3 GUYS, A GIRL, AND A ROSE
Chapter Forty-One

Jack woke up to the door buzzer on Tuesday morning. He escaped from Rose's hold. Taking one look at her, he felt like staying in bed. However, the door buzzed again, and it reminded him to answer it. He threw on his sweatpants that were lying on the floor and retreated to the living room.

Jack pressed the button to let whoever it was in and sat on the couch. He got lost thinking of Rose. They had made love three times last night with so much passion. Not only did they do that, but they were able to communicate. Whenever he had had sex with a girl, that's all it was, just sex. Nothing more.

Someone pounded on the door hard, snapping Jack back into reality. He jumped up from his chair to answer the door. When he opened it, Christina barged right in without saying hello.

"Well, good morning to you, as well," Jack said, closing the door behind him.

"Oh, sorry. Hi." Christina's arms were folded as she sat on his couch. He sat down next to her with his arm around her shoulders.

"What's wrong with you? You just barge in here at ten in the morning!"

"I'm just cranky. Can I get juice or something?"

"Sure." Jack got up from the couch and went to the kitchen. He wondered why she was here this early. He poured her juice and went back to the living room.

"Thanks," she said as he handed the glass to her.

"What brings you here this early?"

"I just had to stop by. I had so much in my head. Kind of nerve-racking to not know what happened when I was drunk!"

"I'm sure it's no big deal! Tommy would tell you if anything weird happened," Jack assured her.

"That's true."

Christina turned her head when she heard Rose yawn. There Rose was, standing in just a shirt--again. The same scene she had seen three weeks ago.

"Oh, hey, Christina," Rose said.

Christina stood up from the couch. "Rose, I forgot Jack told me you were here. That reminds me--I have your boxers! That's what I came here for, and also to get my bra!" Christina said quickly. She grew quite uncomfortable seeing Rose. She grabbed Jack's boxers from her bag and threw them at him. "My bra, Jack?"

"Right!" Jack ran into the bedroom, leaving Christina and Rose alone in the living room.
"So…" Christina said, not quite sure what to say.

"So…" Rose said as well, standing on her heels.

"It's nice weather today," Christina said.

"Yeah, nice," Rose agreed.

"Got it!" Jack ran back into the living room, holding her bra. He handed it to her and she snatched it from his hand, stuffing it into her bag.

"I should get going!" Christina said. Christina walked quickly to leave, not paying attention, slamming into the closed door. "Would you look at that? I've walked into a closed door. I'm such a clumsy person!" Christina laughed and shook herself. She turned the knob, but the door only opened a little. "What's wrong with the door, Jack?"

"Chris, you gotta--" Before he could finish, Christina had her head too close to the door and it hit her forehead as she tried opening it.

"You all right, Chris?" Jack was concerned for his friend. He went up to her as she held her forehead.

"I'm fine."

"You just have to unlock the top," Jack said, unlocking it for her.

"Right! Well, I'm off!" Christina yelled.

Is it just me, or is Christina a little weird this morning? Jack thought to himself.

You are such a ditz! Christina said to herself.

As Jack shut the door behind her, they both thought at the same time, That was weird!

*****

Someone was pounding on the door. Tommy looked at his alarm clock, which read eleven o’clock AM. He got up from the bed and walked slowly to the living room. As he opened the door, he rubbed his eyes.

"Tommy! Good, you're up!" he heard Christina say. Before he knew it, Christina had thrown her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.

"Hey, sunshine." He yawned as he stretched his arms out.

"I just got back from Jack's place!" Christina said, sitting on his couch.

"This early?" Tommy asked, sitting on the floor.

"Yeah. I just had to give him something. I left there quick. Rose was there in just a shirt--again! Turns out she is spending the whole week there!"

"You'd think those two had been going out for three years, not three weeks!" Tommy said.

"You're telling me!" Christina looked at Tommy, who was shirtless. "You been working out, Tommy?" she asked, holding his arm.

"Yeah. I always did, even back in Ireland."

"Well, you look good. Very good, actually!" Christina said, not being able to take her eyes off his body.

"Thank you!" Tommy said, blushing. Christina jumped when her bag fell onto the floor with most of her stuff falling out.

"Shit!" She cursed and knelt on the floor to pick up her stuff. Tommy helped her put it back in her bag. Tommy spotted her bra on the floor and picked it up.

"You always carry an extra bra with you?" Tommy asked, holding it up. Christina looked at him, her face growing red with embarrassment.

"No! It's funny, actually. When Jack and I did our laundry together, that got mixed up in with his clothes and I got his boxers. That's why I was there this morning. I had to have it back. It's my lucky bra."

"Oh," Tommy said, handing it back to her. She stuffed it into her bag and threw the rest of her stuff in the bag.

"So, when did you get home last night?" Christina asked.

"Around two."

"You must be tired."

"Very."

Christina looked around the living room and saw a guitar case. "Since when do you play guitar?"

"Since I was seventeen."

"I never knew that."

"You never asked."

"I never even knew you had a guitar."

"I keep it under my bed. I played it a little before I went to work."

"Is it an acoustic or electric?"

"It's an electric acoustic. I don't play it with the amp most of the time. I like acoustic better."

"Same here. Why don't you play something for me?"

"Sure." Tommy took the black guitar from its case and sat on the couch. "What do you wanna hear?"

"Oh, I don't know!"

"I'll play Lifehouse. I know some of Hanging By A Moment."

"I love that song," Christina said.

Tommy smiled at her and began to play little. At first he messed up, but began to get it right. He started to sing along.

Desperate for changing
Starving for truth
Closer to where I started
Chasing after you

I'm falling even more in love with you
Letting go of all I've held onto
I'm standing here until you make me move
I'm hanging by a moment here with you

I'm living for the only thing I know
I'm running and not quite sure where to go
And I don't know what I'm diving into
Just hanging by a moment here with you
Hanging by a moment
Hanging by a moment
Hanging by a moment here with you.

Christina clapped when he finished. Tommy set the guitar up on the couch. "That's all I know."

"It was great!"

Tommy's performance blew Christina away. He sounded almost like Jason Wade as he sang. There was something in Tommy that she had never seen before. She didn't know what it was, but the feeling was new to her.

*****

"So what got you so interested in the guitar?" Christina asked. After Tommy's little performance, Christina stayed around and they sat on the floor talking.

"I don't know. My father had his guitar lying around the house and I just picked it up and started to play. I bought this one when I came to New York."

"My sister Celia plays the guitar herself. She has two electrics and one electric acoustic. Its actually the same one as yours."

"How long has she been playing?"

"I think since she was about eighteen or nineteen. I don't remember."

"How old is she now, anyway?"

"She's twenty-three. She'll be twenty-four in September."

"How about your other sister?"

"Camilla? She's twenty-one. Her twenty-second birthday is in November. She was born in your year." Christina smiled. "Wouldn't it be cool if you dated her?" she teased. Tommy stared at her.

"That would be weird. I mean, seriously, you're my friend and to date your sister is just weird. Don't you think?"

"I guess so. She's a bitch anyway. You'd have your hands full if you dated her. Tommy?"

"Yeah?"

"When was the last time you had a girlfriend? Two months after you came to New York you met the guys and I and I don't recall ever seeing you go out on a date. Why is that?"

"I don't know," he lied. Maybe it is because I am in love with you! he wanted to say.

"Fabri goes out on dates. Jack is dating Rose, unfortunately. What about you? I'm sure any girl would want to date you! You're young and handsome! You are by far one of the sweetest guys I have ever met!" Tommy began to blush at Christina's comments.

"I just haven't found the right girl yet."

"You probably have. She's probably been just right under your nose and you never noticed. Probably stared straight at you and you probably didn't do anything," Christina said.

"Maybe," Tommy said. The only girl I want is staring straight at me right now, he thought. "You're a beautiful girl yourself. Why aren't you seeing anyone?" Tommy asked, knowing the answer.

"I think we all know the answer to that." Christina laughed.

"I guess we do." Tommy laughed back, trying to hide his jealousy.

"I haven't had sex in nearly two years," Christina said out of nowhere. Tommy's eyes looked like they were about to pop out.

"What?" he asked.

"The last guy I had sex with was almost two years ago. August 14, 2001. I've only had sex with two guys in my life. Both guys I was in love with. My first real boyfriend was Lenny Davis. We started dating when I was fourteen. It was the summer of '98. We met at a skateboard park in the city. He was three years older than me. Both of our birthdays are in December. It lasted almost two years. We started to date July twent5y-first. Two months after my sixteenth birthday and his nineteenth birthday he was to be heading to California. It was February of 2000. The night before he left, February twelfth, we had sex."

"What about the other guy you had sex with?" Tommy asked.

"Oh, we started dating that summer. His name was Jason Tyler. We had been friends for quite a long time before we started dating. I guess we kind of always had a crush on each other. He never really did like Lenny. He never said anything because he was my friend. We started dating August fourteenth of 2000. We went to different schools. I went to an all girls school, Bishop Kearney. He went to an all boys school, Xaverian. We dated two months before we started to have sex, August fourteenth being our last time and our one year anniversary. He was going to Tennessee that summer for college. We decided it was best to break up. We still talk a bit."

"How about Lenny? You still talk to Lenny?"

"Sometimes. We e-mail each other. He started dating this girl Veronica the summer of the year he left. They are still together. I'm happy that he is happy. So what about you? When was the last time you got laid?"

"My last night in Ireland, August eighth. I got heavily drunk and slept with this girl named Katie, something I regret. She thought I was gonna stay in Ireland to be with her and threw things at me when I said it was a mistake. I ran out of her flat as quick as possible. I started to have sex when I was sixteen. I've had five sexual partners. Not bad."

"My friend, I think we are being sexually deprived!" Christina joked.

Tommy felt as if he were being deprived of the one person he was one in love with. All he wanted to do was to be with her, but her mind always seemed to be stuck on Jack.

*****

"Here you go, my lady! Breakfast is served!" Jack said. He put down two plates of eggs, bacon, toast, and sausage on the kitchen table. "Orange juice or coffee?"

"I'll have orange juice," Rose said. Jack set a glass down next to her plate and poured her juice. "Jack, this is wonderful. Thank you!" she said as he sat down.

"No problem. This week is going great so far," Jack said.

"Any week is great if it's with you. Away from my mother, especially." They laughed.

"I know your mother hates me, but what is so bad about her?"

"I love my mother. However, she can be a big control freak. She barely let me do what I want throughout high school. Any boy I liked wasn't good enough if they weren't rich. For my cotillion she picked out my escort. Some rich kid named James Calvert. I admit he was very nice. Not like the other kids. Still, she dressed me up as if I were her Barbie doll. I had to be the perfect girl. She wanted me to be like all the other debutantes. They were all stuck up. The biggest bitches of Philadelphia. I hated the cotillion. It was so old-fashioned. My dad didn't care for it himself. You could imagine how upset she was when I broke the news that me and Cal broke up."

"Well, if you didn't, we wouldn't be together right now."

"That's the best part of our break-up. I got to meet you." Jack held her hand and smiled. "My mother lets me make my own choices now. However, she still pictures me as a little girl. I'm happy I'm like my father. He had a free spirit. I'm sure he would have loved you. Hopefully, soon my mom will like you. It will just take her time."

"It doesn't matter to me. As long as I have you by my side, nothing else matters. God rest their souls, if my parents were still alive, they would have loved you. No question about it."

"I'm sure I'd love your parents just as well."

"My parents were the most loving people. I know they would have loved you as much as they would have loved Christina," Jack said. Rose grew uncomfortable at that.

"I-I'm sure they would have. Christina's quite a character." They both laughed, only Rose's was a fake one.

"She sure is. I think life without her would be impossible."

"H-how long have you guys been friends, by the way?"

"Nearly eight months."

"It seems like you two have known each other forever."

"Yeah, feels like it. She's my best friend. I wouldn't have it any other way."

"So you never felt anything more than that for her?" Jack's head popped up at the question. He answered ten seconds later.

"Uh…no. Just simply the best of friends," Jack lied. Rose wasn't quite sure she believed him as much as she wanted to.

Chapter Forty-Two
Stories