Chapter 10
Rocky closed the door with a thud, simultaneously dropping his backpack, keys, and jacket to the kitchen floor. Across the kitchen, Adam stirred from sleep on the sofa in the living room.
"Rocky?" Adam called as he sat upright to look over to the small entryway.
"Hey, I didn't mean to wake you up," Rocky answered, looking down to the floor and leaning against the kitchen counter as he removed his shoes with his toes.
Adam glanced out the window over the sofa, noticing the faint October morning light crawl into the room from behind the blinds.
"What time is it?" Adam asked to seemingly no one as he stood from the sofa, looking around the room.
Rocky steadied himself to glance at his watch and leaned back to the counter to remove his socks. "Seven-thirty-three," he said.
Adam walked over to the kitchen counter and stopped. He took a probing whiff of the air and stepped back, his face contorting in revolt and condemnation.
"Rocky," he tried to speak, gagging on each word that tasted of the air, "you stink!"
Rocky stood in the entryway, halfway between the kitchen and living room. He looked down at his socks and shoes with disappointment.
"I know," Rocky said, his voice low and dispirited.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to hurt you," Adam said, still not moving closer, "What happened last night? I didn't think you would be home this early."
Rocky picked up his socks and bag before answering Adam's question. "Let's just say I learned the rest of the rituals."
Adam took another curious sniff. "You smell like alcohol and vomit…and something else I can't identify. Did you get drunk? Seriously, what happened?" Adam pleaded, moving slightly back and closer to the sofa as Rocky attempted to walk towards the hallway.
Rocky groaned, visibly weary and fatigued. "I'll tell you about it after I shower. I already need to burn my clothes after last night."
Adam accepted the promise and watched as he turned toward the hall leading to their rooms. Then Rocky stopped, pausing when he noticed Aisha's yellow duffle bag near the sofa.
"Hey, is Aisha here?" he asked, standing just in the hall entryway, looking over to the edge of the sofa.
Adam turned and looked down at the implicating bag. He hesitated, but what would he say? The bag was there and Rocky saw it. There was nowhere to hide a lie now. There was no lie he could think of that would make a case for the evidence sitting in plain view.
"Well, is she?" Rocky asked.
"Yeah," Adam said, carefully choosing each word that would follow, "She came over to watch a movie after we finished studying. We fell asleep and she took the room. I slept out here."
"Let me guess, you guys watched something with a Borg or Jedi in it," Rocky gave a half smile.
Adam relaxed into a smile, "We watched The Empire Strikes Back."
"Aw man, Adam!" Rocky relaxed and leaned against the doorway, "I guess I don't need to worry about you being so close to her. You're gonna push her to me anyway after you bore her to death."
Adam scowled and caught himself before he put his thoughts to words. "Don't you need to take a shower," he said, without a hint of a smile.
"Yeah, I definitely don't want Aisha to smell me this way. I'll be out in ten minutes. Actually, there's something I need to talk to both of you about." Rocky went into his room and closed the door.
Rocky's last sentence barely registered for Adam as he walked over to the kitchen with a mission of extinguishing the offensive, lingering odor. He searched the bottom cabinet, just under the sink for the near empty bottle of air freshener. As he stood to spray, he met Aisha's gaze, her face frozen in revulsion.
"Rocky," he answered her unspoken question and walked over to her side of the counter, spraying the air as he moved.
Aisha watched him as he moved about the rest of the living area, misting as he went. Finally, he took in a nose full of the less offending air, satisfied with the now sterile, slightly medicinal scent rushing to their consciousness.
He walked back over to the counter, sitting on the stool next to Aisha.
She sat down, taking the bottle from his hands and placed it on the counter.
"Adam, what happened to him last night?" she asked, looking over to the door where Rocky's shoes and jacket lie, haphazardly scattered.
"I don't know. He said he wanted to shower first."
"Probably a good idea," Aisha said, folding her arms on the counter.
"What happened to you? When he came in, I woke up and you were gone,"
"I went back into the room when I woke up an hour ago," she said, looking ahead at the dripping faucet.
Adam reached for her shoulder, "We were just sleeping. Did I do something…um…obscene?"
Aisha couldn't help rolling her eyes and smiling at his question. There was nothing really wrong about what happened last night. They both decided to finish watching the movie and had fallen asleep in the same spot on the sofa, wrapped under the blanket.
"Of course not," she said, "but I didn't want Rocky to walk in and find me lying on top of you."
Adam raised an eyebrow, resting his chin in his hand in thought, "You were lying on top of me? That didn't make it into my dreams." At his last sentence, he shook his head in disbelief.
Aisha turned to fix her gaze on him, as he still seemed lost in thought.
"I am not addressing that," she said, "joking aside, what is going on with Rocky?"
Adam's expression tensed as he considered the question he had attempted to answer himself.
"He came in and the first thing I smelled was a combination of vomit and sour alcohol mixed with—I don't know—something else."
"Dirt," Aisha said.
"You mean, like he's dirty?"
"No, the other smell is dirt; sort of like fertilizer or manure. It smells like he was rolling in something…disgusting," Aisha wrinkled her nose reliving the smell that had mostly dissipated from the room.
Adam was visibly worried at Aisha's observation. Why would he be covered in alcohol, vomit, and dirt?
"This isn't like Rocky. The only thing I was able to get out of him was something about 'learning the rituals' before he went to shower."
"Maybe I should go home. Kim is going to come over here in about an hour looking for me."
"More like just to be nosey," Adam smirked. "Besides, he knows you're here. He saw your bag near the sofa. I think it would be more suspicious if you left suddenly before he came out."
Aisha leaned on the counter, contemplative. "Adam, what if I talk to him."
"No way! You're not supposed to know how he feels, remember?"
"I understand that, but why not let him ask me out like he planned. It would be better for me to explain to him how I feel than for you to tell him you're taking his girl."
Adam looked pained at this suggestion. "You're not his girl."
"You know what I mean. That's how he'll see it if you tell him. If I tell him, he may see it as me making my own decision. It would still be hard to hear, but it won't be as bitter," Aisha placed a hand on Adam's back, "and it may not do as much damage between you two."
Adam leaned down to kiss her forehead, wrapping her into a hug.
"I guess you agree," Aisha said.
"Not fully, but you have a point. It may not be as bad coming from you. Although, Rocky hasn't been himself lately. He may not take it well from either of us," Adam said.
They both sat quiet for a few moments, listening to the stillness of the room. The faint sound of the water threading through the pipes was only noticed as the abrupt water hammer caved when Rocky turned off the shower.
Adam released Aisha from their quiet embrace, anticipating Rocky's entrance back into the living room.
Rocky knew he had to tell them. However, as he stood in front of his mirror preoccupied with thoughts of how to explain what he witnessed last night, doubt began to invade his mind.
Adam already thinks I'm drunk. But I'm sober, just sleepy. Maybe it was just my imagination. But…what if it wasn't? He contemplated as he pulled on the only clean shirt in his drawer that was in public-ready quality.
He gave himself an approving nod as he checked for inappropriate holes in his worn jeans and instinctively looked over to his nightstand clock. When he opened the room door to the hall, he was met with a very different smell filling their apartment than which he left.
Breakfast! At least the day would start out enjoyable.
As he walked into the kitchen, he spotted Aisha at the counter with her back to him and Adam at the stove pouring a mixture of eggs and peppers into the pan.
Rocky walked over to Aisha, peering over her shoulder at the bowl of waffle mix.
"Hey Rocky," she said, still mixing the batter.
He nervously placed a hand on her back, reaching up to the cabinet for a glass.
"Hey, you guys are making serious breakfast," he said, leaning on the counter next to Aisha, "How did you have time to do all of this?"
Adam, who had been watching his movements from the periphery of his vision, turned from the stove, his expression fixed in disbelief.
"What are you talking about?" Adam said, "It's almost nine o'clock?"
"Come on, man! Stop exaggerating. You know I was only in there for about twenty minutes," Rocky said, opening the refrigerator.
Aisha turned from the counter to look over to the hanging clock. "Rocky, it's eight forty-five. Kim and Billy are headed over. That's why we're cooking breakfast."
Rocky sat the carton of juice on the counter, looking at the red and black clock hanging from the wall just over the table.
The time was eight forty-five and counting.
"That's not possible," Rocky said, presumably to himself.
"Of course it is," Adam said, turning back to the eggs, "Billy called Kim looking for Aisha. Kim told him she was over here. Then, Kim decided to be nose—eh—to come over for breakfast," Adam corrected himself, seeing Aisha's head turn toward him from his periphery.
"Boy, I must be really sleepy," Rocky walked over to the table to sit down, massaging his temples. He looked up to the clock, as if he were willing the time to change. "I just looked at my clock and I was sure it said eight o'five. When was the last time we changed the battery in this thing?"
"Rocky, why don't you take a nap? I promise we'll wake you up when breakfast is ready," Aisha said.
Rocky judged the situation, "No, I need to tell you guys something before Billy and Kim get here."
Adam and Aisha exchanged nervous glances, keeping their backs to Rocky.
"Rocky, are you sure you want to talk to both of us about this?" Adam said, attempting to keep his voice steady.
Rocky knew what Adam was hinting at. "It's not…that. This is about last night."
Adam turned off the stove, letting the now done eggs rest. He came over to the table to sit across from Rocky and watched Aisha pour batter into the hot waffle iron. He knew she was quietly brooding.
"First off, I promise you both I was completely sober," Rocky said.
Aisha turned around to meet Rocky's line of sight with a look of skepticism.
"Aisha! I'm telling the truth! I didn't drink last night."
"So, why the strong smell of alcohol?" Adam asked.
"It was the rest of the rituals. First, they had us recite the names of the members of the chapter from the year it was founded up to the present. If you missed a name, you took a shot. Missed two names, take two shots. Missed three names—"
"I think I get the picture," Adam jumped in. "So, are you saying you were forced to get drunk?"
"Not at all. I learned all of the members. But Jared didn't."
"Oh no…" Aisha said, softly.
"Yeah…," Rocky sighed, "He had his wisdom teeth removed a few days ago and has been on pain killers. Between midterms and the recovery, he hadn't had the time to learn them. So, last night when he started getting a few wrong, he had to take a drink—for each name he missed."
"Each name? These guys are crazy!" Adam yelped.
"It gets worse. So, Jared had some of the medication in his system last night while he was drinking. It didn't go down well…and it came back up on me."
Aisha removed two waffles from the iron and pushed the batter back to the center of the counter. She came over to sit at the table, her face painted with disgust.
"Rocky, this sounds horrible," Adam said.
"There's more," Rocky said, "Tex and Kern ordered us to clean up after Jared got sick and the other two leaders went down to the basement to take inventory. Jared had thrown up from the meeting room—which is like the living room of a normal house—all the way to the bathroom on the first floor. So, I went to get a bucket and some cleaning supplies while Jared stabilized in the bathroom.
"Since I had to look a few places for supplies, and I spilled some old party punch in the basement, I had to go back down the hall facing the courtyard and garden. I saw a flash of light from the garden and thought Kern had blown himself up with fireworks. But, when I went to check it out, I saw a flash of purple light and heard this familiar whirling sound. I looked through the bushes into the garden and I could see Tex and Kern following the other two guys through what appeared to be…Cog space."
"What is 'Cog space'," Aisha asked.
"It was the nickname we gave the transport portal the Machine Empire used to send Cogs and monsters through. We haven't seen that type of transport since they left the moon. Rocky, are you sure you weren't seeing things?" Adam said.
Rocky put his head in his hands. "I'm not sure of anything anymore. I was so shocked I tried to back out without them seeing me and fell backwards in the mud."
"So, that's where the smell of dirt came from," Aisha said, coming to sudden revelation.
Rocky gave her a look of curiosity, "I guess…but I was out in the rain for a while waiting for them to leave before I—"
"Did you say rain?" Aisha asked.
"Yes, Aisha. That created all the mud," Rocky said, matter-of-factly.
"I don't remember hearing rain last night," Adam said.
"You guys were too wrapped up in Jedi versus…something," Rocky said.
Adam stole a glance at Aisha and blushed. "I don't even remember it being in the forecast."
"So I just imagined rain, Cog space, and vomit last night?"
"You definitely didn't imagine the vomit. But you do need to get some rest," Aisha said, placing a hand on his arm.
"Aisha's right," Adam said, "We don't have to be over to Kat and Tanya's until about one o'clock anyway. Take a nap."
Rocky looked at the two of them and then to the stove and counter.
"Fine. After last night, I'm not really hungry anyway."
"Rocky, you aren't going to eat?" Aisha asked, visibly concerned.
"No, I think I'll just take one of the waffles, maybe some eggs…did I smell bacon in the oven?" Rocky said, still palming his forehead.
Adam rolled his eyes, "I'll get your plate started."