One Of The Boys

"So, you okay?" Jacob asked, standing next to me and taking out a glass from his kitchen cabinet.

"I'm good," I looked at him, confused, while pouring the coke over the rum already in my glass. "Why," I asked.

"I don't know. Lora doesn't seem to be," he said dropping the ice then pouring rum into his glass.

"That's not your business," I said stirring my drink.

He was quiet for a minute as he poured the coke into his glass, then...

"She's just not herself, and I was worried," he said.

"We're going to be good again. It just takes time," I told him.

"You sure?" He asked, looking at me.

"Why?" I said smirkly, "You ready to pounce?"

He was quiet again for a few moments, serious expression on his face.

"She's my friend," he said sternly.

"Pfft!" I flipped my hand at him, blowing him off, as I took my drink and walked into the living room where Gabe and Danny were watching tv.

"Are you old enough to drink, young man?" I said in a loud, deep, drunken voice pointing towards Danny, who was stretched out on the sofa, to which he replied by holding his glass up then downing a big swig.

"I guess so," I said and sat on the love-seat next to Gabe.

Then Jacob came in and sat in the big chair in the middle of the room. His chair. 'The King's Chair,' he calls it. No one sits in his chair. (It's a 'man' thing.)

"What're we watchin'," he asked.

"Is ECW on tonight?" asked Gabe.

"Nope," Danny answered. "That was last night."

"Wrestling sucks," I said. To which Danny sat up and threw the little cusion he was laying on at me. I blocked it then said, "Oh, gawd! Please don't tell me you're a Cena fan."

"Cena's the SHIT!" Was his answer.

"Wrestling sucks," I said again, sipping my drink.

"I thought you loved wrestling," Jacob asked.

"I haven't really watched since the whole murder/suicide thing," I told them.

"Yeah, that sucked," Gabe answered.

"Yeah, they've had some creepy angles before but I think they went too far with that," I jokingly said, which was met with laughter from all.

"Owen," said Danny laughing.

""Hey, that's ten years ago this Saturday, May 23rd," I remembered.

"Damn, has it been ten years already?" Gabe asked, kinda shocked.

"Yeah," Jacob said loudly, interruption the discussion, "wrestling does suck."

Then he picked up the remote and started flipping channels. When suddenly, to what did our wandering eyes did appear, but a "Girls Gone Wild" infomercial, that stopped us as if headlights were hitting reindeer.

We all sat there drunk and transfixed for a little while. Then came the dancing, and the guys starting hooting and whooping at the tv. Danny even stood up and did a little mock-sexy dance himself.

Then, drunk as I was, I stood and said, "That's not how you do it!"

I got up on the coffee table and started grinding to the music on tv. I was drunkenly getting into it. Then I pulled my top off, (Yes, I had a bra on.) and started swinging it over my head. I looked down at the boys...and there wasn't a smile in the group.

Jacob stood up, "C'mon...," he started...

"Oh, you gonna go first?" I said with a Spock eyebrow and a smile.

He took my arm and replied, "It's time for you to go home."

That's when it hit me. What the fuck was I doing! These weren't some random guys. These were my friends. And no matter what smart-ass comment they may make, they weren't really like that. I could feel the tears start to flow at the stupidity of what I had just done, but couldn't do anything except cry.

"Danny, walk her home," Jacob said as he helped me down off the table.

I wiped my eyes with my top then put it back on and walked towards the front door, Danny right behind me. I didn't say anything as I left.

I had stopped crying but my eyes were still blurry and red. Danny and I walked together in silence towards Brier Rose Court. About halfway there I noticed that Danny wasn't walking on the sidewalk with me, but rather in the grass on the side of the road. Then when we passed a streetlight I could see that he was barefoot.

"Where are your shoes?" I asked.

"Uh-a," he said and shrugged his shoulders. "I like walking without shoes."

I was looking at him and he turned and started looking back at me. After a minute he said, "I don't know what to say in situations like this, so...I won't"

"Good," I said, and looked ahead again.

After a few minutes...

"That was about Emily, right? Back at Jacob's? That has something to do with her, huh?" He said showing a kind of perception I thought he lacked.

I didn't respond.

"I'm not... I know it's not my business, but I just wanted to understand, y'know. You guys are all so complicated, and I don't have a girlfriend, so I thought understanding you might help me with that somehow."

"You're right," I said.

"I am?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's not your business," I told him without looking his way.

But after a few more minutes of walking...

"Yeah," I said. "It was about Emily. It was about stupid me and the stupid thing I did and trying my best to forget about stupid Emily for leaving me."

He didn't reply until we were past The Raye House and in sight of home. Then he asked a question I didn't have an answer for.

"Why're you trying to forget?"

I just looked at him for a minute without responding.

"That's stupid," he finally said.

We stopped in front of Brier Rose Court and I hugged him then said, "Thanks for keeping me safe on my journey home."

As I walked up the driveway he yelled out, "You should be a writer."


~Sara Poe