Authors: Karina Gioertz
Gabe opened the door all the way and came into the room. After a moment of standing around awkwardly he, decided to have a seat on my bed where he would be closer to me at my desk. Realizing that this was going to take a little longer than I had initially anticipated, I put down the pen I still had in my hand and moved the piece of paper I had been writing on into one of the desk drawers, so it would be out of sight. Then, I swiveled around in my chair just a little, so that I would be able to face Gabe, who was looking at me seriously, with a distinct hint of concern in his eyes.
“I guess I just wanted to make sure you were ok. I know you've had kind of a crazy week and that may be affecting you in ways...ways you might not even realize.” When he finished, he reached over and squeezed my hand in a way, I could only assume, was meant to offer me some sort of comfort. I leaned back in my chair and grinned.
“You don't like the couch?”
“Do you?” Gabe’s face looked pained.
“I think it's very unique and it gives the living room a little something extra.” The pitch of my voice was unusually high as I tried to put a positive spin on something I knew couldn’t be spun that way.
“Yeah, a constant visual of baby doody and a smell to match...I didn't know you were into that.” Gabe’s words were dripping in sarcasm.
“I was going to say character...you think it smells funny?” I had hoped it had been the store and was growing a little concerned by the fact that the odor had seemingly followed us home.
“No, not funny, bad. I think it smells bad. Really bad.” What had begun as slightly snarky was now evolving into a bit of a rant, as Gabe stood up from the bed and began to pace back and worth, while trying to make his argument. Beginning to get a little annoyed myself, I stood up and blocked Gabe from continuing his stride.
“Ok, ok, I get it. You aren't happy with the new couch...”
He stopped and looked at me, recalculating his plan of persuasion.
“Look, all I'm saying is that maybe what motivated you to buy that couch, had nothing to do with its 'character' and more to do with something else...like Noah.” The last two words were almost inaudible. I turned and went back to my desk, where I suddenly became extremely engrossed in what was happening with the jar of pens and pencils I kept on the top left corner.
“Why would it have anything to do with Noah?” I asked, as though I had no idea what he was referring to.
“Oh, come on. Obviously you guys are fighting about something.” Gabe had softened his tone and was sitting on the bed again. Partially to get a better look at my face, but mostly because he didn’t see the point in standing when there was somewhere to sit.
“We aren't fighting. I just don't get him sometimes. I mean, he can be so sweet and nice and then turn around and be a complete ass,” I mumbled as I continued to sort out the pens from the pencils, a completely futile task, as they simply rolled back along the edges and blended back together almost instantly.
“That's Noah. He's always been that way. You know that,” Gabe shrugged, unable to see the significance in what I was saying. I sighed and dropped back into my seat, feeling defeated not only by the current conversation, but the pens as well.
“You're right. I guess I do. I'm sorry about the couch.”
“That's ok. As long as I know you're alright, I guess I'll let you get back to what you were doing.” He gave me a crooked smile and waited for me to return one. After I did, he got back up from the bed and walked over towards the door to leave.
I turned my head to watch him go and said, “Thanks for checking on me. I really am fine.” I mustered a second, more convincing smile.
“Good. So, you'll get rid of the couch?” Gabe gave it one last shot.
“Not a chance,” I replied flatly and turned back towards my desk. A second later I heard the door shut and Gabe was gone.
Lindsay Rose
A few
weeks went by without much change. After three days of fumigating and deodorizing the new couch, it finally took on a scent we could all live with. While the color bothered me less, Gabe continued to whine about it, and eventually I broke down and purchased a cover for it, just so I wouldn’t have to hear about it anymore. When it came to the noise, I did nothing at all. In the end, it had a better effect than I could ever have imagined. Not only did it keep people from having sex on it, it also kept them from sitting on it while playing video games, since the constant shifting around they did while engaged in their games created so much noise it became distracting. Instead, they opted to move the games to Gabe’s room, where they could sit on his bed while they played on his flat screen TV. From then on, the living room was a completely different place. No longer did I have to fight for the couch or the TV, they were both available any time I felt like sitting down to watch a movie or read a book. While I was the only one enjoying these perks, the guys did eventually move on and accept the changes that had been made against their will.
Noah and I had moved past the constant bickering and had now settled into a more peaceful stage of not talking at all. Sure, we still exchanged the basic niceties, but beyond that, our friendship had come to somewhat of a standstill. In some ways, I told myself that things were better this way, but the truth was that I missed him. Even when he was being an ass, I had always known that he cared about me. Our friendship had been such a certainty in my life that the thought of it wavering and possibly disintegrating all together wasn’t something I had ever even considered until now. In spite of evidence to the contrary, I told myself that things would be fine. That if enough time passed, things would eventually return to the way things had always been. In the end, that was easier than dealing with the alternate possibility of losing him all together.
As the weather was continuing to get hotter with the summer approaching so rapidly, Tara and I were spending more and more time at the beach. Working on our tans, we took in the nice, warm, balmy breezes before vacation season hit and all hell broke loose, turning our beaches from a relaxing retreat, into a stress filled sandbox.
It was on one of those beach days that Jason decided to take it upon himself to break into my laptop to retrieve some information he was after. He had spotted my bag with the laptop in it lying on the small table by the chairs. Glancing around sneakily, he casually strolled over to the table and pulled the computer from my bag. Sure that no one was watching, he walked with the computer over to the small desk in the living room and began to power it up. Much to his disappointment, he soon realized that I had put a password in place to prevent this very thing from happening. After struggling to crack my code for some time on his own, he decided to enlist Gabe in his mission, who was an all too willing participant from the moment he walked in the front door and spotted my laptop in Jason’s hand.
The two of them continued to try every word combination they could think of, unsuccessfully. They were so engulfed in what they were doing, they hadn’t heard when Noah came in through the back door, and even now that he was standing right behind them, they were completely startled by the sound of his voice as it broke their concentration.
“What are you guys doing?” Noah asked, taking a sip from the soda he was holding. Standing behind Jason looking over his shoulder at my laptop in front of them, Gabe decided there was no point in trying to make something up, so he went straight for the more obvious truth.
“Trying to break into Lucky's computer.”
“Why?”
Without looking up from the computer, Jason answered him, “We have a bet going about our finals. If her students get more A's then mine do, I owe her a hundred bucks, and vice versa.” He began typing again and was denied once more, a second after he hit enter.
“So?” Noah wasn’t seeing the connection. Finally, Jason turned around to look at him.
“So, she already gave her finals and I'm giving mine tomorrow. I want to see the grades so I know whether or not to make my final a little easier.”
“And that's in the best interest of your students, of course,” Noah stated sarcastically.
“Of course,” Jason nodded vigorously. Gabe was beginning to get impatient.
“Man, are you going to help us or what?” he demanded of Noah who was still standing in the doorway drinking his soda.
“It's her middle name,” Noah shrugged, as though it was obvious.
“Oh, great. Like I know what that is.” Jason felt no more optimistic than he had before Noah showed up.
“Try, Marie,” Gabe added, sounding helpful.
“Ok.” Jason began to type it, when he heard Noah let out a loud snort.
“Marie? Why, Marie?”
“I don't know, Lucky Marie, just sounds good.” Clearly unaware that he had said anything funny, Gabe looked back at the computer screen to see if his guess had been correct.
Only Jason had stopped typing and Noah had begun to laugh.
“Are you serious? Her name isn't actually Lucky, you dumbass.”
“It's not?” Gabe asked, sounding very confused. Jason looked up at him and smirked.
“It's Lindsay.”
“Lindsay? Are you sure? She doesn't look like a Lindsay.” Gabe was in total disbelief.
“Trust me, she's a Lindsay. And her middle name is Rose,” Noah replied, still looking amused as he passed them and went up the stairs. Jason watched him leave before he turned back to the computer and began to type in ‘Rose’.
“Ok, let's see if he's right...and he is! Perfect.”
Gabe was suddenly less interested in the computer. Instead he was looking rather disgruntled, as he muttered to himself, “How the hell did he know that and we didn't?”
“I don't know, but I am totally out of a hundred bucks,” Jason said only half listening, as he began scanning the files he had been searching for.
Just then, I opened the door and walked in, with a cooler in one hand and my beach chair in the other, while my extremely large, blue, beach bag was flung over my left shoulder. I took two steps inside, before letting everything drop to the floor. I slipped out of my flip-flops and caught a glimpse of Jason and Gabe suspiciously hunched over the desk. Then, I raised my eyes and saw the guilt on their faces.
“So...do you want to just give me the money now?” I asked sounding as cocky as I could.
“Absolutely not! I could still win,” Jason replied with fierce determination, but we both knew he didn’t have a chance.
“Sure you could.” I grinned and gave him a wink, as I walked past them toward the kitchen. Gabe, who hadn’t said anything until now, suddenly fell into step behind me.
“Hey, Lucky....or should I say, Lindsay?!” He sounded almost accusing.
“You could I guess...” With my forehead scrunched in befuddlement, I looked over at Jason for some kind of help.
“He thought Lucky was your real name,” he answered matter-of-factly and continued reviewing my files.
“Oh...ok,” I said, still not sure what the problem was.
“That's all you have to say? Ok?” To my surprise, Gabe looked genuinely hurt.
“Kind of, yeah. What did you want me to say?”
“Girl, I thought we were friends.” He was shaking his head and looking at me with his big brown eyes, using them scrupulously to convey his disappointment to me.
“Aw, Gabe the Babe, got his feelings hurt?” It was hard not to sound as though I was mocking him.
“Maybe just a little,” he said, still looking pitiful, now having resorted to simply staring at the ground.
“Come here and let Mama make it all better.” I reached out my arms to give him a hug and he promptly trotted over to let me hold him.
“Feel better?” I asked, as I felt his hands beginning to wander.
“Almost.” Gabe squeezed a little tighter to ensure I didn’t let go just yet.
Having finally finished snooping through all of my files, Jason stood up from the computer. He made a face when he caught sight of us.
“Ok, well, I'm going to leave since you two are busy groping each other.”
“Are you feeling left out?” I hadn’t been this popular in a long time.
“A little, but I know where to go to get some groping of my own.” He grinned and grabbed his keys. A few seconds later he was gone.
Realizing that Gabe was still holding on to me and that his hands had now stopped moving and were comfortable resting on my ass, I felt it was best to move on to something else.
“Hey, you want to watch a movie tonight?”
He pulled back.
“Sure, here or at the theater?”
“Here, that way we can pause to pee.” I half expected to hear complaints about the couch again, but they didn’t come.
“Very true,” Gabe nodded.
“What do you want for dinner?” I asked, starting back on my path to the kitchen.
“I don't know, let’s just pick something up, when we get the movie,” he suggested. I stopped again and turned around.
“How’s now? I'm starving.”
“Now works.”
We were already half way to the door. I slipped back into my flip-flops, spent a minute digging around in my beach bag for my wallet, before Gabe told me to forget it and that he would pay, and we took off and began our impromptu Sunday night date.