Molly Ryan - A Real Disaster

I was telling the truth, it wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t the first time I saw two guys circle each other like two animals ready to attack.

“Nash and I go back… Way back. I’ve known him since we were kids.” Turner cleared his throat and I stood there, waiting. “We were inseparable.”

“So what happened?” Turner laughed a short, harsh laugh.

“What happened?” Turner repeated. “What didn’t happen? One night I come home after a long day of work and find the asshole screwing my sister.”

My eyes popped and I gasped.

“Are you serious?”

Turner nodded.

“He had her up against the wall like some kind of whore. It was sickening.”

I nodded, sick myself. I couldn’t imagine what Turner felt when he walked in on the scene in front of him. I knew that if that happened to me I would have flipped out.

“What did you do?”

“I grabbed the douchebag by the collar of his shirt and threw him out of the house. I told him that I didn’t want to see him at my house anymore and if I did, I would ruin him. Thankfully he listened. Now, the only time I see him is at these stupid concerts.”

Turner shook his whole body out and then smiled at me.

“And now I have made this, officially, the worst date ever.”

“It’s not ruined,” I assured him. “We still have the rest of the night.”

After a moment of hesitation, I pulled Turner down and kissed his cheek.

“Let’s make the most of it.”

The music was deafening. Turner was next to me, jumping up and down. He had a drink in his hand that he expertly kept from falling and took glugs from every few minutes. It was his fourth drink while I just finished my second. I wasn’t sure if he was drunk yet or still getting there but I didn’t want to find out. My feet were killing me and so was my head. All I wanted to do was go home and climb into bed.

It was easy to get me drunk since it was my first time drinking that much.

I tugged at Turner’s arm, attempting to get his attention, but he didn’t feel it. He screamed at the top of his lungs at the music and fist bumped the guy next to him. Turner was having the time of his life but I had no idea why. If Turner hated Nash so much, how could he enjoy the music so much? Didn’t that contradict each other?

It had to be the alcohol.

Finally the music stopped. My ears were ringing but the pounding in my head became worse. I felt nauseous and disoriented.

Was I really drunk?

I started laughing to myself. Who asks themselves if they are drunk or not? Most already know the answer to the question. Turner downed the rest of this drink and then turned to me. His cheeks were rosy red and his eyes were glazed over.

“Alright all, The Renegation are taking a little break. The other band is going be filling in for us for a bit. Rock on!” Nash said and the band exited the stage.

A bunch of college girls screamed Nash’s name even though he wasn’t on stage anymore. He could probably get a date with any of them.

“Isn’t this awesome?!” Turner cried as he squeezed my hand.

“I don’t feel that great,” I admitted.

Turner’s face contorted into a look of concern.

“You look… Sick.”

“I think I am. I’m sorry, Turner. Now I’m the one who is ruining the date.”

I took a breath but it only made me more nauseous.

“I think I need to go back to the dorm and sleep this off.”

Turner looked at the stage, then at me, then back at the stage. It was obvious that he was torn about leaving the concert or leaving me.

What a first date this was.

“I can get back to the dorm by myself.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah it’s fine,” I said. “You’ve looked forward to this night for a while. I don’t want to ruin it for you. I’ll call you tomorrow or something?”

“Yeah, I’ll stop by tomorrow morning to see how you are.”

“Great,” I smiled at him. “I did have fun tonight, you know, before I got sick.”

Turner bent down and before I could react, his lips were on mine. They were swift and chilled, tasting like jack and coke.

Then he let off.

“See you tomorrow,” he said.

 Too dazed to do anything else, I waved to Turner and then started to weave through the crowd as the new band began to play. I got out of the crowd just as they started to get rowdy.

Thank goodness.

I kicked my shoes off, hooking them around my fingers. I started to walk through the thick grass, letting the blades slip through my toes. All I wanted was a bed.

“Leaving so soon?” A voice behind me said.

I turned to see Nash walking up behind me. He had his one hand in his pocket while the other was slinging a leather jacket over his shoulder. He didn’t look like a douchebag, or the type of person to take advantage of someone else. Still, Turner’s story stuck in my mind.

Plus, I had a past that I didn’t want to relive with him.

“What’s up?” I said once he caught up with me.

“Oh nothing. Where are you going? Didn’t you like the concert?”

“It was okay, but I’m not feeling well. A little too drunk.”

“You think? Shouldn’t you know something like that?”

“Not if you haven’t drank but a couple times before.”

“Gotcha.”

Suddenly the nauseous feeling overwhelmed me and rushed over to the closest garbage can.

“Are you okay?”

“I feel like I’m going to puke,” I said.

“You’ll learn, it’s more common up here in college.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”

“Well then maybe I should walk you home.”

I shook my head and held up my hand.

“No, I’ll be okay.”

“I insist.”

“But your concert?”

“We won’t be back on for at least a half hour. I have plenty of time.”

“Did you really sleep with Turner’s sister?”

The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. I put my hands over my mouth.

I really shouldn’t drink.

“I’m so sorry,” I said.

Shit.

“It’s fine,” Nash said. “But do you want to know the actual answer?”

No.

“Yes.”

“Well, yeah. It shouldn’t be a big deal either. It’s not the way Turner thinks it is. He never really gave me a damn chance to explain.”

“What is there to explain? You slept with his sister.”

“So? We were in love… And she wanted it as much as me.”

Haven’t I heard that before.

“Come on, Nash. Love? That’s what every guy says.”

“I did!” Nash cried. “I loved Turner’s sister so much.”

“So then what? What happened?”

I don’t know why I cared. Maybe it was to understand Turner more or to have something to talk about while I walked back to my dorm.

“We were in a relationship but I didn’t want to tell Turner because he can be a bit over protective.”

“So you had sex with her?”

“Yes, we made love. I already said that. Why does this matter?”

This time I grinned and shook my head. Who used the phrase ‘made love’ anymore? It was so old fashioned.

“It doesn’t matter now. That was back in high school. Plenty of hot chicks at this school to forget her.”

“I guess,” I said.

It didn’t surprise me that it was easy for him to forget her after seeing all those girls screaming his name.

Nash opened the door to the dorm for me and waited until I passed through. Then he pushed the button and the two of us waited for the elevator to reach the main floor.

“You still should have told Turner this.”

“How could I?”

“I don’t know…”

“Not only did he not give me a chance to explain, every time I tried he said that I was a liar. He flipped out and told me never to fucking come back. There was no way that I could fix anything no matter how much I tried. Turner cut me off in everything I tried to do. He kept his sister from talking to me, pushed me out of his life. Hell he even managed to turn his parents against me. We were best friends and then after that moment he was my biggest enemy. It doesn’t matter. I’m over that shit.”

My heart ached for Nash. I knew that his side of the story probably wasn’t completely true. Then again, I didn’t think Turner had it correct either. There might have been information missing, forgotten, or dismissed. Who knew? What I did know, though, was Nash’s story was heart wrenching. He tried to act like it didn’t bother him but how couldn’t it?

“How many times did you try to talk to him?” I asked as we stepped into the elevator.

“Too many to count. At some point I stopped, though. It never worked and I just gave up and cut my losses. Don’t worry about it though,” he said and swung his arm around my neck.

I pushed it off.

What did he think, that he was going to get lucky with me?

He was obviously worried about doing things with me more than his and Turner’s relationship. But I was a fixer and wanted to repair their friendship.

Maybe I should try to talk to Turner… See if I can get him to see the other side. All the signs pointed for me to stay out of it. It wasn’t my business and I really didn’t want to get involved in some long, drawn out drama. But like I said, I’m a fixer.

“So do you want me to come in?” he asked as we lingered by my dorm room door.

Sabrina would still be at the concert and we would be alone…

“I don’t think so…” I responded as I inserted the key into the lock.

“Really?”

He was obviously not used to getting turned down.