With a dull thud Vern's cup fell out of his hand, beer racing from its mouth and adsorbing into the rug near the sink. His eyes were as big as dinner plates and my heart was thudding so fast I thought it was going to explode. He stammered and went to turn around but Chris grabbed his shoulder and hauled him into the tiny bathroom with us. He managed to shut the door and lean against it blocking the only escape route.
Denny once told me how you could go from being falling down drunk to shockingly sober in less than an instant. I'd asked him about one of his late nights down by the river, everyone was laughing and having a good time until some kids decided it was a perfect time to go swimming in the summer warm water. However, one kid couldn't swim. The screaming and splashing, arms flailing above water and head sinking down, adrenaline kicked in and a couple of boys including my brother jumped in to save the guy. Every last one of them felt as sober as a bird.
I understood what Denny was talking about, not that anyone was about to drown to death. Vern stared at us like we each had five heads, his lips moving but nothing coming out. Chris looked like he was about to faint. I wanted to vomit. Vern began to stutter.
"Is this why you were so…comforting?" He looked at me, confusion swimming behind dilated pupils.
Chris shot me a look, wondering how much I had told Vern. I avoided his glare, "Vern you have to understand I didn't tell anyone about anything. Not about you, not about me, and not about Chris." I said, "Jesus, everything is so fucked up."
"So how long?" He looked between Chris and me.
"Vern it's not like…that." Chris began; he slid down the door avoiding the spilt drink. "Gordie and I have this situation with each other."
"What he's trying to say is, we like each other but like girls too?" I tried to reason in my own head. Vern kind of nodded looking dazed.
"Well, uh…congratulations?" He said shrugging, moving towards the door. Chris stumbled to get on his feet.
"Woah, easy." He helped up his hands, "You gotta promise not to tell."
"Teddy found out about me, I told Gordie, you found out, Dan tried to tell everyone about me but you guys get to sneak around with it?" Vern asked Chris. "I had one weird night of confusion that lead me to a weird fling that pretty much made one of my best friends hate me while you two get to run around and not have to deal with any of it?" He was frustrated.
"What do you mean we don't have to deal with any of it?" Chris snapped, "You don't know. Shit half this fucking year we've hated each other!" He looked at me briefly. Vern focused on me.
"Is that true?"
"Yeah, it is." I looked away from both of them. "Can we not talk about this? Ever again? I mean this was all a big mistake anyway." I didn't want to talk about it anymore. It was making me really uncomfortable. By then Chris had moved away from the door enough and I pulled it open and slipped out, Vern and Chris calling after me.