45 Which One of Us Is Crazy?
It's the night of the party, and I have been helping Zoey to clean the house and make food. We finally wear our clothes and wait for guests to show up. It's a casual party, and no one's too dressed up. I'm wearing a yellow skirt and a white shirt.
It's getting more crowded by the minute. Zoey has many friends. The crowd dances and drinks. People don't hear each other anymore. I admire the house's beauty as I hold the glass of wine and savor the taste.
"You haven't touched it!" Zoey shouts in the loud music.
"I don't wanna end up pregnant again!" I say.
She laughs. "Smart choice."
"What would you do if Brian was here?"
"Nothing. I already told you Brian doesn't want me."
"Well, guess who's here?"
She stops, and a horrified look sits on her face. "My dad?"
"No! Brian!"
"What?"
"I invited him!"
"You did what?!"
"Stop questioning obvious sentences. Go for a dance!"
"I'm not going for a dance."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
I get away from her and approach Brian. He's standing in a corner, awkwardly sipping from a drink. "Hey, Brian!"
He gives me a quick hug. "Hey, Mia. You look good! Congrats on the baby!"
"Thank you! Thanks for coming!"
"Thank you for inviting me."
"Actually, Zoey wanted you here, too. So..."
"She did?"
"Yes."
"She didn't even come to say hi."
"She's a little shy. I heard things are a bit off with you guys. Why don't you talk to her?"
"I appreciate your effort, Mia. But I don't think she's interested in talking with me. She only wants someone to fill her empty nights."
"Don't tell her I said this. Actually? Do tell her. I want her to know I made things right between you. She's been meaning to talk to you for so long, but she doesn't know how to because she's terrible at communicating. Could be the impact of her robot father." He looks hesitant. "Trust me." I push him through the crowd toward Zoey, who's watching us while pretending to be busy dancing.
"Look who I found!" I say to Zoey, and she stops dancing.
"Brian! Hey," she says, and Brian gives her a quick hug.
"You look nice," he says.
"Thanks," Zoey responds.
"What she means is you look hot as fuck," I say, and Zoey raises an eyebrow. "Don't be hard on her, okay?" I say to Brian. "Or be. Maybe she likes it rough." Before Zoey throws something at me, I run away from them. The pool in her yard is so beautiful. It reminds me of Smith's pool in his backyard.
"This party's like a forced school reunion," Smith says, holding a champagne glass, standing by me.
"What does that mean?" I ask him.
"It's like we're forcing ourselves to have fun, but we don't because we're not teenagers anymore."
"I'm having fun!"
"Really?" he points his eyes at my glass."
"Yes. I've always been like this." He looks at me as if he doesn't believe me. "I'm serious. I spent my teenage years taking care of my mother. And then I escaped. I had a couple of adventures but had to look after myself. I had to be more careful. So, I'm just boring."
"Was any day in the past year ever boring to you?" he asks, and I blink. He helps me remember. "You gave birth. You've been to strip clubs, bars, robberies, vandalizations!" he says.
"I haven't vandalized anything!"
"We vandalized James' house together."
"You vandalized his Cinema TV," I say, and a smile appears on his lips as he sips from his glass. "And you're proud."
"That TV was mine," he says, trying to defend his action.
"I have never seen you so proud of breaking the rules or making trouble."
He shakes his head. "Now I sound boring."
"You've been to strip clubs."
"Are you going to repeat the same things I named for you? Because we did all those things together."
"You crashed James' car too. I wasn't there with you."
He smirks. "Then you went to jail for it. And I wasn't there with you."
I look at him in complete silence and seriousness. His grin fades away, and he gulps hard. Then my mouth curves, and I can't help but laugh at what he said. He starts laughing with me.
"Oh, dear lord!" he says, "I thought it was too soon to make that joke."
"It was a dark place," I say as I laugh. "I don't know why I'm laughing."
"I'm so sorry," Smith says. "I was an asshole."
We keep looking around at people drinking and dancing as we drink alcohol and enjoy the lovely night.
"We have changed," I say, holding my glass with both hands. "But we're still the same people we were. You're still as strong as I remember you."
"I'd love to believe that," he says.
I lean a little toward him. "And a lot less of a dick," I say in a lower tone.
He smiles at me. "I'll drink to that."
Someone stumbles into me, and I slip. Before falling into the pool, I grab Smith's arm and steady myself.
"Ah," he winces in pain but doesn't show it much.
"I'm sorry. Did I grab your arm too hard?" I ask.
"No. I'm fine," Smith says, looking a little dull as he takes his arm in his other hand.
"For a second, I thought I would fall in the pool just like your party," I say, and he looks at me.
"My party?" he asks.
"I fell in your pool that night."
"My pool was in my backyard."
"I know."
"... How did you...?!"
"I was in your room."
"You what?!"
"I never told you this, did I?" I say, and he shakes his head. "This is going to sound weird. I'm not a stalker, okay? I just liked your house too much."
"Just say it already."
"I was in your tub. The round one. In the middle of the room."
"You?!"
"Yeah. One more crazy thing, right?"
"I was searching for that mysterious wet woman who had invaded my room for months!"
"You saw me?!"
"I heard some noises, so I came downstairs, but the door was locked. I knocked."
"You were the one knocking! I knew it!"
"I used my key and entered. I saw a wet woman leave the backyard. James told me he came there to stop the woman and that she ran away, but he hadn't seen her face!"
"Oh, my God. I was in your tub. He came in from the backyard without making a noise and watched me while I enjoyed your tub. Pervert freak."
"Did you know it was him?"
"No! You hadn't introduced him then. And it was too dark."
I see Sally approaching us with a beautiful top and shorts. "New mom looks fine," she says to me, smiling.
"Sally!" I call her. "Hey! You look nice too!"
She kisses me on the cheek. "Thanks." Then she leans close to Smith and kisses him on his cheek, too. "Hey, handsome," she says, grabbing his bottom as she leans more into his body.
"Hey," he replies, putting his hand on her back.
She stays in his hold. What is happening? Are these two dating? Isn't Smith gay?!
After a few seconds, Sally pulls back from Smith, turns to me, and hands me something.
"This is for you," she says.
I look at the little box wrapped with a small rope. "Why did you get me a gift?!" I ask.
"I wanted to. It's not something big. Please, just open it." I open it. There's a small blue thing inside it. I look at her, confused. "Superstitious, you might think, but my mom's family takes it quite seriously. It's something that keeps you safe from bad thoughts and bad energy."
"I might need a much bigger size for that!" I say, and she laughs. "Thank you very much. You're so sweet."
"You're welcome."
Smith leaves us to get a drink, and we keep talking to each other.
"Are you a crazy type of person?" I ask Sally, and she narrows her eyes. "I mean, like, do you do spontaneous things?"
She puts her bag on the table. "I've lived every day as a good girl, scared that something might happen. I'm not allowed to be crazy."
"Allowed to?"
She nods. "I don't normally listen to my parents, but generally, I have to."
"They don't let you do 'crazy' things?"
"They have a good reason. But I can't listen to them all the time. Now I came to the US without telling them. They think I'm still there. I hope Oliver's dad doesn't say anything to them."
"Oliver has a dad?!"
"A grumpy one. Yes."
Isla throws herself at me with a bottle of wine in her hands. "Jon is here," she says.
I straighten my back and put the glass of wine down. "Jon?!"
"Hey, beautiful," Jon says, getting closer. He puts a kiss on my cheek. "Hey," he says to Sally, and she says it back. "How have you been?" he asks me.
"I've been great. I didn't expect you here," I say.
"You don't expect me anywhere," he says. Someone in the crowd greets him, and he gets away from us.
"Did you invite him?" I ask Isla, and she nods. "Of course you did. I told you specifically that I don't want him here!"
"Calm down, Mia!" Isla says.
"He's not the father of my child! I'm done with you interfering in everything! Stop meddling!"
"For the love of God!" she says, frustrated. "You fucking love Jon!" she shouts, but the music stops, and everyone hears what she just said.
I look around and notice Jon standing close to us, frowning at what he has just heard. Isla nervously backs away, not looking me in the eye, and disappears. I see Jon approaching me, and I take a deep breath.
"You love me?" he asks, crossing his arms.
I shake my head. "Isla's had a little too much drink."
"Good! Fuck! That would be weird."
"Weird?!"
"Yes!"
"Why?"
He chuckles. "You just had a child."
"And?!"
"You like me?" he asks, and I say nothing. "It's too much for me, Mia. You just had a child."
"Don't repeat it. I gave birth. I'm aware!"
"You're hormonal right now. You want a man by your side to be your baby daddy."
"What?!"
"It ain't gon' be me. I ain't gon' take a such a big complicated step. Honestly, the attraction between us was only sexual. It still is if you want to hook up. But nothing else can happen."
This idiot. This man. He told me he wanted something great to happen between us when I was at the hospital. I like this pathetic man who comes to fuck me whenever he's alone and then changes his mind the next morning because he can't decide what he wants? I clutch my teeth.
"We good, Mia?" he says.
"No, Jonathan. We're not good."
"Don't call me Jonathan."
"If I see you one more time, Jonathan," I say, "I'm going to break your nose. You know? 'Cause I'm hormonal." He stays silent, and I walk away from him.
Zoey runs to me and stops me outside. "Wait!" she says. "Mia!" she stops me by grabbing my arm.
"Zoey, I can't. I need to leave. I..."
Isla runs to me. "I'm sorry," she says. "Mia! I'm so sorry. I'm really drunk."
"Then don't drink, Isla! If you can't control yourself, then don't fucking drink!" I shout at her, and she starts crying. "For fuck's sake, somebody needs to make you understand Christian is not Jon's kid! Do you need a DNA test?!"
"Christian's not Jon's kid," Zoey says, and Isla stares at her. I wait for an explanation, and she continues. "The promotion party you had. That's the time that aligns with your pregnancy."
"How do you know when my promotion party was?" I ask.
"Oliver told me."
"See?" I say to Isla. "Are you done meddling?"
"I'm so sorry, Mia. I really am...," Isla says, still crying. She walks away, and Zoey follows her.
I get inside again to enter the bedroom and get my bag to leave. After I open the door, I find two guys making out.
"Oh, sorry!" I say, and they turn to me.
The faces in front of me shock me to my core. Smith and Ian. Ian removes his hands from Smith's body. Smith stands silently without looking at me, his hands on his hips. I pull myself together and leave the room, closing the door behind me. Ian runs toward me and stops me.
"Wait, Mia, please," he begs.
"It's okay," I say, walking away.
He stops me. "It's not what it looks like!"
"Ian." I grab his hands, and he looks at me, desperately trying to convince me what I saw was nothing. "It's okay," I assure him. "I'm only getting away because I don't wanna see my brother naked." I smile at him, and he eases a little. "You don't have to hide who you are from me."