“What?!” I ask loudly.
“Yeah she’s smoking up with the rest of the guys right now.”
I turn to look at Rebecca. She smiles and nods in approval and I take off for the house. Reaching the door, I straighten my shirt and tidy my hair then check my breath. All good it seems. I reach for the door and pull it open.
There she was, sitting on the couch laughing with the rest of the guys.
“Where’ve you been?” Matthew asks.
“Just chilling.” I respond nonchalantly. Tuck seems knocked out on the floor and Kelly isn’t wearing her shirt. The rest of the guys are just playing with cards and drinking what looks like the crappy licorice liquor.
I turn to look at her and she smiles at me for a moment until we get interrupted.
“You guys wanna go swim?” Kelly pipes up.
“Sure!” two voices call out in unison.
Rebecca walks in with Hanns.
“What’s going on?” Hanns asks, pointing at Kelly who is taking her pants off.
“We’re going swimming!” she yells at him.
“Yeap. Basically that.” Daniel chuckles, taking his clothes off too. The group proceeds to do the same and I look at Claire.
“You joining them?” I ask her.
“Nah. I’m not that crazy.”
“Fair enough.”
She leans back in her seat, I take one right next to her. The rest of them proceed to run out the house, Kelly wearing nothing. Hanns takes a quick look around.
“I’ll just drink on the porch if anyone needs me.” He says quietly and tiptoes out of the room.
I’m alone with her. I take a deep breath and feel my chest closing in. My mouth feels dry and my palms begin to sweat. My eyes quickly assess the situation. She’s busy looking at her phone and smiling at it, I have some time to recompose myself.
Be cool, I find me telling myself.
“Why so serious?” I hear her asking me in a “Joker” kind of voice.
“What? Serious? Who said I was being serious?” I scramble to find my words.
“Come on. It’s not that bad is it?” she teases me.
I turn to look her in the eyes. I want to tell her. Everything that’s happened, everything I’ve felt. But the courage doesn’t build up. The look on her face dies a little. She seems disappointed.
Fuck.
A moment of awkward silence passes. I stare at my fingers nervously and she shifts around in her seat.
“Do you still like me?” she finally asks.
I turn to look at her once again, but before I could answer her Matthew comes into the room.
“Come on guys let’s go chill together. Why’re you two just sitting there?”
“Nothing, I want to go lie down for a little.” Claire says and stands.
“Okay whatever floats your boat then. You coming?” Matt turns to me.
“Yeah sure. Gimme a sec.” I turn to look at her as she walks up the stairs.
I stand and head out onto the porch with Matthew. Everyone is splashing around except for Hanns. Matt jumps straight into the pool without me, and I take a seat next to Hanns.
“How’d it go? You guys didn’t have much time before you were interrupted.” Hanns asks.
“Wouldn’t have made a difference anyway. Something’s off.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. It’s like the spark isn’t there, where I imagined it to be.”
“Then find it, moron.” He says and takes a drag from his drink.
“What’s that?”
“Whiskey.”
“Gimme some.”
I take a swig and gag a little. Beer was always my thing but I didn’t particularly mind liquor.
“What the hell do I say? What am I supposed to do?” I add on.
“Just be yourself dude. You shouldn’t have to pretend to be someone else to impress her. How long would you even keep up the act if you got her that way?”
“Yeah but what if she doesn’t like who I am?”
“Then maybe you two just aren’t meant to be.”
I heave a sigh and turn just to see Claire walking out onto the porch. Hanns braces his body to stand as if he was about to leave, but before he could fully execute that action she walks down the porch steps onto the pool deck.
“Dude, go talk to her.” Hanns says to me.
“She’s talking to Matt dude fucking chill will’ya?”
I wanted to believe that was the reason I didn’t just march right up to her and just say hi. But I knew deep down inside it wasn’t.
Just then, the doorbell rang. I look around and quickly realized nobody was inside the house so I stand up and walk toward the porch door.
“I’ll get it.” I tell Hanns before walking into the house, he gestures to me before I leave. Opening the front door, I see a rather bulky person.
“Can I help you..?” I ask slowly. His eyes dart around behind me, he pays no heed to my existence, it’s almost like he’s staring right through me.
“Is Claire in here?” he grunts rudely.
“I’m sorry, who is this?” I shoot back, pissed as fuck. Who the fuck does he think he is?
Taking my response as confirmation of her presence, he shoves me aside and walks down the hallway.
“Dude what the fuck?” I yell at him, taken aback by his actions. Who the fuck would anticipate THAT? He ignores me and continues strutting down to see an empty living room, and a very lively atmosphere beyond the glass porch doors. I consider yelling at him to stop but thinking about it he’d probably just ignore me anyway. He opens the doors and walks out onto the porch.
Hanns turns and sees him. He tries to greet the mystery man but before he could open his mouth, mystery man had begun walking down the porch steps. I show up right then.
“Who the heck is that?” Hanns asks me.
“No fucking clue, he just walked right in.” I tell him and continue toward that asshole.
He walks up to Claire and taps on her shoulder.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he asks her.
“Syd? What the fuck?” she turns around and exclaims. I walk up right behind him.
“Hi, who the fuck are you?” Matthew focuses his attention on him.
“Who the fuck are YOU?” he asks Matthew.
“Name’s Matthew. I own this house. Now what the fuck do you think you’re doing here?”
He mutters something under his breath, then turns to face Claire again.
“Come on Claire, we’re leaving.”
“Syd what the hell do you think you’re doing? Let me go!” Claire pulls away in disgust.
He insists, head turned toward the door, his grip on her tightening.
Matthew shakes his head and sighs, then throws a hook out onto his back. He falls onto the floor like a sack of flour and quickly turns to look at Matt, shocked.
“No Matt don’t!” Claire yells but Matthew doesn’t listen.
He climbs on top of the mystery man and begins his series of poundings. Face poundings. With his left hand gripping the man’s shirt, he lets out a flurry of blows onto his face. His spectacles break into pieces and his nose begins to bleed.
“Who the fuck are you?” Matthew asks only after he sees the first tooth fall.
Mystery man takes a moment to compose himself, his eyes spinning.
“I’m.. I’m Sydney.” He says. Matthew pulls his shirt upward and punches him again, twice.
“That’s for not answering me the first time I asked.” Matthew heaves a sigh, then pulls Sydney’s face up closer to his own.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing here?” he adds.
“Matthew stop.” Claire insists, trying to pull Matthew’s hand away. Everyone is crowded around the scene except Kelly who looked passed out on the lounge chairs.
“I’m here..” Sydney tries. He turns to face the ground and spits some blood out first, then continues.
“To take Claire home.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I ask, curious. Matthew doesn’t seem satisfied with that answer.
“I’m her boyfriend.” Sydney says slowly.