4:03am, Friday Morning
Stacie felt Steve stir beside her, flicking on the bedside lamp he sat up and threw his legs over the side of the bed. He rubbed his face with his hands and rolled his shoulders before slapping her bare ass, she gave a yelp, half surprised and half playful, Steve grinned crookedly in response, like a little boy who thinks he is playing some grand joke on the whole world and he is the only one who understands the punch line. She turned her head and watched as Steve pulled on a pair pulled on a pair of sweatpants hanging from the doorknob of the closet, and then made his way across the room. He was clearly drunk but also with a noticeable swagger that she felt at least partly responsible for.
She had been nervous when they first started making out, it was clear that Steve had more experience than she did and although she’d had her eye on Steve for a couple of months, this was the first night they’d actually talked, and after secretly coveting a chance to get him alone, she didn’t want to blow it by being disappointing in bed. As she watched him cross the room her fears were put rest, he was walking the same way she felt, totally content. Steve opened a mini-fridge in the corner of the room, pulled out a Bud Light and cracked the top, taking a long swig.
How can he still be drinking at 4 in the morning? He and his friends table was already covered with empty beer bottles when I walked in and in the four hours we drank together he hadn’t so much as slowed down, it’s equal parts disturbing and impressive.
Steve staggered slightly before clumsily sitting into a lawn chair in front of a TV that was placed on top of the mini-fridge. Still clutching the beer in a vise grip, as if afraid that anything less would result some kind of major catastrophe, Steve clicked on the TV and kicked at the X-BOX lying on the floor. It came to life and Steve let out a soft, excited yell as if a great feat had just been achieved. Grabbing the controller Steve took another long drink before gingerly setting the beer down next him. The game began to load up and Steve seemed to instantly sober up, like a driver snapping to attention after dozing off at the wheel only to wake up just in time to avoid going off the road.
She allowed herself a small brief moment of satisfaction, after having never even made eye contact with him, much less talked to him, here she was. They had the same Ethics class, a coincidence he also shared with both of his roommates, and one of his roommate’s girlfriends. It hadn’t been hard to notice him, for on the first day, he’d walked into class ten minutes late with his (single and HOT) roommate, and when the teacher went to mention on how late they were, they both leapt into what was both a clearly unbelievable story on:
What could keep you from class, and also an argument on just how serious IS coming to class on time anyway?
For whatever reason, the professor seemed to like it, and for whatever reason, she’d looked right past the tall, dark, and handsome roommate, and her eyes had stuck on Steve.
She looked over at him now, where he sat three feet at most from a small tv, alternating his attention between his beer, and one of those stupid football video games. He was sort of tall, sort of in shape, and sort of roguishly handsome. No leading man, but definitely the kind of guy the girl would fall for in a romantic comedy. His hair was too long, but he wore the bed head look well, had a great smile, and seemed to know it, because he was fast with it. But mostly he had nice eyes. They were light grey, and never seemed to focus on anything for more than a second, he was constantly shifting perspectives, constantly searching out something to mess with or comment on, and so when he did finally make eye contact with you, it was exciting, because you knew he wanted to look at only you.
Stacie propped herself up on an elbow looked over her shoulder at Steve, “What are you doing?”
“Playing NCAA.”
“NCAA?”
“Yeah, it’s a college football game.”
Steve looked around as if something was missing or out of place. His eyes landed on a laptop perched precariously atop a desk in the corner of the room. Firing it up Steve put on some music, the sound was turned nearly all the way up and both of them cringed at the noise, Steve quickly lowered it to more suitable level.
The light allowed her to see the room for the first time. It was more or less what you'd expect from a room inhabited by a guy in college, the floor was littered with clothes, mostly t-shirts and ripped, faded blue jeans that Steve would insist were that way because he had worn them so hard, but when pressed would admit that he had bought them that way just like everyone else. The walls were covered with posters, making the room fell much smaller than it actually was, most of them were of bands but there were some sports figures as well. From what she could tell Steve had a wide interest when it came to music as the number of genres represented was nearly as impressive as the amount of posters, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Johnny Cash, The Beatles, Kenney Chesney, Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, The Killers and those were just some of the ones she recognized, others like Colin Hay, Nick Drake and Marc Cohn she could only guess as to what kind of music they played. Suddenly she felt happy that the lights had been out before for while she liked Mick Jagger, Jim Morrison and John Lennon the thought of all of them along with Roger Waters, Robert Plant and Brandon Flowers watching her have sex made her feel awkward, even if they were only posters.
Her mind wandered back over the nights events, she tried but couldn’t recall exactly what had happened to lead her here. She was drinking with her friends, and having a decent time, then Steve was there. Like some force of nature, he feel upon her group of friends. He didn’t introduce himself, didn’t say hello, he just hopped right into the conversation as if he had always been there and instantly became the life of the party, and the party was much better for it. He liked to make speeches, even if they didn’t make sense, he would just keep on talking until he had everyone at the table laughing, and he liked to make fun of people, even himself… especially himself, there was never a dull moment. In all of her life hadn’t laughed nearly as long or as hard as she did that night at the bar. Her attention was drawn back to Steve as he absently started to sing under his breath.
If my life was a distance what mile would you claim?
She had to stifle a laugh as the lyrics didn’t fit her picture of Steve at all but the song itself caught her ear and despite Steve’s tuneless whispers she found herself really enjoying it.
“Who is this?”
Without taking his eyes off his game he pointed to a poster on the wall and said, “The Damnwells.”
“The Damnwells…they sound good.”
“Sure.” Steve continued to be consumed by his game.
Stacie let out an exaggerated sigh and laid back down, letting the music wash over her. The song ended and the next one started, she wasn’t impressed with it and almost instantly became bored. OK this game can’t be that important, I’ll just keep bugging him until he comes back to bed. She swung around so her head was at the foot of the bed, perched herself up on her elbows and placed her head in her hands.
“You seem pretty into that game…too bad you don’t take class this seriously.”
“I’m playing Texas with Sam Houston State on Heisman with all the hardest settings for the National Title, it’s a pretty big deal.”
“I have no idea what that means.”
Steve thought about for a moment and then spit into the beer can, “Basically, I’m taking a group of fourth graders into battle against the Patriots.”
She noticed, for the first time, that he had put in a dip. Her brother dipped so that in and of itself didn’t bother her, but she wasn’t sure what it said about Steve that he was willing to not only play a video game minutes after finishing hooking-up with her for the first time but to also be dipping while doing it. She couldn’t think of anything else to say so she tried to keep the conversation going, “The Patriots?”
“Yeah”, clearly irritated, “the New England Patriots.”
“I thought the Brits played soccer, of course they call it futball over there, but I don’t think it’s the same as our football.” Stacie smiled, thinking herself clever for coming up with that so quickly.
Steve finally turned away from his game and looked at Stacie, “What is wrong with you?”
Stacie put on the best pouty face she could muster and replied, “I just want you to come back to bed and cuddle.”
“Cuddle? Listen honey, we’re not dating, you either get foreplay or cuddling, not both.”
Still with her pouty face, “But you didn’t give me a choice.”
“You weren’t complaining when I was going down on you for twenty minutes.”
“I wouldn’t say that was twenty minutes.”
“Maybe not, but it certainly passed as foreplay.” Thinking the conversation over, Steve turned back his game.
“So what am I supposed to do?”
“I see three choices, you can either leave, go to bed, or listen to this great music and let me finish this game then I will come back to bed and we will see what happens.”
Her good mood quickly fading Stacie sat up and realized she was still naked and no longer felt comfortable being such, she used the bed sheet to cover herself. “You know you seem a lot nicer in class.”
With that Steve finally paused game and once again spit into the can, “That’s like the third time you mentioned class, what the hell are you talking about?”
What the hell am I talking about?…does he even know who I am…of course he knows who I am…doesn’t he?
“What am I talking about?! Ethics…in about 5 hours…” Steve still had a blank look on his face, “We are in that class together, Steve.”
Steve gave a half-assed worried grin, the kind of grin you give when you’ve been caught in a lie and you know there is nothing you can do about it but bite the bullet. “Right…Ethics…Monday and Friday at 9…I don’t get there very often.”
“Yes I know, when you do come, you and Johnny are always late.”
“Johnny?!”
What the fuck is wrong with this guy? “Yeah, Johnny…your roommate.”
“What does he have to do with this?”
This is getting ridiculous. “We all have that class…along with your other roommate…and your cousin.”
“And you wonder why I don’t go to class, I have plenty of people there to take notes for me.”
She laughed in spite of the situation, or maybe because of it she couldn’t be sure. She quickly put back on a serious face and finally asked the question she had been too afraid to ask, “Do you even know my name Steve?”
“Your name? Of course I know your name.”
She tilted her head to the side and waited for an answer. What am I supposed to do if he doesn’t know my name? Do I just leave? Do I make a scene? What am I doing here? “Well?”
“Okay, listen it’s been a long night, I’m drunk you’re drunk. I’ll quit this game, I’m getting my ass kicked anyway, I’ll came back to bed and we will go to class together in the morning.”
“You really think that is going to work?”
“It was pretty much a Hail Mary, but I’m going to go down swinging.”
“So you don’t know my name.”
Steve hesitated, almost as if he didn’t say anything for a long enough time she would just forget about this topic once and for all, seeing that wasn’t going to work, “What’s a name anyway?” Stacie jumped out of bed and covered herself as best she could while pulling on her pants and shirt and throwing her underwear into her purse. “Listen you can call me anything…Bill, Joe, Pat…I don’t care.”
“Well, STEVE, unlike you, I’m a normal person and I like other people to call me by MY name.”
Pushing her way past Steve, she opened the door and made her way towards the stairs. She wasn’t sure what she was feeling, anger? disappointment? fear?, but she realized she wasn’t even mad at Steve. What is wrong with me, how am I not mad at him?
Steve caught up to her at the top of the stairs, “Listen, listen, if I remember your name will you calm down?”
She turned and faced him and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Carrie.”
She pushed him and ran down the stairs, almost tripping in the process.
“Falling down the stairs isn’t going to help anything, Mandy.”
“Wrong again, Steve.”
“Teri…Mary…I know I’m close.”
Stacie made it to the front door and began to fiddle with the lock, finally getting it open Steve placed his hand on the door keeping her from opening it.
“OK, clearly you are upset, and with every reason to be so, but I just want you to know that even though I don’t remember your name right now it doesn’t mean that I didn’t have a good time and I hope that by the time class rolls around tomorrow you’ll be able to forgive me, because quite frankly I had a great time and I hope that we can do it again sometime…you know, you could just tell me your name and we could just put this all behind us…you know start with a clean slate…maybe get some dinner sometime…or just hang out and listen to the Damnwells…” Steve gave a small smile, “Okay, you need to say something because if you don’t I’m just going to keep on talking and I’m running out of things to say and its going to start getting weird…well weirder.”
Stacie smiled in spite of herself, “Can I leave now?”
“Sure.” He took his head off the door. “Hold on, it’s cold out take this sweatshirt.” He grabbed a sweatshirt draped across the back of a couch and handed it to her.
“Thanks…I’ll…uh…see you in class tomorrow?”
“I might be a little late, and Johnny has my car and I have no idea where he is.”
She wrenched open the front door to find herself face to face with Johnny McBride. All hopes for a clean break broke off, as she suddenly realized that while she may not have had a crush on the guy, he was the last person you’d want to run into trying to slink away from another guy’s house. He was tall, lean and muscular, athletic, with dark, almost black hair he wore longer than most guys could ever pull off, and handsome in a timeless, classic way. Untouchable and unattainable by all accounts, and you can believe, she’d asked. Everyone asked about Johnny. He wore single like an entire identity. She’d watched him flirt at parties, watched her friends’ eyes get embarrassingly sultry, and turn into hair-twirling thirteen year olds with a crush. She’d never even heard of him hooking up with anyone she knew, but had seen him show up at parties with girls so ridiculously unfairly hot, every other girl there found themselves checking their makeup and hair subconsciously
Johnny flashed a drunken grin, “Hey, Stacie. It’s a little late to go for a walk isn’t it?”
“STACIE, I knew I was close.”
Johnny peered past Stacie at his half naked roommate, and gave a slight, almost imperceptible nod of affirmation, “Ah, and the picture begins to come a little bit clearer. “ He smiled down at Stacie, roguishly handsome, “So, did he forget your name, or is he claiming you never told him in the first place?”
Stacie shifted around clearly uncomfortable, which neither Johnny nor Steve seemed to notice. Oh, please don’t let me be another one of their funny little anecdotes.
Steve gave Johnny an unbelieving look, holding his hands out as if trying to steady himself, “Helping or hurting, Johnny…helping or hurting.” Suddenly, he looked out into the night, searching for something.. “You didn’t hurt my car did you? You’ve been gone for while…Where have you been?”
“One question at a time, detective. The car is fine.”
“You told me you and Josh were just going to pick up Cooper at some party. You left me out to dry, man!”
Johnny motioned towards Stacie, “Well you obviously didn’t need my help. When we got to Phi Si, we got into a bit of a competition with some people.”
“You went to a frat party? That is fucking gay.”
“It’s not gay when the volleyball girls are there.”
Steve paused, letting the information sink in. “Tell me you won.”
“Fuck yeah we won. Me and Josh beat six of those chicks in flip cup. I don’t think I’ve ever chugged beer faster in my life. It was like Outside of the Lines shit.”
They shared a high five, Steve elbowing Stacie in the process, nearly pushing her into Johnny, who admittedly smelled about as good as a man should smell. Tobacco, smoke, beer, and just a hint of cologne. Whatever enjoyments she found in it quickly vanished as she realized that Steve had smelled just about the same. Assholes.
This is the most unbelievable night ever…I need to get out of here. Throwing her hands in the air “OK, I’m out.” Stacie pushed past Johnny and made her way into the night.
The two friends watched her walk down the street with much appreciation, listening to her heels click down the sidewalk. Johnny gave her an approving nod, and Steve found himself suddenly missing the ass that made its way away from him. Johnny laughed, “Were her panties hanging out of her purse?”
“Don’t judge me, dude.”
“Fucked that one up, huh?”
“What do you mean? I hooked up with her, didn’t I?”
Johnny smirked at him, “You bang?”
Steve cussed under his breath, “No, but we did the rest, and that counts in my book.”
“Hey, it counts in mine too…just don’t try and lie to me about it.”
“I wasn’t trying to lie!”
“Well you sure as hell weren’t being very open about it. Why didn’t you just come out and say, ‘Yeah, man, she gave me head, and I went down on her, we were both fairly pleased with the result.’?”
“I’ll have you know she was extremely pleased.” Steve pointed a finger at Johnny.
“That why she left in a fit of rage?”
“That was hardly a fit of rage. That blonde cheerleader from Texas-Whats-it-Fuck-University that you brought home a couple months ago, was a fit of rage.”
Johnny rubbed his jaw, still feeling the alarm clock she’d slammed into it, “Yeah, she was unhinged. I was in fear for my life.”
“I was scared for you too!” Steve said earnestly.
The two of them stood, with drunken half smiles of recollection for some time, before Steve cleared his throat and shut the door.
Johnny rubbed his eyes, “Alright, well, I’m still pretty hammered, and we have to go to class at like…ten or something.”
Steve nodded and headed for the stairs. “See ya in the morning, buddy.”
“Yeah, make sure you wake me up, I want to go to class and see that chick have an aneurism when she sees you.”
Steve laughed, “Dude, I honestly don’t get what the big deal is. We were both drunk; I was drunk as hell, you know that.”
“Yeah, I know buddy.” Johnny called from downstairs in the kitchen, where he was busy chugging no less than ten bottles of water.
Steve stopped at his door, and laughed to himself, “I mean, fuck dude. It was a Thursday night, ya know? No one who goes home with someone from a bar on a Thursday night has any right to expect for you to remember their name. It’s like an unspoken rule.”
Downstairs, Johnny gasped, as he held his breath and chugged water to try and alleviate hiccups and what would most likely be a terrible morning. “Hey man, I’m on your side. “
Steve nodded to himself, admonishing himself from any guilt he may have felt, “Yeah, it was only Thursday. No need to flip out over a Thursday night hookup.”
He shut his door, and downstairs, Johnny’s door shut. All was right in the world.
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