Here For You

by Denise Muniz

  “It’s just my opinion. Besides, it’ll be good for you, I mean, us in the long run. I’m just being honest with you.” He was Dead. Fucking. Serious. How was it okay to basically call your girlfriend fat, which I knew I was not, right after sex? It wasn’t.

  I gripped the sheet tighter, feeling my blood boil. I’d never snapped at Grey before but I thought tonight might be the night. I turned away from him, going into the bathroom located in his room. It was a huge bathroom, with a large tub, a nice marble sink and a matching toilet. Way too big for just one person.

  I heard his footsteps behind me getting closer, but before he could come in I slammed the door and locked it.

  “Come on, really? You’re going to make a big deal out of this? I fucking love your body. I’m sorry, Becca,” he said loudly, knocking numerous times.

  Looking at myself in the mirror behind the door, I dropped the blanket to inspect myself. I had what I thought were decent sized C cups. Yeah, my hips were a little wider than I would have liked but at least I had a booty. Placing my hands on the spot where Grey had pinched, I felt a little more skin than usual. Why did he have to say that? Why did he just make me feel like I wasn’t sexy for him anymore?

  “Come on, sweetie pie. I’m really sorry.” He sounded sincere.

  Picking the blanket from the floor, I opened the door to see him in his blue boxers with both hands stretched out against the doorframe. When he saw me he dropped his hands before reaching out for me. I walked into his embrace. “I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have said it like that.” He told me, kissing the top of my head.

  “You shouldn’t have said it at all, Grey.” Especially right after sex, I thought.

  Grabbing my arm, he pulled me away. Looking into my eyes, he said, “Look, it would be you and me together, we could get toned together and spend more time together as well. I’m sorry.”

  He led me to the bed and I went without arguing. Before my head hit the pillow he yanked the blanket off of me.

  “Grey, what are you doing?” I asked him. It was bad enough that he’d just said that, now he was taking my cover. He looked me up and down, licking his lips. “Grey, come on. I’m tired.”

  He climbed into bed next to me. “Lift your head up.” He told me and when I did he put his hands behind my head. “Okay, lower it.” He wrapped his arm around my neck falling above my breast. I position my head on his chest and held his waist.

  “Goodnight,” I told him, kissing his chest.

  He reached over to switch the lamp off. “Goodnight, sweetie pie.” He kissed the top of my head, whispering, “I’m sorry, again.”

  *

  “Wait one second…He said what?” Emma yelled out. Thank goodness we were at my house. I think everyone and their mothers heard her.

  “Would you lower your mouth?” I told her, making my way to my bed to sit down. My father was probably downstairs; I didn’t want him to hear this.

  I had just told her what happened a week ago when Grey told me I should, sorry, I mean ‘we’ should tone up. I didn't want to talk about it but I eventually had. And it was still pissing me off. Since I left his house that day I had been second-guessing the way I’d looked in my royal blue dress.

  Emma was sitting on my chair looking at her Facebook page, but after I’d told her what he’d said she had turned around quickly, giving me her undivided attention. “And when did this happen?”

  This was the kicker. “Right after sex.”

  At that, she stood up and came to the bed. Sitting basically right on top of me she snapped, “You’re fucking kidding me, right?”

  “I wish I was.” I had to admit, I didn’t normally get ticked off or put down when other people spoke about me. I mean, there was always going to be someone out there talking shit about you, but it was up to you whether you felt like you should act on it or not. Me? I didn’t care, not unless it was from someone close to me. Grey was my boyfriend, so yes, I was highly upset. But I knew where he was coming from. After thinking about it, I knew he was just trying to look out for my health and me. Something I didn’t really do.

  “Did you kick him in the fucking nuts?” That would be something Emma would have said or done.

  I laughed, shaking my head. “No, why would I do that? He apologized.”

  Violence was her solution. “Because you should have! He was naked; it would have been the perfect time, apology or not.”

  When I was down she would always try to make me smile. I was so grateful for her. Leaning in, I gave her a big hug, which she returned. “Thanks.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” She told me patting me on my back before returning to the computer.

  I rarely ever used my computer. The thing was older than dirt and a piece of shit at that. The only one who would put it to good use was Emma. I didn’t know why when she had her iPhone.

  “Oh, look James got tagged in some new pictures,” she informed me. I got up off the bed and made my way to her. Leaning over her shoulder, I saw James with a huge smile on his face and his arms stretched open wide. There were a few people around him, almost like a group shot. Behind him was the scene of a beach. The women were wearing bikinis and the guy’s, swimming trunks. His chest was bare with small circles of glistening wet drops, and what seemed like a new tattoo on his ribs but I couldn’t figure out what it was. A woman with wavy blonde hair had her arms wrapped around his waist, smiling. I hadn’t heard from James since my date, which was almost a week now. He said he’d been crazy busy with ‘work and shit.’

  There was a time when we wouldn’t have gone a day without talking to each other. It didn’t matter what we were doing, or what time of the day it was, we always spoke. Now it was like we could go a few days or a week without communication. It seemed to be okay with him. He had always been the one to have people around him all the time. For me, it was a little different. If I wasn’t talking to James, Emma, Grey or my dad, I wasn’t talking to anybody. It was very hard to trust people. Growing up and always moving around taught me not to get too attached to people until we moved out here and knew we were going to stay. You have to choose those that you want to get close to, that you wouldn’t mind them knowing about your life. People out there only want to get in to become a snake, to manipulate. I’m thankful for my two best friends: James and Emma.

  Emma kept clicking through pictures and I noticed that the blonde was in almost all of them. Whatever. He seemed like he was having fun anyway. Yeah, enough fun with his new friends to forget all about me. But that’s what happens when someone moves away, everything goes with them. You’re just in the back of everyone’s mind because you decided to stay. I tried to text him as much as I could but I didn’t want him to think that I was stalking him or something. I just missed him.

  Emma had her own life. I couldn’t expect her to drop what she was doing just to keep me company. Although, she was always there for me, like she was now. I just called her and said I needed someone to talk to, someone who wasn’t James. If James knew what Grey had said then he would probably knock him out. Probably.

  “Hey, Emma, when is Richard coming down?” I asked her, remembering her telling me something about it at the party. I’d told James, but she never mentioned it again.

  She swirled around in the chair. “Oh shit, I totally forgot! Good thing you reminded me. He’s coming this weekend,” she said, all nonchalant, like I was supposed to know that.

  This weekend? Leave it to Emma to forget important shit. That was in like three days. “Seriously, Emma? You couldn’t tell me this earlier?” Now I was going to have to call James and ask him where I could find a good priced hotel near where he lives. We needed to figure out where Emma and Richard were going to stay…wait. “Didn’t you say something about him being at his cousin’s house or some shit like that?” I asked her as I reached for my phone. I needed to text James real quick.

  Me: Hey punk, Emma’s boyfriend is coming up this weekend. Just wanted to let u know. I’ll text u later (10:32pm)

&n
bsp; “Oh, about that…” Here comes the bad news. “His cousin got evicted.”

  Oh great.

  I couldn’t understand how she wasn’t freaking out about this.

  “Emma!” Why did I have to be the adult in this situation? “Do you guys know where you’re staying?”

  She shook her head no, still besotted with the computer. “Do you not see the problem here?” I asked. I was right behind her now. I had to pack, before I knew it, it’d be time to leave.

  She replied, “I got everything under control, don’t worry.” Easier said than done.

  “Really, how?” I wanted to hear this. She was always fashionably late to everything. I’m pretty sure this was no different.

  She sat up straight, turning her head toward me. “Just trust me, okay?”

  “Yeah sure, whatever. I have to tell Gre...” I couldn’t finish the sentence because she cut me right off.

  “Noooooooo, don’t invite him! I don’t want him to go.” She was in front of me now, grabbing my arms.

  What the hell?

  “Why not? Aren’t you the one who said he could come?” Yeah, I remembered her saying something like that.

  “No, I didn’t. You were drunk. You were very, very, very drunk. You must have heard me wrong.” Closing my eyes I tried to think back to that night, but there were only bits and pieces.

  “But I could have swor...”

  Again she cut me off.

  “You were drunk, like I said. Besides, do you want problems with James and Grey in the same space? I know I don’t, so please don’t tell him.” She was begging me now.

  She did have a point, Grey and James around each other was not something I wanted to deal with when I was trying to have a good time. “I’m not going to lie to him, Emma.”

  She sat down on the bed. I could see the wheels turning in her head. “Just tell him we’re having a girly weekend.” She faked a smile.

  “No. I’ll ask him. If he wants to go then I’ll make my excuses and stay. If he says no then I’ll go.” For Emma’s sake I hoped he’d say no, which I’m pretty sure he would, considering the late notice.

  Besides, he didn’t like to be around Emma. He said she was way too loud. I never really complained about his friends. They were mostly from his office so whenever we did go out it was always about work. Boring.

  “Ugh,” Emma said, throwing her body flat on the bed. “Whatever. Invite him.”

  Great.

  I had so much to do while Emma sat on the computer flicking through pictures.

  Chapter - 6

  James

  Fuck, the last week had been a fucking crazy week from hell. With partying and work I hadn’t had a chance to just sit and relax. I didn’t even want to think about the fun-filled weekend ahead of me. Brent had invited Paul and me over to his beach house again. He was a close friend of Paul’s, and once Paul and I became roommates, Brent would come over from to time to time to hang out, occasionally inviting us to his parties. Now we are all very close. Last weekend’s party was fucking crazy. I got way too drunk but I had a fucking blast even though it was some sort of graduation party for Brent’s cousin. But this weekend was supposed to be a pool/foam/glow stick party thing. Never been to one of those, so I was looking forward to it.

  As I got up to take a leak I heard my phone ringing. It was a regular ringtone so I knew it wasn’t programmed into my phone. I had specific ringtones for everyone; I hated having the same fucking ringtone for all of my contacts. It was a number that didn’t look familiar but the area code was from back home so I answered it.

  “Hello?” I answered.

  It was a female’s voice. “Hey, James.”

  “Who’s this?” The voice sounded vaguely familiar but I had no clue as to who it was.

  “Really, dipshit? It’s Emma.” Emma? Emma…Ohhhh okay. It’s hard to recognize a voice right away without the name. Since I had to update my phone, I must’ve forgot to store her number.

  “Oh hey, what’s up?”

  I didn’t normally speak to Emma much, only when I was in town, and even then only when I was hanging with Becca. Emma wasn’t so bad. For a short chick she had a spitfire mouth. She was very loud but funny. She was cool, never had a problem with her, and she couldn’t stand Grey’s ass so she got kudos points there.

  “Did Becca mentioned to you about my boyfriend coming up your way this weekend?”

  I started to go through my mental rolodex. I remember at the Fourth of July party she mentioned something about it. I just didn’t know the details. She also mentioned it the last time we used FaceTime, and I think she sent me a text but I couldn’t write her back at the time.

  “Yeah, I sort of remember. Why?”

  “Well, I’m going to try to make this short. My boyfriend was supposed to stay at his cousin’s house but he got evicted. Now we don’t have a place to stay. Do you know anywhere? Becca is coming too but I want her to stay at your place, if you don’t mind? It’s just that I don’t want her to be the third wheel with Richard and me.”

  Wow, that was a mouthful. I slowly processed what she had just said. They were coming this weekend. Becca needed to stay here. Emma needed a place to stay with her boyfriend. “I don’t think she mentioned that in the text she sent me,” I said. She knew that she could always stay here, unless she was with Grey, but Emma never mentioned him. “Is Grey coming too?” I had to ask.

  “No, his ass is not coming. Or he better not. Becca is going to ask him, if she hasn’t already.” Well, I’d hope he wouldn’t come, I mean, we weren’t the best of friends. Scratch that, we were barely friends.

  “Well, if she comes she can stay here. As for your boyfriend and you I think I have a friend who might have a spare room, he lives at a beachfront house. He rarely stays there unless there is a party, which there will be Friday night. When will you guys be coming?” It was Wednesday, so it wasn’t like there was a lot of time.

  Thinking of the party, I could imagine Becca in a bikini. She had a perfect fucking body. The only thing I had to worry about were the dudes that would be hitting on her. She was an attractive woman, and her light blue eyes would captivate you with one look. The guys would be on their fucking knees. I didn’t know if I liked this idea anymore. I’d always been protective of Becca, and just the thought of someone putting their hands on her is causing this weird jealous feeling to seep through me. Becca could do what she wanted; maybe I’d keep an eye out on her for Grey though.

  Emma was quiet for a second before she spoke. “Well, Richard will be there Friday afternoon. So we were planning to be there around the same time.”

  “Okay, well I’ll text my friend about the room. Would you guys mind being there with the party going on?” I asked. I was sure she wouldn’t though.

  “Hell to the no! That gives us something to do that night.”

  Sounded good to me.

  “Okay well, when I get an answer from him I’ll text Bec…”

  Emma interrupted. “No, no, no, no don’t text her. She doesn’t know I’m calling you. I sort of stole your number from her phone. Sorry.”

  I couldn’t help but chuckle. Now that was funny. “Okay, so I text you at this number?”

  “Yes, that would perfect. Hold on, I just got a text from her.”

  I walked in the kitchen while I waited for her to check her message. Opening the fridge I saw beer, water and milk. Shit, I needed to go grocery shopping. I reached for the Corona when Emma yelled down my ear. I managed to pull the phone away quickly before she blew my fucking eardrum.

  After a few seconds, I slowly put the phone to my ear. “Did you hear me?” She said, out of breath.

  “No, I didn’t fucking hear you! You were yelling so damn loud I pulled the phone from my ear!” I told her, taking a sip of beer.

  Paul walked in. I tipped my chin to him. He did the same before going in his room. We had that silent greeting down.

  “Emma said that Dickhead isn’t coming. Yes! I knew that Dick wasn�
��t going to go. He’s so fucking boring.” I assumed that Dickhead and Dick was Grey. Now that Grey wasn’t coming I needed Brent to let them have that room so Becca could stay here.

  I’d always had an eye on her, whether in school or out of school, young or now. I hated when someone would walk up to her. I didn’t know why I felt like I should protect her, I guess her being a female and all. I almost felt like I should be her personal bodyguard or something. She would yell at me sometimes because she said that I scared the guys away that were trying to talk to her. If she stayed at mine I could keep her safe.

  So since Grey wasn’t going to come with them, my place sounded perfect for her. It was something we would do back home, except the other way around. Her room was accessible; being on the second floor there was this weird gate thing right outside her window. I would climb it, or try to, depending on the state I was in. If I wasn’t able to do so she would sneak downstairs and open the door. My younger years I would drink way more than I should have. So instead of going home to upset my mother I would go to Becca’s after her father had fallen asleep.

  I swore, it was the weirdest thing. Not weird that I was in her bed, but the fact that it felt fine to be in the same bed with a chick I wasn’t fucking.

  “Are you still there, James?” I heard Emma ask on the other end of the line.

  Shit, I forgot about her. “Yeah, I’m here. Okay, so I’ll text you after I get an answer from him. And Becca can stay here.” Why did it feel like she was hiding this from her?

  “Okay perfect. Remember don’t tell her I spoke to you. And don’t tell her she is staying at your place.” Because she was hiding something.

  “Why not?” I really wanted to know but I also wanted to get off the phone already. This was like the longest I’d been on the phone with someone who wasn’t my mother or Becca.

  “Just…don’t. Okay? Promise me.” Really?

  “Yeah sure, whatever.”

  “No, really. Promise me.” She was a persistent little shit.