Under the Cornerstone

by Sasha Marshall

  Noe and Johnny.

  Jimmy’s drunk ass bumps into us towards the end of the song and the rest of our friends join as we scream out the last words of the song.

  We leave after we’ve thrown bird seed on the couple and they leave for their honeymoon. Noe is standing beside me and I notice her arms are cold, so I take my jacket off and drape it over her shoulders. She smiles up at me and I have to look away before I lean down and kiss her.

  “There’s a party Roxy!” Jimmy slurs.

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. In my pants. You have an exclusive invitation to join me.”

  I laugh.

  “I can’t do a damn thing with whiskey dick, Crawford,” Roxy replies.

  “Have you seen my cock?” Jimmy asks her.

  “I can’t say that I have actually seen it,” Roxy raises an eyebrow.

  “I’m a shower, not a grower. That means even if I did have whiskey dick, which has never happened to me before, then you could still mount me and ride to your naughty little heart’s desire.”

  “Okay then,” Noe says. “Let’s get you home Jimmy.”

  “Why? The party isn’t over,” he frowns.

  “You’re hammered. If you don’t go home and pass out the night will end with you fucking or fighting. We’re taking your ass home,” Rich tells him.

  “Fine. Roxy, you wanna fuck?” Jimmy asks.

  “And they say chivalry is dead,” she deadpans. “Let’s get you home Crawford.”

  Jimmy is his usual loud self as we walk him to his apartment. Noe is quiet, so I’m quiet. Once we get him inside, make him chug water, and give him some pain relievers, Noe tucks him in bed.

  “You were a shitty date,” she teases him.

  “I’m an easy date,” he slurs in response. “Climb up on Jimmy and I’ll show you.”

  “I don’t think we should leave him alone. If his big ass gets out of the bed, he’ll end up in jail,” I say.

  “I’m not staying with him,” Roxy immediately responds. “He might try to show me his shower can be a grower.”

  I laugh, “I’ll stay. Rich, can you make sure Noe gets home okay?”

  “Got her,” Rich responds.

  “You got Roxy, Ryan?” I ask.

  “Got her,” he says.

  I tell them all good night and avoid hugs so I don’t have to face possible rejection from Noe.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  I wake up to a giggling woman in Jimmy’s apartment.

  “Jimmy!” she squeals in delight.

  I do not want to hear this shit. I haven’t had sex since Noe.

  “Damn girl,” Jimmy’s deep voice comes through the walls.

  “Oh Jimmy.”

  This is so fucked up. I wake up with raging morning wood and Jimmy’s making his own fucking porn in his room. Fuck it, I’m jacking off. I go into his bathroom and think of being inside Noely. I think of the way she sounds when she comes and the way her breath tickles my ear when she moans into it. I think about the way her pussy tastes on my tongue and the way it feels to be inside her tight little cunt. I imagine pulling up that black dress she had on last night and slipping inside of her. I’d press her against a wall and fuck her with all four months of pent up longing and aching. It doesn’t take long before I’m blowing my load in the toilet. I lean back, sigh, and finally get my shit together.

  After I wash my hands and find some shit to eat in his refrigerator, Jimmy and his friend join me.

  “Morning,” he says.

  “You aren’t looking worse for the wear,” I comment.

  “My liver bounces back quickly,” he smiles.

  “Jenny meet Johnny. Johnny, Jenny,” he moves his hands between us as he introduces us.

  “Nice to meet you,” I grumble over my cereal bowl.

  “You ready?” she looks back over at Jimmy.

  “Let’s do it,” he says and pulls out a chair at the dining room table.

  He props his leg up on another chair while Jenny disappears into the kitchen.

  I eat my cereal and think about how I could possibly get Noe to hang out with me today.

  “Okay, put your foot in my lap,” Jenny directs.

  Jimmy picks his leg up and allows her to sit before he places it in her lap.

  “Jenny works for a clinic over in the Bronx,” Jimmy tells.

  I don’t care.

  I grunt as a response.

  I look over and watch her open a package and then put the contents in the water. She wraps Jimmy’s leg in cotton and then starts to unroll shit onto his leg.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” I ask.

  “I broke my leg,” he replies.

  “What?” I’m confused.

  “I broke my fucking leg,” he says like that clears it all up.

  “No you didn’t.”

  “Dude, what is she doing right now?” he asks.

  “It looks like she’s putting a fucking cast on your leg,” I answer.

  “Because I broke my fucking leg!” he raises his voice like I’m an idiot.

  “No you didn’t. I just watched you walk in here after I had to listen to you fuck her!” I point my spoon at Jenny.

  “You can fuck with a broken leg. Jenny promised,” he smirks at me.

  “Your leg isn’t broken.”

  “What’s on my leg, Johnny?”

  “Motherfucker, I know she’s putting a cast on your leg, but that shit isn’t broken.”

  “Says you,” Jimmy quirks his eyebrows.

  “Yeah, says me. The cat who just watched you walk in here, on both of your legs. You weren’t hobbling or crying out in pain. You’re not in pain now. Your shit isn’t broken.”

  “I woke up this morning and had myself an epiphany,” he says.

  “Fucking great. This is going to end up with me bailing you out of jail again.”

  “Nah. Nothing illegal. Anyhow, I was thinking about how much fun we all had last night. The crew was finally together again, and it made me really fucking happy.”

  “That’s fucking great, Jim.”

  “So I broke my leg.”

  I drop the spoon into the bowl and look at him.

  “Are you tripping on acid again?”

  “No. Why?” he asks.

  “Did you take something you shouldn’t have?”

  “No.”

  I look over at the blonde woman wrapping Jimmy’s leg in a cast like she’s done this a time or two, “Why are you putting a cast on his leg?”

  Maybe she’ll make sense.

  “He asked me to,” she replies.

  I must still be asleep. I’m living in a world where nothing makes sense.

  “Why did he ask you to?” I ask her.

  “He said he broke his leg,” she answers.

  I lean over and bang my head into the table several times. I look up to see she’s still wrapping his leg so I bang my head against the wood a few more times. Maybe I’ll wake up.

  Her squeaky voice asks, “Are you okay?”

  “Am I okay?”

  “Yes. They bring crazy people in the clinic all the time. Some of them have helmets on so they won’t cause brain damage from banging their heads into the wall,” she says dead ass serious.

  “You think I’m crazy?”

  She shrugs her shoulders, “I’m not judging or anything. My mom had this brother who served in some war. Maybe like World War I or the American Revolution or something like that, and it made him crazy. So, anyhow, he stayed in my grandmother’s basement until she died and then they had to put him in a home where other people could take care of him…”

  “Right,” I interrupt her. “Does his leg look broken to you?”

  She stops wrapping his leg in what I’m assuming is plaster and looks up at me like I just asked the dumbest question in the world, “He said it was broken.”

  I open my mouth to say something, but there are no words. I l
ook over at Jimmy, who’s smiling like a cat who just ate the canary.

  “What the fuck are you up to?” I ask him.

  “Epiphany, brother,” he answers and taps on his head.

  “I don’t want anything to do with this,” I announce and stand to wash my bowl out.

  “How much longer are you going to be?” he asks her.

  “Ten minutes. It’ll be hard as a rock, just like you were earlier,” she giggles.

  I roll my eyes and stay in the kitchen.

  I pull out my phone to waste time until the rocket scientist leaves. I scroll through Facebook and see Noely’s posted pictures from last night. Someone tagged us both in several pictures of us dancing. I zoom in and look at us. I held her in my arms for a little while last night. Fuck, it felt good. I click through the other pictures we are both tagged in and find a series where we were dancing to the last song of the night. Someone snapped a picture at the perfect moment, where her head is leaning back and a huge smile is on her face, and I’m looking down at her like she’s my entire fucking world.

  I don’t care about the consequences. I crop the picture and make it my profile pic. Then I pull it back up and stare at her.

  “Jenny’s gone,” Jimmy rounds the corner on crutches.

  “Good, I’m out,” I say and give him discerning look.

  “You can’t leave yet,” he smiles.

  “Why not?”

  He just smiles as he pulls out his phone, drops the smile, puts a pitiful look on, and then places the phone to his ear.

  “Noe?” he asks.

  What the fuck is he doing?

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you,” he says and sounds like his entire family was just fucking murdered.

  Pathetic.

  “I broke my leg Noe. This shit hurts so fucking bad,” he presses his lips together like he’s actually grimacing in pain.

  Who knew he was such a great actor?

  “No. No. Calm down. I’m okay,” he sounds woeful.

  I watch him make facial expressions that match his pitiful ass voice.

  “Yeah, that would be great… No, I would just feel better if you were here… I’ll tell you everything when you get here… Love you, Noely baby.”

  He hangs up and gives me a shit-eating grin.

  “I’m fucking amazing,” he says and then extends his fist for a fist bump.

  I look at his fist and then back at his face, “What. Did. You. Just. Do?”

  “Epiphany,” he says again.

  “Would you care to explain this epiphany?” I ask.

  “I can’t tell you.”

  “Then why am I still here?”

  “Noe’s coming over. You gotta help me make this shit look real.”

  “I’m not lying to Noely.”

  “Man, you should be nicer. I broke my fucking leg.”

  Jesus Christ, I think he actually believes he broke his leg.

  He disappears around the corner and returns with crutches, “I got crutches too. Jenny is dumb as a box of rocks, but she’s resourceful as hell.”

  “You don’t say.”

  “Say what?”

  “Jenny is dumb as a… Never mind.”

  I really don’t want to stick around and end up getting fucked in this scheme, but Noe is coming over and I want to see her.

  “She is pretty fucking dumb. You can tell that girl anything and she’ll believe you,” he shrugs his shoulders. “But she lets me fuck her in the ass whenever I want, so I overlook some of her flaws.”

  “Jesus Christ,” I blink at him. “You fucked her in the ass and then got her to put a cast on your leg?”

  “Yeah. Got the crutches too,” he puffs his chest out like he’s proud of himself.

  A few minutes later, a knock comes at the door.

  “Can you get that, while I try to get comfortable on the couch?” he asks like he really just broke his leg.

  “Your leg isn’t broken,” I reiterate.

  “It is. I have the cast and crutches to prove it,” he says.

  I open the door to find a worried Noely. Her hair is piled on top of her head in a messy bun, and she’s wearing sweats, UGG’s, and a Blood Feather shirt. She looks like she literally just rolled out of the bed, and yet she’s fucking gorgeous.

  She walks past me to find Jimmy on the couch. She kneels down beside him quickly.

  “Oh my God, Jim. What fucking happened?” she asks him.

  He grimaces in fake pain again, “I went to get a pack of smokes early this morning and there was an old lady getting mugged.”

  He shifts on the couch as if he’s in so much pain he can’t get comfortable.

  “Jesus. Here, let me help you,” Noe babies him.

  She shifts him around a little and he pretends that she has helped him find the right spot.

  “Anyhow, the old lady was getting mugged by two guys and I stepped in to save her. I knocked one out, but the other hit me in the leg with a bat. I’ve got a hairline fracture. I’m off this baby for at least two months,” he lies through his teeth.

  “That’s amazing that you helped her,” Noe says with pride in her voice. “Did they catch the guys?”

  Fuck my life.

  “No,” he says and scowls in pain once more. “It’s okay though. The old lady wasn’t harmed, and they didn’t steal her shit.”

  “Well, fuck, Jim,” she replies at a loss for words.

  I feel her pain.

  “How did you get to the hospital?” she asks.

  “The cops took me.”

  “Where were you?” Noe turns around and asks me with something close to an accusation in her voice.

  I’m going to fucking gut his ass.

  Jimmy answers for me, “I left while he was asleep. He didn’t know I was gone until I got home from the hospital. I didn’t even think to call him.”

  I remain leaning against a wall with my arms crossed, repeatedly telling myself not to find something sharp and cut that fake cast off. This whole “woe is me” act is grating on my nerves.

  Ryan and Rich bust through the door and take one look at Jimmy and give him looks of sympathy.

  “Man, what the fuck happened?” Ryan asks.

  Noe tells them Jimmy’s fictitious mugging story, and they both tell them how awesome he is for saving the made-up old lady.

  We all sit around Jimmy’s living room for a few hours watching television. Rich goes out for food and we sit around eating Chinese and watching some pirate television show, Black Sails, that I’m pretty sure might actually be porn with great actors and a plot. I suffer through the erection in my jeans that pops up every time Noe makes some crude ass comment when another sex scene comes on, just so I can be in the same room as her with no conflict or drama. She sits against the couch Jimmy’s splayed out on so I have the perfect view of her.

  A few more hours in, Jimmy looks at us with fake pain in his eyes, “Man, getting around on tour is going to be tough.”

  I narrow my eyes at him, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

  Everybody is quiet for a minute until Ryan finally speaks up, “We’ve got Aaron to help. We’ll have to try to get to gigs earlier so he has more time to set up.”

  “I can still do the rest of my job, I just won’t be as mobile and I can’t help set up the gear,” Jimmy tells him.

  “Shit,” Rich says and rubs the back of his head. “You think one of the guys from Saul’s can help out for a few months?”

  “Those guys don’t know shit about how touring or the band works,” I instantly put my foot down.

  “I can help,” Noely says and every head in the room turns to her.

  “Like on tour?” Rich asks.

  “Yeah. I can help out. It’s just for a few months until Jimmy gets back on his feet. I can freelance remotely anyways,” she answers.

  I take it back. I take every fucking thing I said about Jimmy back. I take it all back. I
’m sorry. Jimmy fucking Crawford is a goddamn genius. A goddamn genius!

  “We’ll pay you,” I say. “Well the label will pay you. We’ll create a position for you if we have to.”

  “It’s fine,” she says.

  “Holy fuck, Noe is touring with us!” Ryan says and pulls her up from the floor to hug her.

  I want to do the same thing.

  Rich hugs her and Jimmy sits up so he can pull her into a hug, “Thank you so much, Noely baby. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  “It’s the least I could do for you saving an elderly woman’s life,” she looks down at Jimmy.

  A goddamn genius! I think I love Jimmy at this moment more than I ever have.

  “I just need to take care of a few things before we leave in five days,” she says and I feel a wave of sadness come off of her.

  Chapter Forty

  Noely leaves to take care of her business, and I shoot Rich a look as soon as she’s out the door.

  “What’s going on with Noe?” he asks me.

  “I was about to ask you the same thing.”

  “I have no idea,” he says.

  “I’ll be back. I fucking love you Jimmy!” I yell and walk out the door.

  I hear him reply, “Epiphany!”

  I haul ass down the stairs and come out of the building just as Noely turns a corner. I jog to close some of the space between us, but hang back enough that she doesn’t know I’m following her. I hang back in the shadows when she enters a liquor store and emerges with a bottle of tequila.

  She walks five more blocks before she stops at a stoop and sits down. I can’t figure out what she’s doing. It’s not like her to drink a bottle of tequila on some random person’s steps. It takes me a minute, but I realize she’s looking across the street.

  She sits there for half an hour before I see a family sit down for dinner. Two teenage kids, a mom, and a dad laugh and you can almost see the conversation taking place as everyone explains how their days went.

  I watch both the family and Noely, trying to figure out why she’s watching them. Something is here. Something deep. Something painful. She pulls out her phone and my own phone vibrates in my pocket.