Love on Leave

by Leah McDonnell

  The sound of silly best friend laughter, shifts to the loud, boisterous noise of Army Soldiers filing in. Hearing them sends a rush of nerves through my belly; second-guessing my ability to pull off the cop costume I picked out.

  Especially, since sexy has never been one of my strong suits. That’s always been Lana’s department.

  I slip on my thigh-high black boots and slide the fake handcuffs and baton on each hip of the tiny costume. Leaving the aviator sunglasses I borrowed from Jenn, as the final touch. After a quick touch up of my cherry red lipstick, it’s time to make the big reveal.

  The room goes eerily quiet as everyone turns. “HO–LY SHIT!” Lana shouts. “You look smokin’ hot!”

  “Look at those legs?” Jenn adds.

  Max is frozen in the doorway, wide-eyed.

  I hug him. “I don’t even know what to say right now,” he mutters. “You look…Wow!”

  I laugh and do a little spin. “Thanks! I’m way out of my comfort zone, so I hope you’re pleased.”

  “I don’t know about taking you into a house full of fraternity brothers looking like this,” he teases.

  “So should we get going?” Artie asks, tying the jacket of his Hugh Hefner costume.

  The cheap motel is walking distance from the frat house, so everyone can drink tonight without the worry of driving. One by one we file out of the rooms. Some in couple’s costumes, some only in masks. A few, including Max, who aren’t dressed up at all.

  We gather in the parking lot waiting on the stragglers. Santos bangs on the door two rooms down.

  “Yo, Tarzan! We’re leavin’! Come On!” he yells through the door.

  I laugh. “Oh, Lord! Who’s Tarzan?”

  Max grimaces. “I meant to tell you…”

  The door flings open and out pops Goldie Locks wearing a tiny Jane costume. Davis dressed as Tarzan, towering behind her.

  Max glues on a smile. “…Davis came with us.”

  I’m thankful I have on sunglasses to shield my embarrassment. And to help hide how irritatingly hot Davis looks. Act natural! You can do this! I repeat over and over in my head.

  “Hey, Skeeter!” Davis shouts. Catching me a little off guard by his casualness. “You left these in my room. Figured you’d want them back.”

  I stare at my shoes. The ones I had to leave behind because I had inadvertently locked myself out.

  The four of us stand uncomfortably silent as he passes over the black flats. “No, this isn’t awkward at all,” I say out loud. Trying desperately to make light of the situation, while his date throws daggers at me with her eyes. “I’m going to run these back to the room real quick.” Gesturing to the shoes, hoping to hide how mortified I am.

  “Skeeter?” Max quizzes.

  “Yep! Gotta love those flat-chested nicknames.”

  Disgust washes across his face. “I’ll kick his ass if he ever calls you that again.”

  Why do I have the feeling this is going to be a longgggg night?

  James is waiting for us when we arrive at the heavily decorated Pi Kappa Phi house.

  “Please God, tell me that isn’t my sister!” James yells throwing his hands over his eyes when he spots me. “If dad saw you in this, Katie… he would ground you for life!”

  Davis mumbles, “No shit!” under his breath, but I’m the only one who catches it.

  “Well, I guess it’s a good thing he’s not here!” I joke, ignoring the snide Davis remark.

  James’s eyes brighten introducing me to his beautiful date.

  “This is Julia”... “Julia… this is my sister, Kate. And well, this is all her friends!” he laughs, giving hugs and high fives as everyone files up the stairs behind me.

  “Well, don’t you two look cute!” Lana brags, noticing their Gangster and Flapper Girl costumes.

  “I can’t take any of the credit. It was all Julia’s idea,” James admits.

  “Well, she did ya good!” Lana said, winking.

  “Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!” A loud booming voice yells from the doorway. “You must be James’s sister?” The toga-wearing fraternity brother asks.

  “That’s me!”

  “He told us you were coming but failed to mention how hot you were.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “Well, it would be pretty creepy if he had.”

  “Told ya! I’m not going to be able to leave your side for a second.” Max teases in my ear.

  James waves us in. “Y’all come on in! Make yourself at home. The kegs are in the back. It’s a buck a cup if you’re in the mood for beer. If not… there’s a bar in the game room.”

  Our group of sixteen causes quite a reaction when we walk in. The guys definitely stand out from the typical frat crowd. It didn’t occur to me when we accepted the invitation, but these two incredibly different worlds might have a difficult time meshing together. Unfortunately, it’s a little too late to worry about it now. We have no choice but to trust everyone can play nice, now that we’re all here.

  “You don’t think there will be any issues tonight, do you?” Lana whispers as if she’s reading my mind.

  My face twists. “Let’s hope the brothers and soldiers can all live in harmony for the night.”

  “What can I get you to drink?” Max asks.

  I scratch the back of my neck. “Ehhh, I’m not sure what I’m feeling tonight,” I shrug. “Don’t wait on me. Go ahead and grab yourself something.”

  Max lifts my hand, giving it a small kiss before heading in the direction of the keg.

  Davis shouts, “Yo, Wench! Fetch me a beer!” in the direction of Jenn. Who’s dressed up, well… as a beer wench. Which, of course, she immediately does. Irritating me at how quick she is to jump when asked.

  Davis, who is shirtless and has a brown Tarzan loincloth covering his junk, soars over the crowd. I don’t turn his way but I can tell he’s in rare form tonight.

  “So much college pussy… so little time,” he boasts to Kevin.

  “I guess Davis is back to being an annoying, arrogant, self-centered, asshole,” Lana huffs with an eye roll.

  “He’s kept it in check the last few times we’ve been around him, I had forgotten he’s the most vulgar man in America,” Ashley says.

  A girl sashays past carrying a full bottle of Boone's Farm, dressed as a naughty Cowgirl. “Hey, Hun! You looking for a bull to ride?” he flirts, even though Goldie is standing right beside him.

  “Never mind. Make that the most vulgar man on the PLANET!”

  The cowgirl raises an eyebrow. “Only if you can last longer than eight seconds.”

  Please, God, tell me I didn’t witness that! I think as Max returns, red solo cup in hand.

  “What’s that look for?” he asks.

  I blow it off. “Oh, it’s just these damn boots. They’re already killing my feet.”

  He pulls me in close, wrapping his arms around my waist. “Well, does it help to know you look sexy as hell in them?”

  “Beauty before comfort, I guess!”

  The annual Halloween Bash is going off without a hitch. The DJ has the packed dancefloor jumping as black lights and fog fill the air above them. The bass of the music so loud I can feel it under my feet.

  James challenged Max to a keg stand competition, while Artie, Lana, Ash, and Santos play cards with a group of frat brothers. Everyone appears to be having a great time. Everyone that is, but me. I don’t know what’s wrong with me tonight. I’m trying to have fun, and Max is being so sweet… but I feel “off” for some reason. Maybe it’s this tight, itchy, costume or maybe I can’t shake the discomfort of having my boyfriend and his friend I screwed, in the same room together. Thankfully, it doesn’t faze Davis. Between Goldie Locks, Jenn, and half of the female student body at Auburn, he’s well occupied. I roll my eyes as I see them hang on every ridiculous word he says.

  “What are you doing sitting here all by your lonesome?” Jackson asks. “And with two empty hands? Who are you and what have you done with our friend Kate?”
/>   “Thank you. I needed a good laugh,” I admit.

  “It’s so good to finally get to spend time with you,” I say to Gigi as she slides onto Jackson’s lap. “He talks about you incessantly.”

  “I know!” she beams. “It’s nice to finally have a face to put with all the crazy stories.”

  Jackson shifts closer. “Can you keep a secret?” he asks, loud enough only she and I can hear.

  “Well, yeah! Of course, I can!”

  Both ready to burst, he whispers…“We’re engaged!”

  I clap my hands together. “Oh, Jackson! What wonderful news!”

  “We still have a few more family members to tell, so shhh!” Jackson says, putting his finger over his lips.

  I gesture locking my mouth and throwing away the key as Max makes his way back into the room.

  “That brother of yours is a hoot!”

  “I’m glad you two are hitting it off.”

  “Hell yeah, we are! I schooled him on keg stands, so he’s challenged me to a game of pool for redemption.” He high fives James as he walks up behind him.

  “You ready, man?”

  “Wanna play team’s, babe? I could use those kickass skills of yours.”

  Ugh! Aunt ‘Flow’ must be on her way because I’m not in the mood for any of this tonight.

  “Sure. But why don’t you two go ahead and play a round. I’m going to run back to the room real quick and change my shoes. I am officially over these boots.”

  “Well, let me go with you. You don’t need to be walking by yourself.”

  “Oh, I wasn’t going by myself. Jenn’s going with me.”

  “No, it’s ok. I want to.”

  “It’s fine. I promise. We’ll be back in a flash,” I insist.

  “You sure?”

  I give him a smile and a quick kiss. “Yep! Promise! Be right back.”

  I do want to change my shoes but the truth is… I’m dying to smoke a cigarette. An unfortunate vice I haven’t mentioned to Max. Not that I think he would care, I just haven’t felt the need to tell him.

  I search aimlessly around the loud fraternity house for Jenn. Who I finally spot sucking face with a masked Zorro and don’t have the heart to interrupt. Lana and Ashley are knee-deep in their card game, so I decide to make the short walk alone.

  I shed my boots as soon as I hit the sidewalk. Thankful for the immediate relief to my aching feet and ringing ears. It’s a perfect October night. Chilly, but not cold as college students, decked out in their Halloween costumes, stumble from party to party on the busy AU Fraternity Row. I walk the three blocks back to the motel, enjoying the few minutes to myself.

  Thankful for the break, I light the end of a Marlboro Light and sprawl across the empty double bed. Dreading the idea of having to go back to the party. I lay staring at the ceiling, thinking about Ash moving to Columbus, and Lana and Artie spending Christmas together. It’s all becoming so real for everyone. It saddens me a little to hear them all talk about the future while Max and I are still learning what each other’s favorite color is.

  I’m startled by a knock on the door. Dammit! I scream in my head, knowing it has to be Max.

  “Commm-ing!” I shout, quickly running to the bathroom to flush my cigarette in the toilet. Spraying hairspray to mask the smoke.

  I fling the door open and gasp, staring for a few seconds before speaking. “What are you doing here, Davis?”

  “I saw you leave.”

  “Ohhh---Kay? And?”

  “You have no business walking around here by yourself, especially looking like that.”

  He says the last part with disdain. As if the sight of me dressed this way disgusts him and it instantly pisses me off.

  “Oh, my bad! Maybe I should have gone with the whole slutty cowgirl look instead.”

  “That’s not it and you know it!”

  “Really? Tell me, Davis. What is it?” I’m getting angrier by the second. “That’s the second time tonight you’ve made a snide comment.

  Why is it ok for every girl on this fucking campus to be dressed in costumes the size of postage stamps, but I dare wear one and you judge me for it?”

  “Because!” he yells.

  “Because, why?

  “Because they aren’t the ones I’m in love with!”

  His stunned face appears as shocked for saying it as I am hearing it. His admission renders me speechless. My shoulders rise and fall as I try to catch the breath that’s evaded my body.

  He stares. So focused on my eyes I worry he can read my mind.

  “Please say something,” he pleads.

  I don’t know what to say. I turn back into the room and grab the black flats he had given me earlier.

  “I have to get out of here,” I mumble more to myself than him. I shove past him, too afraid to have this conversation. “I can’t do this right now.”

  He snags me by the arm right before I clear him and spins me around. “He doesn’t know you like I do, and you know it! He doesn’t challenge you like I do. And y’all sure as hell don’t have the heat you and I do!” He growls the words inches from my face. So close I can feel his breath.

  I snatch my arm from his grip. “Let go of me!”

  I take a few steps but the cold, pebbled asphalt forces me to stop. With my back towards him, I slide one shoe at a time.

  “I know you feel it too, Kate.”

  I close my eyes. His words punching my gut. But refuse to turn around.

  “Oh my God!” Lana yells as I make my way through the door. “Where the hell have you been? Max walked straight through the back porch screen door and took it completely off its hinges! Fell flat on his face! It was the funniest thing I’ve seen since Artie had a wasp in his ass!”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah! Laugh at the drunk guy!” Max slurs.

  I grimace when I spot a small cut near his right eyebrow.

  “Oh no, Max! Are you ok?”

  “I’m fine,” he says. “Just remind me to never let your brother talk me into keg stands again!”

  My entire group is three sheets to the wind, including Max. Seeing him like this is strange. Not that he doesn’t deserve a night of complete inebriation. He’s typically so controlled and methodical in everything he does. Him letting loose feels foreign to me.

  I’m trying desperately to wipe what happened with Davis from my mind. Chalking it up to him trying to stir things up again. He doesn’t return right away, but when he does, he’s no longer sporting the tiny Tarzan costume and has changed into dark jeans and an untucked Polo.

  “I wondered where you went,” Goldie Locks says when he makes his way into the game room.

  Lana puts two and two together in her head and gives me a knowing eye. I pray Max is too drunk to make the connection as well.

  “Are y’all ready for an ass-whippin'? I ask James and Julia as they return from the dance floor.

  “I think your boyfriend might be a tad too tipsy to play another round,” Julia says, gesturing over to Max, who’s fallen asleep on the dingy, 1970’s couch.

  “Ah! It definitely appears so,” I agree, shaking my head at the sight of him. “I should probably get him back to the room.”

  “No way, Katie! You’re not getting out of it that easy,” James teases. “He’ll make it another twenty minutes. Which is plenty long enough for me to kick your ass!”

  “I’ll play Max’s spot,” Davis volunteers from behind me.

  James smirks. “Perfect! It’s settled!”

  I look at Max, trying desperately to telepathically wake his ass up, to no avail.

  James racks the balls as Davis scours through the wall of pool sticks for one that fits his tall frame. His cavalier attitude irks me and after the night I’ve had, I am in no mood for it.

  I walk over to Goldie Locks, her face lighting up as I hand her my pool stick. “Why don’t you play my spot? I’m going to call it a night.”

  James laughs and yells, “Chicken shit!” as Davis side-eyes me.


  Artie and Santos help me get Max back to the room, who passes out the second his head hits the pillow. As I pull his shoes off, I joke with the group. “Oddly enough, I saw tonight going much differently in my head.”

  Artie looks down at Max. “Don’t be too hard on him, Kate. After the hell he’s been through the last four months, he needed this.”

  “That’s for damn sure!” Santos agrees.

  “Oh, I’m not mad. I’m thrilled he had a good time. I just feel bad I was a big fuddy-dud tonight.”

  “No kidding!” Lana interjects. “You were a bit of a killjoy! Is it your time of the month?”

  “I’m not, ya bitch. But I do feel like I might be coming down with something.”

  After everyone has settled into their rooms, I leave a sleeping Max and step outside to smoke. I know Lana’s comment about being a killjoy was true, but I can’t find the energy to care as I collapse on the curb of the motel parking lot.

  “Please, don’t be getting sick,” I say out loud to no one, in between coughs. My throat stinging with each drag of the cigarette.

  “You ok?”

  My head snaps up, “Dammit, Davis!” I grab at my chest. “You gotta stop sneaking up on me!”

  “Sorry. I was headed back to the room and heard you over here coughing up a lung.”

  “I’m fine.” My voice cracks, followed by an outburst of coughs.

  “Oh, you certainly sound it.”

  “I think I might be getting sick. Which would explain why I’ve been so blah tonight. If you must know.”

  “Got anything you can take?”

  “I think so,” I say, too tired to keep up the attitude. “I’m pretty sure I’ve got some Motrin in my bag.”

  “I can run to the gas station and get you some cough drops.”

  “Thank you, but I think I’m ok. I just need to get to bed.”

  He puts his hand on my forehead. “Holy shit, Kate! You’re burning up!”

  Grabbing my hand, he pulls me up and walks me back into the room. Max is out cold, but Lana and Artie are still awake.

  “Lana, help me get her into bed!” Davis says, assertively as we walk in.

  Startled, she jumps up. “What’s wrong?”