by Wiley, John
“I said no more clothes,” Rhys says softly.
“You say one thing, your body says something else,” says Jared, looking at Rhys’ underwear before pulling them off.
“Stop Jared, I don’t want to do this,” he says quietly as Jared gets to work on him. “Seriously…”
“It’s OK,” says Jared, “it’s just a little fun.”
***
“Thanks for dinner,” Gene says as he leaves the girls’ apartment.
“Yeah, it was really good,” Erick says, walking behind Gene.
“Thanks,” says Cindy, proud that her hours of cooking didn’t go unnoticed.
“See you guys later,” Chloe says before gently closing the door and locking it.
Erick walks to his apartment and unlocks the door; he holds the door open for Gene once he enters. However, Gene is heading to the stairs, not the apartment. “Where are you going?” Erick asks, stepping back outside.
“I was going to go sleep in the back of the truck, if that’s OK.”
“You don’t need to do that,” Erick says. “Come on inside; you can sleep on the couch.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, come on.”
Gene does as told and enters the apartment. “I really appreciate this,” he says, sitting down on the couch.
Erick sits on the recliner next to the couch. “Do you mind if I watch TV out here before I go to bed?”
“Not at all; it’s your house!”
Erick flips through the TV and settles on a 90’s sitcom. He walks to the kitchen and grabs a beer. “Want anything to drink?”
“Water will be fine,” Gene says.
Erick walks back into the living room and hands Gene the bottle of water as he takes his seat. “So what kind of cooking did you do?”
“All kinds,” Gene says with a shrug. “I guess my specialty is Italian, but my restaurant was American foods; hamburgers, chicken, fries – stuff like that.”
Erick gives a gentle nod before continuing. “So anyway, I’ve been wanting to ask this girl out at work, but I really can’t afford to take her anywhere nice; would you mind cooking for us if I can get her to say yes?”
“Sure,” Gene smiles.
“Awesome! I want to make it a really special night for her; I really like her.”
“Let me know what you need me to do, and I’ll do it.”
“Will do. Thanks!”
***
The next morning, before the sun comes up, Rhys wakes up and grabs his clothes from the floor. He slips them on silently and then creeps out of the apartment building. Sobering up in the chilled night air he grabs his phone and sees that it’s only 3AM, which would make it 6AM back home. He scrolls to Joey’s number and pushes ‘Send’.
“Hello?” answers Joey, sleepily.
“Oh shit, did I wake you? I thought you’d be up getting ready for work.”
Joey yawns. “Not for another half hour.”
“Sorry. Go back to bed. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“No,” says Joey, sounding more alert. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, seriously. We can talk tomorrow.”
“It is tomorrow. You wouldn’t have called if something wasn’t wrong, so what is it?”
“I think I was just raped.”
“What?” he whisper-yells. “Hold on, let me get outside.” A few seconds later Rhys can hear the backdoor to his old townhouse shut and the clicking sound of a lighter while Joey lights a cigarette. “So what the hell happened? How were you raped?”
“Well that guy I went out with, which by the way, he ruined my fantasy.”
“OK, you’re telling two stories now. Finish one or else you’ll start a third; I know you.”
“He asked me what my ideal date was so I told him the fantasy about the snow and music and Disney.”
“And he made it come true, right? You do live in the land of magical Hollywood props.”
“He brought me to a drug store parking lot that had a snow cone stand in front of it…”
“Oh no,” says Joey, starting to see where this is going.”
“While I was talking to you he got the store manager to turn up the intercoms so that the store radio would play into the parking lot.”
“And what was the romantic song playing?”
“”MmmBop”.”
Joey laughs. “Sorry,” he apologizes, still laughing.
“Then he had a bunch of people throw snow cones at us. It hurt, and some had flavoring in them, so we got sticky.”
“That sucks, dude.”
“And then he ended it with, ‘now that that is out of the way’.”
“Why’d you go out with that dick?”
Rhys shrugs as he walks down the street, trying to get his bearings. “He asked. I was lonely. I mean, Erick and I have been hanging out more since the night we met up at that bar, but still, he’s been either working or hanging out with his work friends most nights, and I haven’t met very many people yet.”
“So, how’d this rape happen?”
“Well I don’t think I should call it rape because I don’t know if it was or not.”
“How can’t you know?” asks Joey.
“I got really drunk at dinner. More so than I wanted, but he kept buying me shots, and if I learned one thing at college, it’s that you don’t turn down free shots.”
“Preach it.”
“Anyway,” he continues, ignoring his friend, “we drank for a few hours and then we were going home, but I could hardly stand and he said I could stay the night at his, since we both work in the morning.”
“You’re there now?”
“No. I’m trying to get home, but none of these streets look familiar.” Rhys stops at a crossroads trying to look for a familiar landmark, before deciding on left. “So we started making out, which I’m fine with.”
“Yeah, you’re definitely a make out whore.”
“But then he started taking my clothes off and doing things to me. And I said no, but I wasn’t forceful about it, so he probably didn’t think I was serious.”
“But if you said no and he kept going –”
“Maybe he didn’t hear. I was really quiet.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“If I really didn’t want to do it, I could have pushed him off.”
“If you really didn’t want to, he should have stopped!” says Joey, getting angry. “That’s terrible, I’m sorry to hear that.”
“And now I have to work with him in a few hours and I don’t know what to do.”
“You just have to do it. You can’t really afford not to.”
“This is going to be awkward.” Rhys finally finds roads he knows and starts walking to his apartment. “So you think it was rape then?”
“I do. He forced himself upon you. Was it…you know?”
“What?”
“How far did he go?”
“Uh, pretty far…farther than I’ve…gone…before.”
“Well, I just wanted to point out, you may need to go get tested.”
“Shit. I didn’t even think about that.”
“Are you going to report him?”
“No.”
“What? Why?”
“Just because we think it’s rape, he probably didn’t. Plus, it’s my word against his and I’m bigger than him; he could say I could have pushed him off of me. Which I could have…maybe I did want to do it.”
“Rhys, that was your first time going…all the way. And it happened by rape.”
“OK, enough with the R-word.” Rhys takes a deep breath and feels the tears coming. “This sucks.”
“I know. I’m so sorry.”
Rhys stands in front of the door to his apartment. “Thanks for talking to me. I’ll call you tomorrow, but I’m going to go try to sleep this off before I have to be at work in four hours.”
“OK, call me soon; let me know what’s going on.”
***
Joey hangs up the pho
ne and slips it in the pocket of his pajama pants. He sits on one of the mismatched lawn chairs that make up their patio furniture and takes another drag off of his cigarette when he hears a car door close below him. He sits up straighter and sees Jeremy getting out of his car and coming up the steps to the back door. “Hey,” he says, startling Jeremy.
“Shit – hey. You scared me.”
“Sorry.”
“What are you doing up so early?” his brother asks, sitting on the edge of the chair next to him.
“Rhys called and woke me up, so I decided to stay up, since I’m up soon anyway.” He tosses his cigarette in the empty coffee can next to him. “What are you doing up so early?”
“Oh, uh, just getting back from the gym.”
“You drove to the clubhouse? Its only two buildings away; you could have walked, especially since you were going to a workout.”
“Nah, their workout room sucks; I went on campus.”
“Oh.” He notices the horizon begin to turn a cool pink; his grandpa would say he’s burning daylight if he wasn’t fully showered and dressed when the first ray of the sun peeked over the horizon. “Well, I guess I’m going to get a shower.” He stands up and stretches before walking to the door. “Why’d you park in the back?” he asks before going in. “You always have parked in the front before.”
Jeremy shrugs. “Didn’t want to wake you; you know how the front door sticks.”
Joey shakes his head. “No, I didn’t know that it did.”
Jeremy stands up to go inside with his brother. “Yep, it sticks sometimes.” He slides past Joey and goes down the stairs right next to the back door. “Have a good day.”
“Hey, is everything OK?” Cheryl asks sleepily as she comes down the stairs. She’s wearing a wife beater, boy shorts, and fuzzy slippers.
“Yeah, it was just Rhys.”
“What’s wrong?”
Joey sighs to stall while trying to decide if he should tell Rhys’ secret. “Uh, he had a bad date last night.”
Cheryl stares at him, waiting for the rest of the explanation.
“He thinks he was raped. I mean, he was raped, but he says he doesn’t think it’s real rape.”
Cheryl covers her mouth in horror, tears building up in her eyes.
“Sorry - I didn’t want to upset you.”
Cheryl gives a little smile as she wipes her eyes. “It’s fine; it was years ago.”
“That doesn’t make it any easier.” Joey walks across the living room to his girlfriend and embraces her in a hug, causing her to pull a disgusted face.
“What?” he asks, stepping back.
“I wish you would quit smoking.”
“I’m trying to cheer you up and you have to complain about that?”
She gives him a quick peck on his lips. “So is he going to file a police report on the guy?”
“He says no, since he could have overpowered the guy if he wanted to.”
She sits on the couch; staring into space.
“This is why I didn’t want to tell you – I didn’t want you to have to relive when it happened to you,” he says as he sits next to her.
She leans against him, prompting him to put his arm around her. “It’s fine. It’s in the past; it’s still hard to think about, but I’ve moved on with my life. We need to be there for Rhys now.”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine; he didn’t seem that upset.”
“In shock probably.”
Joey nods in agreement.
“If he doesn’t deal with this, it could subconsciously screw up any future relationship.”
Joey stands up and walks to the kitchen. “I’m going to make some coffee – do you want a pop tart or anything?”
“Should I call Erick?” she says, ignoring the question. “To tell him what helped me when I was going through it?”
“Not yet. I think we should see how Rhys reacts to it first; he probably won’t want everyone knowing.” Joey notices the time on the microwave clock. “Damn, I better go get a shower.”
Cheryl reaches for the TV remote and turns it on. “OK. I’ll bring you a cup of coffee when it’s ready.”
***
Meanwhile, Rhys lies awake in his bed, staring out of the window, watching the sky slowly lighten up. He picks up his phone and scrolls through the contacts to ‘Mom and Dad’. His finger hovers above the send button, before he tosses the phone on the bed beside him. He rolls over, puts a pillow over his head and lets the tears flow that he’s been holding back since moving to LA.
“Hello?” comes a female voice from outside his open window.
Rhys removes the pillow from his head and wipes his face before getting up and walking to the window. “Janie?” he asks, his voice scratchy.
“Are you OK, sweetie?” she asks through the closed curtains.
“I’m fine,” he says unconvincingly.
“Come outside,” she instructs.
He sighs, but decides to do as told. When he gets outside he sees her sitting at the small patio table in front of her apartment. He drags his feet over to her and sits on the metal chair across from her.
Janie slides a juice pouch to Rhys, and waits for him to open it and take a sip before speaking. “So what’s wrong?” she finally asks. “Those were a lot of tears.”
“Sorry,” he says, blushing.
“Don’t be sorry,” she says with a smile. “Just tell me what happened.”
“I’ve just been really sad since I moved out here, and I’ve been holding it in. I guess it finally got to be too much.”
Janie nods with a caring smile on her face.
“I miss my family and my friends. It hasn’t been as much fun as I had expected when we came out here.” He sniffs his nose before continuing. “Erick and I were going to go out all the time and have lots of fun and become rich and famous and…” he trails off.
“And you’ve been here a month,” says Janie. “Surely you didn’t expect it to happen so fast?”
Rhys shakes his head. “I didn’t expect for a lot of things to happen so fast, like losing my best friend and getting raped by my boss,” he says without emotion.
Janie involuntarily gasps at his announcement. “What happened? Did you call the police or your parents?”
He shakes his head, the tears starting to flow again. “I can’t talk to my parents about sex.”
She gets up and moves to the chair next to Rhys, and takes his hand in hers. “I always tell my kids that they can talk to me about anything, and I’m sure your parents agree.”
“They do,” he says. “But just because they’re strong enough to hear about it, doesn’t mean I’m strong enough to talk about it.”
“Oh, you poor thing.” Janie wipes a few tears from her eyes as she stands up; she pulls Rhys up out of his chair and wraps her arms around him in the best hug he’s had since leaving Ohio. After nearly a minute Janie lets go and steps back. “Is there anything you need?”
Rhys shakes his head; the hug at least makes him feel a little better about missing his parents.
“Well, one thing I’ll tell you is that as soon as you can test for STD’s Lawrence will give you a free examination.”
“Who?”
“My husband. He’s a doctor.”
“Oh, I’ve seen him in passing, but we never officially met.”
“Well come inside and you can meet him, and I’ll make you some pancakes.”
“That’s OK,” he says, shaking his head. “You were clearly going somewhere, or else you wouldn’t be up at 5AM.”
“Just going to the gym; I like to go early before the boys get up and while Lawrence is home, but I can skip a day.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. Now come on.” She leads him into her home and he gladly follows.
***
“Good morning,” Erick says to Adele as he comes into work. He puts a cappuccino on her desk; she looks up, eyebrow raised. “What?” he asks.
“What’s this?”
“Cappuccino.”
“Is this your way of trying to apologize for being such a dick when you abandoned me at the bar?”
“It’s me saying sorry if I offended you by hanging out with my other friends that night. I realize I went out with you guys and it was lame to ditch you – but seeing Rhys, I realized I’d been ditching him loads to hang out with you. Of course, I see now that ditching either one of you isn’t the best choice, and we all should have hung out together.”
Adele shrugs and picks up the drink. She smells it before taking a sip. “Well, I guess I can forgive you.”
“Good. So, now that we’re best friends again … “
“Oh?”
“I was wondering if you would want to go out with me.”
Adele purses her lips in concentration; apparently weighing the pros and cons in her head.
“Damn, I didn’t think it was that hard of a question.”
“Fine,” she says, smiling. “But I’m used to nice things, so no fast food.”
“I actually have a very nice evening planned for us. Saturday night good for you?”
“That’s tomorrow. Don’t you know it’s rude to ask someone on a date the day before?”
“Well I have a very busy schedule, but luckily I had a cancellation for tomorrow. Otherwise it’ll be,” he counts on his finger while biting his lip, “three weeks before I have another opening.”
“Oh!” She laughs, standing up. “I guess I should just count my blessings that I’m free tomorrow.”
He grins and winks at her, before turning to go to his desk.
***
“I can’t get it right,” a 10 year old boy says to Joey, tossing his paintbrush in a cup of water.
“First of all,” says Joey as he sits down next to the boy, “do we keep our brushes in the water?”
“No,” the boy sighs.
“Why’s that?” Joey asks as he takes the brush out of the murky water and wiping it clean on a paper towel.
“Because the bristles will get messed up. But look at it, it stinks!” the boy leans back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest.
Joey looks at the still life of summer fruit the boy is working on. “It doesn’t stink. You’re just using the wrong brush, for starters. You need to use the flat brush for this area.” He picks up the brush and shows him what he means on a scrap paper. “See? Just like that? And then to get the details of the watermelon seeds, try using this one.” He pulls out a detail round brush.