by Piper Frost
And in this case...I did my roommate.
And I don’t even remember if it was any good...
The knock comes at the door just as I finish loading the rest of the pictures from last night into my laptop. There’s got to be something in here I can use for the student site. Something that doesn’t scream ‘we’re a college of drunks’.
“Hey, man,” I say to Able as I open the door. He wants his headset, but I wasn’t expecting Annie to be with him. I should have, those two never go anywhere solo, but he didn’t mention her. “Annie,” I say, letting them both in. “How are you two feeling today?” I smirk at her nervously.
Annie’s the girl on campus everyone wants to be friends with but is also intimidated by because she’s the smartest, prettiest girl here. She’s not a bitch, but she’s driven. And her and I are currently battling it out for the top of the class so I don’t think she’s a fan.
“I’m okay, thanks,” she says, walking into my apartment and looking around at all the photos. “These are good,” she says, admiring a wall of candid shots I took at orientation a couple years ago.
“Thanks.” I shove my hands in my pocket and glance at Able. “Your headset is in the other room. Follow me and I’ll get it for ya.” I head down a hall and try to tamp the nervousness that Annie Kenshaw’s in my living room. “So what’re you and her up to today?”
“Nothing.” He shrugs. “Just hangin’. Thanks for fixin’ it, dude. It was kind of nice playing and not hearing everyone’s annoying insults, but I felt like I was missing out for awhile.” He chuckles and grabs his headset. “What do I owe you?”
“A date with Kenshaw?” I mumble, laughing. “Joking. It’s uh...” I look at him, one of the more popular guys on campus, and feel like maybe I shouldn’t charge him. Give myself a good name around everyone else, maybe. “It’s fine. It’s on the house.”
He stares at me with narrowed eyes for a minute. “You sure? You’ll never date her, dude. Don’t even joke about it, okay? It’s not that funny. Let me give you...” He pulls his wallet out. “Shit, I don’t have a cash, but Annie can probably spot me. Hey, Annie,” he calls to her but I stop him before he takes her money.
“Please don’t,” I blurt. “Just let it go. It’s okay.” The last thing I need is to take her money and feel like even more of a nerd than I already do. Pining after what should be my arch nemeses. Hah! “Next time I’ll charge you double.” I wink at him as Annie walks into the room.
“What’s up?” She looks at Able and my face flushes.
“Nothing, babe, you ready?” Able says and I look between them.
“Not...really...” she steps into the room where my laptop just finished loading all the pictures from last night and glances at the screen. “Teddy, you take a lot of pictures.” She walks closer to the laptop and glances at the thumbnails of the few hundred photos and videos I took.
“I do.” I clear my throat and glance at Able who looks annoyed right about now.
“You took these last night?” She bends down to look closer at the screen and my eyes, having a life of their own, zone in on her ass as it sticks up.
Shit.
Able shoves me, almost making me fall over, then he stands behind her, protecting her from my eyes and he leans over her shoulder. “Look.” He laughs, pointing out a couple pictures. “Hey, that’s a good one of you. You don’t look drunk at all,” he tells her, chuckling.
“I got some videos, too,” I blurt, then grab the chair and roll it over to the laptop.
“Oh god.” Annie laughs. “I’m not sure if I want to see those.”
“No, no. They’re good, I promise.” I remember the way Annie completely won last night. I scroll through the hundreds of pictures before getting to the first video, then hit play and lean back and smile.
Sometimes I feel like a creep taking all the pictures and videos I do, but these are the memories everyone’s going to look back on years from now and be thankful that someone caught it on camera. And that someone’s going to be me.
“Oh my god.” Annie laughs when the music starts but her laughter stops when she sees what’s about to happen. “Who is that?” She points to a girl on the screen who’s swaying to some song like a stripper, then proceeds to walk over to the couch where Able’s sitting.
“I think her name was Cindy. She doesn’t go here, she was someone else’s date,” I say, glancing back at Able as he stares at the screen.
“Is that...” He pauses and brows raise. “Oh. Shit.” He watches when she sits on his lap and grinds her hips, giving him a lap dance. “I don’t remember that. Delete that shit, Teddy.” He slaps my chest.
“No, man.” I laugh. “I’m thinking of starting a website for the class and loading all this shit into it.”
“You cannot do that,” Annie blurts and I shrug.
“Keep watching. It gets better.” I grin, watching the girl grind on Able like she’s trying to get off.
Then it happens. The best part of the whole damn video. Probably the best part of the party.
Annie walks in the room and everything falls silent. I mean, everyone in the whole damn school knows how Able feels about her. I’m shocked, honestly, that they aren’t an item yet. The way she looks at him is proof that she wants him just as bad.
And if that’s not proof, what’s about to happen in this video is.
“Why did everyone just get quiet? Did the sound glitch?” She looks back at me and I shrug then look at Able.
“I don’t know why people would get quiet. Do you, Able?” I know why. Because we were all waiting to see what she would do. Our real-life Maury episode and they were plastered on top of it.
“This is stupid. Turn it off.” He turns to leave but Annie doesn’t let him.
“This is not stupid.” She snaps her fingers at him after pausing the video just as she’s about to crawl on Able’s lap. God, this is getting good. “This is the best thing I’ve had all day. It’s answers. Just...watch with me. Please.”
I watch him look at her and visibly give in. Like he always does. The man’s whipped. He walks back over to the desk.
“Me getting a lap dance is the best thing you’ve had all day? Alright then.” He shakes his head, folding his arms across his chest and I stare at the bulge of his muscle. He could put my head between his forearm and that muscle and squash my it like a watermelon. I blink a few times, considering turning off the video ‘cause I know what’s next.
I clear my throat and hit play again, then slide my chair back slightly and watch as the two of them take in the video.
“Oh shit.” Annie laughs. “I shoved her so hard she fell on the ground!” She starts laughing and all I can do is nod. “Did we fight?” she whispers, watching the screen.
“No. Nope, you two definitely didn’t fight.” I clear my throat and stare at the screen, afraid to see the reaction on Able’s face when he realizes I taped this entire thing.
Annie gasps when the video goes on and she sees the next few seconds play out in front of her.
Annie crawling on his lap.
Annie slowly starting to grind on him.
Able’s hands gripping her ass.
Her leaning down and pressing her lips to his neck then arching her back and pivoting her hips on him while letting her hair fall back.
“You outdid her,” I murmur, wanting to replay the last ten seconds of the video.
“Oh my god,” she whispers, wide eyed.
“Whoa,” Able whispers, his eyes just as wide.
“Why didn’t anyone stop me?” She looks at me with pleading eyes. “Why...” she looks back at Able then to me. “Everyone just sat there and watched us!” Her head starts shaking. “No. This can’t be seen by anyone else. Delete it.” She points to the screen then pauses and looks at Able. “I uh...” Her eyes start to glisten. “I, we, we need to go.” She storms out of the room with bright red cheeks.
“So that went about as I expected it to,” I mumble, looking at Able.
“Delete that shit. Or I’ll smash every piece of equipment you have,” he threatens before hurrying out of the room after her.
I can hear them going back and forth and it’s the usual. She’s frantic, he’s trying to stay calm. That guy has no problem pounding on guys twice his size. I think she’s the only person he remains calm for.
“I have to move schools,” she blurts. “I can’t show up at class tomorrow, Able!” I can hear her pacing and want to grab my camera to record this but it’s sitting at the table behind her and I really don’t want to interrupt.
“No you don’t.” He stops her from pacing and holds her in front of him. “Look at me. No one’s going to remember that anyway. We were all drunk. No one gives a shit anyhow. Teddy’s going to delete it.” He quickly looks my way while I keep my distance from them. “It’s going to go away. No big deal, okay? You’re a college student.” He tries to chuckle. “Shit happens. Yolo...or something.”
“I don’t yolo!” she shrieks. “I’m careful. I’m... I don’t grind on random people at parties!” She growls and pushes her hair out of her face.
“Random people?” he blurts. “Random fucking people!” Now he’s pissed. “I’m not a random goddamn person, Annie! I’m Able! I’m...your friend. I’m not fucking random.” Now he’s pacing.
I feel like I need popcorn for this. This is the most drama this apartment has ever seen.
“I didn’t mean that,” she whispers, stopping pacing. She watches him pace the room and curses. “Able, stop. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.” She steps over to him and rests her hand on his arm. He flinches away and her eyebrows push together. “I’m sorry,” she whispers.
“This is fucking stupid. The minute we woke up, today fucking sucked!” He storms back to my office for his headset and I look at Annie.
“The video isn’t over. There’s something at the end I think you might want to see,” I offer.
“I don’t want to see any more of me acting like a whore.” She curses again. I almost feel sorry for her.
“Trust me. It’s not. Just humor me?” I motion towards my office and she glares at me. “It’s like, two more minutes. Maybe less. Then I’ll let you watch me delete it, I promise.”
Huffing, she rolls her eyes and storms back to my office, pushing Able back inside when he tries to leave. I smile to myself, hopefully making this situation better before they storm out of here not talking to each other.
“Just... Watch.” I hit play and move the screen so they both can see Able stopping the lap dance.
Able forcing her to stand and yelling at everyone in the room to mind their own damn business.
Able escorting her out of the room before she makes a bigger scene.
“You stopped me?” she whispers, looking back at a clueless Able.
He shrugs. “I remember about as much from last night as you do. I’m not surprised I stopped you. Even trashed I know that’s not you.” Turning to me, he points to the screen. “Delete it.”
“When it’s over, I will.” I hit play again and the screen shows me following them down the hall to the bedroom. “I take full blame on being a weirdo here, but the story is too good to have let it stop there.” The video shows me holding the phone at the opening in the doorway and watching Annie start to pace the small room they disappeared into.
“Why’d you let her do that to you?” she blurts in the video. “She’s not your girl.”
“I don’t have a girl. What’s the big deal?” Able retorts and I smirk when they quickly glance at each other but just as quickly glue their eyes back to the monitor.
“No, but you didn’t have to let a stranger grind on you like that.” The video shakes a bit and you can hear some background noise but soon refocuses on the two of them. “Did you like it? Her dance?”
He throws his hands up on the screen. “I don’t know. Yeah? I don’t know. What do you care anyway?”
“I mean...” She scrunches her face and steps closer to him. The room in the video is dark but you can see the tension rolling in it. “I...shouldn’t. I mean I do. I care. You're my....friend.” She looks up at him and he steps closer. “But you like girls like that? That’ll do stuff like that in public?”
His hands slide to her hips and he starts to shake his head. “No. I just, don’t know. I like girls...like you.” He pulls her against him.
“Oh fuck,” Able quietly groans and Annie hushes him, waving her hand, leaning closer to the monitor.
“You do?” Annie’s whisper is barely audible in the video, but it’s there. I turn the sound up as loud as it can get for the rest of the video. “Like me?” She rests her hands on his biceps and looks torn.
“So much,” he breathes like he’s been waiting for this moment.
“Stop! Push stop!” he starts pushing buttons on my laptop. “Make it stop!” he says frantically.
Annie shoves him back as the video continues to play. The slow kiss that leads to a deeper kiss that ends with their foreheads pushed together and Annie’s unmistakable whisper.
“Wow,” she breathes.
The video ends and Annie’s staring at the screen waiting for it to do something. I click on the file and let her watch as I drag it to the trashcan then empty the trash.
“There. Gone,” I whisper. “And you guys left right after that video. So that was everything I have from the night.”
Annie blinks, then stands up straight and looks at me.
“Thank you,” she whispers then walks out of the room leaving Able and me.
I’m staring at my blank screen bummed I had to delete that. People would have loved to see that. I probably have a copy. Suddenly I’m pinned against the wall and his huge arm is pressing into my chest. He’s glaring at me, breathing heavily, and I squeeze my eyes shut, waiting to die. A minute later he backs off and brushes my shirt off. I open my eyes to see him run his hands through his hair then leave the room.
We get into the car. She’s driving now. No surprise. She’ll probably never speak to me again. I’m surprised she didn’t make me walk home. I don’t even know what to say. What is there to say?
“Alcohol.” I chuckle. “Am I right?” I grin over at her but my hands are shaking.
“Mmhmm,” she murmurs, staring out the windshield and more focused on the road than she probably needs to be. Her knuckles are white on the steering wheel and her jaw is clenched tight.
I sigh. I’m not going to lose her because of a drunken night. I mean, my true intentions came out. And she was, well, she was drunk.
I run my hands through my hair. “Annie, talk to me. What’s on your mind? Are you meticulously packing your bags in your head, trying to figure out which case will fit all your blue shirts?” I try to chuckle.
She nods and my heart breaks.
“I’m going to head to my room for a nap,” she mumbles when she parks the car back at our house. “Sorry for ruining your Sunday.” She looks at me and I see the battle in her eyes. “Dinner’s on me later on as an apology.” She opens her car door and slips out before I can reply.
“Hey!” I shout while she jogs to the front door. “Want company?” I hang back at the car, giving her space. Wouldn’t be the first time we chilled together and took a nap with the TV on or something.
I’m so fucked. Even if she doesn’t move out, our friendship is over.
That much is obvious when she ignores me and closes the door behind her.
I trudge into the house, happy Jimmy’s in his room but when I hear Annie talking, I perk up, hoping she’s talking to me and rush to her bedroom but her door’s closed. I turn to walk away but pause and lean closer, wondering who she’s talking to and if it’s about what happened.
“I think I screwed up, Uncle Bo,” I hear her say.
“What happened? Tell me you’re out there using protection, darlin’,” a dude says and I realize she has her phone on speaker phone.
“Ew.” She giggles. “I’d rather not talk about my sex life with my
uncle.”
“So you ain’t callin’ to tell me your pregnant?”
“Hell no,” she blurts then sighs. “I miss it back home. How is everyone?”
“Good. Real good. We miss you too, sweetheart. Come on, let it out. This ain’t like you. You know I don’t like to do much on Sundays, including talking on the phone with you,” he teases her.
“Shit, I’m sorry. I can call Aunt Kinley.” I hear her bed squeak and she sighs again. I want to go in there with her and wrap my arms around her and make those sad sighs stop
“Shut up, girly. You know I’m not bein’ serious. Talk. Now. You’re makin’ me worry and I hate worryin’.” That’s a southern accent.
“I think I need to move home,” she whispers almost to the point of me not being able to hear her. “The big city isn’t the place for me,” she adds and I hear her sniffle. Shit.
“Annie, what’s brought this on? What happened up there? You’re talkin’ droppin’ classes and givin’ it all up? What the hell happened out there?” This dude’s voice sounds like he could kick someone’s ass through the phone.
“No I mean... I can keep doing classes online. I only have a year left and right now I just want to focus on finishing school and leading the ranch. I can’t do that from here. Not anymore.”
“Someone hurt you?” he growls. “Tell me right now. I’ll get in the truck and head your way. When you were a little girl me, your daddy, and your uncles took a road road trip to bring your aunt Affton home. You say the word and I’ll gather them up and we’ll be there in a day.”
Jesus, I hope that doesn’t happen. Because they’ll be coming to kill me!
I hear her small laugh and smile.
“I know. I’ve been told all about the time you guys almost all went to jail.” She groans. “And no. You don’t need to do that. No one hurt me. I just... I’m so confused. And I think I’m homesick and this is why all these feelings and shit.” She curses again. “Can you fly me home next weekend?”
No! Fuck, fuck. No! I almost grab the handle and burst in until the dude on the other line starts to laugh. A hearty laugh too, like he really thinks that was funny. This motherfucker sounds crazy.
