Thanks to Akiehasadeathwish for the fave!
Jake
It was the next day, Sunday, in the afternoon. Michelle had finally confirmed the rumors that we had sex together, so now the secret was out; people were expecting us to start dating. Michelle had been hurt when I had walked out on her, she said that she still wanted to be with me, but I said I didn't want to see her.
Now, I was at the mall, sitting on a bench outside Barnes & Noble's, trying to read a book I had just bought. What I was really doing was thinking of Riley. I was thinking of all the things I knew about him, even little details. Like how he's fond of sleeveless shirts, or the way he's surprisingly graceful, especially for someone of his size. Then, I thought of the whole steroid thing. That's when it hit me. I realized how funny that whole situation was. I tried to hold back laughter, but little giggles and snickers kept escaping from my mouth. "He seriously thought taking steroids would make him straight?" I knew him well enough by now to know that he was actually smart, but the whole steroids thing was almost enough to make me question his intelligence. Now I was shaking with silent laughter. "Riley, you idiot!" I thought. People were starting to give me looks that you reserve for people who are blathering on about how the government implanted mind control devices inside their brains. I forced myself to stop laughing, only to find that I couldn't stop, it was just too funny. I picked up my book and walked quickly towards the bathroom. I was alone, thank god. I put a hand on the wall to support myself and laughed so hard that tears came out of my eyes. Finally, I managed to stop. The urge to laugh left me. Great, now I felt guilty for cheating on him and for laughing at him behind his back. I got a call on my cell phone. I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at it. It was from Riley. I answered it, halfway expecting to be yelled at again.
"Hello?" I asked.
"Hey, Jake, it's Riley... Where are you now?"
"I'm at the mall."
"Oh. Can you meet me over at your house?"
"Yeah, sure," I said. He didn't sound angry; that gave me some hope.
I left the mall and got into my car. I drove off towards home, wondering what Riley had in store for me.
***
When I pulled into the driveway, he was waiting on my porch, leaning up against a roof support. I walked up to him and asked, "What's up?"
He sighed and said, "You should come inside." I pulled out my keys and unlocked the door and we went inside. I sat down on the couch, but he stood in front of me. Now I was worried.
"So, what is it that you have to tell me?" I asked, hoping against hope that I was being worried for no reason.
"I guess there's no easy way to tell you this," he said. He looked down at the ground and said, "I had sex with Adrien."
I jumped and said, "You what?!" A single light bulb in the overhead ceiling fan exploded. The knife was back, and it hurt just as badly as ever.
He flinched and said, "I wish you could take this better."
"How could I take this better?! So, what? I had sex with Michelle and you decided to go out and fuck someone to get back at me? Is that what you intended?"
"No! I didn't want to hurt you..."
"Well, guess what? You did!" He said nothing. "Let me ask you the same question you asked me: Was it good? I bet it was like throwing a pencil down Main Street, wasn't it?"
"Yes, it was good. And, no, he was tight."
I laughed and threw his own words back in his face: "Of course he was! With your size, everyone is tight!" He looked away from me. "Did you just go out and decide to hook up with someone because I hooked up with Michelle?"
"No! He's the one who tried to get back into my life!"
"And you let him?! What did you expect? Why did you meet up with him?"
"I don't know! I thought that he would be able to comfort me."
"Well he sure as hell did that! What did he even say to you before you got into contact with him?"
"He was saying that he wanted to get back with me, that he wanted me again."
Just as Riley felt the desire to lash out when he put a fist through my wall, I too felt the desire to lash out. "Well, then I can say that meeting up with him was about as smart as taking steroids to make yourself straight."
His expression instantly changed from one of guilt to one of fury. He stepped up to me as if he was getting ready to throw down. I did not back down. Even though he was a whole head taller than I was, I looked up into his furious eyes without a hint of fear. "Say that again," he said in a dangerous voice.
"That whole steroid deal was pretty fucking stupid. I can't believe you actually thought the pills would change you in such a way. Maybe you are just a big dumb jock after all." His expression seemed to crack. He swung his fist up into my face. I flexed outwards with my mind, and his fist stopped as surely as if it had hit a brick wall. He looked at it in fury and exasperation. He brought the other one up, it stopped, too. I wanted him out of my face. He slid backwards a few feet.
We both narrowed our eyes to slits. "We are through," he hissed.
"Riley, you took the words right out of my mouth." He turned away from me. He went over to the front door and without a backward glance; he stormed out, slamming the door so hard that it shook the house.
I just stood there for the longest time, letting my anger and frustration build. And before too long, it built to the point where I put my own fist through the wall. I tried to hold back my mind and failed; a window exploded outwards. After that, I felt as empty and as hollow as if I had just had my soul sucked out.