We slept.
“Somewhere
someone shakes
from the ripple
of a thousand butterflies
inside a
single stomach.”
Tyler Knott Gregson
January │Birdie-Before
REMI TAPPED HER TOE IMPATIENTLY AS SHE WAITED AT THE SIDEWALK LEADING TO THE BASEBALL HOUSE. I tugged at the strap of my shoe, ostensibly fixing it. Really, I was pausing to gather my courage around me before we walked up that sidewalk and into that house.
I’d acted like an idiot the other day. Dumping ice water over a guy and getting up in his face during a D1 athletic practice...that wasn’t me. I’d been so angry that this ignorant ass had put me front and center of the campus social scene. I hadn’t been able to walk three feet all day without some guy leering at me or some chick shooting me a dirty look. All I wanted to do was tell him off and unlink my name from his for good. Instead, my tirade had thrust me even further into the spotlight.
And now Remi had chosen their house for our Friday night party.
I was going to die.
“You totally did this on purpose, bitch.”
“Come on, chica. You’ve been moping ever since your big showdown the other day. Time to get in there and show a sense of humor about the whole thing.”
“I don’t have a sense of humor.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared. “I don’t think that strap can take any more tugging.”
“Gah! You’re so annoying.” Flinging my hands up in the air, I stalked by her, covering the sidewalk as quickly as my short legs would allow. “Let’s get this over with.”
I didn’t miss her smirk as she joined me and grabbed my arm. “We’re going to have fun. You’ll see.” I side-eyed her and she shrugged. “At the very least we’re gonna get white girl wasted.”
The double doors to the house were open, spilling out light and bodies and noise. I felt a wave of heat as we drew close and hesitated on the threshold. “Jesus, it’s hot in there.” I peered inside. “There must be a hundred people in that one room.”
“All the better to party with. Come on.” Remi tugged me mercilessly forward, ignoring my half-hearted efforts to pull away.
“Lost Girlfriend! Guys, Lost Girlfriend is here!”
A shout went up and I found myself pulled forward, away from Remi. As I was drawn in one direction, the crowd parted and knitted itself back together. Eventually I found myself sitting on a hastily cleared square of kitchen counter, while a guy I didn’t know searched for a bottle of water. He had light brown hair, burnished gold by the sun.
“You sure you don’t want beer? We have plenty of beer.”
“No, I’m fine, thanks.”
There was an awkward silence. “So, uh…I’m Jack. What’s your name? I only know you as Lost Girlfriend.”
I snorted. “I’m definitely not that. I’m Birdie.”
“Birdie? Your name’s cool as shit. What —”
“Whatcha up to, Jack?” The voice sounded from the door and I didn’t need to look to know it was what’s-his-face. My stomach gave him away, erupting with the flutter of awareness. Lost Boyfriend. I chanced a glance over at him and saw a jaw clenched tight as he watched his friend, despite the casual question.
“Oh, just keeping her company ‘til you got here.” Jack winked at me. “See you around, beautiful.” I tipped my chin at him in acknowledgment and watched as he left the room.
The man in the door prowled closer. “Hey, there, Mini. Glad you could come.”
“Yeah, well, I did it for my roommate, not you. So don’t get any ideas.”
“Would you like a drink?”
“I wouldn’t mind a water. It’s hot as balls in here.”
He raised an eyebrow — a single damned eyebrow — and pulled a key out of his pocket, unlocking the padlock on the refrigerator. I’d always been jealous of that eyebrow thing. He pulled a water from its depths and handed it to me, then grabbed one for himself. “How do you know how hot balls get?”
“Just an expression.”
“Hmm. Want to go outside?” He gestured to a door opposite me and I nodded gratefully, setting the water down so I could hop off the counter. His hands quickly settled on my waist to help me, and I stilled at the soft flutter that took up residence in my belly.
“Uh...thanks.” My voice was slightly breathless and I firmed it. “Not that I needed help.”
“Of course not. After you,” he responded, sweeping his hand in front of him gallantly.
The door led to a backyard area, fenced in and devoid of other people, save for a couple going at it just outside the door. There was a fire pit burning in the far corner, and he led me in that direction.
“This is nice,” I told him, sinking down into one of the Adirondack chairs beside the pit. “I can’t believe no one else is out here.”
“It’s off limits except for us. Most people know not to come out here or they won’t be welcome back.”
“Oh.” At a loss, I sipped my water and leaned back, watching the play of light on his features.
He was a good looking guy; there was no doubt. Dark, close cropped hair that looked like it wanted to curl as it grew. High, strong cheekbones and full, sensuous lips.
I liked looking at him.
But he was cocky, and I didn’t do cocky.
He studied me as closely and as silently as I did him, his eyes moving curiously from one feature to the next.
“So. Lost Girlfriend?”
He took a pull on his beer. “Seemed like the thing to do at the time.”
The fire flickered, its low pops and crackles a restful counterpoint to the din inside the house. I held my water bottle up to my lips and mumbled around its top. “I think I shouldn’t have...I don’t think...” I stop and start, steeling myself. “I’m fucking sorry I poured water on you.”
He laughed, loud and hearty in the quiet back yard. “Don’t like to apologize?”
“Out of practice. I’m never wrong.” That eyebrow danced upward once again. “Okay, rarely. Throwing water was the first time in three years.” I sighed. “My friend told me I was kind of a bitch.”
With the hand holding the bottle of beer, he scratched his temple. “I wouldn’t say that.”
“It’s okay, really. You can agree with me. I —”
“I thought it was kind of hot.”
I stare at him for a long moment. His expression is open, sincere. This guy is weird.
He laughed again. “Do you do that a lot?”
“What?”
“Talk out loud to yourself. ‘This guy is weird.’ That sort of thing.”
I feel my face heat. Oops. “Maybe?”
“I like it. I’ll always know what’s on your mind.”
We fell quiet and I found myself rolling my bottom lip between my teeth as I covertly watched him. He was different from what I’d expected. Quiet. Good-humored. He wasn’t talking endlessly about himself.
“Tell me about you,” he said. “You’re so quiet over there.”
“I’m a quiet person,” I responded. “There’s not much to tell. I come from near here — Marysville. I’m studying marketing. And I was just thinking that about you, actually — that you were quiet. I kind of took you for as this rowdy, conceited jock.”