BRYCE
Ache. That was the first word that came to mind.
I was scared to open my eyes and discover that I was in a place I didn't know. Once I mustered up the courage to look, I realized that I was below my own ceiling in my own bed. Before I could even try to recount how I got home, I felt a hot rush coming up my esophagus. My legs were heavy as I raced to the bathroom and slammed the door behind me to upchuck the most disgusting thing that ever hit my tongue.
I realized I only had my underwear on. What a class act I was. At least I was smart enough to take off my clothes when I got home last night.
As I sat, ready for the inevitable next rush of vomit, I tried to organize last night chronologically. I knew that I walked to Dennis'. I knew I was drinking beer. A lot of it. I knew that I was hanging out with Paul and his friend... whose name I totally didn't remember. I knew that Juli came up to me at some point.
Damn it. Juli. I struggled to make sense of my blurry memory. What did I say to her?
The sudden image of her swatting me away came into my mind. Oh, God. I bet I was being a total jackass. I couldn't, for the life of me, remember what Juli and I talked about. Another surge of last night's beer came out of my mouth.
Someone kissed me. My heart dropped. Someone definitely kissed me last night. Who? Was it Juli? It had to be Juli. Who else would? Oh, God. Did I seriously finally kiss Juli and I couldn't remember it?
I came to terms with the fact that sitting at the toilet and realizing that I couldn't remember who kissed me was not one of my best moments.
Once I was able to stand up, I brushed my teeth and washed my face and stared back at my reflection. It was clear that the gel I put in my hair gave up long ago, as my hair flopped flat on my head. I had dark circles under my eyes, which offered the only bit of colour on my pale face. I groaned to myself and put some clothes on before I made my way downstairs.
I saw Lynetta lying back on the sofa with the phone at her ear. The cord to the phone was stretched to the max, which Mom always yelled at us about, so it was clear that Mom wasn't home. I peeked out the front window to see that Dad's car was gone. And Granddad wasn't in the living room, so he was probably gone, too. I tried to figure out where they were as I limped my way to the kitchen until Lynetta interrupted me.
"Just a sec," she said into the phone. She put it to her chest and looked at me. "You are the picture of a hangover."
"Shh," I urged.
"Relax," Lynetta said, "They're at church."
"Oh, right. It's Sunday," I realized. I looked into the fridge to grab water. I ambled to the dinner table as Lynetta stared at me from the front room.
"You're totally in the clear, by the way," she explained, "You were unreal this morning."
"What?" I exclaimed, "Lynetta, tell me everything."
Lynetta chuckled, "You honestly don't remember it?"
"For crying out loud," I said, "Tell me!"
"Calm down, spaz," Lynetta sighed, "Mom tried waking you up and you just went on and on about a stomach ache. She tried to get you to see a doctor but you said you just wanted to sleep. Then, she tried to make me go to church again. And that got loud. You honestly don't remember any of it?"
"No." I drank my water. I couldn't recall a second of being woken up. "Do you know when I got home? Or how I got home?"
"God," my sister laughed, "You got blitzed!" I gave her a look. "I don't," Lynetta replied, "And I got home really late. So, if you came after me, I didn't hear anything."
"Okay," I said, "So, no one knows what I did last night?"
"Only I do," Lynetta said, her eyebrow arched. "Everyone else thinks you're just sick."
"Which means you have ammo against me," I complained.
"Which means you have to pull out all the weeds in the yard. Mom told me to have it done by the time they get home." Lynetta put the phone back up to her ear. "Do my chores and I won't tell!"
If I had a past life, I must've been a really bad guy to deserve Lynetta as a sister. I looked at the clock to see that I had an hour til noon, which was about the time when everyone would get home. Sighing, I finished my water and went out into the hot sun to garden. I knew that I deserved it for being stupid the night before.
As I pulled weeds, I kept looking over at Juli's house to see any signs of life. I had to plan out how I'd talk to her. You can't just straight out ask someone if you kissed. How insulting would that be? Maybe I would ask Paul what happened.
Within 40 minutes, I finished weeding the garden and went inside to take a shower, passing Lynetta as she continued to yammer on the phone. As I stood under cold water, I thought about how lucky I was to get away with last night. Mom must have just assumed that I went to bed early, and it's not like Dad or Granddad would check on me. I was paying for my stupidity, though. This hangover made me feel like I was rotting from the inside and I was incredibly anxious over the fact that I couldn't remember every detail of the party.
After my shower, I went back to lie in bed and hoped that staring at the ceiling would make this awful feeling go away. Soon enough, I heard the front door open downstairs and I got under the covers to keep up my sick ruse.
"Hi, darling," Mom said as she peeked her head into my room. She sat at the end of my bed, her strong floral perfume making me want to upchuck again.
"Hi," I mumbled. She leaned forward and felt my forehead with the back of her hand.
"How are you feeling?"
"Better." I mumbled just in case the smell of alcohol was still in my mouth.
"Do you need to eat?" I knew this question was a trap. According to her, everyone was always hungry and if they weren't, they were lying.
"Yes," I answered. She gave my hand a squeeze and told me she'd call me down for lunch. Eventually, I was at the dining table staring down at the turkey sandwich my stomach was telling me was a bad idea.
"What's wrong with him?" Dad asked with a full mouth. I looked up and my throat was dry. He already had a stain on his church clothes. "See a doctor."
"I'm okay," I answered, "Feels like just a mild cold or something." I felt Lynetta's eyes burning a hole through me.
"Patsy, what was the name of that idiot with the mustache?" Dad turned his attention to Mom. "He was a nosy one."
"Will," Mom answered.
"God, his daughter is the same way," Lynetta mentioned, "The O'Connors, right? I feel like I'm being interrogated every time I talk to her."
"Guess it runs in the family," Dad complained. Apparently so does gossiping, I thought.
"Do you have a sore throat?" I heard Granddad ask me. I turned to look at him.
"Yeah," I nodded.
"Salt water."
"That sounds awful," I chuckled.
"It works," he replied with a smile.
I spent the rest of my afternoon in my room, catching up on homework and praying I wouldn't throw up again. Thankfully, once I had dinner, I wasn't feeling as awful. As I cleaned up the table, Mom did the dishes.
"Bryce, hon," Mom called, "Are you feeling better?"
"Yes," I answered.
"Perfect," she said, "Could you please walk the rest of this pie to the Bakers' house?" I froze.
"Um," I stammered, "I-"
"Don't give them our leftovers, Patsy," Dad said from the living room, "They probably need them, but isn't it going a little too far if we make it obvious that they're a charity case?"
"It's not charity," Mom answered, "We don't have room for it and I'd rather give it to someone then throw out half a pie."
"Well, I doubt they ever have the luxury of dessert," Dad laughed, "They won't even know what it is." God, he was a jerk. I almost wanted to give them the pie just to spite him. Mom sighed to herself.
"I can take it," I said. I acted as if it was completely fine, when really, all I could feel was nervousness. How awkward would it be if I went over and Juli answered the door? Well, I was trying to be more brave. I just kept forgetting that being brave sucked.
"Thank you, dear," Mom mumbled. She handed me the nicely wrapped bowl and gave me a kiss on my forehead. I stepped outside into the cool evening air and walked towards the intimidating house across the street.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I knocked on the door and held the heavy bowl. I didn't even look in the mirror since the morning. Oh, God. What if I had muck on my face? I quickly smoothed down my hair and ran my fingers over my face.
The door swung open. It was Juli. She had a smile on her face. And once she realized who was knocking, her smile disappeared.
"Hey," I said, my voice cracking. I cleared my throat.
"Hi." Juli said it like a question. I knew I looked like crap, and there she was in front of me, being so beautiful and acting like it wasn't a big deal at all.
"Um." I looked down at the bowl. "My mom... made some pie. And she sent it over." I heard voices behind me and looked to see two figures coming out of a car in Juli's driveway. I immediately recognized one of the guys. It was the older dude who hugged Juli in the hallway that day. What was he doing here? He walked towards the door with a man about Dad's age beside him. The two of them looked at me, then over to Juli.
"Hey, come in," she kindly said, "Uh, this is Bryce. He lives across the street. This is Evan and Sal." I nodded to both of them awkwardly. Sal as in Sal's store? I realized the older guy must have been Juli's boss. But what was this other joker doing?
The two of them stepped into the house and I quickly pushed the bowl towards Juli. I knew I'd regret it if I didn't say anything.
"Can we talk?" I lowly said. Juli's green eyes searched my face. "I don't remember anything about last night." Juli looked over at her visitors to see they were occupied with talking to her father.
"You don't? Anything?" she whispered. I shook my head. "We can. At school tomorrow. Talk, I mean."
"I'm sorry," I said.
"Why?" Her expression was expectant.
"I don't know," I honestly answered, "I just had a feeling I had to apologize."
"Okay." Juli looked down at the pie. "Tell your mom we say thank you. I'll see you later." I really hated saying goodbye to Juli.
"Bye." I turned around and went towards the house. I bet tomorrow would be the day Juli would cut all ties with me and tell me she'd never forgive me for being an idiot the night before. And I bet this Evan kid was her boyfriend and she'd be perfectly happy without me.
JULIANA
I always hated crying. And here I was, in Dennis' parents' bathroom, sitting on the rim of the tub and crying. I couldn't believe I just watched Bryce have his first kiss with my friend. It wasn't supposed to happen like that. It was supposed to me and him.
I heard a knock on the door.
"Juli?" It was Allison. I stood up and unlocked it, seeing her standing there with a concerned expression. "I was looking for you everywhere." I went back to my impromptu seat and Allison shut the door behind her. She sat on the floor across from me.
"Aren't you supposed to save the crying until after you get drunk?" she joked. I cracked a smile. "What happened?"
"Bryce... He just..." I stammered.
"I hate him." We laughed.
"Let me finish the story first," I told her. "Um... So, turns out that guy Jane liked? It's Bryce."
"What?" Her eyes were wide.
"Yeah." I looked down, picking at my fingernails. "And you know how Jessica dared Jane to kiss him? Well, she did."
"What?" She repeated.
"And he was just... talking gibberish. He said he wrote me something. Then he said he read my diary. And I think Dana is mad that I never told her that he slept over one night."
"What?" She said louder. "Sorry. I... I just need to let this sink in. He slept over?"
"He needed a place to go," I explained, "And I didn't think it was fair of me to tell people that. Don't tell anyone that, okay?"
"Of course," Allison said, nodding, "And he read your diary? What the hell?"
"He just said he saw his name," I recalled, "And that's it. And he said sorry and then he said he wrote me a letter and then Jane just came up out of nowhere. And Dana kind of freaked about when he mentioned seeing it under my bed." I swallowed hard as a tear spilled out of my eye. "This is such a mess." Allison put her hand on my knee.
"We'll figure it out," she consoled, "Dana will get over it. And Bryce is clearly drunk. And Jane... well, who knows if she'll even remember kissing him?"
"Yeah," I said, "I really want to go home." Allison looked at her watch.
"It's a quarter past 10. When's your dad coming?"
"10:30," I answered.
"Okay," she said calmly, "Just splash cold water on your face. No one will able to tell you cried." I went to the sink and did as she told me, then looked at my reflection to see that the puffiness had gone down but not the redness. Allison gave me a hug and I had to stop myself from crying some more.
"Do you-" Allison was interrupted by pounding on the door.
"Make way!" We heard a voice say. "This dude is about to barf!" Allison and I made puzzled expressions at each other and opened the door to run out of the bathroom. I watched as some guys I didn't know held their friend on their shoulders and led him to the toilet. Allison rolled her eyes and I laughed. We went to the front of the house and sat on the porch. I had my knees to my chest, hugging myself. I couldn't stop running the image of Bryce and Jane kissing in my head. I bolted out of that basement faster than the speed of light after seeing that.
"I'm going to say goodbye to Dana," I announced, "I don't want to leave on bad terms."
"Are you sure?" Allison asked.
"Yeah," I replied, knowing I needed at least some order in the chaos of the night. "I'll be back." I went back into the loud house and paced down to the basement to see Dana standing alone in front of the records. I went to her, keeping my head low.
"Hey," I said. Dana looked over at me, expressionless.
"Hi," she replied, "How come you never told me anything about Bryce? How come you never tell me anything at all?" She was definitely upset and ready to talk about why. "I tell you everything." She looked down at her cup. "And hearing anything about your life is so rare. You never tell me anything."
"I'm sorry, Dana," I said, "It's not because of you. I just like to think about things before I talk about them, if that makes sense?" Dana shrugged, sucking her teeth.
"Okay. I'm sorry, too," she answered. I quickly gave her a hug.
"I have to go soon. Where are the rest of the girls?" I looked around the basement, unable to see another face I knew.
"I don't know," Dana said, "I can't believe what Jane... Are you okay? That was crazy." My eyes met Dana's again and I stifled a frown.
"I will be," I answered, "I guess I'll see them later." Dana nodded and hugged me again. I made my way through the crowd and at the last minute, something caught my eye. Bryce was still where I saw him last, but this time, he was on the floor with his head down. Concerned, I went to the other side of the basement and tapped his shoulder. He looked up silently, his eyelids low.
I took the cup out of his hand and grabbed him by the elbow. Bryce staggered to stand up and I led him up the stairs, steadying him with my hands. We got the front room and I sat him on the couch. I sat beside him, trying to make sure he was okay.
"Don't drink anymore," I said, "Do you have a ride home?" Bryce shook his head slowly. I knew him getting in the car with Dad was a bad idea, and I wasn't about to let him ruin his reputation with my family.
"I can walk," he slurred. I looked at him with sympathy.
"I'm going to see if one of my friends can drive you," I said, "You can't walk in this condition." Bryce nodded again and rested his head against the couch. I hated seeing him like that. I stood and felt Bryce's hand hold mine. I turned around to look at him. His eyes were closed but his arm was extended as he held my hand.
"Don't go," he mumbled, "Please?" I sighed, sitting back down and looking at him. I realized that no matter what, I would always care about Bryce. But my heart ached over the fact that he was just kissed by another girl. And I knew it wasn't his fault, but I was still bitter. I looked down at my hand, my stomach numb over the fact that he was holding it so tightly.
"My dad is going to get here," I told him, "I have to go." Bryce nodded, his eyes still closed as he took his hand back and crossed his fingers at his lap.
"I'll see you later, Juli," he said. I got up and met Allison on the porch. I told her about how Bryce was nearly asleep on the couch and asked if she could get a ride for him. Her mom was going to be picking her up at 11, and she said that she would get him home. I thanked and hugged her, and a few moments later, I saw Dad's car pull up on the driveway.
I went into the car, hugging Dad and cheerfully greeting him to hide the fact that I'd been crying.
"Have fun?" he asked.
"Yes," I answered, watching the house get smaller as Dad drove away.
"Sal dropped by the house to give you your pay, by the way," Dad told me, "And you know your mom... She invited him and his son over for dinner tomorrow." I internally sighed, saying goodbye to my plans for staying in my room all day Sunday.
"Good." I nodded. Except nothing was good.