My Paper Heart

by Vernon, Magan

  "You owe me big sir! I don't wear these stilettos just for anything!" I lifted my leg up over my head.

  His blue eyes darted over toward me. "Now you're just being a tease."

  ∞

  The pool hall wasn't much more than a smoky bar that looked like an oversized green trailer.

  "You promise we can go somewhere to be alone after this?" I pouted out my bottom lip as Blaine closed the door to his truck behind me.

  He leaned both his hands against the truck, on either side of me, and pressed his forehead to mine. "I promise tonight won't be a waste of your heels." He looked down at my chest. "Or your push-up bra."

  "Hey, I am not wearing a push-up bra!"

  He grinned at me, we were eye level, and I was almost even taller.

  "Libby, I've known you a month now, and after staring at your chest just about every day that I've known you, I think I know when you have a push-up bra on." He nuzzled my cheek in an attempt to muffle his laugh.

  "Damn boy, finally you make it!" A short stocky guy in a backwards red hat smacked the back of Blaine's head, causing Blaine to knock forward. He caught himself with his hands before our heads butted.

  "Well damn, I think if I had a girl like that I would probably have taken even longer,” a really tall black guy in a Tulane shirt chimed in.

  "Come on guys." A guy that looked about five years older than the rest of them with a full red beard put his arm around the other two boys. "Give Blaine a break. We've already cock blocked him enough."

  Blaine turned toward the three guys, sliding an arm around my waist. "Alright now that you've embarrassed the hell out of me, meet my girlfriend, Libby."

  He pointed to the short stocky guy. "Libby, that's Ryan, we played baseball together in high school." He then pointed toward the tall black guy. "That's Don, he thinks he's too good for us now that he goes to Tulane, but we can still kick his ass."

  "Hey!" Don chimed. For a black guy he had a really high sing-songy voice. I didn't think he was at Tulane on any sort of a sports scholarship with a voice like that.

  "Really Don, you can't deny it." The third guy looked at Don, and then extended his hand toward me, trying to grab my attention with his eyes. "And I'm Jackson. I've worked with Blaine on the road crew for forever."

  "Yeah that's why he's good at the wise cracks, he's had centuries to practice them," Don quipped.

  "Hey!" He turned back to Don. "I'm not too old to still kick your ass."

  "Bring it on old balls!" Don made a motion with his hands like, come and get me.

  "You got it choir boy!" Jackson went straight for Don's knees. Before I knew it the two were wrestling in the parking lot.

  That only lasted about 30 seconds though, before Blaine broke it up.

  "Come on guys, let's play some pool."

  ∞

  Now being in college, and having an older sister that I could pass off as, of course I had a fake ID. But in a small town bar, I don't think I was carded even once. The boys ordered rounds of beers at the pool table, and I don't think the waitress even batted an eye.

  It could take a bit to get me drunk, especially with beer, but after about four beers I was feeling pretty tipsy. I was trying to point the stick straight, Blaine was behind me trying to show me how to aim the cue.

  "I bet you Blaine is used to seeing her from this position." Ryan cackled and the rest of the boys joined in. I think they had a few even before they came.

  Blaine whispered in my ear. "Shh don't listen to them, we're losing pretty bad, I'll help you make this shot."

  I whispered back, slurring a bit. "Then will you make a shot on me?"

  I guess it wasn't that much of a whisper because Jackson yelled, "I HEARD SHOTS."

  I totally fumbled with the cue stick and cracked the cue into the ball, making it ricochet off of the side of the table. I just laughed like a drunken school girl falling onto the table along with my cue stick.

  "Oh shit," Don muttered.

  "What?" Blaine took his hands off of me and looked to the side. Then I could feel his steel grip on my back. Something he saw made him very angry.

  "What is she doing here?" He spat between clenched teeth.

  I slowly got up from the table to look and see what all the boys were staring at.

  Two girls sat at a small table across from the bar. One of them was really pretty and petite, something I would never be. She had almost all small features, except for a ginormous rack, which she made sure to show off with a very low cut shirt. Her hair was very straight and brown, I envied that with humidity. She took tiny sips out of her drink in a rocks glass and laughed with the girl next to her.

  "Five Tequila shots." The little mousy waitress squealed holding a tray in the middle of us. The boys were snapped out of their stare fest to turn their attention to the waitress.

  Jackson plopped a fifty on the tray. "Keep em' coming."

  I got out the salt shaker and began to pour it on the back of my hand, but before I could even finish Blaine had taken his shot, not waiting for the salt or to take the lime afterwards.

  "I'm going to step outside for a minute." He patted my back, and just continued out to the door without even looking at me.

  I whirled around and turned toward the guys, who were huddled together talking. "Um, did I miss something?"

  "Uh..." Ryan just froze.

  "Well?" Don broke away from the group and came closer toward me. "See the little brunette over at the table with the big red head." I glanced over my shoulder, pretending to pick something off of my shoulder and saw that the brunette was doing the same thing. She quickly turned back toward her friend in order to not make eye contact with me.

  "Yeah." I turned back toward Don. "What about her?"

  "Well." He rubbed the back of his clean shaven head. "That would be Julie, Blaine's ex."

  Oh, wow.

  Ryan scooted in between us with Jackson close on his heels. "Yeah I thought that bitch said she'd never come around here again."

  "Well I guess we'll just have to make sure she knows what she's been missing." I didn't bother licking the salt off of my hand and downed the shot, motioning to the waitress for another.

  Blaine finally came back in after about my fourth or fifth shot. I had kind of lost count. I really wasn't expecting Julie to be that pretty, and I was hoping Blaine wasn't having second thoughts about me after seeing her again.

  "Hey Blainey!" I slurred, jumping into Blaine's arms when he came back to the table. "I was afraid you would never come back!" I swayed back in forth in his arms, holding him tight.

  "Um, Libby are you okay?" Blaine pulled me away and held my eyes with his. I noticed his eyes were blood shot. I didn't know what he had been doing outside, but whatever it was, I figured this Julie bitch had to pay.

  "Honey, can you go get me a drink?" I drew a circle on his chest with my finger.

  "Are you sure you need another drink?" He kept trying to lock eye contact with me, but I wouldn't let him.

  "Please, honey. No more beer though, rum and Coke?" I gave him the puppy dog eyes, batting my eyelashes in the process, a double whammy.

  He groaned. "Fine, I'll be right back." He let go of me and headed toward the bar.

  That was my chance, if I ever had one; I probably had enough liquid courage in me to really do something stupid.

  "I'll be back boys." I called without even looking back at Marcus, Ryan, and Don.

  Slowly I slunk my way over to the table where Julie and her friend were sitting. For a moment I just stood there in front of him. The girls stopped their conversation. Julie just looked at me with her top lip curled up in a look of disgust.

  "Um, can I help you?" Ugh, even her voice was cute, like something a teenage country singer would have.

  I smirked. I hadn't gotten as far as to thinking what I was going to say.

  "Um, hello?" The girl sitting next to her questioned, trying not to laugh. I probably looked like an idiot, a giant blonde idiot.

 
"Hi." I squeaked and thrusted my hand out to the two girls. "I don't think we've met, I'm Libby Gentry, Dee Badeaux's niece. I just moved here about a month ago and well." I shrugged with that shit eating grin still plastered on my face. "I thought with it being a pretty small town I'd met everyone here, but I guess I haven't."

  "Oh, well I’m Dani and this is my friend Julie, but she doesn't live around here anymore. She just came to visit for the night from New Orleans." The chubby redhead said in the friendliest voice she could utter. She was definitely Julie's wingman, or wing woman, if there is such a thing.

  "Oh, Julie." I turned my body completely toward her. "Yeah I think you know my boyfriend, Blaine Crabtree."

  "Uh, yeah." Julie took a drink of her drink and rolled her eyes. "Come on Dani, I think it's getting a bit crowded in here." Julie grabbed her purse and began to stand.

  Here was my turn to make an even bigger ass of myself. I slammed my hand down on their table and that startled both of them to sit back down. "I'm sorry? Did I just crowd your space or was that some sort of a tall joke?"

  "Um excuse me?" Julie put her tongue in her cheek and crossed her arms, shooting lasers at me with her dark green eyes.

  The room was spinning. I leaned in, and I thought I could almost see Julie cringe at the smell of Tequila on my breath.

  "Listen bitch, you may be prettier than me and have better hair."

  Julie smirked at that.

  "But I know I am a hell of a lot better dresser than you and make Blaine a hell of a lot happier than you ever could." I leaned in even closer, a definite invasion of personal space. "And if I ever see you or your fake ass Chanel earrings around here again, I will shove my very real, very pointy Jimmy Choos up your prissy little ass. Do I make myself clear?"

  Julie opened her mouth to say something, but the quickly closed it. I think she knew in my state I would probably do something stupid. I got up from the table and turned toward the guys. Jackson, Don, and Marcus were all staring at me in amazement, but Blaine was just shaking his head. I tried to walk back over to them with some swagger. Then the worst thing that could happen, happened. I felt my heel get caught in the wooden planks of the floor, and then it all went dark.

  ∞

  I woke up with my head pressed against the glass of Blaine's truck. My head was throbbing. I opened one eye and could see Blaine just staring out the window, a clove in his hand. He knew I didn't like him smoking, so he tried not to do it around me. But just from his body language, blank stare, and hand gripped on the wheel, I knew he was pretty upset.

  I slowly sat up in the seat, still holding my head and groaning loudly. I opened both eyes slowly and looked out the front window. I didn't recognize where we were at all. I just knew it wasn't the bar or either of our houses.

  "Mmmm...Where are we?" I rubbed the back of my head. I could feel a big knot where my hand was.

  "Real nice, Libby. You see my ex in a bar and decide to cause a scene. I mean, that's class right there." Blaine didn't even look at me, just took that long slow last drag of his clove and then tossed the butt out the window.

  I rubbed my head and shifted my body completely toward Blaine, very slowly, but eventually my whole body was facing him, with my hand still on the back of my head.

  "You make a scene in a bar." Blaine finally turned his attention toward me, his eyes were that same angry steel blue. "Not only do you go and talk to my ex-girlfriend, but then you threaten her. It wouldn't have been so bad, that is, if your drunk ass didn't fall on the floor and pass out."

  My memory was starting to come back. I remember falling and Blaine's friends cheering me on. Then I remember a man coming over and telling Blaine to get his drunk-ass girlfriend out of the bar and not to bring her back. From there I didn't remember anything else.

  "I had to carry you out of the bar, with everyone staring." He practically spat. "Do you know how embarrassing that was for me? What if your Aunt Dee finds out, or even worse, my parents?"

  "Blaine, I was just..." I stammered.

  "You were just what?" He clenched his teeth. "Trying to embarrass me in front of my ex? Make it even worse for me?" His knuckles were almost white since his hands were gripped so hard onto the steering wheel. "I’m sure she really thinks highly of you, slobbering all over her. That really makes her think I’m moving up in the world."

  I didn't know what else to do or to say and I was still pretty drunk, so I did the only thing I could do. I cried. Oh, and not a pretty cry, It was an all-out sob. My tears were black from my makeup and snot dripped out of my nose.

  Blaine took his hands off the wheel and pulled my toward him, burying my face in his chest. "Baby, don’t cry." He ran his fingers through my hair, which was a big fluffy mess from the humidity and falling down in the bar.

  "I'm…I'm…SORRY," I blurted between sniffles.

  "Shhh. Libby, it's okay." He kissed the top of my head. "It was kind of funny, you should have seen the look on her face."

  I looked up at Blaine, my face completely tear streaked. I wiped my nose with the back of my hand. "Are you still mad at me?" I blabbered.

  Blaine groaned. "I don't know if I can stay mad at you when you pull the crying card."

  "Hmmm." I traced my fingers down his shirt to the top of his pants. "Maybe I should do that more often then."

  He stroked my cheek. "Well I hope I'm not making you cry all the time."

  "Hey, I did get my alone time though." I slowly undid his belt buckle.

  "Libby. Do you really think this is the time or the place?"

  I reached my head closer to his. "I think you need to stop thinking." Then I closed his mouth with my own and enveloped him into a kiss.

  ∞

  Well we both didn't think our first time together should be in the front seat of his car, but I really thought that I should make up my stupidness of the night to him.

  "Libby, I don't think we should be doing this out here." Blaine stammered, trying his best to keep his attention away from me.

  "Come on Blaine. We are out in the middle of nowhere and no one will have to find out." I looked up at him, batting my eyelashes and pursing my lips.

  "Well…if you insist…" He grinned.

  I tried to lean back, but realized that I was caught. Okay I was actually, really caught and something was pulling on my hair.

  "OW." I screeched as I furiously started yanking my head back and forth.

  "What the hell, Libby?" Blaine's eyes widened as he lifted his arms in the air.

  "I'm caught on something." I stammered, finally stopping to inspect what I was caught on.

  Blaine looked down and covered his mouth, trying to stifle his laughter. "Honey, your hair is caught on my belt buckle."

  I looked down to see a big chunk of my hair wrapped around his bright green John Deere belt buckle.

  "Ack!" I waved my arms in the air, like I was scratching at nothing. "Get it out, get it out!"

  He laughed again, but this time he stifled it quicker. "Alright baby, calm down." He put his hand on the top of my head. "Now you are going to have to lean back down, so I'm not ripping your hair out."

  I leaned my head back down on his lap as Blaine finagled with the belt buckle, trying to pull out the blonde strands without hurting me.

  "Oh shit." he mumbled.

  "What?" I looked up, hoping not to see a huge clump of my hair in his hands.

  "COP. COP. COP." Blaine screamed as he stared into his rearview mirror.

  I tried to lift my head up, but then he pushed it back down, hitting the exact spot I had hit on the floor at the bar on the steering wheel. "OW!" I screeched, ripping that last piece of my hair out of Blaine's belt buckle.

  "Aw baby I'm sorry." He kissed the top of my head quickly and tried to straighten out his belt.

  I slinked over to my side of the seat. "I thought you said we were pretty far off the beaten path and that no one would find us."

  "Well I thought we were!" He was shaking as he fiddled with his belt buckle.


  "What are we going to do?" I was still drunk and was crouched up on the seat on all fours like a cat. My face was still completely black and tear streaked. I could only imagine what my hair looked like.

  Blaine shook his head and was actually laughing. The cop was still sitting in the car behind us with his lights on and Blaine was laughing his ass off.

  "Blaine, what's so damn funny?" I spat between gritted teeth.

  "You know in the time we've been together, we've been stopped by the cops twice. I think that's a first." He nodded his head like he was proud of himself.

  "Well I'm sorry, but I don't think it's funny that there is a cop behind us and we may have just got caught for public indecency."

  "Baby." He reached for my hand and gave me an encouraging smile. "Relax, it'll be fine."

  He didn't smile for too long as the cop tapped on the window.

  Blaine held never let go of my hand as he turned toward the window and rolled it down.

  "Hello officer, is everything alright?" The sexy boyfriend hat was immediately off and on came that southern charm.

  The police officer looked like a typical small town police officer: a little overweight, a little gray, but a perfect handlebar mustache.

  "Evening Blaine, out a little late isn't you two?" The cop leaned in against the window, and then nodded in my direction. "Miss Gentry, good to see you again, maybe I'll get to see you someday not pulled over."

  Great, it was the same cop that we saw with my high and drunk little cousin. I had to be making the best impression on the Elsbury police department.

  "Now I heard," The cop turned his attention back toward to Blaine, leaning his body against the car door and smacking his lips as he talked. "That there was some sort of a scene at Reesey's that involved the Doddery girl." The officer raised his eyebrows at the mention of Julie's name.

  Blaine squeezed my hand lightly. "Well, you know them city girls, Officer Campbell." Blaine threw a smile my way and then looked back at the officer. "Well especially this one in particular." He threw his head back in my direction. "They've got a bit of a temper."