Masterpiece | Christian Akridge

2.1

unedited

Tanner

I woke up laying at the foot of Christian's bed, and rolled over to see him passed out beside me, light snores coming from his mouth.

I smiled sadly at the gorgeous boy in front of me, and leaned forward, kissing him on the forehead.

"I love you." I whispered, and crawled off of the bed, the hardwood floor cold against my bare feet.

I made my way down the stairs, to see that most people had already left, a few just now waking up and doing so.

I walked into the kitchen, and froze when I was met with a head of bushy hair. Jack turned around, eyes widening when he saw me.

After a few moments of silence he cleared his throat.

"Oh-uh, yeah. I just came to get some ibuprofen." I said, averting my gaze anywhere else but him.

"I think I'm gonna just...head home. Tell Michael I said congrats." he said. I nodded, and let him walk past me, bumping my shoulder along the way.

"And Tanner?" he asked, his voice cracking. I turned around to look at him.

"I just want to let you know that I'm not sorry for last night. I won't ever be." he said. I nodded, looking at my feet.

"Goodbye Tanner."

-

I swiped all of the cups and plates off of the top of the counter into a black trash bag. Michael came in, dancing to the loud music while sweeping the floor.

After everybody left, Michael and Carson stayed with Christian and I to help clean up. I made my way to the living room and started picking up more trash.

"So I heard a certain Jack Dail got frisky with a certain Tanner Mancari last night." Carson whispered to me, wiggling her eyebrows as she threw a handful of cups into a bag.

"Oh my god who said?" I whisper/yelled, looking around for Christian or Michael.

"You know Jack, he's a sap when he's drunk. He came to me crying saying some shit about you not loving him back. Then he just passed out and I left him on the bed." she laughed. I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever, you can't say anything." I said, going back to cleaning.

"Can't say anything about what?" I heard Christian ask loudly into my ear, and I flinched.

"Can't say anything...to my dad! I was just saying she can't tell my dad that me and Michael were drinking." I laughed nervously. "We'd be murdered and then he'd give us to my mom to kill us again."

"Okay princess, whatever you say." he chuckled.

-

I stared at my ringing phone, my stomach twisting in knots when I saw the caller ID.

"Answer it." Carson said, typing away quickly on her phone. We were both back at my house, watching tv in my room. I looked at Athena who was laying in front of me, hoping she would say something to encourage me.

But she's just a dog.

I pressed the answer button, putting the phone up to my ear.

"Hello?" I asked softly.

"Tanner! Before you hang up, hear me out." Jack rushed out.

Carson mouthed 'speaker'. I pressed the speaker button, laying my phone on the bed, and leaned my head back against the wall. I didn't say anything, and just let him continue.

"What I did last night was wrong. But like I said, I will never be sorry for it. It was just a bad time and I was upset and drunk and you just-I don't know, seeing you with Christian all the time hurts. The only reason I can tell you this is because we're best friends and you should know that."

"Okay Jack. Anything else?" I asked.

"Look-just, I don't know. I want you to know that Christian Akridge will never love you as much as I do. Nobody will ever love you as much as I do right now, nobody. I know it'll never change anything, but remember that, think about it, please."

I looked at Carson, and her mouth was hanging half-wide open.

'Holy shit!' Carson mouthed, bouncing up and down at the end of my bed.

"Tanner ?" Jack asked, bringing me back to the conversation.

"Yeah, goodbye Jack."