I hopped all the way across the couch, bumping into Taylor. He was covering his mouth no to laugh at me, and so when I hit him, he nearly burst out laughing.
“That’s not funny!”
“You said you’d do it with him,” he shrugged, looking down at me. I hadn’t moved from his lap and hadn’t really planned on it.
“Here? Now?”
Zac was laughing now, too, “You said you would.”
“Ugh, don’t talk,” I held my hand out to block my view of his crotch, which was perfectly covered but was making me uncomfortable.
“You’re the one that-” he continued.
“No, really, stop talking!” I kept my eyes shielded and scooted farther over so that my whole body was curled up in Tay’s lap.
“Leave her alone,” Tay said reluctantly, still laughing.
“But she said-”
“I didn’t want you to feel bad,” I whined, “You were all depressed and so I-”
“I’m joking,” Zac laughed.
“Yea, right.”
“I just wanted to see what you’d say… I didn’t think you’d say yes, you little slut.”
Tay was shaking with laughter under me. “You shut up,” I hit him, getting off his lap reluctantly.
Ike sighed, “Just like old times.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Shhh… they’re still getting it on.”
It was late (or early, depending on how you look at it), and so I said that I should go home.
“You can stay here,” Tay offered.
I wanted to faint. He asked me to stay!! Calm… be calm. “You should have asked sooner.”
“Are you and Dave still going out?”
“I dunno. It’s weird… we kinda like… stopped going out, but then nothing really changed. There was a silence. The air was warm, but at the same time cold. I had goosebumps.
“You all right?” Zac laughed because I got the chills and randomly spazzed out.
“Yea,” I laughed.
“So are you gonna ask me or what?” he suddenly blurted out.
“Ask you?”
“About Taylor?”
“What about him?” I was highly confused.
“I know that’s why you asked me to take a walk with you. Actually, I though you were going to interrogate me last time, right after you found out.”
“You think I asked you to take a walk with me just to ask you about Tay?”
He raised his eyebrow.
“Well, that’s not the only reason I asked you.”
He laughed.
“You know I love you, Zac, shut up.”
“I know,” he punched my arm.
There was a pause. I didn’t want to talk.
“So what do you want to know?”
“Tell me all about this Trina person.”
“She was a beast, wasn’t she?” he laughed.
“You didn’t like her?”
“She was okay, I guess. She was huge, man.” I laughed. She was. “She got Tay into all sorts of trouble.”
“Like what?” I gasped.
“They would go out past curfew, come home drunk… that kind of thing.”
“No way!”
“Sometimes it wasn’t pretty. He and my mother had a few good fights about it all.”
“Tay fought with your mother? I never thought that would happen ever.”
“I know.”
“So this chick corrupted him?”
“Much like Dave corrupted you.”
“Dave didn’t corrupt me.”
“Come on now.”
“What?”
“Dave didn’t corrupt you?”
“No.”
“Robinson. Since when do you curse? Since when do you drink? Since when do you dye your hair black? Since when do you make yourself throw up?”
I plopped down on the curb, hiding my eyes with my hands, “Since when do I cut myself?”
He stood in front of me, his hands in his pockets, “It’s all right, Robinson, it’s not your fault.”
“Yes, Zac, it is. If I didn’t break up with Taylor in the first place, or go out with Dave or decide to drink… I wouldn’t be this way.”
He kicked at the curb and then sat down next to me, “It isn’t your fault. It’s not your fault that we- Taylor- travels all around. It’s not your fault that’s hard as hell to handle. It’s not your fault Dave has problems and he asked you to take care of his kid. It isn’t your fault D.C. is jealous of you. Like you want your blood pressure to be messed up…” I looked up at him through misty eyes. I wanted to cry forever… but then again, I really didn’t. “See?” he smiled, rubbing my back, “It’s not your fault.”
“Why are you friends with me?” I laughed sadly.
“Why wouldn’t I be friends with you?”
“Because I’m f*cked up.”
“Stop,” he kissed my forehead gently, “Come on,” he gently took my damaged wrist and pulled me up.
We walked home in relative silence. It’s like I didn’t know where to go from there. “Zac?” I asked when his house was in view, “Is Taylor still going out with her?”
He smiled like he was waiting for me to ask that, “No.”
“Are you lying just to make me feel better?”
“No,” he smiled again.
“So they’re not going out anymore?”
“No, Robinson,” he shook his head. “He’s single.”
