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ARIANA
“And you’re absolutely sure you don’t mind if we stay in all night?”
Tyler wolfed down another big mouthful of lo mein, employing his chopsticks clumsily but effectively. His technique was terrible, but it still got the job done.
“Of course not,” I answered. “Why would I mind?”
He’d come straight from his hockey game, looking as exhausted as he was unshowered. I’d given him an out of course, and told him we could do it another night. But he’d wanted to come anyway.
“Because I’m supposed to be taking you on a date,” Tyler bemoaned.
“This is a date,” I smiled.
“You know what I mean,” he frowned. “A real date.”
Technically more a non-date that was a supposed to be a ‘date’ date, I thought to myself, or at least pretending to be. But hey, who was keeping track?
“Look, we’re together, aren’t we?” I countered. “That’s all that matters.”
Tyler sighed and dove back into his quart of lo mein. He emerged long enough to take a swig from one of the beers that had been lurking at the back of my fridge, probably from the last time he’d been over.
“Ordering Chinese takeout to eat on the couch in your apartment doesn’t count,” Tyler assured me. “I wanted to take you out out, and do something special together. Instead I’m here, bringing you down instead of bringing you up.”
“Fine then,” I told him. “I’ll take a rain-check, and I’ll hold you to it.”
My last suggestion seemed to satisfy my friend. He nodded and smiled weakly, then clicked his chopsticks together before going to town on his food again.
Damn. He really does look tired.
I’d seen Tyler tired a thousand times, of course. Most of our lives, we’d lived right next door to each other. We’d had sleepovers as kids, and played games past midnight. We’d pretended our houses were haunted, explored them with flashlights, and once or twice even made it till dawn.
Right now however my friend’s shoulders were slung low, and his normally bright eyes were dull and unfocused. It concerned me a lot more than whether or not we went out.
“Tyler, what’s wrong?”
For a few long seconds he stared down into his half-finished takeout carton and said nothing. But he knew he couldn’t hide his feelings forever. Not around me.
“Can I take a shower, Ari?”
My friend looked up at me hopefully. I scrambled to my feet.
“Of course,” I said quickly. “There are towels in the bathroom already, but if you want me to get a fresh one—“
“No, those towels are fine, thanks.”
I watched as he trudged off down the little hallway, draining his beer and setting the bottle down on the bathroom counter as he slipped inside. The door swung shut, but only partially. Tyler hadn’t used nearly enough energy to close it.
The shower spray came on, and before long I could see clouds of steam rolling through the cracked door. Noises eventually filtered out: the sound of Tyler’s clothing hitting the floor before he stepped inside.
What’s wrong with him tonight?
I asked the question needlessly inside my own mind. And that’s because I knew the answer already:
It’s Lexus. Has to be.
Silently I cursed my friend’s long-term girlfriend, who over the years had gone from bad to worse. Alexandra ‘Lexus’ Carter attended high school with us, but only tangentially. As one of the ‘popular girls’ she hadn’t necessarily run in any of our circles, but the summer after our junior year she set her sights on Tyler and quickly sunk her claws into him.
The fierce, blue-eyed maniac who’d flattened our friend’s tires and keyed his car after their first big fight had been the same sweet-talking asshole who’d made it up to him by offering to buy a brand new one. Tyler hadn’t accepted that gift of course, but these attempts at control were only the tip of a much bigger iceberg. Over the course of their tumultuous multi-year relationship, Lexus had showered our friend with various toys, electronics, concert tickets, and unwanted gifts. All courtesy of her very rich parents, and a near inexhaustible bank account replenished by a sickening monthly stipend.
