FAITH POV: I manage to make it home, of course, with the help of a friend. I had to call Jen to pick me up at the Hard Rock. It would be a four mile walk, which I was not up for with this hangover.
"So," Jen says as we walk into my house. "was this stranger nice? I was checkin' him out but you were crying so hard that I had no time to flirt."
"He's an ass." I answer.
"Oh." Jen bites her lip. "Like-"
"Like, he's an ass. You have to raise the bar a bit Jen. You can't go for these asshole guys and expect a long term, respectable relationship." I say.
"Maybe I'm just having fun." She says, nudging me in the shoulder. "Did he make you breakfast?" Jen says, placing her elbows on the counter and her head on her hands. She's watching me as I start to make eggs.
"Nope." I say
"Why?" Jen says, acting like she was a three year old.
"Because I woke up first."
"Did you leave him sleeping?" She says shocked.
"No," I say, "I accidentally woke him up.... and then threatened to stab him with a spoon...."
"Wow..."
"Yeah..."
"No wonder you didn't get breakfast."
"Shut up." I say, laughing a bit.
"What's his name?"
"Why do you care?"
"Because, I think you like him." Jen says suggestively.
"Well, I don't." I say. "And it's Tim."
"Does he know your name?"
"Yeah, he kind of followed me till I told him."
"Oooooh! He likes you." She winks. I roll my eyes. "You were really freaked out when I picked you up..."
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"Because I woke up, hungover, with no recollection of what happened the night before, in a strangers apartment..." I say. Jen shrugs her shoulder.
"I don't know why you had to freak out about it."
"I didn't know what had happened the night before, Jen. I didn't know if he took me there against my will, or if I even slept with him." I say
"You always assume worse case scenario. He seemed pretty nice from what you're telling me."
"He followed me."
"He was flirting with you." Jen says rolling her eyes. "Faith, you my friend, are undateable. You literally have no idea how to A.) flirt B.) talk to people C.) not assume."
"I dated Scott didn't I?"
"You BOTH didn't know how to date. It was a mutual awkwardness."
"I hate you." I laugh.
"I love you too!" Jen yells as she runs to change into different clothes. Jen pops back out from her room with new clothes on. The doorbell rings. "You can get that." she volunteers me. I roll my eyes and run towards the door.
"Hel-" I swing the door open to see just who I didn't feel like seeing.
"Hey, Faith... you -uh... left this." He says, standing uncomfortably in the doorway, holding out my bag. "You left it in my car last night."
"Thanks..." I say blandly, receiving the bag. "How'd you find out where I-"
"Your ID." He says. God, he sounds creepy.
"Oh," I say, "Okay."
"You make it home alright?"
"Yeah, Jen picked me up." I say.
"Alright, good. I was worried that you were going to really try walking."
"I could've grabbed a cab if I needed to." I say, proving I could still make it by myself.
"You don't take cabs." He says. My face must show a bit of shock, because he is quick to explain. "You told me last night when I offered you a ride home."
"Okay... well... thanks." I say awkwardly. Suddenly, I feel Jen run up behind me in the doorway.
"You wanna come on in for some breakfast?" She yells to him.
"Jen, I'm sure he has to get going." I say, trying to signal for him to leave.
"I guess I could stay for a bit." Tim says, letting out a little smile at me. Jen practically gallops back into the kitchen to start cooking.
"So where do you work, Tim?" Jen asks while pouring in the pancake batter. I'm watching my eggs get cold as Jen tries to small talk. I'm deciding whether or not to just eat them now, since Jen hates eggs. She says that it's cruel to eat dead baby chickens, but she loves KFC.... Don't ask me to explain her logic.
"Nowhere right now. I figured I'd give this music thing a try." Tim socializes with Jen. He does have a nice smile... I mean he seems like a nice guy...
"Oh really?" I laugh. He sounds like he just woke up this morning like Hey! I want to be a singer.
"Yeah, really." he laughs. "I used to sing and play guitar at high school parties and stuff. I have to admit, I was pretty good." He says, laughing. He's hopefully joking.
"Faith's in the business, if you can't tell." Jen says.
"Oh really?" He mocks.
"Yep! I have a recording contract with Warner." I say, trying to sound like a show off.
"Wow," he says honestly. "good job." He nods. The acknowledgement feels good.
"Thankya." I say.
"So, you guys should have a sing off." Jen says.
"A what?" I question.
"A sing off!" Jen says. "You two sing and then I decide who's better. Tim, you said you play guitar, right?" Jen begins to get hyper over her ingenious idea.
"I'm pretty sure that's what I said...."
"Well, you can have Faith's guitar, and then you guys can sing." Jen says. "Just humor me!" She runs into my room and grabs my guitar. Tim's laughing, but he's getting up to do it. I wonder if his friends do shit like this to him.
"I'm so sorry!" I mouth to him.
"It's okay." He mouths back, then we start to laugh.
"Alright, who's going first?" Jen says, plopping herself down on the couch.
"Ladies first,", "Guests get the right away" Tim and I say in sync.
"Faith, you go first." Jen decides.
"This is ridicu-" I start
"Do it!" Jen laughs. I roll my eyes and look over to Tim, who smiling and laughing. He has amazing eyes...
"Alright, what song?"
"Your pick" Jen says. I pick up my guitar and play a song I wrote.
"A little girl, a little small for her age. A little too slow for the field day race. Momma's waiting at the finish line and wipes the teardrops from her eyes. She says, "You did just fine honey, that's okay, sometimes life's just that way. You're gonna lose the race from time to time, but you're always gonna find. You can't lose me, bet your life. I am here and I will always be just a wish away. Wherever you go, no matter how far, my love is where you are. You won't be lost if you believe you can't lose me"." I sing. Tim's jaw drops a little as I finish the first chorus.
"Jen, I'm not singing the whole thing." I say, putting down the guitar.
"That's cool." Jen says, picking at her nails like I did nothing at all. Tim's a little shocked still.
"That was..." He starts. "Wow..."
"No need for flattery." I try to flirt. Jen's right, I have no idea how to do this kind of stuff. Tim picks up my guitar and strums a few chords before playing.
"You ready?" He asks, trying to be cool.
"Oh yeah." Jen says, acting all flirty. How does she do that?
Tim starts to play my guitar, making it croon. "I got an empty feelin' when that moving van pulled up. It got a whole lot emptier as I watched them fill that truck. And when they carried out your clothes, it took my breath away. Now they're headed for that bed, the thought keeps runnin' through my head." Holy shit....
"Baby, maybe we should just sleep on it tonight, and give our hearts just one more chance to change our minds. I could be wrong but, goodbye just don't feel right. So baby, maybe we should just sleep on it tonight." He sings. I know my jaw is dropped... I can feel it.
"Did you write that?" I ask.
"Yeah." He says, handing Jen the guitar.
"Tim wins." Jen says, putting my guitar back.
"Well duh," I say. "how did you do that?"
"I opened my mouth and words came out." He says, like a smartass. He makes me smile a bit.
"I have to go get a shower so.... you two don't have too much fun, okay?" Jen says, running away.
"She's trying to set us up." I say to Tim.
"I know. I could tell when she asked me to stay for breakfast." He smiles. He has crowsfeet... and it's kind of cute.
"And you still stayed?"
"Yeah." He says. "I just kind of thought you were an interesting person. There's some things you can just tell about a person." He's slowly inching towards me. Is he going to kiss me?
"I don't remember anything from last night."
"I know you don't." He laughs. "You were hammered. You puked on the way to the car."
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah."
"That's embarrassing!" I say covering my face.
"Don't worry, I held your hair back." He smiles.
"I guess you're the only person who would know otherwise."
"Yep." He smiles. "So tell me about yourself, Faith." He says, laying back on the sectional. I lay down perpendicular to him, so our heads are almost touching.
"What do you want to know?"
"Why don't you like being called Audrey?" He asks.
"That's what my fiance used to call me. And it reminds me of when I was little." I say. "Why don't you go by Sam?" I counter.
"Because that's the name my dad would scream when he was angry with me. It's just the association."
"Was he abusive?" I ask before I can stop myself.
"Yeah," Tim says, "he was. Okay, my turn. What's your worst regret?"
"Not going up to my mom when I saw her." I say softly.
"Why?"
"Because I haven't seen her since. I was passed around foster homes since I was three and a half."
"Oh."
"Yeah," I say, "What about you?"
"Drinking and driving."
"You drank and drove?" That sounds so weird, saying it in the past tense.
"Yeah, I told you about it last night." He says.
"Well," I start, "I obviously don't remember last night." I smile, but he doesn't.
"I drank too much, then I drove my, at the time, girlfriend, and I wrecked. She was killed in the crash, while someone else was injured. So I had to serve some jail time for reckless homicide." He says quietly.
"Oh..." I sit for a second.
"Worst mistake I've ever made." He says. I nod and bite my lip.
"I'm so sorry." I say.
"It's okay..."
"That must be really hard." I look into his eyes. There's a lot of pain there.
"Yeah... It is. The crazy thing is that we were talking about what our life was going to be like after high school, and mine was spent in a correctional facility and she never got to see it." He says, letting it hang in the air.
"About two years, almost three years ago, I was raped in south side Nashville." I open up.
"What happened?"
"I was at the wrong place at the wrong time. I was waiting for the bus, two guys came and grabbed me at knife-point, then they took me to an alley and did their business." I say. "Then they stabbed me a few times and left me there for dead... Scott found me. We were just friends before he took me in after that. That's when we became closer." I say.
"I'm sorry." He says quietly.
"It's alright." I say. "That's why I got freaked out that I blacked out. I haven't slept with a guy since then."
"Wait," Tim stops. "You're telling me, you married this Scott guy, and never..."
"We had before the whole thing happened, and we were engaged."
"You guys had sex as friends?"
"No. We were drunk and I slept with him, then I friendzoned him." I explain.
"Oh," Tim starts. "that make's sense."