47 - Fallon
~ 47 ~
FALLON
The next week was full of ups and downs. Of physical highs and emotional lows, as I struggled to cope with the gravity of Dalton’s sad admission.
On the good side, it was starting to look like the Buffaloes would make the playoffs. The team had an away game this weekend, all the way down at Kingsville, and they were heavy favorites. I toyed with the idea of making the drive, but in the end I decided it was better for me to stay home and catch up on things. Schoolwork was piling up, and when it came to the hospital, I desperately needed the hours.
The boys practiced hard all week long, with long hours and extra workouts. Somehow though, they still managed to give me their full attention. I felt guilty keeping them up, but not so guilty that I was willing to sacrifice a single ounce of our insane sex life. A sex life which by now included ropes, restraints, and all manner of sensuously fun activities.
Trey’s grades had improved so much; in both his classes, that he was no longer in danger of failing. For his final reward I granted him any single fantasy he wanted, and what he wanted was an all-night romp in a dirty motel outside of town. I had fun taking the reins here, going so far as to dress like a hooker and role-play ‘meeting’ him at a nearby bar. From there I let him pick me up, take me back, and sexually obliterate me in every way imaginable… all for a very reasonable three-hour rate.
We rutted like animals that night, in ways that were simultaneously filthy and awesome. The whole sordid atmosphere of the cheap, hourly motel made it feel almost like I was cheating on the others. That is, until I got home and told them all about it… at which point Dalton and Emerson carried me upstairs, to ravage me some more.
Each day on campus was bittersweet, because as seniors, anything we were doing could very well be for the last time. For that reason I cherished every step I took as the season progressed. I found myself noticing things more; the sharp angles of the new walkways, or the graceful curve of the older buildings. I fixated on the constantly moving shadow of the clock tower, or the beautiful way the light illuminated the trees right before sunset, just minutes prior to it disappearing behind the distant mountains.
Maybe it was my noticing things that turned my head in the parking lot Friday afternoon, bringing my attention to the white Nissan Sentra several spots from my own vehicle. The car wasn’t running, but there was a hint of movement inside. Movement, as well as a distinctly unique noise:
The sound of someone crying.
I dropped my books on my hood and ran straight over. There was a good possibility they were stuck inside. Even in the heat of the late afternoon, the temperatures inside a car could climb to—
“Bailey?”
I knocked rapidly on the window, to be sure. The girl in the car turned her tear-streaked face toward me. The moment she saw me, she began sobbing uncontrollably.
“Bailey, open up!”
Her head dropped again, but I heard the distinctive sound of the electronic lock disengaging. Skirting around to the passenger side, I opened up and slid in beside her.
“Are you okay?”
She shook her head violently. Jet black hair should’ve flown everywhere, but it was matted against her face from all the sweat and tears.
“Open the windows,” I choked. “It’s a thousand degrees in here.”
“No,” she sniffed miserably. “I don’t want anyone to see me.”
“Well at least turn the air-conditioning on, then. Otherwise, we both pass out.”
She looked at me with bloodshot eyes, but eventually started the car. The air was warm at first, then cool, then cold. I angled the vents on the passenger side so they were blowing blessedly against my face.
“Blaine doesn’t let me run the air-conditioning,” she eventually blurted. “He says it’s a waste.”
“Yeah. I got that lecture too.”
I wanted to tell her a thousand Blaine stories, every last one of them detailing what a colossal dick he was. But just sitting there, I got the impression she could tell me a few hundred of her own.
“You know this is your car, right?” I reminded her. “You can turn the air-conditioning on any time you want.”
“I know. It’s just… well…”
“You don’t want to hear it.”
“Exactly.”
I nodded again, in full understanding. When it came to handling this enigma of the man Bailey had chosen to hitch her star too, my empathy ran deep.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?”
She sniffed again, and I handed her a fresh tissue. Front and back, the car was littered with tear-stained tissues. Far too many of them. Her makeup should’ve been running, but it wasn’t. And that’s because she wore no makeup.
“Look, if you want to sit here quietly that’s okay too,” I told her gently. “I just can’t let you sit in a hot car without air conditioning. If you die in this parking lot, that’s going to put a big damper on graduation.”
She paused for a moment, then let out a chuckle. The chuckle was followed by a laugh, and then a cackle that sounded frighteningly cathartic.
“Besides,” I kept the ball rolling. “If you’re not around, who’s going to pick up all the wet towels off the bed?”
Her eyes went wide in instant recognition. They were pretty eyes, too.
“He does that!” she breathed. “Oh my God, he does that all the time!”
“I know. He’s also the only guy I know who has you microwave his ice cream, to make it soupy. But not too soupy, or it’s ruined. At which point you end up going to the store, or you won’t hear the end of it.”
“Eleven seconds,” Bailey coughed.
“Eleven, huh?” I chewed my lip. “I remember it being closer to seventeen.”
“Yeah, well, we got a new microwave,” Bailey admitted. “He said the old one was ‘sub standard’, because you bought the wrong model.”
“Actually, I bought the exact model he told me to,” I countered. “In fact, he sent me the specifications he wanted, and after a few hours of research I sent him five different models to choose from. That was the one he picked.”
“Wow,” Bailey sighed. “That’s insane.”
“Yup.”
“Still, it wouldn’t surprise me.”
“Nor should it,” I chuckled.
“You know, once I opened the microwave door before the timer was done, and forgot to reset it?” Bailey offered.
“The horror,” I winced.
“Yup. Heard about it every day for two weeks. You would’ve thought I committed a capital crime.”
“In his warped mind, you did. Just like the time I finished the box of Triscuits and put it back in the cabinet with nothing but crumbs. He stewed on that one for hours, well into the next day. But you know what?”
Bailey looked back at me expectantly. I noticed her tears had stopped.
“What?”
“Subconsciously, I’m pretty sure I did it on purpose.”
We both laughed, and the laughter was cathartic. There were only a few people on the planet who could fully commiserate with our Blaine stories. You had to live with the shithead to really understand the depths of his psychosis.
“He’s horrible, he’s terrible, he’s everything you ever said he was and more,” Bailey groaned. “God! I was such an idiot, thinking I could somehow change him.”
“Hey, you were an idiot for a couple of months,” I smirked. “I was an idiot for three years. HUGE difference.”
Bailey smiled weakly as she dabbed at her eyes.
“Besides, he doesn’t want to be changed,” I added. “He thinks he’s perfect.”
“He does, doesn’t he?” she sniffed. “And you know what? I’m done with him. Totally and completely. He doesn’t know it yet, but I am.”
“Good,” I chuckled. “Word of advice, though?”
“Go for it.”
“Don’t tell him until after you’ve moved your stuff out. Wait until he leaves for the day, do whatever you gotta do, and then tell him. Otherwise…”
“Total chaos,” Bailey nodded.
“Exactly.”
“In a way it really sucks, because I gave up everything for him,” she said solemnly. “My life is totally enmeshed with his, and now I have to extract it.”
The story was a hauntingly familiar one.
“I feel your pain.”
The pretty brunette leaned back against her headrest and let out a long sigh. “Better now than later, though. Sometimes it takes making a hard decision before you can finally move forward.”
Her words hung prophetically in the silence of the car. Bailey turned to look at me for a moment, then flung herself forward and hugged me tightly. It should’ve been bizarre, but somehow it wasn’t.
“I should’ve talked to you sooner,” she sighed.
“You did talk to me sooner,” I pointed out. “But you should’ve listened to me weeks ago, when I told you to walk, not run, in the opposite direction. Hindsight though, right?”
“Right.”
Bailey cleared her throat and sat up a little straighter. She looked way more composed now.
“Anyway, enough about me and my Blaine problems. How’ve you been?”
“Me?” I blinked. “I’ve been good.”
“Dating anyone else yet?”
I shrugged noncommittally. “Yeah. Something like that.”
“I mean whoever it is, he must look like Superman compared to Blaine,” she grinned.
“You mean anal-retentive Lex Luthor?”
“Who?”
“Never mind,” I chuckled.
“Blaine is jealous, regardless,” Bailey admitted. “He talks about you sometimes, which of course makes me jealous. I’m pretty sure he thinks you’ve already moved on, though.”
“He does, does he?”
“Yes. Something about the football team’s quarterback.”
I started feeling warm all over despite the air-conditioning, and took it as my cue to leave. Bailey hugged me again on the way out, vowing to take my advice this time around. In turn, I promised that if she needed any help, she could always call me.
I found myself waving as she pulled away, which left me standing in the mostly empty lot. It was quiet on campus, even for a Friday night. Most of the staff and student body had gone home, or were busy in their dorm rooms getting ready to go out.
The sun sank lower in the sky, well on its way to kiss the mountains. For a while I just sat there in my car, mulling things over, thinking about the future. After a while, I realized I wasn’t thinking at all. I was only procrastinating.
I had one of those hard decisions to make; the really critical ones, that could easily change the course of your life.
And the sooner I got it done, the better.