Boys

6. Tequila

Bright signed his thumb multiple times as he tried to get the piece of shit lighter to work. An unlit cigarette dangled from his lips, something he wasn't proud of, but his stress level was high enough that it called for it. This was how Nevy found him. The morning sun crawling up behind the trees as he leaned back against his car, parked in front of her house.

"Bad night?" She asked and held out a cup of coffee just as he managed to light the cigarette. He took a short puff, exhaling over his shoulders.

"What do you want?" He ignored the offered mug, not bothering to hide the annoyance in his voice.

She sighed. "Thanks for agreeing to meet me" She wrinkled her nose "So we can talk."

They stood outside, the morning air cooling his otherwise hot body. He blinked at her makeup-free face, she looked almost innocent.

Bright knew better.

He took a long drag of his cigarette before realizing he fucking hated the taste of the thing. He quickly threw it on the ground and put it off with the heel of his converse.

"Talk."

"I haven't seen you smoke in a while," She commented, giving him a knowing look as she leaned against the car near him. "It's just... you didn't text me back. And you always text me back, even if we...."

"Yeah, I know. But this time we aren't." Bright replied brusquely, and her eyes flashed at him, hurt, before her normal defensive expression took over.

"Is that it?" Bright can't be bothered with this. It was far too soon.

Hurt flashed across her face once more. "Jesus, Bright... it's not like we weren't friends first..."

"What do you want me to say, Nevy?" He asked. He was upset, but he knew it wasn't entirely her fault.

"I don't want you to say anything," she mumbled, taking a sip of her coffee. "I'm not saying things can go back to how they were before. I know they won't, ever, it's just..."

He looked over at her, waiting for her to continue. Not that there was anything she could say.

"I just.... I already miss us." She said, uncharacteristically repentant. "That's all. I wanted to apologize for how everything went down that day. I know that I made a mistake, okay? It's just with everything going on, I got so confused. You were always gone, Bright. Whether it was working or contracts or whatever, you were never around. And when you were around, that was all you ever wanted to talk about."

It was true. It was almost as if he and Nevvy were closer before they started dating, when their midnight conversations on the roof of her house were about movies and games instead of coy attempts of flirting and innuendo. Once they had started dating, all of a sudden they had started arguing and fighting about things that had never seemed to matter to them before.

"Look, I understand that this role is important to you," she continued. "And I understand that you need to work. I've never pressured you about that. Work is work. But Bright ...you were so distant to me. I felt like you didn't care about me anymore. You hardly noticed when I didn't call or text. I felt...forgotten. And that's not a very good feeling."

Guilt settled heavily in his stomach. "Yeah..."

"And, well..." She bit her lip cautiously. "Remember that night you left after our argument, that night you never came back-"

"You hit me-" he interrupted but she held up her hand, stopping him.

"Just listen. I was waiting for you there. Alone. And..." she paused. "And, well, David called me and I told him what happened. He picked me up."