“What have you been up to lately?” Chelsea asked, as she dug into her salad and we caught up. “Not much, mostly just school and Chris.” I shrugged.
“You seem different lately,” she stated, getting my attention. “Distracted,” she concluded, putting her finger on it. I felt my body warm with nerves.
“Yeah, it’s just been a lot with exams and all,” I lied. “You know how I get,” I said with a small laugh at myself. It was no secret that I was a closet nerd and really cared about getting my work done and getting good grades.
“If you say so,” she said unconvinced.
“So, what about you?” I asked, changing topics and getting myself out of the hot seat. “How’s it going with Mack?” I asked, curious.
“Who?” she asked confused, not an ounce of memory in her eyes.
“The guy from your Buddhism class.” I laughed at her. She had no idea who I was talking about and she had left me for him, typical Chelsea.
“Oh yeah,” she giggled. “He was okay but only for the night.” She roared in laughter. “That ended a while ago,” she informed me. Chelsea moved on fast; she got bored easily and so far her longest relationship had lasted a month and that was over a year ago.
“So, who’s been your newest edition?” I asked. Chelsea had slept with over fifty guys that I knew of, she was always joking about aiming for the big one hundred. I on the other hand, was hoping to keep my number as low as possible. It freaked me out to think of all the guys Chelsea had been with, she had gotten chlamydia once but still she hadn’t changed her ways. The idea of getting an STI mortified me. I was much more of a spaz than she was. Chelsea hesitated, something she didn’t do often and made me all the more curious.
“There hasn’t really been anyone,” she said after a noticeably long pause, which made me know she was lying. I wouldn’t press her though; she would tell me when she was ready. It made me wonder if it was more than just a fling, because normally she had no trouble sharing news about her latest conquest. “But hopefully tonight there will be.” She winked, breaking the awkward tension. Chelsea scanned the bar for her next flavor of the hour and I looked around too, scanning to see if Axel was here by any chance. Nope, I was still in the clear. We ordered a pitcher of sex on the beach and finished it off, both of us now very tipsy. I enjoyed the buzz in my head and the warmth coursing through my chest.
“Ohhhh!” Chelsea squealed in delight, her eyes widening. “Him!” she stated, nodding at me to look. I looked over my shoulder to find the man in question, an average height guy with curly brown hair. He wasn’t anything I’d ever be attracted to. Chelsea definitely had her drunk goggles on. I was about to tell her as much but she was already walking over to Curly. “I’ll be back,” she said leaving me. And just like that I knew my fun night out was over.
I always hated this part of the night. Getting dressed together, grabbing a bite to eat, and a drink and catching up with her was great. Getting ditched for a meaningless lay every time, well that really sucked. I debated heading home now and calling it quits. Chelsea was going to be with some random for the rest of the night anyways and I didn’t feel like sitting around bored all night waiting for her to be done. I got up leaving our table to go after her and let her know that I was going to head back home.
I stopped, feeling eyes on me as if a laser was burning into the side of my face and looked over. I felt myself freeze as I took in all 6’6” of Axel. God, was he sexy. His hair had grown a bit and was falling onto his forehead and his beard hadn’t been shaved, leaving him just the right amount of scruff. He looked amazing as usual. God, why was life so unfair to me? He walked straight over to me and put his big warm hand gently on my arm, sending tingles throughout my body.
“Hey.” He smiled down at me, his smile warm and genuine. He was smiling so big and goofily, that against my better judgement I couldn’t help but smile back.
“Hey,” I said back lamely, trying to hold myself up straight, even though my knees were shaking slightly, from both nerves and arousal.
“Can I buy you a drink?” he asked me with his smile still spread wide. I shook my head no at him. This was not a good idea; I had to get out of here.
“No, I’m actually leaving now,” I answered. “I’m just looking for my friend to tell her I’m going,” I told him, feeling hot just from being near him, I needed to get some distance between us but for the life of me I couldn’t move my feet, they were frozen in place.
“Oh,” he said his brilliant smile fading. “Well, I’ll wait with you until you find her,” he stated, sounding a little unsure.
“Okay,” I heard myself saying as I scanned the crowd, not finding her blonde head anywhere. Dammit Chelsea!
“How have you been? I haven’t seen you in a while.” He chatted like we were friends and not just a very bizarre one night stand in a completely different country, somehow seeing each other again.
“Good, I’ve been busy with exams and school,” I offered, feeling uncomfortable with this small talk. I didn’t know how to interact with him. This was all unknown territory that I had no clue how to navigate.
“School?” he asked, looking more cheerful all of a sudden. I nodded, confused.
“What school do you go to?” he questioned me, fully invested in our chitchat.
“University of Florida,” I told him, not sure if it was a smart move on my part but it was a big school, so it seemed pretty safe to divulge this information.
“I went there.” He smiled brightly. “I graduated a few years back,” he continued. I merely nodded my head, wondering now, how old he actually was. That thought hadn’t crossed my mind before. At that moment I spotted Chelsea, who had forgotten Curly and was now with some other guy, Lanky I decided to name him. Thank the Lord!
“I have to go!” I told Axel, making my run for it. “I see my friend,” I explained, finally getting my feet to cooperate with me.
“Can I at least call you a cab?” he asked, his face looking pained. This guy had been nothing but sweet to me and I felt bad for being so cold towards him. The trouble was how I felt around him was dangerous. I had a boyfriend and I needed to keep away from Axel.
“No, it’s okay. I can manage,” I told him, leaving but then stopped. “Thank you though,” I said, genuinely meaning it, it was a sweet gesture. He smiled a small smile back at me. It didn’t quite reach his eyes and I felt a bit disappointed.
“See you around,” he said as I made my way over to Chelsea. I didn’t dare look back, knowing if I did, I probably wouldn’t leave those magical green eyes and contagious smile. I could hear the disappointment hidden in his tone and felt it too but it was better if we just steered clear of each other. I felt myself being angry with Chelsea yet again for putting me in this situation, because now I was even more sexually frustrated and confused. I was also mad at myself for agreeing to come in the first place, I should have known better. I was clearly asking for trouble and it found me.
“Chelsea,” I said loudly, getting her attention. She looked at me, surprised and then smiled wide, seeming to have forgotten she had left me behind as usual.
“Lee,” she giggled, clearly having had a few more drinks in my absence. I ignored Lanky, who was clearly checking me out, even though he had his arm around Chelsea’s waist.
“I’m going home. Have fun,” I said and then turned to leave. I didn’t care that I was being bitchy, I was pissed and I knew she wouldn’t remember anyways. Her drinking over the last five months had gotten a lot worse, and now if she wasn’t blackout drunk it was a rare occasion. I didn’t know what was going on with her but I didn’t like it.
Chris picked me up after clinical. I got into his car hoping he wouldn’t mind staying in tonight. Not only was I tired but I could use some one-on-one time with him, it had been a while and I really needed to release some of my sexual frustrations.
“Hey baby,” he greeted, pulling away from the curb before I even had my seat belt fastened.
“Hey.”
I smiled back at him. “How was your day?” I asked.
“Good, I just woke up a little while ago,” he told me. I felt jealous of him and his extra sleep. He was majoring in Economics but was really just goofing off. I didn’t think he actually planned on making a career out of it, not that he needed to. It was strange that both he and Chelsea came from such different worlds than me and yet they were the two people I was closest to in my life.
“Late night?” I asked him and he just nodded, a smile etched on his face.
“I went to Duke’s last night,” I told him. He nearly swerved the car when I said that, making me grab my door in surprise.
“You went to Duke’s?” he asked, shock clear in his voice. It was unexpected behavior on my part, so I understood his confusion.
“Yeah, with Chelsea,” I explained. “I didn’t stay long though, Chelsea was being well, Chelsea,” I continued. He grinned, returning to normal.
“I didn’t know you guys ever went there,” he said casually.
“We’ve only been once before but I’m really not a fan of the place,” I told him and his body language told me he was clearly more relaxed now. “Can we stay in tonight?” I asked, changing the topic as he drove by my apartment, clearly set on going to his.
“Sure,” he agreed easily, a first. We went inside his giant apartment. He shared it with his four roommates: Jeremy, Alex, Sean, and Lloyd. They all greeted me when I came in and then continued playing Madden on the PS4.
“You guys coming out, Mathers?” Lloyd asked Chris. They all referred to each other by their last names. It was a sports thing but it annoyed me, because none of them actually played sports, unless it was gaming, which didn’t count. Chris shook his head no.
“Whipped!” Jeremy called out, earning himself a chorus of laughs.
“Shut up Rhodes,” Chris shouted at Jeremy, leading me up to his room. His room was big, bigger than my entire apartment, twice the size actually. He had a giant king size mattress and a large desk that was used as a drop-off point for all of his clothes, a leather couch, and a nice wooden coffee table, with a large 70-in flat screen TV to top it all off. His place was actually pretty nice, despite the fact that it was always a mess and there was a permanent smell of musty clothes and stale beer in the air.
We decided on Chinese takeout and a movie, in bed of course. I got cuddled up next to him waiting for the Chinese to arrive and went to check my phone, to see how much longer it would be because I was starving. My phone slipped from my hand and fell onto the plush carpet flooring, just under the edge of the bed. I leaned over looking for it and found it right away. There was a bunch of clothes under his bed, of course.
“You really have to clean your room once in a while,” I laughed at him. “You have another closet going on under here,” I joked, picking up my phone, noticing all the socks scattered under his bed, as well as, a pair of boxers, a bra, and a few shirts. Wait a bra? I felt my pulse quicken and my skin turned to ice. I stared at it blinking, I must be imagining this. I blinked a few more times but it still lay there. I felt the blood drain from my face and pulled it out and held it in my hands examining it. Yes, it in fact was definitely a bra and it was definitely not mine. It was a 36B and I was a 34C. The extremely padded white push-up bra lay in my hands as I wordlessly stared at it.
“Oh my God!” Chris said, jumping out of the bed and facing me. “It’s not what it looks like,” he said in a rush of words which were clearly a lie.
“To me it looks like I found another girl’s bra under your bed,” I said, my voice scarily calm even to my own ears. It did not match the feelings that were coursing through me.
“The guys had some girls over and one of them used my room to change. She must have forgotten it here,” he said, his voice an octave higher than usual. I let the lies flow freely from his mouth. I was too focused on the object in my hands. The left breast had a small red stain on it, from a bottle of red wine.
“Nothing happened. I swear I didn’t do anything,” he vowed but I was more concerned with the stain than his words, I knew that stain. I had tried to remove it even, but it was stuck and there was no way it was ever coming out. I felt betrayed.
“Stop,” I uttered finally, calmly looking back up to him where he was pacing. “How long?” I asked, my voice still too calm to my ears.
“No babe. Nothing happened,” he said, coming over to me, his eyes big and pleading. I wasn’t going to fall for that, never again. I felt my skin thaw and turn to liquid fire in a nanosecond.
“You mother fucking bastard,” I shouted louder than I’d ever shouted in my entire life. I knew his friends heard me, heck the neighbors had probably heard me but I didn’t care. They knew, everyone probably knew but me. I felt like a complete idiot. “Not only have you been fucking around behind my back,” I started, still yelling, “but with Chelsea!” I full-on screamed. “My best friend! You and Chelsea!” I continued screaming. Chris turned white with shock. I’d never so much as raised my voice in a fight but now I was letting it all out, everything I had bottled up. He moved to come near me and that was his first mistake. I rounded on him, swinging my fist and connected it straight with his jaw. He fell to the floor and I just walked over him, grabbing my purse as I left him there in shock.
“Lee, wait!” he shouted after me, running down the stairs to follow me as I walked out. I passed his friends on the way. They were all frozen in shock as well and watched us, unable to look away.
“Fuck off Chris,” I told him. “Leave me alone, better yet go die in a hole, you fucking bastard,” I swore, slamming the door shut behind me. I walked straight, not knowing where I was going but heading in any direction that was as far away as I could get from Chris and his apartment. That two-timing, cheating asshole! I called a taxi and went home replaying everything over in my head, I still couldn’t believe it.
I should have seen the signs with Chris. He had always been so distant and it was weird that he never wanted to have sex and he just wanted to party. I should have known. The only thing that came as a true shock was Chelsea, I was still dumbfounded. I couldn’t believe it, if it hadn’t been for the proof, I would have thought it was impossible and that she would never betray me, much less do something this horrible. But I knew that bra and had washed it for her when we were in Munich. We had been laughing and drinking a bottle of red wine late one night in our room, when Chelsea had drunkenly spilled the glass down her shirt, soaking straight through. I tried to save her white bra but it had been futile.
How could she? It was the fact that she betrayed me that hurt the most. We had been best friends since middle school. I was always there for her and I thought she was there for me. I was clearly mistaken. Yeah, there were times we weren’t on the best of terms but this was unimaginable. I sank into my bed and finally let myself cry it all out.
The next day, I left my bed only to grab food and to use the bathroom. I turned off my phone so I wouldn’t have to see all the messages from both Chelsea and Chris. I’d gone through the stages of grief and was now at rage. They had both played me. I’d had no idea; I’d been clueless. The more I thought about it, the more signs I saw that I had overlooked, like Chelsea acting weird about her latest lay and her clear disapproval of Chris. Even with all the signs in front of me, I never would have seen it. I had trusted them both completely. I knew better now than to trust anybody again. I had wasted over a year of my life with that cheating bastard and seven years of my friendship with Chelsea was now down the drain. There was no coming back from something like that. I lay in my bed no longer crying, just feeling numb now. There was a loud banging coming from my door, I ignored it but it only grew louder. Finally, when I thought the assailant would break my door down if they continued with such force, I get up to open it.
“What do you want?” I asked icily, as Chelsea stood on the other side of my door looking like a mess. She actually looked worse than me in this moment, which came as a surprise in itself. Her usually coiffed blonde hair was
n’t done up and was a frizzy ball, her makeup had been cried off and mascara ran down her cheek. It had smeared all over and dried like that. She looked truly horrific and I took some small amount of comfort in that. She cried hysterically, almost hyperventilating.
“I’m so sorry,” she stuttered through her gasps of air. I stood with my arms crossed over my chest in front of the door, not moving to comfort her or to let her in.
“When did it start?” I asked, needing to know.
“A few weeks before Germany,” she said, crying even harder now. This had been going on for almost five months! I couldn’t believe it. That was when she had first started acting differently. Well, I guess I knew why now. I felt my teeth clench in anger but had no words, I was too enraged.
“I’m sorry!” she repeated. “It just happened,” she continued. “I found out he had cheated on you a bunch of times and went to confront him and things just happened between us instead. It happened once before Germany and then I told him he had to break up with you or I would tell you what had happened,” she informed me. “But he asked you for a break instead, when he promised me, you’d break up. I thought when you saw the pictures that I had asked my friends to take it would be over for sure but the two of you got back together anyways,” she rambled on, only making my blood boil even more.
Not only did she know he’d been cheating on me for months but she had secretly orchestrated a way for not only me but the whole world to see it, instead of just telling me honestly. “We only slept together two more times, the last being Friday night after you left Duke’s, he came and took me to his place. I left my bra hoping you’d find it and finally know the truth about him!” she exclaimed. “I never thought you would know it was mine,” she admitted guiltily. Everything she said only made it that much worse. I knew she wasn’t stupid but this was really stupid of her.
“Do you love him?” I asked, my voice tight with all the emotions I held down.
One Night Stand Page 6