A Real Disaster

by Molly Ryan

“Are you an angel because I’m sure I just saw you falling from heaven.”

  You have got to be kidding me. Could he be any cornier?

  “I’m sorry, do those lines actually work on girls?” I asked.

  The guy paused and then threw his head back in a boisterous laugh.

  “Usually, except now.”

  “I’m so sorry that I have more than two brain cells in my head,” I retorted. “Can I help you?”

  “I don’t know, can you?”

  Oh, I was dealing with a smart ass. This was perfect. I looked around for Turner but didn’t see him emerging from any part of the crowd.

  Come on Turner, come back already.

  “I’m Nash.”

  “And I should care because?” I said as I stared at him.

  Was he seriously standing there and bothering me with his lousy pick-up lines? Did I not make it clear enough that I wanted nothing to do with him?

  “I’m the main singer in the band you came to see.”

  “Good to know.”

  I looked Nash over. He was good looking, I would give him that. He had a mop of black hair, the color that most couldn’t pull off, but it complimented his green eyes and tanned skin that were covered in tattoos. He wore a button down shirt, opened, and I could see the faint outline of muscle tone. Against my will my body started to hum.

  Come on Lily.

  He’s sexy…

  He’s also incredibly dumb.

  His narrow waist disappeared behind loose fitting jeans, ripped at the bottom, and his sneakered feet.

  “So…do you have a name?”

  “Of course I have a name…”

  Again Nash laughed but it wasn’t a malicious laugh. It was a whimsical laugh that disappeared with the wind.

  “Okay, I’ll admit it. That was a stupid question. It’s probably one of the stupidest questions I’ve ever asked.”

  He took another drink.

  “Well at least we’re in agreement about that,” I said.

  This time I smiled at him, my cold shoulder growing warmer by the minute. Nash shifted on his feet and ran a hand through his hair. It bounced once and then lay back down exactly in the position it started in.

  “So can I have your name?”

  “It’s Lily…”

  I opened my mouth to say more when I finally spotted Turner. He carried two cups and was smiling as he walked towards me. His smile abruptly disappeared when he saw Nash.

  “Nash,” Turner said.

  “Turner,” he replied. “Long time no see. How are you doing buddy?”

  “Fine.”

  Turner stepped between Nash and me, blocking him from my view.

  “Do you want to walk around a little? I want to check everything out.”

  I wanted to ask Turner what exactly he hoped to check out. It wasn’t as if things changed a lot, at least to him. From what he told me, the concert was the same, year after year.

  But Turner’s face lost all its color and his chin trembled just slightly. There was something between these two guys… What had happened between them? Why, when Turner saw Nash, did he change so much?

  “Sure,” I said and carefully slid off the rock.

  I peeked around Turner’s shoulder.

  “See you around Nash.”

  “Thanks.”

  Nash never lost his smile, even as Turner took my hand in his and pulled me away. Turner didn’t talk to me. I just followed him through the crowd of sweaty, drunk college students. My feet were killing me and I knew now why I hadn’t worn heels until that night.

  I wanted to ask Turner to stop, or at least to slow down, but his grip on my hand stopped me from making the suggestion. I knew that Turner wanted to get me as far away from Nash as possible.

  Finally the two of us stopped. I had no idea where we were, or where Nash was. Turner pulled me away from the crowd and we hung out against a tree, watching students continue to arrive. I could hear the echo of conversations fluttering over to me but I couldn’t hear what they were talking about. Turner turned to me and frowned, distracted.

  “Turner,” I said slowly, tentatively. “What was that about? What’s with you and Nash.”

  “Nothing. Nothing is going on.”

  I knew it wasn’t my business, I knew that, but I pushed anyway.

  “That wasn’t nothing.”

  “Lily-”

  “I know it’s none of my business and I know I shouldn’t be asking but you look so… Angry. You practically dragged me away from him like I was some kind of child.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said and pulled me close to him.

  He held my hand and stared into my eyes.

  I could feel our bodies mixing together and I wouldn’t have minded if he just kissed me.

  “Don’t worry about it. It’s not a big deal.”

  I was telling the truth, it wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t the first time I saw two guys circle each other like two animals ready to attack.

  “Nash and I go back… Way back. I’ve known him since we were kids.” Turner cleared his throat and I stood there, waiting. “We were inseparable.”

  “So what happened?” Turner laughed a short, harsh laugh.

  “What happened?” Turner repeated. “What didn’t happen? One night I come home after a long day of work and find the asshole screwing my sister.”

  My eyes popped and I gasped.

  “Are you serious?”

  Turner nodded.

  “He had her up against the wall like some kind of whore. It was sickening.”

  I nodded, sick myself. I couldn’t imagine what Turner felt when he walked in on the scene in front of him. I knew that if that happened to me I would have flipped out.

  “What did you do?”

  “I grabbed the douchebag by the collar of his shirt and threw him out of the house. I told him that I didn’t want to see him at my house anymore and if I did, I would ruin him. Thankfully he listened. Now, the only time I see him is at these stupid concerts.”

  Turner shook his whole body out and then smiled at me.

  “And now I have made this, officially, the worst date ever.”

  “It’s not ruined,” I assured him. “We still have the rest of the night.”

  After a moment of hesitation, I pulled Turner down and kissed his cheek.

  “Let’s make the most of it.”

  Chapter Five

  The music was deafening. Turner was next to me, jumping up and down. He had a drink in his hand that he expertly kept from falling and took glugs from every few minutes. It was his fourth drink while I just finished my second. I wasn’t sure if he was drunk yet or still getting there but I didn’t want to find out. My feet were killing me and so was my head. All I wanted to do was go home and climb into bed.

  It was easy to get me drunk since it was my first time drinking that much.

  I tugged at Turner’s arm, attempting to get his attention, but he didn’t feel it. He screamed at the top of his lungs at the music and fist bumped the guy next to him. Turner was having the time of his life but I had no idea why. If Turner hated Nash so much, how could he enjoy the music so much? Didn’t that contradict each other?

  It had to be the alcohol.

  Finally the music stopped. My ears were ringing but the pounding in my head became worse. I felt nauseous and disoriented.

  Was I really drunk?

  I started laughing to myself. Who asks themselves if they are drunk or not? Most already know the answer to the question. Turner downed the rest of this drink and then turned to me. His cheeks were rosy red and his eyes were glazed over.

  “Alright all, The Renegation are taking a little break. The other band is going be filling in for us for a bit. Rock on!” Nash said and the band exited the stage.

  A bunch of college girls screamed Nash’s name even though he wasn’t on stage anymore. He could probably get a date with any of them.

  “Isn’t this awesome?!” Turner cried as he squeezed my hand.


  “I don’t feel that great,” I admitted.

  Turner’s face contorted into a look of concern.

  “You look… Sick.”

  “I think I am. I’m sorry, Turner. Now I’m the one who is ruining the date.”

  I took a breath but it only made me more nauseous.

  “I think I need to go back to the dorm and sleep this off.”

  Turner looked at the stage, then at me, then back at the stage. It was obvious that he was torn about leaving the concert or leaving me.

  What a first date this was.

  “I can get back to the dorm by myself.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah it’s fine,” I said. “You’ve looked forward to this night for a while. I don’t want to ruin it for you. I’ll call you tomorrow or something?”

  “Yeah, I’ll stop by tomorrow morning to see how you are.”

  “Great,” I smiled at him. “I did have fun tonight, you know, before I got sick.”

  Turner bent down and before I could react, his lips were on mine. They were swift and chilled, tasting like jack and coke.

  Then he let off.

  “See you tomorrow,” he said.

  Too dazed to do anything else, I waved to Turner and then started to weave through the crowd as the new band began to play. I got out of the crowd just as they started to get rowdy.

  Thank goodness.

  I kicked my shoes off, hooking them around my fingers. I started to walk through the thick grass, letting the blades slip through my toes. All I wanted was a bed.

  “Leaving so soon?” A voice behind me said.

  I turned to see Nash walking up behind me. He had his one hand in his pocket while the other was slinging a leather jacket over his shoulder. He didn’t look like a douchebag, or the type of person to take advantage of someone else. Still, Turner’s story stuck in my mind.

  Plus, I had a past that I didn’t want to relive with him.

  “What’s up?” I said once he caught up with me.

  “Oh nothing. Where are you going? Didn’t you like the concert?”

  “It was okay, but I’m not feeling well. A little too drunk.”

  “You think? Shouldn’t you know something like that?”

  “Not if you haven’t drank but a couple times before.”

  “Gotcha.”

  Suddenly the nauseous feeling overwhelmed me and rushed over to the closest garbage can.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I feel like I’m going to puke,” I said.

  “You’ll learn, it’s more common up here in college.”

  “That doesn’t make me feel any better.”

  “Well then maybe I should walk you home.”

  I shook my head and held up my hand.

  “No, I’ll be okay.”

  “I insist.”

  “But your concert?”

  “We won’t be back on for at least a half hour. I have plenty of time.”

  “Did you really sleep with Turner’s sister?”

  The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. I put my hands over my mouth.

  I really shouldn’t drink.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said.

  Shit.

  “It’s fine,” Nash said. “But do you want to know the actual answer?”

  No.

  “Yes.”

  “Well, yeah. It shouldn’t be a big deal either. It’s not the way Turner thinks it is. He never really gave me a damn chance to explain.”

  “What is there to explain? You slept with his sister.”

  “So? We were in love… And she wanted it as much as me.”

  Haven’t I heard that before.

  “Come on, Nash. Love? That’s what every guy says.”

  “I did!” Nash cried. “I loved Turner’s sister so much.”

  “So then what? What happened?”

  I don’t know why I cared. Maybe it was to understand Turner more or to have something to talk about while I walked back to my dorm.

  “We were in a relationship but I didn’t want to tell Turner because he can be a bit over protective.”

  “So you had sex with her?”

  “Yes, we made love. I already said that. Why does this matter?”

  This time I grinned and shook my head. Who used the phrase ‘made love’ anymore? It was so old fashioned.

  “It doesn’t matter now. That was back in high school. Plenty of hot chicks at this school to forget her.”

  “I guess,” I said.

  It didn’t surprise me that it was easy for him to forget her after seeing all those girls screaming his name.

  Nash opened the door to the dorm for me and waited until I passed through. Then he pushed the button and the two of us waited for the elevator to reach the main floor.

  “You still should have told Turner this.”

  “How could I?”

  “I don’t know…”

  “Not only did he not give me a chance to explain, every time I tried he said that I was a liar. He flipped out and told me never to fucking come back. There was no way that I could fix anything no matter how much I tried. Turner cut me off in everything I tried to do. He kept his sister from talking to me, pushed me out of his life. Hell he even managed to turn his parents against me. We were best friends and then after that moment he was my biggest enemy. It doesn’t matter. I’m over that shit.”

  My heart ached for Nash. I knew that his side of the story probably wasn’t completely true. Then again, I didn’t think Turner had it correct either. There might have been information missing, forgotten, or dismissed. Who knew? What I did know, though, was Nash’s story was heart wrenching. He tried to act like it didn’t bother him but how couldn’t it?

  “How many times did you try to talk to him?” I asked as we stepped into the elevator.

  “Too many to count. At some point I stopped, though. It never worked and I just gave up and cut my losses. Don’t worry about it though,” he said and swung his arm around my neck.

  I pushed it off.

  What did he think, that he was going to get lucky with me?

  He was obviously worried about doing things with me more than his and Turner’s relationship. But I was a fixer and wanted to repair their friendship.

  Maybe I should try to talk to Turner… See if I can get him to see the other side. All the signs pointed for me to stay out of it. It wasn’t my business and I really didn’t want to get involved in some long, drawn out drama. But like I said, I’m a fixer.

  “So do you want me to come in?” he asked as we lingered by my dorm room door.

  Sabrina would still be at the concert and we would be alone…

  “I don’t think so…” I responded as I inserted the key into the lock.

  “Really?”

  He was obviously not used to getting turned down.

  “Yeah. Honestly, I feel a little weak. I just need to sleep this off,” I said.

  “All right, maybe some other time then. Back to the concert I go.”

  There would be plenty of girls he could sleep with there.

  First college party.

  First college date.

  First guy that tries to get with me.

  I was on a roll…

  I was also already chickening out.

  “Thanks for walking with me back to my dorm”

  “No problem, see you around.”

  When I got inside I fell face first into my bed and fell sleep.

  Chapter Six

  The first thing I noticed the next morning was the fact that I was hunched over the garbage can. I had been throwing up God knows what all night.

  My body ached, more than it did before, and I winced as I sat up, stretching. My body was sticky with sweat and God knows what else. I think it’s time to shower, I told myself and forced myself to sit up. Grabbing my robe, I slipped my arms through and wrapped it tightly around my naked body.

  A second later the door to my room opened and Sabrina
came sauntering in. Her makeup was smeared and her hair was matted in different places.

  “Oh my God, are you okay?” I asked as I stared at her.

  She carried her shoes in her hand and padded into the room in dirty, bare feet.

  “I’m fine,” Sabrina said.

  She plopped down on the bed and stared at me.

  “The night was amazing, one of the best nights that I’ve had in a while.”

  She eyed me carefully.

  “And what about you? Turner said you went home early?”

  “Yeah I wasn’t feeling well.”

  I opted to leave out the part about Nash walking me back to the dorm. I didn’t need to be part of the rumor mill.

  “I’m not used to drinking and I think I had too much last night. When I got back to the dorm I threw up and then went straight to bed.”

  The story wasn’t a complete lie but it wasn’t exactly the truth either. I couldn’t help but think about Nash hitting on me. It wasn’t something I was used to. While Nash was worried about getting me naked, Turner just wanted to jam out at the concert.

  “That sucks,” Sabrina said and I let out a sigh of relief. “Turner was bummed too. He was having a lot of fun with you last night.”

  “He was?” I asked, surprised. “How do you know?”

  “He told me when I bumped into him. He thought that it was his fault you left or something.”

  “He did?”

  “Yeah, but I told him that it wasn’t the reason. I mean I don’t know you that well but I figured that you wouldn’t just leave a date for no good reason.”

  “Well… Thanks.”

  I smiled at Sabrina all the while I feeling like I was being punched in the gut. Although I didn’t intend on going home with anyone, it still happened. While I was getting hit on by the enemy, Turner was worried about me and the date. This was a real disaster.

  The two guys that actually show interest in me just had to be enemies from the beginning.

  “No problem.”

  “Well I need to go take a shower,” I said and grabbed my shower caddy.

  “Lunch later?” Sabrina asked.

  I nodded, not really listening. Too much was on my mind.

  “Sure, whatever.”

  I quickly exited the room.

  Once in the shower, I turned the water on as hot as I could and stood under the needles. I let the water rush over me as I thought about Nash and Turner. As mean as Turner painted Nash, there was a part of him that was honest, genuine, and caring. He did walk me back to my dorm.