the longest day of my entire life, he’s not there. I feel a little sad and then mentally slap myself. Get it together. Remember, he’s the one who hurt you. The one who left. Plus, it’s not like we’re together, I don’t need to know everything he’s doing.
Forcing myself to eat, I make a salad and get a bottle of water out. Thankfully, it’s Friday, and I can sleep all day if I want to tomorrow. Funny, we can’t wait to be adults, but as soon as we get here, we’re like, what do we do now? Eating as much as I can before I toss the rest in the garbage, I walk down the hall and into the bathroom. Taking a quick shower, I change into a pair of sleep shorts and fall face-first down on the bed.
“I’ve missed you so much today,” I tell my bed as I pet the comforter.
7
Travis
“You know, while you’re here, you could help with the greenhouse,” I tell Lins, who is reading something on her phone while everyone else does all the work.
“The greenhouse would be hurt by me, rather than helped,” she hisses. “I’m not here to help. Your mom just wanted an excuse to get us away from dad. He’s having a rough time right now, and he’s gone insane and broken all the plates in the kitchen.”
“Maybe if you weren’t so annoying, they wouldn’t have sent you away?”
“Funny,” she says, giving me a stink eye. It wasn’t a joke. “I think Brian and I are going to find a place soon; we just have to find new jobs and work through some stuff…”
I try to drown her out while I continue working. I already know way more about their relationship than I’d ever want to. But Mom asked me to listen to her because she’s insecure and needs a friend. I don’t see why that means I have to suffer, simply because she’s got issues.
I know Dad doesn’t quite get along with her dad because of his issues, but being her keeper seems a bit overboard for a grown woman. The fact that my mother is a bleeding heart doesn’t help matters. If my dad even mentioned his brother was giving Lindsie a hard time, then she was already making travel arrangements for her.
When Saturday afternoon rolls around, I’m done with work. We’ve made a good dent on the groundwork of the greenhouse this week. The yard now has the pad down that it will be built on. We just have to start placing some of the frames we’ve been measuring and cutting. Of course, the greenhouse my dad wants is huge. I’m not exactly sure what he wants to grow in it, but whatever he decides to grow, he’ll be able to grow a shit-ton of it. Monday was a literal wash because of all the rain we got, but I’d say for five days work, we did good.
I told my dad since it’s the weekend, I was going to leave at lunchtime today. I couldn’t listen to Brian anymore, who spent a significant amount of time trying to convince my dad he should grow cannabis to get in on the CBD craze.
My dad was not amused by that suggestion. I’m not really sure why he and Lindsie are even here, they aren’t doing much work. Lindsie hasn’t helped at all, but she’s filled me in on every single plan she has for her future with Brian. They haven’t been together that long, but like in her words, she really wants babies. At least that’s what she keeps telling me. She’d named them Corinne and little Brian. Don’t ask me, I’m not about to get in on that shitshow.
When I get ready to leave, my mother tries shoving two bologna sandwiches in my pockets. I decline, but my mother being the stubborn woman she is, insists. Now I’m forced to take the two squashed sandwiches with me.
Nina has today off, and when I return to the apartment, I find the place quiet, but her door is closed. Is she still sleeping? Or taking a nap?
Trying to find something to do, I gather my laundry and throw them in the washer. At least the crazy roommate didn’t take it. I do the dishes and reorganize the fridge before I run out of things to do.
This is the longest I’ve ever waited for Nina to come out of her room. I wanted to spend some time with her. Even though that’s probably a terrible idea. But what else is there to do in our place?
Our place. That sounds funny. I’ve started thinking of things as belonging to us, which also isn’t a great sign. I’d made a mistake putting my arm around her the other night. I’d managed to remind her how she felt about me, which was also stupid as hell.
I decide to make us BLTs with chips, so when she wakes up, we’ll have some delicious sandwiches, and I’ll be able to talk to her about the weirdness without it being weird.
I’ve just finished making our sandwiches when she finally comes walking out of her bedroom. She looks adorable and totally fuckable. She’s wearing plaid shorts, showing off her lean, slender legs, an oversized sweatshirt that’s hiding too much, and her hair is up on top of her head in a knot.
She pauses when she sees me and then inhales deeply, “I smell bacon.”
“I made you a sandwich,” I say, handing her the plate. We stand at the counter, and she takes a bite of the sandwich, moaning deep in her throat. My body stiffens at the sound, and my cock stirs in my jeans.
“I could get used to this,” she talks around the food in her mouth before she takes another bite. She makes that noise again, and I lean back against the counter, watching her a little more intently than I should.
“Does that mean I should go ahead and give you the money for next month’s rent?”
She stiffens, almost as if I’ve dumped a bucket of ice water on her head. It’s clear she hadn’t thought about that at all. I’ve been living here for three weeks now, and I don’t think she hates having me here, that much I can tell.
“It’s coming up, isn’t it?” She shoves the words out, almost choking on her sandwich.
“Yeah, what do you think? Have I been an okay roommate?”
“I guess.” She smiles up at me. It’s a sweet smile, her walls are starting to come down, and it’s refreshing. I want more moments like this, where it’s just us together, doing nothing. We look at each other for a long while, and then finally, she breaks eye contact to grab a soda from the fridge.
I know I shouldn’t, but I do it anyway. Watching her as she bends down into the refrigerator. One shapely leg stretching out behind her, all I can think about is moving behind her, tugging those little shorts down and showing her how good I could make her feel.
A loud knocking fills the room, and I snap out of it. Tearing my eyes away from Nina’s ass, I walk over to the door and answer it.
“Baby!” Sydney squeals as she rushes into my arms. I don’t have time to react before she presses her lips to mine. Shit. I push her off of me as fast as I can, peeling her arms away from my neck.
I look back over my shoulder just in time to see Nina’s completely shocked face before she composes herself, and the wall goes back up. I feel the need to make it clear that we are on a break. Well, more than a break. We’re done, but that’s not the point.
“Sydney, I thought we were taking a break,” I say loudly, hoping Nina is paying attention.
“I missed you though, and besides, Masie is sick, and I needed to see you,” she pouts.
Trying not to lose my mind, I hold her at arm’s length away from me. “The dog who lives with your mom, who you’ve not seen in three years, is sick. That’s why you’re here?” I ask in disbelief. If she’s going to lie, she better come up with something better.
“I’m serious. I missed you, where is your bedroom. I have some serious cooped up energy to work off.” She grabs my hand and starts pulling me in the direction of Nina’s bedroom. Jesus Christ, I need to get this situation under control.
“Come on, babe, I’m horny,” she whines.
I try to ignore that comment, digging my heels into the floor to make her stop and talk to me. “How the hell did you find me?”
“Oh, I showed up at Grady’s, and he was like Travis isn’t here. He totally didn’t want to tell me where you were, but I made him.”
“What did you do, Sydney?” I ask, gritting my teeth.
“I just threatened to break something important,” she smiles. Then she looks over at Nina like she’s just noticed someone else is in the room with us.
“Hi, I’m Sydney, who are you?” she asks, bouncing over to Nina. Sydney is wearing the shortest skirt possible over fishnet tights. Her top is long-sleeved but cut so deeply it can’t be keeping her warm. Normally, I’d be all over her in that, but strangely, now it’s more off-putting than a turn on.
Extending her hand out to Nina, I bite the inside of my cheek, wondering where this is going to go. Sydney is psychotic, even on her best days.
“I’m Nina, and this is my apartment,” Nina replies, taking her hand. The crazy girl shakes it vigorously. I feel a little awkward, but there’s nothing I can do once Sydney decides to do something. It’s like when you’re drunk and sober you, knows that what you’re doing is a mistake, but you can’t get drunk you to listen. Yeah, that’s what being with Sydney is like.
“I’m sorry. I just got a little horny for Travis. You know how it is.” Sydney shrugs, and I want to sink into the floor. She manages to get in a few hip thrusts with her words. How the hell am I going to get rid of her?”
“Sydney, let’s go for a walk and talk about Masie,” I encourage, hoping that will get her attention. If she truly searched me out because of her childhood dog, then she’ll want to talk about it.
True to form, Sydney turns toward me and bursts into tears.
“She’s having surgery tomorrow, Travis!” She wails and walks back into my arms. Wiping her face back and forth against my chest. “I don’t know how to handle it.”
“If she’s having surgery, then they are fixing what’s wrong, right?” I hope I can calm her down and get her out of here. The last thing I want is to have her ruin the rest of the day.
“Yesssss,” she wails, “but something could go wrong during the surgery.”