~Lies-2~
Seth killed the motor in his driveway and slumped forward, resting his hands and forehead on the steering wheel. He didn't remember much about the drive home and suddenly had a terrifying vision of cars spinning and crashing into other cars that ran off the road and crashed into houses and mailboxes in the Range Rover's wake. It was eerily similar to a scene in a movie but he couldn't remember which one. He lifted his head and watched absently as his hands shook on top of the leather bound wheel. Get a grip, Cohen. Get your shit under control. Now.
He had absolutely no idea what to do. Yes, he did. He needed to talk to Ryan. Glancing at his watch, he realized how late it was. Ryan was surely asleep and he had no business waking him up, right? Even for something as serious as this. He could handle it until tomorrow. Ryan handled stuff, really bad stuff, all the time by himself and hadn't he always wanted to be like Ryan? Now was the time to start. Seth liked to think of himself as a non-aggressive person in every way that didn't include his speech patterns, but at this moment he was experiencing dangerously high levels of sympathy, understanding, and need for Ryan's sometimes violent tendencies. He had no real desire to be like his best friend in that respect, but he sure as hell had a new point of view.
Seth relaxed in the seat and massaged the back of his neck where a tension headache was making its presence known in a very big way. What he really needed to do was calm the hell down, because when you were calm, you could think rationally. According to his mother, anyway. He didn't totally understand the concept, because as he saw it? The facts of this situation were exactly the same whether you were sprawled on the couch with your feet up on the coffee table, or were jumping in front of a beautiful girl in a blind panic when a lunatic pulled a gun at a party. Nothing. Changed. What he had just witnessed in that bedroom.
He got out of the truck and followed the sidewalk around to the back. The gardenias he'd wanted to show Summer still hadn't bloomed. Yeah, yeah, so it was a ploy to keep her out of house. He still would have liked her to see them in bloom. No lights in the pool house. Seth stood there, undecided, for a long minute, then walked quickly to the glass doors, raising a hand to knock. He hesitated, then dropped the fist to his side and spun around, staring up at the sky. Heaving a sigh, he went into the house and scared himself badly by wishing his parents weren't out of town. Right now, he would talk to either one or both if necessary. Unbelievably enough. Or maybe it would be better if he just kept his mouth shut.
He felt acutely small and insignificant as he took the familiar route through the huge house. All the silent empty space around him just intensified his loneliness. His head hurt and he still felt queasy as he dropped his shirt, then jeans while crossing his room to the bed. He grabbed Captain Oats off of his nightstand and fell onto the comforter. Seth stared at the ceiling for hours.
****
"Hey man."
"SETH!"
"Wha-?" Seth struggled to open his eyes as his bed began jiggling beneath him. Ryan came into focus, the same Ryan that was shaking the foot of his bed. "Dude. That is so not right. I'm trying to SLEEP!"
"I've been trying to wake you for 5 minutes."
"Oh." Seth closed his eyes and groaned. "I was up really late. You might even call it early. And why are you daring to disturb my rest at", he turned his head to see the alarm clock, "7 am on a sacred Saturday morning. SATURDAY being a key word and SACRED also because I am not required to be AWAKE THIS EARLY? On Saturday. Of the weekend."
Ryan cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. "What happened last night? You never act like this in the morning."
"Nothing, ummm, happened. I'm just tired. The last time I looked at the clock before finally going to sleep was approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes ago." The last part was true anyway. The first? Not so much.
"You're sure? Everything's ok?"
Ryan actually looked worried and Seth immediately felt like an ass. "Dude, I'm sorry about the yelling. I'm just dead. Maybe I'm coming down with something. Or something."
Ryan watched him for a moment with one of those looks of his that gave you no idea what he was thinking about. Seth had named that look the "poker face" and it always made him feel like an ant under a magnifying glass.
He finally spoke. "Seth, you're lying. If you want to talk about it, I'll, you know, listen. So. Do you need the truck? One of your mom's builders invited me to a site. Then we're going to talk to the architect."
"Cool. Right up your alley, man. Take the truck. But how-?"
"She introduced me to a bunch of people in the business at the Christmas party." Ryan looked both very pleased and embarrassed.
Seth guessed this was something that Ryan had always wanted to do, but never dreamed he'd be able to. He also suspected the introductions alone, which had undoubtedly involved his mom beaming with pride and going on endlessly about the new member of the family's academic record and interest in architecture, had been a ground-breaking experience for his friend. The look on his face right now said volumes. Seth grinned at him. "That is awesome, man. You look so damned excited. Which is - really - a decidedly new look for you."
Ryan picked Seth's jeans up off the floor and threw them at him. "You want to come?"
"No, no, thanks. I'm going to spend some quality time with my bed today. You go and have a good time. The keys are on the hook in the kitchen. Later, man."
Ryan raised a hand and was gone.
Seth realized he was cold. He crawled under the covers and refused to let his thoughts overpower his need for rest. As soon as he got warm, he was sound asleep.
****
In what felt like two minutes later, the phone was ringing. Seth automatically reached for his cell phone, fumbling around till he found it on the nightstand. It wasn't ringing. He threw the covers off violently. "I just want to SLEEP. Why does the rest of the world want TO DENY ME THAT?" He searched under various articles of clothing and books until he found the cordless phone. Still ringing obnoxiously. "Yeah. What?" He collapsed back onto the bed.
"Oh. It's you."
Seth closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was going to be a long day. "Well, Summer. You just dialed my phone number. Who else were you expecting?" The deep breath was supposed to make that come out less harsh. It didn't work very well.
"Maybe someone who's mastered the skill of answering a phone properly," she snapped back at him.
"There are worse things I could have said." He crawled back under the covers.
"Whatever. Let me talk to Ryan." He could hear her nails drumming impatiently in the background.
"Why do you want to talk to Ryan?"
She let out a sharp breath. "Look, Cohen. I don't have time to argue with you. This is important. Do you really think I WANTED to call your house after you dumped me?"
"Summer, I didn't - "
"Save it. Ryan?"
"He's not here. He'll be gone all day." Seth stared at the ceiling. It was so familiar after the previous sleepless night.
"Damn it." There was a long silence. "Then I need to talk to you, Cohen."
He sat straight up in the bed. "What? Me? I don't -"
"Yes. You. Be here in a half hour."
"Ryan has the truck."
Summer was beginning to sound frantic. "FINE. I'll be there in a half hour." She hung up.
Seth stared at the phone in his hand. Had she used Ryan as an excuse to talk to him? It would be a Summer-like thing to do. But she would have to know Ryan was gone. And why would she want to talk to him? God, who knows? He'd find out soon enough. He got out of bed and wearily headed to the shower.
Seth killed the motor in his driveway and slumped forward, resting his hands and forehead on the steering wheel. He didn't remember much about the drive home and suddenly had a terrifying vision of cars spinning and crashing into other cars that ran off the road and crashed into houses and mailboxes in the Range Rover's wake. It was eerily similar to a scene in a movie but he couldn't remember which one. He lifted his head and watched absently as his hands shook on top of the leather bound wheel. Get a grip, Cohen. Get your shit under control. Now.
He had absolutely no idea what to do. Yes, he did. He needed to talk to Ryan. Glancing at his watch, he realized how late it was. Ryan was surely asleep and he had no business waking him up, right? Even for something as serious as this. He could handle it until tomorrow. Ryan handled stuff, really bad stuff, all the time by himself and hadn't he always wanted to be like Ryan? Now was the time to start. Seth liked to think of himself as a non-aggressive person in every way that didn't include his speech patterns, but at this moment he was experiencing dangerously high levels of sympathy, understanding, and need for Ryan's sometimes violent tendencies. He had no real desire to be like his best friend in that respect, but he sure as hell had a new point of view.
Seth relaxed in the seat and massaged the back of his neck where a tension headache was making its presence known in a very big way. What he really needed to do was calm the hell down, because when you were calm, you could think rationally. According to his mother, anyway. He didn't totally understand the concept, because as he saw it? The facts of this situation were exactly the same whether you were sprawled on the couch with your feet up on the coffee table, or were jumping in front of a beautiful girl in a blind panic when a lunatic pulled a gun at a party. Nothing. Changed. What he had just witnessed in that bedroom.
He got out of the truck and followed the sidewalk around to the back. The gardenias he'd wanted to show Summer still hadn't bloomed. Yeah, yeah, so it was a ploy to keep her out of house. He still would have liked her to see them in bloom. No lights in the pool house. Seth stood there, undecided, for a long minute, then walked quickly to the glass doors, raising a hand to knock. He hesitated, then dropped the fist to his side and spun around, staring up at the sky. Heaving a sigh, he went into the house and scared himself badly by wishing his parents weren't out of town. Right now, he would talk to either one or both if necessary. Unbelievably enough. Or maybe it would be better if he just kept his mouth shut.
He felt acutely small and insignificant as he took the familiar route through the huge house. All the silent empty space around him just intensified his loneliness. His head hurt and he still felt queasy as he dropped his shirt, then jeans while crossing his room to the bed. He grabbed Captain Oats off of his nightstand and fell onto the comforter. Seth stared at the ceiling for hours.
****
"Hey man."
"SETH!"
"Wha-?" Seth struggled to open his eyes as his bed began jiggling beneath him. Ryan came into focus, the same Ryan that was shaking the foot of his bed. "Dude. That is so not right. I'm trying to SLEEP!"
"I've been trying to wake you for 5 minutes."
"Oh." Seth closed his eyes and groaned. "I was up really late. You might even call it early. And why are you daring to disturb my rest at", he turned his head to see the alarm clock, "7 am on a sacred Saturday morning. SATURDAY being a key word and SACRED also because I am not required to be AWAKE THIS EARLY? On Saturday. Of the weekend."
Ryan cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. "What happened last night? You never act like this in the morning."
"Nothing, ummm, happened. I'm just tired. The last time I looked at the clock before finally going to sleep was approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes ago." The last part was true anyway. The first? Not so much.
"You're sure? Everything's ok?"
Ryan actually looked worried and Seth immediately felt like an ass. "Dude, I'm sorry about the yelling. I'm just dead. Maybe I'm coming down with something. Or something."
Ryan watched him for a moment with one of those looks of his that gave you no idea what he was thinking about. Seth had named that look the "poker face" and it always made him feel like an ant under a magnifying glass.
He finally spoke. "Seth, you're lying. If you want to talk about it, I'll, you know, listen. So. Do you need the truck? One of your mom's builders invited me to a site. Then we're going to talk to the architect."
"Cool. Right up your alley, man. Take the truck. But how-?"
"She introduced me to a bunch of people in the business at the Christmas party." Ryan looked both very pleased and embarrassed.
Seth guessed this was something that Ryan had always wanted to do, but never dreamed he'd be able to. He also suspected the introductions alone, which had undoubtedly involved his mom beaming with pride and going on endlessly about the new member of the family's academic record and interest in architecture, had been a ground-breaking experience for his friend. The look on his face right now said volumes. Seth grinned at him. "That is awesome, man. You look so damned excited. Which is - really - a decidedly new look for you."
Ryan picked Seth's jeans up off the floor and threw them at him. "You want to come?"
"No, no, thanks. I'm going to spend some quality time with my bed today. You go and have a good time. The keys are on the hook in the kitchen. Later, man."
Ryan raised a hand and was gone.
Seth realized he was cold. He crawled under the covers and refused to let his thoughts overpower his need for rest. As soon as he got warm, he was sound asleep.
****
In what felt like two minutes later, the phone was ringing. Seth automatically reached for his cell phone, fumbling around till he found it on the nightstand. It wasn't ringing. He threw the covers off violently. "I just want to SLEEP. Why does the rest of the world want TO DENY ME THAT?" He searched under various articles of clothing and books until he found the cordless phone. Still ringing obnoxiously. "Yeah. What?" He collapsed back onto the bed.
"Oh. It's you."
Seth closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was going to be a long day. "Well, Summer. You just dialed my phone number. Who else were you expecting?" The deep breath was supposed to make that come out less harsh. It didn't work very well.
"Maybe someone who's mastered the skill of answering a phone properly," she snapped back at him.
"There are worse things I could have said." He crawled back under the covers.
"Whatever. Let me talk to Ryan." He could hear her nails drumming impatiently in the background.
"Why do you want to talk to Ryan?"
She let out a sharp breath. "Look, Cohen. I don't have time to argue with you. This is important. Do you really think I WANTED to call your house after you dumped me?"
"Summer, I didn't - "
"Save it. Ryan?"
"He's not here. He'll be gone all day." Seth stared at the ceiling. It was so familiar after the previous sleepless night.
"Damn it." There was a long silence. "Then I need to talk to you, Cohen."
He sat straight up in the bed. "What? Me? I don't -"
"Yes. You. Be here in a half hour."
"Ryan has the truck."
Summer was beginning to sound frantic. "FINE. I'll be there in a half hour." She hung up.
Seth stared at the phone in his hand. Had she used Ryan as an excuse to talk to him? It would be a Summer-like thing to do. But she would have to know Ryan was gone. And why would she want to talk to him? God, who knows? He'd find out soon enough. He got out of bed and wearily headed to the shower.