Waiting, chapter 4
"I'm curious to know exactly how you are
I keep my distance but that distance is too far
It reassures me just to know that you're okay
But I don't want you to go on needing me this way."
I woke up the next morning with a splitting headache. Not surprising, really, but it still hurt like fuck. Tré obviously wasn't feeling too hot himself, as I could see when I looked down from atop my bunk bed. Tré had fallen off of his bunk, which was below mine, and had been sleeping on the floor the whole night.
"Damn... " I heard Tré moan below me, followed by an odd whimper of pain.
"Get the Advil, Tré... We're both hung over... " I groaned weakly, burying my head in my pillow in an attempt to make the pain go away. But this migraine was one of the worst I'd had in weeks.
"Get it yourself, lazy ass... Oh god, I think—" Tré started, but cut himself off as I saw him run out of the room towards the bathroom. For what seemed like the millionth time that day I heard Tré being sick, and so I stuffed my head deeper into my blankets to make the noise go away. I think I fell asleep for a little while because when I looked up again Tré was dressed and staring at me with blood-shot eyes.
"What the hell man... Stop looking at me like that... " I groaned, closing my eyes and shifting around uneasily. My head was pounding so hard I thought my brain would explode. Tré passed me two Advil's, which I swallowed quick and dry, too weak to get up and get water. After several moments of silence, Tré nudged me with a finger.
"Get up, I made you breakfast... " Tré said sheepishly, stroking my arm gently before leaving the room.
I slowly dragged myself out of bed, tripping over my own feet several times before regaining my balance. I took off my pajamas and looked around tiredly for some clothes to wear.
'What the hell, ' I thought, grabbing a random shirt and pants and slowly pulling them on. I turned to face the door and found Tré standing there, looking at me like a deer caught in the headlights of a car, almost as if he had been spying on me.
"What are—" I started, but Tré ran off before I could say anything. I shrugged it off and walked into the hallway, dragging my feet pathetically. Sometimes Tré just acted weird when he got a hang over. Maybe his headache was getting to him.
I walked into the kitchen to see Tré waiting for me behind the bar. He gestured for me to sit down at the living room table, where I saw a plate of pancakes, eggs, and orange juice waiting for me in good view of the TV. I smelled bacon, but I smiled when I realized Tré didn't give me any; he remembered I didn't like eating pork.
I plopped myself down on the couch, and remembered I was hungry as I smelled the delicious-looking meal Tré had made for me. The syrup was already poured onto my plate, all ready for me to eat. Tré sat down beside me, close enough so our legs were touching, and offered me some coffee.
"Nah it's okay," I said, digging into my breakfast hungrily. I guess all the puking I did the night before left me very, very hungry. "So what exactly happened last night? My memory is totally fuckin' shot... "
"Umm... " Tré said slowly, and I looked at him from the corner of my eye to see him blushing. "Well, we played shots at Billie's... And then we came home. You and me, you know... And... "
"What? Did I do something stupid?" I giggled, then choked on my food from laughing. "Why are you so red? Did something happen?"
"No! No, no, nothing happened, nope... " Tré said quickly, taking a sip of his coffee and turning the TV. On. "It's just... You know... We were really, really drunk. Or you were at least, I guess that's why you don't remember much... "
There was an awkward silence between us, and I looked at Tré with confusion.
"What?" I asked, frowning confusedly as he started fidgeting uncomfortably.
"Umm... Well you... I... We kissed," Tré said finally, his eyes darting around nervously, avoiding contact with mine.
"We... We did?" I asked with surprise, trying desperately to remember what happened. "You remember? Well, why did we? What happened? Details man, I need details! I can't remember a fucking thing!"
"C'mon Erin, we're friends, let's just leave it be... " Tré tried to change the subject, but I couldn't let him. What the hell happened the night before? I gave Tré a long, serious stare until he finally gave in.
"Well I made you hot chocolate, I mean, you were soaking wet from getting hosed off. I put you on the couch, and got you a blanket... I just brought some dry clothes for you into the living room, and I sat down on the couch next to you... I... " Tré said, very slowly, as if debating weather or not to tell the truth. "Well you sorta jumped on me, and started kissing me... And it all kinda got out of hand... "
"But you stopped me, didn't you?" I asked seriously. After a moment's hesitation, he shook his head, and looked down at his feet shamefully. "Tré! What the hell? Well then what did you do?! Tell me the truth!"
"Look, I didn't stop you, okay? Sorry! I—we made out, and... I mean, you were all wet, there's only so much a guy can do—"
"TRÉ! We're fucking BEST FRIENDS! What the hell do you mean by 'there's only so much a guy can do'? Did you seriously want to make out with me?" I exclaimed. I couldn't believe Tré would do that, especially with his best friend! I mean, most of the time he treated me like a guy. I couldn't believe he would kiss me, even if we were both drunk. "And you were the one who got me all wet in the first place, I didn't totally lose my memory!"
"Look, Erin, I was drunk! I wasn't thinking clearly! I was just... I had an—I mean, I needed to... You know... " Tré stammered, but I cut him off with a huge, gaping expression.
"OH. MY. FUCKING. GOD!" I cried, looking at him exasperatedly. "Tré, you'd actually use ME to get yourself off? We didn't do anything else, did we!?"
"No! We didn't, I swear! You fell asleep in my arms, so I went to the bathroom and... Okay, do I have to continue?" Tré asked, an embarrassed look on his face.
"Hell no, I've heard enough. I can't fucking believe you Tré!" I cried, getting up and walking to the door. "I can't believe you'd do that to me... Friends are supposed to be able to trust each other to take care of them in situations like this. I thought you, of all people, would be able to take care of me when I was acting like that!"
I put on my shoes and grabbed a sweater off of the hook, unlocking the door and opening it.
"Wait, where are you going?" Tré asked worriedly, getting up from the couch to look at me with concern.
"I'm going to take a walk to clear my head. Thanks for the breakfast, but if you thought it would make up for taking advantage of me, you're fucking wrong," I snapped, stepping out into the cool morning breeze. "You are damn fucking lucky I don't tell your dad this, and you better thank your lucky stars I don't go to Billie's house right now and tell the guys what you did to me!"
With that I slammed the door in his face, storming off down the sidewalk in the direction of the park. My mind was flooding with questions and emotions, but I couldn't make sense of any of it. Why would Tré do that to me? He knew I was drunk, so why did he use me like that?
After pondering the question for a while, it hit me. I stopped dead in my tracks. Maybe he wasn't really 'using' me. Maybe he actually liked me in that way! I hurried over to the park, sitting myself down on one of the swings and rocking back and forth slowly.
I was mad at Tré for nearly lying to me, but yet I wasn't really all that angry with him... There was some foreign feeling inside of me that made me feel... Excited, that this had all happened. Did... Did I like Tré too?
"No way in fucking HELL!" I reassured myself, smirking slightly as I gazed out at the deserted park. I guess we were skipping school today, which was good since I wouldn't want to go anyway. Not with everything that apparently happened while I was drunk.
I couldn't help but smile thinking of what Tré must've been like... He really was cute. Not in the way that you're thinking, but more of an 'Aw, look at the little kid' type of cute. He really needed to get a girlfriend one of these days.
None of us really dated much. I mean, who would want to? We were all pretty loud and obnoxious (Tré and I at least) and we were all punks, which put us off of the 'popular kids' list automatically. I guess now Billie and Caitlyn would start going out, but other than that not much happened with Mike, Tré, or me. Tré had had his share of one-night-stands throughout the years, but nothing ever worth mentioning really. Mike had a girlfriend once that I remember dated him for about a year. Ever since she dumped him, I haven't heard Mike talk about dating at all. I felt bad for him, but he didn't seem too upset at the time. As for me... Well, I was really not the type of person someone would want to go out with. I preferred friends over boyfriends anyway, so it didn't bother me that I had never been on a date with someone before.
I kicked up the sand under my feet, pumping my legs on the swing and slowly getting higher and higher in the air. I thought I was going to go over the bar of the swing, because I was so high up. The breeze going through my hair reminded me, once again, of how close summer was.
'Tré doesn't like you... You guys are just friends. The summer will help you forget about all the shit that happened last night, and get back to having fun and being your stupid self again, ' I thought to myself, looking up at the sky as I soared higher and higher on the swing.
I decided against telling anyone what Tré did. He did really seem sorry, and I guess it would've been difficult to make me stop if he was... Feeling like that. He was rather horny by nature, so it wasn't totally his fault. And if I did tell anyone about it, he would be extremely embarrassed, and I couldn't do that to him. He was still my friend, despite what he did.
I slowed my swing down, jumping off and landing with a soft thud on the grass. I got to my feet and started walking out of the park, back towards Tré's house. Hopefully things wouldn't be too weird between us today, since Tré had admitted to kissing me and getting off from me. Maybe he really was telling the truth, and he was so drunk that I looked a lot hotter than I really do.
I soon got back to Tré's house, and after a moment of hesitation, I opened the door and peered inside for a sign of Tré. I found him sitting on the couch, eating the breakfast that he had made for me and looking down at his feet with a defeated look in his eyes. I suddenly felt awful for yelling at Tré; it must've taken a hell of a lot of courage to tell me the truth.
"Hey, Tré," I said quietly as I closed the door behind me. Without looking up he replied with a weak 'hi', and continued eating his food. "Look, Tré, I'm really sorry for yelling at you... You didn't deserve it after you told me everything that happened."
I took a seat beside him, hesitantly placing a hand on his leg gently. He finally looked up at me, his blue eyes appearing grey with shame and embarrassment.
"I'm just really glad you could trust me enough to tell me the truth... I hope you'll do the same in the future. I'll try to keep my cool next time you tell me something crazy like that," I said, smiling as Tré finally let a small smirk appear on his face. "I'm sorry I didn't eat my breakfast... It really looked delicious."
"It's okay, really... I'm so fucking sorry for what I did though. I know I shouldn't have, but I'm a total moron, and you know I'm too stupid to get a girl to like me," Tré said, blushing slightly as he continued. "I guess I was feeling pretty desperate when you... Kissed me. Anyway, sorry."
I pulled Tré into a hug, laughing softly at his adorable words. We broke apart and he offered me the plate of now half-eaten food, which I accepted gratefully. At this point I felt like my stomach was shrinking from hunger.
And so we ate breakfast together, literally, laughing with each other about how stupid we would've seemed if we told anyone about how our morning had gone that day.
I keep my distance but that distance is too far
It reassures me just to know that you're okay
But I don't want you to go on needing me this way."
I woke up the next morning with a splitting headache. Not surprising, really, but it still hurt like fuck. Tré obviously wasn't feeling too hot himself, as I could see when I looked down from atop my bunk bed. Tré had fallen off of his bunk, which was below mine, and had been sleeping on the floor the whole night.
"Damn... " I heard Tré moan below me, followed by an odd whimper of pain.
"Get the Advil, Tré... We're both hung over... " I groaned weakly, burying my head in my pillow in an attempt to make the pain go away. But this migraine was one of the worst I'd had in weeks.
"Get it yourself, lazy ass... Oh god, I think—" Tré started, but cut himself off as I saw him run out of the room towards the bathroom. For what seemed like the millionth time that day I heard Tré being sick, and so I stuffed my head deeper into my blankets to make the noise go away. I think I fell asleep for a little while because when I looked up again Tré was dressed and staring at me with blood-shot eyes.
"What the hell man... Stop looking at me like that... " I groaned, closing my eyes and shifting around uneasily. My head was pounding so hard I thought my brain would explode. Tré passed me two Advil's, which I swallowed quick and dry, too weak to get up and get water. After several moments of silence, Tré nudged me with a finger.
"Get up, I made you breakfast... " Tré said sheepishly, stroking my arm gently before leaving the room.
I slowly dragged myself out of bed, tripping over my own feet several times before regaining my balance. I took off my pajamas and looked around tiredly for some clothes to wear.
'What the hell, ' I thought, grabbing a random shirt and pants and slowly pulling them on. I turned to face the door and found Tré standing there, looking at me like a deer caught in the headlights of a car, almost as if he had been spying on me.
"What are—" I started, but Tré ran off before I could say anything. I shrugged it off and walked into the hallway, dragging my feet pathetically. Sometimes Tré just acted weird when he got a hang over. Maybe his headache was getting to him.
I walked into the kitchen to see Tré waiting for me behind the bar. He gestured for me to sit down at the living room table, where I saw a plate of pancakes, eggs, and orange juice waiting for me in good view of the TV. I smelled bacon, but I smiled when I realized Tré didn't give me any; he remembered I didn't like eating pork.
I plopped myself down on the couch, and remembered I was hungry as I smelled the delicious-looking meal Tré had made for me. The syrup was already poured onto my plate, all ready for me to eat. Tré sat down beside me, close enough so our legs were touching, and offered me some coffee.
"Nah it's okay," I said, digging into my breakfast hungrily. I guess all the puking I did the night before left me very, very hungry. "So what exactly happened last night? My memory is totally fuckin' shot... "
"Umm... " Tré said slowly, and I looked at him from the corner of my eye to see him blushing. "Well, we played shots at Billie's... And then we came home. You and me, you know... And... "
"What? Did I do something stupid?" I giggled, then choked on my food from laughing. "Why are you so red? Did something happen?"
"No! No, no, nothing happened, nope... " Tré said quickly, taking a sip of his coffee and turning the TV. On. "It's just... You know... We were really, really drunk. Or you were at least, I guess that's why you don't remember much... "
There was an awkward silence between us, and I looked at Tré with confusion.
"What?" I asked, frowning confusedly as he started fidgeting uncomfortably.
"Umm... Well you... I... We kissed," Tré said finally, his eyes darting around nervously, avoiding contact with mine.
"We... We did?" I asked with surprise, trying desperately to remember what happened. "You remember? Well, why did we? What happened? Details man, I need details! I can't remember a fucking thing!"
"C'mon Erin, we're friends, let's just leave it be... " Tré tried to change the subject, but I couldn't let him. What the hell happened the night before? I gave Tré a long, serious stare until he finally gave in.
"Well I made you hot chocolate, I mean, you were soaking wet from getting hosed off. I put you on the couch, and got you a blanket... I just brought some dry clothes for you into the living room, and I sat down on the couch next to you... I... " Tré said, very slowly, as if debating weather or not to tell the truth. "Well you sorta jumped on me, and started kissing me... And it all kinda got out of hand... "
"But you stopped me, didn't you?" I asked seriously. After a moment's hesitation, he shook his head, and looked down at his feet shamefully. "Tré! What the hell? Well then what did you do?! Tell me the truth!"
"Look, I didn't stop you, okay? Sorry! I—we made out, and... I mean, you were all wet, there's only so much a guy can do—"
"TRÉ! We're fucking BEST FRIENDS! What the hell do you mean by 'there's only so much a guy can do'? Did you seriously want to make out with me?" I exclaimed. I couldn't believe Tré would do that, especially with his best friend! I mean, most of the time he treated me like a guy. I couldn't believe he would kiss me, even if we were both drunk. "And you were the one who got me all wet in the first place, I didn't totally lose my memory!"
"Look, Erin, I was drunk! I wasn't thinking clearly! I was just... I had an—I mean, I needed to... You know... " Tré stammered, but I cut him off with a huge, gaping expression.
"OH. MY. FUCKING. GOD!" I cried, looking at him exasperatedly. "Tré, you'd actually use ME to get yourself off? We didn't do anything else, did we!?"
"No! We didn't, I swear! You fell asleep in my arms, so I went to the bathroom and... Okay, do I have to continue?" Tré asked, an embarrassed look on his face.
"Hell no, I've heard enough. I can't fucking believe you Tré!" I cried, getting up and walking to the door. "I can't believe you'd do that to me... Friends are supposed to be able to trust each other to take care of them in situations like this. I thought you, of all people, would be able to take care of me when I was acting like that!"
I put on my shoes and grabbed a sweater off of the hook, unlocking the door and opening it.
"Wait, where are you going?" Tré asked worriedly, getting up from the couch to look at me with concern.
"I'm going to take a walk to clear my head. Thanks for the breakfast, but if you thought it would make up for taking advantage of me, you're fucking wrong," I snapped, stepping out into the cool morning breeze. "You are damn fucking lucky I don't tell your dad this, and you better thank your lucky stars I don't go to Billie's house right now and tell the guys what you did to me!"
With that I slammed the door in his face, storming off down the sidewalk in the direction of the park. My mind was flooding with questions and emotions, but I couldn't make sense of any of it. Why would Tré do that to me? He knew I was drunk, so why did he use me like that?
After pondering the question for a while, it hit me. I stopped dead in my tracks. Maybe he wasn't really 'using' me. Maybe he actually liked me in that way! I hurried over to the park, sitting myself down on one of the swings and rocking back and forth slowly.
I was mad at Tré for nearly lying to me, but yet I wasn't really all that angry with him... There was some foreign feeling inside of me that made me feel... Excited, that this had all happened. Did... Did I like Tré too?
"No way in fucking HELL!" I reassured myself, smirking slightly as I gazed out at the deserted park. I guess we were skipping school today, which was good since I wouldn't want to go anyway. Not with everything that apparently happened while I was drunk.
I couldn't help but smile thinking of what Tré must've been like... He really was cute. Not in the way that you're thinking, but more of an 'Aw, look at the little kid' type of cute. He really needed to get a girlfriend one of these days.
None of us really dated much. I mean, who would want to? We were all pretty loud and obnoxious (Tré and I at least) and we were all punks, which put us off of the 'popular kids' list automatically. I guess now Billie and Caitlyn would start going out, but other than that not much happened with Mike, Tré, or me. Tré had had his share of one-night-stands throughout the years, but nothing ever worth mentioning really. Mike had a girlfriend once that I remember dated him for about a year. Ever since she dumped him, I haven't heard Mike talk about dating at all. I felt bad for him, but he didn't seem too upset at the time. As for me... Well, I was really not the type of person someone would want to go out with. I preferred friends over boyfriends anyway, so it didn't bother me that I had never been on a date with someone before.
I kicked up the sand under my feet, pumping my legs on the swing and slowly getting higher and higher in the air. I thought I was going to go over the bar of the swing, because I was so high up. The breeze going through my hair reminded me, once again, of how close summer was.
'Tré doesn't like you... You guys are just friends. The summer will help you forget about all the shit that happened last night, and get back to having fun and being your stupid self again, ' I thought to myself, looking up at the sky as I soared higher and higher on the swing.
I decided against telling anyone what Tré did. He did really seem sorry, and I guess it would've been difficult to make me stop if he was... Feeling like that. He was rather horny by nature, so it wasn't totally his fault. And if I did tell anyone about it, he would be extremely embarrassed, and I couldn't do that to him. He was still my friend, despite what he did.
I slowed my swing down, jumping off and landing with a soft thud on the grass. I got to my feet and started walking out of the park, back towards Tré's house. Hopefully things wouldn't be too weird between us today, since Tré had admitted to kissing me and getting off from me. Maybe he really was telling the truth, and he was so drunk that I looked a lot hotter than I really do.
I soon got back to Tré's house, and after a moment of hesitation, I opened the door and peered inside for a sign of Tré. I found him sitting on the couch, eating the breakfast that he had made for me and looking down at his feet with a defeated look in his eyes. I suddenly felt awful for yelling at Tré; it must've taken a hell of a lot of courage to tell me the truth.
"Hey, Tré," I said quietly as I closed the door behind me. Without looking up he replied with a weak 'hi', and continued eating his food. "Look, Tré, I'm really sorry for yelling at you... You didn't deserve it after you told me everything that happened."
I took a seat beside him, hesitantly placing a hand on his leg gently. He finally looked up at me, his blue eyes appearing grey with shame and embarrassment.
"I'm just really glad you could trust me enough to tell me the truth... I hope you'll do the same in the future. I'll try to keep my cool next time you tell me something crazy like that," I said, smiling as Tré finally let a small smirk appear on his face. "I'm sorry I didn't eat my breakfast... It really looked delicious."
"It's okay, really... I'm so fucking sorry for what I did though. I know I shouldn't have, but I'm a total moron, and you know I'm too stupid to get a girl to like me," Tré said, blushing slightly as he continued. "I guess I was feeling pretty desperate when you... Kissed me. Anyway, sorry."
I pulled Tré into a hug, laughing softly at his adorable words. We broke apart and he offered me the plate of now half-eaten food, which I accepted gratefully. At this point I felt like my stomach was shrinking from hunger.
And so we ate breakfast together, literally, laughing with each other about how stupid we would've seemed if we told anyone about how our morning had gone that day.
