What I wanted to say (ch. I)
When
I picked Dylan up from the Airport, I couldn't think straight. Those
whole 3 months fell upon me all at once; almost as heavily as
the Seattle rain that fell flat to the ground. I couldn't breathe.
I thought about his face, as I waited in the car outside of the
airport and of those eyes, sent from Venus herself. He came out
with his luggage. I saw him and was overwhelmed. At first, I
couldn't move. I was too busy contemplating on what to say and how to
say it. I snapped back for a while, and pulled out my umbrella. I
opened the car door and ran around the car, leaving the door
open just to get to him. Dropping his luggage, he picked me up
into his arms and swung me in the air, almost as if I were
weightless, spinning me in one complete circle until he lowered
me to the ground. By then I had dropped my umbrella. We were
soaked. I helped him with his luggage. When I slammed the
trunk, he, dripping, looked at me and he leaned in for a kiss. I,
pretending not to notice it, turned around and headed into the car.
He did the same on the passenger's side. We finally made it into my
small green Volkswagen Bug. I sat in the driver's seat, crying
inside, dying inside, and the water that drenched my hair
dripped into the seeps of my jeans. I smiled with a small smirk
on my face, trying to pull off a satisfied look, and trying to hold
in the tears. I fastened my seatbelt. I attempted to look at him for
a millisecond; Successful. Tried to make our eyes miss each
other; Failure. It burned to look into his eyes. So, I snapped
my neck back to looking out the windshield. I could feel him
looking at me. He reached over the cup holder and aimed to unbuckle
my seatbelt; Successful. He leaned in more and kissed me on my
neck. While he was doing that, I closed my eyes, praying to the
heavens that God could somehow rewind time up until I made my big
mistake. Due to the lack of affection I showed, he grew annoyed
of how I was trying to avoid him. Usually, I would be all over
him right now, personally making sure that the windows were covered
in fog and pale white. But something inside kept me from
guiltlessly loving him. He gave up on kissing me and he put his hand
on my thigh, and started rubbing it.
"I missed you,
babe", he said.
All the while, I, in shock, just decided to continue staring out the windshield. I took in one big gulp but I still couldn't meet his eyes. I could swear that he saw the distraught look on the side of my face. I just starred out, looking for something to find that would grab ALL of my attention so it wouldn't be awkward; Failure. As the rain began to lighten up, I tightened my hands on steering wheel. I couldn't look at him in his eyes. It would hurt too much. The first time I tried that, it felt like the guilt was squeezing my heart; taking the life from me, taking me from him. What would I tell him? How could I tell him? When would be the appropriate time to tell him that he couldn't love me anymore because loving me, or at least trying to love me, would hurt him. I thought for sure that I was going to be able to keep it a secret, at least until the right time. But what would have been the right time?
"Aren't you gonna speak? Naydeen? Hun!" Dylan said aggravated.
I could no longer play the staring game with, well, the windshield. I wanted to tell him that I missed him too, and that I loved him. But then I came to understand that love was commitment, and loyalty, and promises, and it definitely did not include hooking up with his best friend. In my mind, love was waiting, and holding on until the very end; whether it meant 3 months or 3 years; that love was admitting the wrong and praying to God that he would forgive me; It was understanding that what I did was wrong and that if I loved him I couldn't bare hurting him by telling him the truth, but it was that it was hurting him by lying as well.
Subsequently 10 seconds after he sat there, waiting for me to say something, I turned to him. I cleared my throat and I unknowingly raised my eyebrow, the same way I did when I have something to admit or something bad to say. Once again, my eyes caught his and it burned, and my heart literally hurt. For those moments, I couldn't breathe. I hated myself so much.
"I
missed you too, babe" I said as I caught my breath. After I said
that, he smiled. His smile was the one thing that I both loved
and hated as well. His smile made me remember that night with
Brett.
It was about two months after Dylan had left to go to
the other Washington, you know, the Capital of the United Stated,
Washington, DC. I remember we had just finished watching Superbad
with Angie and Stephen, some of our friends. Angie and Steve had
been dating for about a month but they were pretty serious. They
started kissing each other and decided to leave 30 minutes
before the movie was even over. We knew where they were headed:
to Steve's car, or Angie's house. When they left, they cleared
the couch and we both decided to get on the empty couch. I put my
head on his shoulder as I got more comfortable in my Snuggle. I
placed my feet on dad's coffee table. When the movie was over, Brett
said, "Well, I'm glad that's over," and he smiled, just
like Dylan did after every movie we watched together. He hated
watching movies, and I'm guessing so did Brett. That night was
the first time we did our dirty deed. Brett attempted to get up and
change the movie. But, I, admiring how much Brett reminded me of
Dylan, opened my legs and grabbed Brett by the his belt (which was
really unnecessary, seeing as how his pants hung off his ass all of
the time). I pulled his pants hard enough to make them slide
down a little so that I could see that he had on blue boxers. He
pulled them back up. I laughed and so did he. He turned around and
fell in between my legs. The laughs became quiet as his face was
parallel to mine. His eyes were brown, too, and his breath smelled
like orange Tic-tacs just as Dylan's did right before a
kiss. I leaned in for a kiss, and Brett actually answered
it. I remember him lifting me up by my asscheeks, and I shrieked
a little, and he smiled. He climbed up the three steps
that separated the Pit/Living room and the dining room. He
placed me on the dining room table and he, still between my
legs, kissed me on the lips very modestly. He assisted me with taking
off my sweater. I then remember unbuckling his pants as my feet
dangled off the table, I pulled the belt out of the loops in one
gesture and his pants fell to the floor. He, at the same time, took
off his sweater while I "helped" him with his belt. He
wasn't buff but he was built, not too skinny, but not chubby, at
all. He was, in other words, almost perfect. It was different
because, unlike Brett, Dylan was built and ripped; he made
his goal to break new records in the Gym. I lifted
his wife-beater up to observe his pecks. I smiled, and he
laughed, again.
"Are you sure you wanna do this,
Naydeen?" he asked.
I desperately answered, "Sure,
Dy-Brett", and I caught myself just in time before I ruined
the moment.
We
were teenagers, and not even love could overcome our hormones.
He pulled off my Cheer!
shorts all
in one movement and I was still on the table! He picked me up by
the asscheeks once more and we headed to the kitchen, through the
kitchen was the hallway, and from the hallway was my room. He
slowly opened the door with my back, slightly pushing me into the
door. We kissed, and frequently stopped for air. I remember he gently
placed me on my bed and walked over by the closet to flip the
light-switch. I looked at the clock that was on my night stand; it
was 9:03 pm. From there, it happened. After it was all over,
Brett kissed me on the forehead, just like Dylan did after every time
we had sex, and he headed out of my room. I could see the outline of
his body in the darkness in from of the hallway light. I just
sat there in the bed, with my face in my knees, rocking
back and forth, crying; crying until my eyes burned from the
overloaded salt-like solution that dried on the top of my cheeks. I
heard his car purr and I saw the lights come in through my window as
he backed out of the driveway. I looked at the clock and it was
9:25 pm. Those 20 minutes were the worst. I mean, it's not that
Brett was bad in bed or anything; just that it wasn't Dylan and that
was the worst part about the night. I immediately felt
guilty. That was the first time that we had sex together;
unfortunately, it wasn't the last time.
I snapped back into
reality as I looked Dylan in his brown eyes.
"How was DC?"
I asked.
"It was great but it sucked because neither you nor
Brett was there", he said.
A tear fell down my face. He
noticed me crying. He wiped the single tear streak from my
face.
"What is it, babe?" he asked.
"Nothing,"
I lied, "it's just that I missed you so much, ya know?"
He
smiled and kissed me on the forehead. I wanted to tell him. I
couldn't. How could I tell him that his best friend would soon become
his most hated enemy? I was lonely when Dylan was gone, and I
missed him; and a part of Brett reminded me some much of him (and
maybe that is, or was the reason that they were best friends). I
couldn't help it. I admit it wasn't Brett's fault; he was just
there, and he understood. He was looking out for me as Dylan
asked. Maybe that's not what Dylan intended when he said "look
out for me". Brett was there when I needed him most during
those long three months. It just...happened. I can't say that it was
an accident because, deep down inside, it wasn't like we fell
on top of each other, and hated it, or that our lips accidentally
touched, or that my tongue was serendipitously in his mouth and it
wasn't like we accidentally ended up in my room, on my bed. I
turned forward and started the car up, the radio was playing quietly
and I punched it off. I was angry, and sad, and felt guilty, and I
was dying inside. I shifted the gear from park to drive and drove
off. I headed toward interstate 405 and the ride home would be the
most awkward drive of my life, and possibly his too. I planned on
telling him after his Welcome Home party. It was a plan.
