Chapter 5 Senssssational
Senssssational
The first day of class came upon me faster than I had imagined, and I spent the morning before with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.
It had been a year since I’d set foot in a classroom, and I worried I’d never catch up, especially because I’d registered for almost all the same classes Curtis was in, even though I didn’t know the upper level material too well.
I remember walking in and seeing him there with his friends and listening to our literature professor describe our project and exam schedule.
I got my first syllabus, looked at the list of books, prayed they weren’t too expensive, made endless notes, and all the while, Curtis just yawned and doodled and entertained himself by poking me with his pen.
On our way out, as we were discussing the midterm paper, which we had to pick a topic for soon, Curtis joked about our teacher and how she said our readings for that semester were senssssational as she swished her hips in her tight skirt.
He had already repeated the word several times while we were sitting there, and it had been nearly impossible for me not to laugh.
I’d had to hide my head and pray she didn’t notice.
“Poor woman,” I said. “She’ll never hear the end of that.”
“I doubt it,” Curtis said. “Someone else will say something stupid, and we’ll all forget about her.” He held the door open, and I followed him to the parking lot. As I walked off toward the light rail, he asked if I wanted to meet him after lunch.
“Sounds cool,” I responded. “Your room?”
He frowned. “Maybe not. My roommates are being a little annoying. Maybe we could do your place. Or do you think your boyfriend will try and beat me up?”
“He’s not going to beat you up, and he’s not my boyfriend. But yeah, that’s cool, come by whenever. Jack hasn’t even been home lately, so I’m sure we’ll be able to hang out in peace.”
How wrong I was.
The first thing I heard when I got home was Naya’s voice.
She didn’t sound happy. I found her in the living room angry and yelling, which wasn’t really like her.
Jack was there, absorbing her insults as she called him selfish and self-centered.
Ignoring her, he opened a beer and stared off into space.
After a moment, while Naya was pausing to catch her breath, he asked, “Are you done now?”
That only made her worse. “I’m sure as hell not!”
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Naya sat on the couch, crossed her arms, and said, “Nothing! I just can’t stand him!”
I could tell she didn’t want to talk more, but I double-checked anyway. “Are you sure you’re OK?”
In a sour voice, Jack said, “Don’t worry about me, I don’t even exist.” I pretended not to hear him and sat beside Naya as she tried to look over her notes.
I guess she was trying to study, but whatever had happened had made things tense.
I began to wonder if I should call Curtis and tell him not to bother.
I put that off while I made a bite to eat and talked to my grandmother on the phone.
When I returned to the living room, they were still sitting there ignoring each other, Naya with her papers and Jack with his laptop.
I was nervous, but I had to interrupt them.
“Hey, guys…” They looked up at me, and Jack was glaring, as if he took for granted he wouldn’t like what I had to say. “I’ve got a classmate coming over, we’re going to make a study plan for our literature class, it won’t be long, but…”
“Is it Curtis?” Naya asked.
I nodded. She smirked. She probably thought it was funny how much it would piss Jack off. I added that we could go somewhere else—it was Jack’s house after all. “I’d be fine working in the bedroom, or I could tell him to meet me at the library.”
“Stay here,” Jack said brusquely.
“Even though you guys are here?”
He didn’t answer. He just looked back at his laptop screen.
I was worried about how he’d act. Curtis liked to pretend nothing bothered him, but it had to, sometimes—he was a person, after all.
And I needed to hold onto my friends. I couldn’t have Jack pushing everyone away.
These thoughts were swirling in my head as the doorbell rang.
I turned to go answer, but Jack jumped up before I could. Naya shouted, “Ross, get back here!”
It was too late. Try as I might, by the time I got to the entryway, Jack and Curtis were face-to-face, and by Curtis’s expression, I could tell he wasn’t happy about it.
“What do you want?” Jack hissed.
For God’s sake…
“Is Jenna home?” Curtis replied.
Jack said no, but Curtis could obviously see me, and I tried to smile as I told him, “He’s just kidding. Come on in!”
Curtis shoved past Jack and into the living room, and as he greeted Naya, I took his coat and turned back to find Jack with death in his eyes. “Ross, don’t start, please,” I said.
“Start what?”
“You know perfectly well what I’m saying. You remember what you did the other day.”
With a mischievous expression, he leaned close and whispered that he just wanted to get to know my friend.
He kept calling him Charlie. He knew perfectly well what his name was, but he loved getting on my nerves.
He had done the same thing with Monty before.
And when I corrected him and said Curtis was my friend, and we would probably have a lot of group work together that year, I added, “You really need to chill out. You look insane, and I don’t want him to be scared to come over here. ”
“Why not?”
I ignored his question. I wasn’t playing his game.
“Ross, I’m serious,” I said. “We’ve got several classes together, and I want him to do my group assignments with me.
He’s smart, and I didn’t do well my first semester, and I’m really trying to turn my grades around.
That’s all there is to it, so can you just be cool? ”
For an eternity, he didn’t move and didn’t respond. But then his face relaxed and he said, “Fine,” between clenched teeth. “But tell him not to try to be friendly with me. I don’t like him. He’s a douche.”
I decided there was no point in talking any longer.
I had caught his wrist to keep him from walking into the living room.
Now I let him go. I found Curtis sitting on one of the couches, drinking a beer that I guessed Naya had offered him.
Jack sat on the other one, and I decided to stay standing to keep from provoking him.
After some small talk, Naya pretended to turn back to her notes, but I could tell she was listening to every word we were saying.
Curtis complimented my apartment. Jack let him know it was actually his.
“You’re right, though,” I said. “It is really nice. But let’s talk about schoolwork, that’s why you’re here, right?
” And we looked at the syllabus for lit class and started brainstorming possible projects.
It was easygoing. Curtis was smart, but he also liked to fool around, and his pleasant attitude made an hour pass in no time.
I told him how nervous I was about my grades that year, but I added that with his help, I was sure I’d make it through.
Curtis smiled. “You’ll do senssssational.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, and as soon as I did, I knew I’d made a mistake.
Jack didn’t say anything, but I felt guilty and decided to run and take refuge in the bathroom.
I really did have to go anyway. I’d been holding it in because I was scared of what Jack would do if I left him and Curtis alone.
But it seemed safe by that point, and anyway, Naya was there to run interference.
“Be right back,” I said loudly. I must have set a world record for getting in and out, and I even washed my hands.
But it wasn’t fast enough, because when I returned, I found both guys sitting beside each other.
Jack scowled, I asked what was up, and Curtis replied blithely, “Oh, nothing. I was just telling your, uh, boyfriend about our literature professor’s favorite word and how we all were laughing about it earlier. ”
Uh-oh.
That bastard. Curtis knew perfectly well what he was doing. And he was having a damn ball. Naya didn’t say anything. Jack didn’t, either. Apparently everyone was more than happy to have me on the spot.
“He’s not my boyfriend, he’s just my roommate,” I said, sitting down next to Curtis.
Jack snorted and said, “I’d say I’m a bit more than that.”
Curtis looked from him to me as I responded, “Not much more.”
Ignoring me, Jack informed Curtis, “I’m her ex-boyfriend.”
“We broke up forever ago, though,” I cut in.
“Define forever, babe,” Jack replied.
Babe?! Now I wanted to vomit. And I could tell he was loving every minute of it. “Let’s say a year, for convenience’s sake, babe.”
I’d thought that would knock him off his high horse, but he grinned back like a sly little child. I guess he was already planning what he was going to hit me with next. “Was a year long enough to forget what you and I used to do on this sofa, babe?”
Naya spit up a sip of beer and started coughing, and I turned red as a tomato. Curtis looked down at the fabric he was sitting on, as if worried he might get contaminated by body fluids.
“We never did anything in here, you idiot!” I shouted.
“Oh, that’s right. We stuck to the bedroom. And the shower. And the counter,” he said.
Naya didn’t have room to talk—you could hardly enter the apartment without seeing her and Will getting it on—but it didn’t stop her from overreacting. “The counter! Gross! Please tell me you guys disinfected it afterwards!”
I tried to no avail to protest that it wasn’t true. Curtis, like Jack, was having a ball. I begged Jack to go out for a cigarette. He mimicked my own voice, reminding me of all the times I’d told him smoking was bad for him.
“Get some fresh air, then,” I said, but that didn’t interest him either. Fed up, I asked, “How about you go throw yourself off the roof then?”
He turned down that suggestion, too.