A Real Disaster (10 page)

“What’s wrong with you?” Sabrina asked,
glaring at me.

She turned the television off and tossed
the remote on the bed.

“Why are you so cranky?”

“I’m not cranky,” I told her. “I’m
stressed out. I have all this stuff due and everyone is expecting everything
from me. On top of all of that, I’m friends with two sworn enemies. Don’t you
think that’s enough to put me the least bit on edge?”

Sabrina nodded in agreement.

My mind was racing.

“Lily, are you sure you’re okay?”
Sabrina asked. “You look pale and like you’re about to faint or something.”

“I’m fine,” I lied. “Things are fine.
What makes you ask?”

“Because you’re
acting even stranger than usual.
Did something happen? Are you hiding
something?”

I wanted advice, no, I
needed
advice. I was completely out of
my field.

“Does this have anything to do with Nash
or Turner?
Or maybe both?”

I bit my lower lip, thinking. Should I
really take advice from Sabrina? She and I had gotten close since the day I
moved in but I still wasn’t sure if she was someone that had the answers I
needed.

“Yes, it has to do with Nash and Turner.
More Nash though.”

“Do you like him?” Sabrina asked.

“Who?”

“Nash, of
course.”

I paused for a minute, thinking about
it. Nash made my heart flutter and my stomach tighten. Whenever I was near him
I couldn’t think straight and when I wasn’t near him I was thinking about him,

“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter,” I
whispered.

“Why doesn’t it
matter.
”

“Because Nash will never like me back. He
didn’t tell me that but I know that he doesn’t want to be tied down. He doesn’t
want any commitments. And anyway, he’s still head over heels in love with
Turner’s sister.”

“Wow,” Sabrina said.

“I guess.”

She didn’t say anymore and didn’t have
to. Letting myself relax for the first time in a few days, I lay on my bed and
closed my eyes.

*
         
*
         
*

After one of my afternoon classes I sat on
the bench outside the building. I was looking over notes for my upcoming test
and a bunch of students came rushing out of the building. Obviously, another
class just got over.

Nash and another girl walked out
together and she had her arm wrapped around him. They stopped in front of the
steps of the building and she kissed him once on the lips before he began
kissing her back. They were fully making out in front of everyone. I couldn't
believe it.

He was so angry that I had to leave his
house and that I was going to talk to Turner. Now, he already had found another
girl.

He wanted to kiss me yet he was already
kissing another girl?

I knew it was a good thing that I didn't
give in to him. That would have been a huge mistake.

When they finally stopped kissing she
started walking away from him. He turned towards me and began walking my way. I
looked back down at my notes hoping that he didn't see me staring at them or
even sitting on the bench.

“Hey,” Nash said as he sat next to me on
a bench.

Shit.

My body tensed and I moved away from
him, trying to put distance between us. I looked up at Nash to see that he was
frowning.

“What’s wrong?” he asked me. “You’re not
acting like yourself.”

“Because you know me so well,” I
muttered. “Oh that’s right, you don’t.”

“What does that mean?” Nash asked. “Why
are you so sour today?”

“Am I supposed to be sunshine and roses
all the time? Is that how you like me?”

“Jesus! What the fuck is your problem?”

“You!
You're already
kissing another girl after we hung out at your place just the other day. You
tried to kiss me Nash…”

“And you didn't let me! So why is it
such a big fucking deal that I'm kissing another girl?”

“Because!”

“Whatever. You don't want me to kiss you
but you don't want me to kiss other girls. You're fucking confusing!”

I have to admit, I kind of was. But I
cannot help all the things that go on in my mind. Just because I didn't want to
kiss him though didn't mean that I was not interested in him. Obviously, that
means something different to Nash. I should have known since so many girls
loved his band, loved him.

Nash shot up off the bench, nearly
kicking me in the process. He bunched the napkin up in a ball and threw it
behind us.

“Fuck! What is with you? I didn’t think
that you were going to get all clingy like this! Damn, you sound like a fucking
shrew-ass wife!”

 
“Well you know something, Nash? You can go
fuck yourself!”

“Maybe I will,” he countered. “At least
I wouldn’t have anyone clingy up my ass.”

Nash strode away and didn’t look back,
anger emitting from his body. Only when he was around the corner did I let the
tears trickle out of my eyes and down my cheeks. The tears were burning nearly
the whole time.

How could I be so stupid? How could I
have not seen Nash for what he was? Turner warned me… He warned me! I should
have listened to Turner. I should have kept Nash away; far, far away. If I had
just trusted my instinct to begin with then this wouldn’t have happened. I knew
Nash was trouble from the moment he leered at me the night of the concert.
Oh why didn’t I listen to myself?!

“Lily?” I looked up and immediately
swatted at my cheeks, wiping the tears off with such fierceness that I winced.

“Hey Turner,” I said and smiled…
Or tried to smile at least.

My smile was watery and even without
looking in the mirror I knew that my eyes were red and puffy.

“What’s up?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Turner
said. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” I lied.

The last thing he needed to know is that
I was upset about Nash. I didn’t want to feel that way. It's hard to get rid of
feelings. Sometimes when you try it only makes it harder.

“You don’t look fine. Your face is red
and splotchy and your eyes are puffy.”

“Oh that?” I said, feigning nonchalance.
“I have horrible fall allergies. They kick my ass every year.”

I looked at his hand. His knuckles were
still bruised and scabbed.

“How’s the hand?”

“Better than that bastard’s face. Did
you see him? He still has the shiner.”

Turner had a smile on his face. Up until
now I would have probably scolded him, telling him that he was being an ass.
But not now.
Maybe Turner was right; maybe Nash had gotten
what he deserved.

“It still hurts, though. I can’t really
bend it too much without it hurting.”

“Did you break anything?” I asked as I
inspected his hand.

“I don’t think so. I went to the
infirmary and she looked at it. She said that it didn’t seem broken especially
since I could, essentially bend it. She thinks it’s just a horrible bruise. If
it doesn’t stop hurting she said that I should go to the hospital.”

“Well, have you gone to the hospital?”
Turner shook his head.

“No, not yet.
It hurts but
the pain is going away. I’m sure that by this time next week it won’t hurt at
all.”

“If you say so,” I said, not really
believing him. “Be careful though. You can’t just go around fighting with
people because sooner or later someone will fight back.”

“I know, I know. I usually keep my head
up and out of trouble but I couldn’t stop myself when he said that shit. It’s
not going to happen again though.”

“It better not,” I teased.
“Because if it does, I’m going to kick your ass myself.”

Turner scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Like you
could
kick my ass.
You’re a puny
little thing!”

“Yeah but I can pinch like the devil,” I
warned and brought my hands up into a pinching motion. “Do you really want to
risk it?”

“Yeah,” Turner said and stuck out his
arm. “I doubt you can hurt me. I have muscle upon muscle.”

“You asked for it,” I said and clamped
his flesh between my fingers.

I pinched as hard as I could, rotating
my hand as I did. Turner’s face became red and he pulled his arm away.

“Damn!” he cried out. “What the hell was
that?!”

“A pinch,” I said.

“That was no damn pinch. You’re
vicious.”

“I tried to warn you. You didn’t want to
believe me.”

Turner rubbed his arm with his free hand
and shifted away from me.

“You are dangerous,” he muttered. “I
don’t know if I want to be around you anymore.”

“Oh stop being a pansy,” I chided.

I raised my eyebrows and then smiled at
him. The two of us burst into laughter and I clutched at my stomach. After the
argument I had with Nash, laughing for no good reason was exactly what I
needed.

My laugh petered out and I stared at
Turner. He was looking around, taking in the amazing weather. His hair seemed
darker against the sun and the sun hit his eyes, letting the color shine
through. He was cute, handsome even. His smile lit up everything around me. I
knew that I could sit with him for hours on end and do nothing but laugh and
talk.

So why hadn’t I given him another
chance? Why had I been avoiding him? Why had I been so worried about Nash and
not Turner? Turner is so easy going. There’s no strings; no expectations. Why
didn’t I see that before?

“What are you staring at?” Turner asked.

“Nothing,” I said and became flustered.

“That doesn’t look like a nothing look,”
Turner accused. “You were staring at me like… Well I don’t know like what. But
you were staring! I saw you were staring!”

Turner’s eyes got wide and he put his
hand to his mouth.

“Oh my God, are you going to start
stalking me? Am I going to have to get a restraining order? Oh God I don’t feel
safe!”

Suddenly Turner whipped around.

“Help!
Help! This girl
is giving me the eye! I need an adult! I need an adult!”

“Shut up!” I exclaimed through my
giggles.

People looked over and shook their heads
at us.

“You are
such
a loser!”

“Yeah but you love it, don’t lie.”

He grinned.

“Let’s go out on a date,” I heard him say.

“Um…”

“A date,” he repeated. “Let’s go out on
a re-do
first date. I want another chance. I want a
Mulligan.”

“I guess,” I said.

With Nash out of the picture it was
worth a shot.

“Only if you want to Lily...”

“Of course I do. How about tomorrow
night?
Around six?”

The butterflies in my stomach started to
swirl around at full force.

“Yeah, that sounds great. And I promise
,
there won’t be any drinking involved.”

I grinned.

Chapter
Ten

“Are you sure that this is a good idea?”
Sabrina asked me as I told her about my impending date with Turner. “Don’t you
want to be with Nash?”

After seeing that girl kiss Nash it
didn’t matter if I wanted to be with him.

“I thought I did. But he has a bunch of
other girls occupying his time so there's no reason to waste my own.”

“So that's why you're going with
Turner?”

“I guess. I kind of like him also. He's
nice and he doesn't have a bunch of girls wanting him. There is no one to
compete with.”

“Yeah.”

I looked through my closet, surveying
each outfit before moving on. I had to pick an outfit that was cute. I wanted
to look like myself and not overdo it.

“Does Turner even know about you and Nash?”

I shook my head.

“Of course he doesn’t. But all Nash and
I did was walk to my dorm together and then hang out at his place after Turner
punched him,” I told her. “I doubt Nash would tell him. They don’t talk,
remember?”

Sabrina rolled her eyes as looked at her
notes for class.

“I just think that if you were going to
go out with him you should have told him about you and Nash.”

I turned to her.

“Why? It’s not like we had sex.”