“NO, no you’re fine. I’m not changing” Lisa says, who’s sort of dressed up herself.
“Besides if were’ going to pick up Jenna we need to be heading out now. The rink isn’t going to be open as late as the bar,” Lisa says glancing at her watch.
“Who’s driving?” Lisa asks.
“I vote Lauren. I haven’t been in the Audi!” Aidan says quickly.
“We’re not all going to fit in an Audi,” I remind him.
“Well, I could ride with Lauren and you guys can go pick up Jenna and meet us there,” Lisa says simply.
“I’m not riding with them,” Aidan interjects, and I frown at him.
“Fine. Ride with us then.” Lisa rolls her eyes.
“We can all just take my truck,” I suggest, but Lauren doesn’t look all that excited about my suggestion either.
“No, it’s okay. I can drive and you can go get Jenna. It’ll probably work out better that way,” she says quietly.
“Great it’s settled. Let’s go,” Lisa links arms with Lauren, pulling her out of the room. Aidan quickly follows them with a wide smile.
Of course Lauren isn’t going to want to ride with Jenna.
I grab my keys and wallet and text Jenna that I’m on my way to her house. I want this night to be fun, even if it has the potential to be a disaster. What the hell was I thinking this morning?
I’ve rung the bell almost five times before Jenna comes to the window and peeps at me from behind the curtain. I can already see she’s scowling.
Oh this is going to be great.
A second later, she jerks the door open. She’s standing there, arms folded.
“What’s wrong?” I sigh.
“Are you serious? You can’t be serious right now?” she says condescendingly. I tilt my head back and take a deep breath.
“Can I come in?” I gesture towards the door.
“So you can insult me and be a complete fucking asshole like yesterday? Who are you, Chris?” she spouts quickly.
“What? What are you talking about?” I am completely confused.
“Oh, let me guess. You don’t remember,” she says sarcastically.
“No, I remember… I remember being here yesterday. Things were going well and then we argued about something. Then I left. I remember us kissing, everything was fine right?” I ask hopefully. Apparently, things weren’t fine.
She begins to laugh. “No. No, things weren’t fine. Things aren’t fine at all, Chris. You were mean and extremely disrespectful. I didn’t even think you were yourself at all. You need help, Chris, and you need it fast,” she says sharply, going back in the house and attempting to shut the door. I stick my foot in the doorway to stop her.
“Back up. What’s going on? What happened?” I ask, and she rolls her eyes.
“Your dad hasn’t talked to you today?” she asks, and I shake my head. “Of course not. Your parents are enablers, complete and utter enablers,” she says to herself.
“What are you talking about?”
“I think I met Cal yesterday,” she says pointedly.
“What?!” I ask in disbelief. “That’s not possible.” He’s gone.
“It’s very possible! I saw you change right in front of my eyes,” she says adamantly.
“No. I remember being here, talking to you. We were on the couch and we argued about something,” I say, trying to connect my thoughts.
“Well, either he told me that he wasn’t moving in and basically to go fuck myself or you did. You tell me. Who was it?” she asks angrily and my mouth falls open. There’s no way I would tell Jenna to go fuck herself. I’ve never told anyone to go fuck themselves.
“Wait. Move in together?” I realize what she just said. “Where’d that come from?” I ask.
“We are not having that conversation again,” she says, going in the house. I follow her in. I sit down on the couch and rest my head in my hands.
“I felt different this morning. I felt off, but good. I’ve never felt like that before,” I say aloud, but I don’t even know if Jenna is listening.
“You talked to my dad about this?” I ask her, looking up. She’s standing across from me, hands on her hips. She doesn’t look sympathetic or worried. She looks angry. I can’t blame her, really.
“I came over this morning before I drove out to school. I couldn’t even sleep. I was so angry that it didn’t resonate with me until after you left that it was probably him. I was just so shocked,” she says tensely. I can imagine. Then it clicks. That’s why my dad and Lauren were looking at me like I had horns growing out of my head this morning. My dad must have talked to Lauren. I let out a groan. I can’t imagine how hard it was for her to think I was Cal and then realize I wasn’t.
“I didn’t have a blackout. I wouldn’t call it that because I don’t remember what happens when I black out. I remember being here yesterday, talking to you and going home, it’s just…everything is hazy,” I admit to her. She comes and sits beside me.
“You’ve got to get some help, Chris. No more putting this off. I know that you have a condition and that this other life happened, but it’s different when it’s right in your face. That guys a fucking asshole. If I'd known it was him, I would have kneed him the in groin,” she says, and I laugh. Only I’m not sure if it was him. It’s likely it was, but yesterday was different than what’s happened before.
“I’m going to set up an appointment tomorrow. I promise,” I tell her, sensing her anger starting to slowly subside.
“You have to. This is just too stressful for us to deal with without professional help. You have to learn how to control him and keep him away. Screw integrating or whatever the experts say you’re supposed to do. He needs to go,” she says adamantly.
I nod. It’s not anything I haven’t heard from my dad a thousand times.
“Thanks for not kicking me in the groin,” I joke, taking her hand in mine. She squeezes it back. She doesn’t smile but her frown is gone. I suddenly remember the reason I came here in the first place.
“Let’s do something fun tonight,” I say excitedly. All that’s been happening between us is arguing, fighting, and stress or a combination of all three in the past month. We haven’t had fun in forever.
“Like what?” she asks curiously.
“Skating. When’s the last time you’ve been?” I ask, and she shrugs, a small smile on her face.
“Probably since I was fourteen,” she chuckles.
“Go get dressed. Let’s go,” I say enthusiastically.
“Now? It’s almost nine,” she says hesitantly.
“Come on Jenna. It doesn’t have to be long. An hour, hour and a half tops,” I urge.
She’s thinking.
“As long as we’re back before eleven.” She laughs, getting up and heading to her room.
“Give me ten minutes to change,” she says with a grin. As she changes, I try to forget the fact that Cal told my fiancé to go fuck herself.
If it was Cal.