Being Invisible (4 page)

“You think I had my head up my
ass?”

“Obviously. You clearly needed my
help.”

“It’s not like I like him or
anything. He just helped me out.”

“Okay. You want me to tell him not
to come?”

“No.” Shoot I answered that too
quickly.

I like him don’t I
?

“That’s what I thought. Now start
from the beginning. And tell me how you picked up a stray boy while on a run at
5:00 in the morning. There has to be a story there.”

“Yea. It is kind of a funny
story.”

“Great. I want to hear all about
it. While you talk, I’ll start sending out texts. Apparently, we are having a
party.”

I shook my head at her. Wasn’t the
first time we had to plan something a day.

After lying down on the couch and
propping pillows behind me, I turned toward Liz to tell her about my morning. “Well
for starters I changed the name of my running playlist again. It’s now called
‘Music That Sweeps Me Off My Feet.”

I woke up on the couch feeling
slightly stiff, moderately in pain, and desperately in need of peeing. After
slowly bringing myself off the couch, I ran on my tiptoes to avoid the cold
wood floor and went straight to the bathroom. Then I
 
grabbed Advil on my way out. My eyes
focused on the time, and I finally started to lose the fuzziness in my brain
from my long nap. It was Saturday, close to 6:30 in the evening.

After waking up earlier that
morning, and realizing that Colin was right about how much more my body would
hurt, I decided to forgo my morning run and substitute some yoga to stretch my
aching muscles.

While Annie joined me, Liz was on
a rampage. Surprisingly, Liz was normally my super laid-back roommate. She was
incredibly open, and ridiculously fun. Very few things seemed to phase her.
But, of those that did, keeping the house clean was high on her list. And since
we were suddenly the hosts of an unplanned party, she decided that it would be
the perfect excuse to pull out the vacuum attachments. Seriously. All of them.
Nothing went without being vacuumed.

After yoga and breakfast, Annie
and I decided that for Liz’s sanity, and ours, we would help get the place
ready. By noon, the place looked as perfect as an off-campus house can look.

Annie’s boyfriend James dropped
off a keg, and promised to bring his soccer buddies later in the evening.

While Annie and Liz made a list of
food to buy at the store, I put together a playlist of music and called it “The
Last Minute Mix.”

My roommates agreed to go to the
store so that I could rest for a few before the party. After I told Liz, and
later Annie, about how I met Colin, Liz checked out the area where I fell, and
said I had a pretty nasty bruise. They both made me take breaks throughout the
day to put ice on it, and made sure I kept up with pain relief medication.

Once they left, I laid down on the
couch, with the idea that I would rest for about ten minutes. Three hours
later, I woke up.

The kitchen window was open, and I
could hear voices streaming in from outside. Opening the kitchen door, I was
greeted by a group of about fifteen people mingling and laughing, while my mix
played in the background.

“Hey! There’s our girl!” Annie
yelled, the alcohol making her slightly more excited to see me than I would
normally expect. Anna loved to work out as much as I did, with the exception of
running, which she called ‘long distance torture.’

She also knew how to show off her
strong legs and thin frame. So, of course, she looked amazing in her mini skirt
and wedge heels. She wore her long brown hair in soft curls, which framed her
face

“Lucy!” everyone yelled at once.
While half of the group seemed legitimately happy to see me, the other half
just seemed relieved that they could talk in normal tones and turn the music up
to party level.

I found Liz laughing and talking
to one of our neighbors. Her hair, light brown with a few blue streaks, was
placed in a loose bun, showing off her multiple ear piercings. She had on a
bohemian skirt with a tank top.

 
The general hotness of my roommates
reminded me that I was still wearing yoga pants and a Salty Dog t-shirt.
I don’t even want to look at my hair,
I
thought, suddenly mortified by my appearance. Just as I was about to bolt to
the shower, I heard Liz’s voice beside me.

“Lu, you’re up. It’s about time!”

“You could have woken me up you
know. I’d kind of like to participate in the party occurring at my own house.”

“You think I didn’t try? You know
how you are. ‘Five more minutes, Liz.’ You said ‘five more minutes’ every five
minutes for an hour. I had shi-stuff to do.”

“Sorry. I don’t even remember
waking up.”

“Well you’re here now. The next
step would be making yourself presentable for the party. Unless eighth grade
sleepover was the look you were going for?”

“I’m going. I’m going. Any sign of
Colin yet?”

“No. But it’s really early for
anyone other than our party-crazed friends.”

“True. I would just feel bad if
they do come, and I’m not even here to show them around. They don’t know anyone
else.”

“Then I’ll show them where the keg
is and throw some chips their way. That’s about the extent of what they will be
expecting. Well, that and for you not to smell like day old yoga.”

“I can’t hear you, I’m leaving
now.” I didn’t want to give her a chance to respond, so I jogged up the stairs,
leaving her to the growing crowd.

When I stepped into the kitchen
forty-five minutes later, I felt much more party-ready. My hair was still damp,
so I threw it into two braids to make it less noticeable.

Because I wanted Colin to have a
chance to see me outside of my get-straight-out-of bed-and-go-running look, I
took a little more time to pick out an outfit. I decided on my favorite pair of
jeans and a cream colored sweater over a black cami. I finished my look with
mascara and lipstick.

The house was already becoming
more crowded, with music and voices filling every room of the first floor. I
took a brief tour of the house, looking for signs of my roommates...or maybe
Colin and Drew. Ok, so mostly I was looking for Colin. At that point, I had
decided to give myself a break and admit to myself that I was kind of excited
about seeing him.

After a quick loop around the
house I was feeling disappointed. Annie was busy playing quarters with her
boyfriend and his soccer buddies, while Liz was playing pool with a few of our
neighbors. I had just given up my search and decided to hang back and watch Liz
hustle our friends when I felt an arm around my waist. I turned to see Colin
smiling at me. “Hey. Great party.”

His hand fell away as quickly as
it landed, but he continued to stay close. I looked over his shoulder and saw
Drew behind him.

“Hey, guys. Glad you could make
it.” I totally pulled off sounding casual, although seeing Colin outside of his
sweaty workout look was kind of really hot. A plaid button down shirt and jeans
replaced his track pants and t-shirt. His clean scent was mixed with the faint
smell of alcohol.

“Yeah, our boy Colin here started
the party a little early.” Drew laughed while patting Colin on the shoulder.

“It’s okay, we’re celebrating.”
Colin whispered as if sharing a secret, but his ‘whisper’ was loud enough for
anyone within a five-foot radius to hear.

“So what are we celebrating?” I
asked, raising my eyebrows in question.

“She’s gone.” He put his fist
towards me for a bump, as if I should know what he was talking about.

I didn’t want to leave him
hanging, so I bumped his fist, then looked to Drew to fill in the rest.

“Mia and I broke up.”

“Oh. I’m...sorry?” I wanted to
sound genuine, but Colin’s happiness was contagious, and I just couldn’t bring
myself to feel bad for him.

“Yeah, I can tell. It’s too bad too.
I think the two of you could have been great friends.” Drew joked.

“Dude, she had to take a quiz to
figure out if she was cheating on you too much. I think Lucy’s ‘sorry’ is about
as sorry as anyone’s gonna get.”

“I’m not gonna lie. He’s not
wrong.” I added.

“Yeah. You’re right. I think my
dad said something along the lines of ‘it’s about damn time.’”

“And his dad is a minister.
Forgiveness is in his job description. Even he didn’t like her.”

“Even who didn’t like whom?” Liz
had just finished her pool game, and decided to join our conversation.

"Oh hey, Liz. You remember
Colin. This is his friend Drew. Drew, this is Liz. Drew just broke up with the
spawn of Satan, and Colin is nursing his sadness."

Colin laughed, but I don’t think
Drew even knew I said anything, since he suddenly seemed to think that Liz was
the only one in the room.

“Hi.” Liz laughed, noticing Drew’s
blatant staring.

“Hi. Drew recovered himself and
returned to his previous aloof state. “You really seemed to know what you were
doing with those balls over there.”

“Oh yeah. I’m a pro. Why, you
looking to get hustled?” Liz teased.

“I saw how good you are. Too late
to hustle me. I guess the question to ask would be how good my partner and I
are.” Drew motioned to Colin, who glanced in my direction and winked.

“Well if the two of you are going
to play me in pool, I need a partner.” Liz looked around the room trying to
find someone she could work with.

“Um… roommate right here?” Colin
stood behind me and put his hands on my shoulders.

“Oh no, count me out.” I raised my
hands in protest “I like to play for fun, but when people start getting
competitive, I have to fold. Pool is not my sport.”

“Well, you’re in luck, because
Colin’s not that good either.” Drew said, earning him a punch in the arm from
Colin himself.

“Sounds like we have ourselves a
game.” Liz clapped her hands together. “Girls against guys then. And since you
guys are guests, feel free to go first.”

Drew broke and the balls
scattered, several of both the solids and stripes going in. “I call stripes.”
He continued to land stripes in twice more before he missed. “Your turn.” He
nudged Liz with the pool stick.

Liz walked up and easily sank
three solids. I loved to watch her play pool. For such a small girl, she was
powerful when she needed to be, and completely focused.

The way Drew looked at her proved
to me that her skills did not go unnoticed.

Since there was no use in
hustling, Liz took her time, sending half the solids down before handing the
pool stick to Colin.

Colin was decent. He lined up his
shot like he knew what he was doing, but he only sunk one before missing his
next shot.

He’s wants us to think he’s not very good. He’s trying to hustle us.

I looked in Liz’s direction to see
if she caught it, and from her barely there head shake and eye roll, I gathered
that she did.

I, on the other hand, clapped when
two of my balls landed in the holes, even though I scratched. Luckily, they
didn’t count it, and we moved on. Colin gave me the ‘good try’ fist bump, which
I returned begrudgingly.

Throughout the game we kept the
conversation flowing.

“What are you guys majoring in?”
Liz asked in between turns.

"You think you can guess?”
Drew asked her, clearly enjoying a challenge as much as Liz did.

“Hmm… well, you’ve got that kind
of ‘I don’t care’ slacker thing going on, so...Philosophy?”

Drew returned an answering smile
and added, “I think, therefore I am...not.”

“Shi-I mean Shoot. I thought I had
it.”

Drew gave Liz a confused look,
until Colin explained the bet.

 
“Huh, I will have to remember that,” his
wide grin showing that he was definitely planning on using it against her.

“Hm. I get the feeling that you’re
just a little bit evil. Are you by chance pre-law?” Liz asked.

“Nope.”

“Am I warm?”

“Nope.”

After Liz and I fired off about
ten different majors, we finally asked for a hint.

“Um...I know that a positively
charged kitten is a cation.”

“Is that some kind of science
thing?” Liz asked, while lining up her shot.

“It is some kind of science thing,”
Drew teased.

“So you’re a science geek, huh?”
The way she said it, Drew could tell she was impressed. She always had a thing
for really smart guys.

“Yep,” Drew answered, obviously
proud of his title. He probably didn’t get called that a lot. He totally gave
off the vibe that he didn’t put much effort into anything but looking good.

“Biology?” I asked.

“No, cations.” Drew answered,
completely befuddled by my apparent ineptness.

“Physics?” It was Liz’s turn to
try to guess.

“Drew just shook his head, making
Colin laugh.

”Two words.” Colin put up two
fingers. “
Breaking Bad.
”

“Chemistry!” We said in unison.

Drew continued to shake his head
in disappointment. “I had more Chemistry jokes.”

“Save ‘em for another day, bro.”
Colin teased.

“See if you can guess what my
major is.” Liz said, while checking out her shot.

“Graphic Design.” Colin didn’t
even hesitate to answer.

“You suck.” Liz lined up the eight
ball, while the guys high fived. Of course, she landed it and we won. We both
looked at each other with an eye roll, before pretending to get excited, as if
they weren’t playing us.

“How did you know my major?” Liz
asked.

“I know everything.” Colin teased,
then added, “Plus, you talked about your graphic design class the first time I
met you.