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More partiers were fleeing the scene now, running in all directions. Liam tried to put himself between Jack and his father, but Mr. Franco kicked the New Zealander’s leg out from under him and smacked Jack in the face again.
Unable to watch any more, I ran inside, urged on by my mother’s cackling.
Later that night, I sat in bed staring at the ceiling. Thinking about everything. Finally, I pulled out my phone.
Me: I saw what happened. I’m really sorry about everything. Do you want to get lunch tomorrow? I’d really like to talk about everything. I don’t want to leave things like this.
Jack started to respond, based on the three little dots at the bottom of the screen. They disappeared, then reappeared over and over for the next thirty minutes. Eventually, I put my phone away and turned out the light.
He responded just as I was drifting off to sleep. I grabbed my phone off the bedside table so roughly that I almost woke Brandi in the other bed.
Jack: I don’t have anything to say to you, Alyssa. Not tomorrow, or the day after that, or ten years from now. I never want to see you again. I hope you have a great life.
The text hurt more than I ever could have expected. Jack was my neighbor, someone I had known but never really connected with. We’d shared a few moments at the party today, but that was it.
Then why did this feel like a breakup?
Fine, Jack Franco. I hope I never see you again either.
Trying hard to remain quiet so I wouldn’t wake Brandi, I cried myself to sleep.
29
Alyssa
Present Day
Brandi sat in a corner of the store, surrounded by stacks of paper. She had been staring at me, silent, for the past ten minutes while I told her everything that had happened last night.
“You had a threesome!” she finally said.
“Not so loud,” I hissed at her. “The ghost of our mother might hear you and materialize just to call me a slut.”
“I’m so proud of you!” Brandi got up and ran over to give me a hug, knocking over one of my stacks of paper. “You lost your virginity two years after I did, when you were in college, and now I’m jealous of your love life!”
“Well,” I said casually, “maybe you shouldn’t have married the first man you slept with.”
“I’m going to let that slide because I know you’re joking,” she replied. “And because I’m too excited. Tell me again. Wait, no. Let’s wait until tonight when we’ve had too many glasses of wine. Then I can get the really juicy details out of you.”
“I’m not sure I want to give my sister a full play-by-play.”
“Aww, why not? I told you all the details about when Kyle and I first had sex after prom!”
“Exactly,” I replied. “After hearing you describe what his penis looked like, I couldn’t eat Vienna sausages for a year.”
“I’m so proud of you for trying new things. That’s right, I’m taking full credit for this. I told you to try new things, and now you’re doing stuff I’ve only dreamed of. Is that what dating is like in New York?”
“It was my first threesome. You know I would’ve told you otherwise.”
She let out an excited little tremble. “I still can’t believe it. Mateo and Liam, the other two firemen. When I booked the Airbnb, I never thought…” She trailed off.
“What?”
Brandi laughed. “It’s just funny. When I accidentally booked the guest house at Jack’s place, I wondered if it might lead to you two finally hooking up. But instead, you’ve hopped into bed with his two best friends!”
“Speaking of Jack, I didn’t tell you the best part. He showed up the next morning. Liam and Mateo were supposed to meet him for breakfast or something, and when they didn’t show up, he came to check on them.”
“Let me get this straight. You boned Mateo and Liam so thoroughly they slept through their alarms?”
