Ruby stumbled back up the stairs, and the various other people were laying
about the living room. Donnie, Twitty, and Beans were eating the bacon, and
no one else was up for any food. I sat on the couch by Monique to turn the
TV on, but she swatted the channel changer out of my hand, "No TV, Ren. It
hurts my head."
"Sorry." I apologized, "Go upstairs and take some medicine."
"Shhhh! Don't talk either, it hurts my head too, and could you maybe...turn the sun down a little bit?"
"Sorry." I whispered, then got up to go into the kitchen. Tawny was in there, getting something to drink out of the refrigerator.
"I just can't get away from you, can I?" She said, smiling slightly.
I shot her a small glare, "You, shut up."
"You followed me in here."
"I did not!" I protested. "I left from in there because Monique has a headache.
"Uh huh." She sat down at the table, and looked at things around the room.
Twitty poked his head in, "Hey...Tawny...can I talk to you?"
"Sure."
I stood back at the sink and pretended not to be paying attention.
"I got kinda drunk last night, yeah?" He asked her, sitting down by her at the table.
She nodded.
"I woke up in Donnie's room this morning."
She nodded, "You and Louis get in a fight?"
"Ah...not that I can remember. I was hoping you remembered."
"Well...gee, Twitty...what I remember is..." She snickered a little, "You and Donnie were...err...getting quite friendly."
Twitty banged his head on the table a few times, "Damn...damn...damn..."
"And that would be one of the reasons why people shouldn't drink and smoke pot, and do whatever else you guys did up there before you came down."
"Damn..." He mumbled once more, then ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "All I can remember is going up and getting high, then coming down, having loads of fun doing I don't know what...something about liking you...the cake...then playing spin the bottle, and truth or dare...then it gets all fuzzy-like...and then everything's kinda blank...I woke up in Donnie's room in my boxers..."
"Alan, have you talked to Donnie?"
"Dude...what all did I do?" He asked, spazing out even more, and not answering her question.
"Alan...you'd rather not know, trust me."
He put his hands in his hair again. His eyes were wide, "Man, I don't even have a hangover like almost everyone else, and I'm all awake and stuff..."
"Twitty, calm yourself." She put her hand on his shoulder, "At least you can't get pregnant."
"That's just sick, Tawny! There's other stuff, I could get though...it's just..." He twitched, and pulled away from her, "Dude...the pot must've had a weird reaction with me and the beer...I'm never doing both again..."
"That's good, Twitty."
"Man, I should go home, and rest or something...I dunno...I just...yeah...gonna go home..." He got up, and looked around as if he forgot how to get out of the house. His eyes passed over me, "Hi Ren...I'm leaving. Tell Louis I left...gonna get my stuff...go home...home...Gotta go...Bye." He left the room in a hurry.
I crossed my arms and leaned against the counter, wondering how everyone else would react once sober and without hangovers to distract them. Twitty and Donnie was more funny now that completely disgusting. Maybe it was just because Twitty was freaking out about it. Poor Twitty was a perfect example of why drugs and alcohol were detrimental when done irresponsibly. I wondered where my parents had gone. They suddenly vanished. I walked back across the kitchen, without glancing at Tawny, and I said, "Donnie, can you come in here a minute?"
"Yeah. Sure, Ren. Lemme finish off this bacon." He stuffed the last piece into his mouth before Beans could get his little hands on it. Then got up and brought the plate with him. He didn't seem to have a hangover either.
We walked over to the sink, where he began to wash it, and I asked him, "Do you remember anything from last night?"
"Well...yeah, I brought her stuff...um...we ate some food, played some games, then I cleaned up and went to bed..."
Tawny laughed.
He turned back to look at her, "What?"
"Well...Donnie, do you remember anything having to do with a certain friend of your little brother's?" I asked, trying to spark his memory, which was hard to spark normally.
"Oooh. You and Tawny." He laughed, and elbowed me, "Yeah. I remember."
"No!" I hissed, and punched him in his arm.
"Oh...was I dreaming, or like...what?"
"Tawny is a whole nother subject. Twitty. What about Twitty?"
"He was in my room this morning, and I remember us hanging out a lot last night cus Louis was doing other stuff. He's cool, isn't he, Tawny? You know him pretty well."
She shrugged, "Not quite as well as you do."
"Wha?" He started to dry his hands on a dishtowel. "If you two are trying to get the point across that you don't want me to tell anybody about you two, then I completely understand. Now stop messing with my head, you're hurting my brain."
"Just forget it, Donnie. Go on your way."
He shrugged, then left.
"Maybe they both repressed everything." Tawny suggested, "Cus they liked it." She cackled a little.
"Bah. You just think everyone's gay or something just because you are."
"Do not."
"You do."
"You just wanna argue with me for some reason."
I stormed out of the room. She was annoying me. That's why she was Louis' friend. He was annoying too and could put up with her. She was so annoying, yet I wanted her so bad. She was just annoying because I wanted her. No. I sat in the chair of the shadowy room, and picked at my fingernails. Someone had closed the curtains. Donnie had gone elsewhere, along with Louis and Beans. Ruby and Monique were at either end of the couch rubbing their temples.
"Ren..." Ruby whined, "Why'd you let me drink?"
"We already went over it. You would not have listened to me."
"I know...but...on the bright side, me and Larry did get a little closer."
"Please, don't talk about that!" I closed my eyes and fought back the images, which weren't humorous at all, just disgusting.
"Awww Ren, you're just going through sex withdrawals because you didn't get any last night."
"Ruby!" I snapped, "I can't be when I've never had sex before!"
"Oh yeah...I keep forgetting that you're a virgin."
"Shut up!" Monique hissed.
"Why don't you go and take some Tylenol, so you won't be all cranky?" Ruby asked her, leaning over onto her elbow, next to her on the couch, and looking up at her.
"Why don't you go...and...go and blow Larry Beale?!"
"I already have!" She laughed loudly.
Monique laughed as well, but stopped quickly, and grabbed her head, "Ow..."
"Ya know who's hot?" Ruby turned her attention back to me, sitting up, "Donnie is hot."
Now that was disgusting. "Ruby, he's my brother! He's not hot!"
"Oh yes, he is."
"No, Ruby! He's my brother! It's wrong!"
"He's still hot." She crossed her arms.
I gagged.
"C'mon. If he wasn't your brother, you would think he was hot."
"No, no I wouldn't."
"If I can interrupt for just a moment," Monique began, "I coulda sworn that I woke up this morning, and Tawny and Ren were doing it."
"No. No. No!" I stood up, and shouted, "Don't say that out loud, and we weren't anyway. Just stop." I found myself getting very offended, and frightened that people knew, and remembered. "You must've been dreaming or something."
"I think I was."
There was a brief moment of complete silence, before Ruby added in her two cents, "No, because I remember asking you if you liked Tawny, and-"
"No! No! No! Do not say anything like that out loud, ever. My parents are home, and no. Just no, alright?!"
"Ren, calm down. You're being louder than we are." Monique stated. "You're giving me a headache.
I hated how she said my name! Her voice was so annoying! I don't know how she didn't give herself a headache on a day-to-day basis. I started to stomp up the stairs to my room, but the doorbell rang as I got to them. It was Nelson. I turned back and opened the door, "Come in."
He stepped inside. He was sorta red. Well, really red. It looked kinda he was sunburnt very badly. If he weren't dark, then the redness would have been far worse. "It's a good thing, I'm wearing long sleeves," He stated, "It helps to hold my skin in place, and stops it from ending up on your floor."
"Oy..." I winced, and my arms started to tingle like my own skin was going to start falling off. I didn't think people could get rashes from soap that were that bad. At least I knew he washed himself.
"Here's your present." He handed me a box, "I'm sorry I couldn't make it last night. I didn't wanna call and interrupt because I thought it would be inconsiderate if I did. How was your party anyway?"
"It could've been better." I mumbled, and took the top off of the square box. "Ya know, Larry said almost the exact same thing about you that you just said about yourself." I laughed a little, and pulled out the small, purple puppy that he'd gotten for me. Stuffed animals. I like them. They're cute. It would be a nice addition to my collection on top of my dresser. "You're so predictable, Nelson."
"Um..." Nelson squinted, and a strange expression crossed his face that I couldn't read very well.
"What is it?" I asked, holding tightly onto the box and the little animal, a feeling of dread coming over me.
"I take it no one told you about the accident?"
"What accident?" Ruby asked before I could. She got up and came over to us.
"Um...well..." Nelson swallowed hard, and rubbed the back of his head with one hand, "I...I really don't think I should be the person to tell you...It was on the news and...um...I figured you already knew..."
"Knew what? What's going on?" Monique asked. She had finally picked up on the conversation.
"What happened, Nelson?" I asked, substantially more worried.
"Well...you see...ap-ap-pparently..." He stuttered.
"Spit it out!" Ruby screamed, panicked, as I was, but she reacted differently to it.
"Th-there was a car accident last night...and...and...Larry and...Mona..."
"Oh God..." I muttered helplessly, and dropped everything in my hands.
"They... ran head on into another car...they...they...both died instantly..." There were tears welling up in Nelson's eyes. "La-Larry was drunk..."
Ruby screamed. Maybe she screamed something, but I think she just screamed. All I could do was stand there shaken. I didn't know what to do. What could I do? Nothing. I felt sick and disgusting, and like it was my fault. I shouldn't have made them leave early. It wouldn't have happened had I not made them leave early. I was a murderer.
My parents ran out of their room, and everyone came from whenever they were and tried to figure out what happened. Someone explained, I don't know who. Monique said she was gonna be sick and ran off. Everything swirled, and I stood there in the middle, dazed, and confused. Everyone mumbled around me, but I couldn't understand anything they were saying.
I felt someone's hand gently grab a hold of one of mine that was hanging limp at my side as I stared at the door behind Nelson. They had gone out that door, and now I'd never see them again. They were gone. It was my fault. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't because it was my fault. One of my parents had to be holding my hand, seeing how disheveled I was. It must be one of my parents. I turned a little. Blue eyes stared up and at me, and pierced me. Those damned eyes!
"I'm sorry, Ren..." She blinked, sadly, "You dropped your puppy..." She tried to push it into my other hand, but I wouldn't take it. I couldn't move my hand to grab it.
An incomprehensible surge of emotion rushed through me. Too may emotions to handle at once. Too much of a blend of opposite things. Love. Sadness. Blame. Hatred. Anger. Tawny. She wasn't an emotion, but she was right there causing emotions always. It was her fault. I wouldn't have told them to leave had it not been for her, had it not been for my "confusion", my wanting to be with her of all people, wanting to touch her and not worry about anyone else. I moved with speed and shoved her as hard as I could, a lot harder than I had earlier. Earlier I wanted to put space between us so that nothing bad would happen, but this time I wanted to hurt her, really hurt her.
"Sorry." I apologized, "Go upstairs and take some medicine."
"Shhhh! Don't talk either, it hurts my head too, and could you maybe...turn the sun down a little bit?"
"Sorry." I whispered, then got up to go into the kitchen. Tawny was in there, getting something to drink out of the refrigerator.
"I just can't get away from you, can I?" She said, smiling slightly.
I shot her a small glare, "You, shut up."
"You followed me in here."
"I did not!" I protested. "I left from in there because Monique has a headache.
"Uh huh." She sat down at the table, and looked at things around the room.
Twitty poked his head in, "Hey...Tawny...can I talk to you?"
"Sure."
I stood back at the sink and pretended not to be paying attention.
"I got kinda drunk last night, yeah?" He asked her, sitting down by her at the table.
She nodded.
"I woke up in Donnie's room this morning."
She nodded, "You and Louis get in a fight?"
"Ah...not that I can remember. I was hoping you remembered."
"Well...gee, Twitty...what I remember is..." She snickered a little, "You and Donnie were...err...getting quite friendly."
Twitty banged his head on the table a few times, "Damn...damn...damn..."
"And that would be one of the reasons why people shouldn't drink and smoke pot, and do whatever else you guys did up there before you came down."
"Damn..." He mumbled once more, then ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "All I can remember is going up and getting high, then coming down, having loads of fun doing I don't know what...something about liking you...the cake...then playing spin the bottle, and truth or dare...then it gets all fuzzy-like...and then everything's kinda blank...I woke up in Donnie's room in my boxers..."
"Alan, have you talked to Donnie?"
"Dude...what all did I do?" He asked, spazing out even more, and not answering her question.
"Alan...you'd rather not know, trust me."
He put his hands in his hair again. His eyes were wide, "Man, I don't even have a hangover like almost everyone else, and I'm all awake and stuff..."
"Twitty, calm yourself." She put her hand on his shoulder, "At least you can't get pregnant."
"That's just sick, Tawny! There's other stuff, I could get though...it's just..." He twitched, and pulled away from her, "Dude...the pot must've had a weird reaction with me and the beer...I'm never doing both again..."
"That's good, Twitty."
"Man, I should go home, and rest or something...I dunno...I just...yeah...gonna go home..." He got up, and looked around as if he forgot how to get out of the house. His eyes passed over me, "Hi Ren...I'm leaving. Tell Louis I left...gonna get my stuff...go home...home...Gotta go...Bye." He left the room in a hurry.
I crossed my arms and leaned against the counter, wondering how everyone else would react once sober and without hangovers to distract them. Twitty and Donnie was more funny now that completely disgusting. Maybe it was just because Twitty was freaking out about it. Poor Twitty was a perfect example of why drugs and alcohol were detrimental when done irresponsibly. I wondered where my parents had gone. They suddenly vanished. I walked back across the kitchen, without glancing at Tawny, and I said, "Donnie, can you come in here a minute?"
"Yeah. Sure, Ren. Lemme finish off this bacon." He stuffed the last piece into his mouth before Beans could get his little hands on it. Then got up and brought the plate with him. He didn't seem to have a hangover either.
We walked over to the sink, where he began to wash it, and I asked him, "Do you remember anything from last night?"
"Well...yeah, I brought her stuff...um...we ate some food, played some games, then I cleaned up and went to bed..."
Tawny laughed.
He turned back to look at her, "What?"
"Well...Donnie, do you remember anything having to do with a certain friend of your little brother's?" I asked, trying to spark his memory, which was hard to spark normally.
"Oooh. You and Tawny." He laughed, and elbowed me, "Yeah. I remember."
"No!" I hissed, and punched him in his arm.
"Oh...was I dreaming, or like...what?"
"Tawny is a whole nother subject. Twitty. What about Twitty?"
"He was in my room this morning, and I remember us hanging out a lot last night cus Louis was doing other stuff. He's cool, isn't he, Tawny? You know him pretty well."
She shrugged, "Not quite as well as you do."
"Wha?" He started to dry his hands on a dishtowel. "If you two are trying to get the point across that you don't want me to tell anybody about you two, then I completely understand. Now stop messing with my head, you're hurting my brain."
"Just forget it, Donnie. Go on your way."
He shrugged, then left.
"Maybe they both repressed everything." Tawny suggested, "Cus they liked it." She cackled a little.
"Bah. You just think everyone's gay or something just because you are."
"Do not."
"You do."
"You just wanna argue with me for some reason."
I stormed out of the room. She was annoying me. That's why she was Louis' friend. He was annoying too and could put up with her. She was so annoying, yet I wanted her so bad. She was just annoying because I wanted her. No. I sat in the chair of the shadowy room, and picked at my fingernails. Someone had closed the curtains. Donnie had gone elsewhere, along with Louis and Beans. Ruby and Monique were at either end of the couch rubbing their temples.
"Ren..." Ruby whined, "Why'd you let me drink?"
"We already went over it. You would not have listened to me."
"I know...but...on the bright side, me and Larry did get a little closer."
"Please, don't talk about that!" I closed my eyes and fought back the images, which weren't humorous at all, just disgusting.
"Awww Ren, you're just going through sex withdrawals because you didn't get any last night."
"Ruby!" I snapped, "I can't be when I've never had sex before!"
"Oh yeah...I keep forgetting that you're a virgin."
"Shut up!" Monique hissed.
"Why don't you go and take some Tylenol, so you won't be all cranky?" Ruby asked her, leaning over onto her elbow, next to her on the couch, and looking up at her.
"Why don't you go...and...go and blow Larry Beale?!"
"I already have!" She laughed loudly.
Monique laughed as well, but stopped quickly, and grabbed her head, "Ow..."
"Ya know who's hot?" Ruby turned her attention back to me, sitting up, "Donnie is hot."
Now that was disgusting. "Ruby, he's my brother! He's not hot!"
"Oh yes, he is."
"No, Ruby! He's my brother! It's wrong!"
"He's still hot." She crossed her arms.
I gagged.
"C'mon. If he wasn't your brother, you would think he was hot."
"No, no I wouldn't."
"If I can interrupt for just a moment," Monique began, "I coulda sworn that I woke up this morning, and Tawny and Ren were doing it."
"No. No. No!" I stood up, and shouted, "Don't say that out loud, and we weren't anyway. Just stop." I found myself getting very offended, and frightened that people knew, and remembered. "You must've been dreaming or something."
"I think I was."
There was a brief moment of complete silence, before Ruby added in her two cents, "No, because I remember asking you if you liked Tawny, and-"
"No! No! No! Do not say anything like that out loud, ever. My parents are home, and no. Just no, alright?!"
"Ren, calm down. You're being louder than we are." Monique stated. "You're giving me a headache.
I hated how she said my name! Her voice was so annoying! I don't know how she didn't give herself a headache on a day-to-day basis. I started to stomp up the stairs to my room, but the doorbell rang as I got to them. It was Nelson. I turned back and opened the door, "Come in."
He stepped inside. He was sorta red. Well, really red. It looked kinda he was sunburnt very badly. If he weren't dark, then the redness would have been far worse. "It's a good thing, I'm wearing long sleeves," He stated, "It helps to hold my skin in place, and stops it from ending up on your floor."
"Oy..." I winced, and my arms started to tingle like my own skin was going to start falling off. I didn't think people could get rashes from soap that were that bad. At least I knew he washed himself.
"Here's your present." He handed me a box, "I'm sorry I couldn't make it last night. I didn't wanna call and interrupt because I thought it would be inconsiderate if I did. How was your party anyway?"
"It could've been better." I mumbled, and took the top off of the square box. "Ya know, Larry said almost the exact same thing about you that you just said about yourself." I laughed a little, and pulled out the small, purple puppy that he'd gotten for me. Stuffed animals. I like them. They're cute. It would be a nice addition to my collection on top of my dresser. "You're so predictable, Nelson."
"Um..." Nelson squinted, and a strange expression crossed his face that I couldn't read very well.
"What is it?" I asked, holding tightly onto the box and the little animal, a feeling of dread coming over me.
"I take it no one told you about the accident?"
"What accident?" Ruby asked before I could. She got up and came over to us.
"Um...well..." Nelson swallowed hard, and rubbed the back of his head with one hand, "I...I really don't think I should be the person to tell you...It was on the news and...um...I figured you already knew..."
"Knew what? What's going on?" Monique asked. She had finally picked up on the conversation.
"What happened, Nelson?" I asked, substantially more worried.
"Well...you see...ap-ap-pparently..." He stuttered.
"Spit it out!" Ruby screamed, panicked, as I was, but she reacted differently to it.
"Th-there was a car accident last night...and...and...Larry and...Mona..."
"Oh God..." I muttered helplessly, and dropped everything in my hands.
"They... ran head on into another car...they...they...both died instantly..." There were tears welling up in Nelson's eyes. "La-Larry was drunk..."
Ruby screamed. Maybe she screamed something, but I think she just screamed. All I could do was stand there shaken. I didn't know what to do. What could I do? Nothing. I felt sick and disgusting, and like it was my fault. I shouldn't have made them leave early. It wouldn't have happened had I not made them leave early. I was a murderer.
My parents ran out of their room, and everyone came from whenever they were and tried to figure out what happened. Someone explained, I don't know who. Monique said she was gonna be sick and ran off. Everything swirled, and I stood there in the middle, dazed, and confused. Everyone mumbled around me, but I couldn't understand anything they were saying.
I felt someone's hand gently grab a hold of one of mine that was hanging limp at my side as I stared at the door behind Nelson. They had gone out that door, and now I'd never see them again. They were gone. It was my fault. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't because it was my fault. One of my parents had to be holding my hand, seeing how disheveled I was. It must be one of my parents. I turned a little. Blue eyes stared up and at me, and pierced me. Those damned eyes!
"I'm sorry, Ren..." She blinked, sadly, "You dropped your puppy..." She tried to push it into my other hand, but I wouldn't take it. I couldn't move my hand to grab it.
An incomprehensible surge of emotion rushed through me. Too may emotions to handle at once. Too much of a blend of opposite things. Love. Sadness. Blame. Hatred. Anger. Tawny. She wasn't an emotion, but she was right there causing emotions always. It was her fault. I wouldn't have told them to leave had it not been for her, had it not been for my "confusion", my wanting to be with her of all people, wanting to touch her and not worry about anyone else. I moved with speed and shoved her as hard as I could, a lot harder than I had earlier. Earlier I wanted to put space between us so that nothing bad would happen, but this time I wanted to hurt her, really hurt her.