Athena's Enigma

15 - It's All Cliched

“You aren’t putting this boyfriend of yours into a very good light,” Jason teased while dabbing my knee with a soaked washcloth.

I sighed leaning my head back against his black leather couch. “I know but I’m frustrated with him right now.”

“I wish I could help,” Jason added and I winced as he pressed too hard. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

“You’ve done more than enough. I don’t even know how to thank you,” I replied as Jason put a large band-aid over my cut and laughed lightly. ‘She’s so sweet.’

I blushed at his mental comment as he stood up and started collecting the items he brought out to fix me up. He gathered up the washcloth, band-aids, rubbing alcohol, and various other items and quickly returned them to where ever they belong in his house.

His house was similar to mine in structure but decorated like a true bachelor pad with posters, video games, and tons of remotes lying about. I had to admit that his house was surprisingly clean though. There weren’t pizza boxes or beer cans spread around everywhere like one might expect a single living male to have.

“Okay,” Jason called out from the other room. “You should be all patched up. It was nothing too bad and hopefully it should heal up in a week.”

“A week?” I asked while Jason joined me on his couch. “God, what am I going to do?”

“Wear pants?” I smiled at his joke.

“I suppose I’ll have too,” I muttered but laughed anyway. “Sorry for all this inconvenience. I totally unloaded all my issues onto you and you don’t need that.”

“Hey, it’s no big deal. So you’ve got boyfriend problems? I’m sure it’s not the first time you and him have gotten into a fight,” Jason commented.

I stared off into the distance for a moment and thought: this was our first fight as a ‘couple’.

“Regardless,” Jason was saying. “I wouldn’t worry about it too much. I’m sure he will come around. I don’t know Logan that well but I’ve heard that he can be a little…hotheaded.”

I scoffed wishing someone had told me that before I became attached in this big mess.

“I’m in a similar dilemma,” Jason said after a moment of silence.

I laughed. “Oh yeah? You and your boyfriend fighting too?”

Jason laughed along with me before he corrected, “No, I’ve just got problems in general.”

“Oh,” I asked interested. “Like what?”

Jason shook his head. “No, you really don’t want to know. You’ve got enough things to worry about.”

“Well it will take my mind off of my problems. Why don’t we give it a shot?”

Jason sighed. “You know how you found me the other day…?” I nodded shuddering from the memory of him high or drunk or whatever. Jason rubbed his neck nervously causing his black hair to become ruffled. “I’m not in a good place right now. I just got fired from my job and no one is really willing to hire and work with my college schedule. It wouldn’t be so bad if my rent wasn’t due. I don’t know how I’m going to afford this place without a job.”

“I’m so sorry,” I apologized sincerely. “I had no idea but how do you afford the tuition?”

“My parents live out in California and I had a dream in high school to get as far away from them as possible. I had an interesting childhood and I felt so suffocated living anywhere near them. I knew I had to get away. I didn’t have great grades but eventually I earned a theatric scholarship for a college in New York. My parents strongly disapproved but saw how much I wanted out of the state. Long story short, they offered to pay for my tuition as long as I went to a school that met their standards.”