One More Year Ch. 11

I grinned sheepishly. She wasn't exactly wrong. I got up and grabbed our glasses."Another drink?"

She nodded, and I poured us another round.

"Sorry about not telling you more about Gary sooner, by the way. I haven't talked to Jamie about it, he just saw us at a party, and they know some of the same people."

"It's fine. I understand if you don't want to talk about it."

"I didn't want to talk about it with Jamie. It wouldn't be bad to talk it over with you."

"Okay."

"Seriously? You're usually so grumpy about this sort of thing."

"That's when it's my life." I shrugged. "I have no problem dissecting yours."

"Right, I guess that makes sense." She laughed. "But you have to promise to be nice."

"I'm always nice." I grinned. She gave me a stern look, and I chuckled. "Okay, I promise I will be nice."

"Okay." She took a deep breath. "Well, it's super new. Last week, actually - there was a party on Saturday. We've been flirting with each other for a while, and we ended up dancing together that night..." She shrugged. "It's probably the first time I've kissed a guy in front of other people, which felt a bit... I don't know. Like I didn't want to tank my reputation, but I kind of wanted to rebel against the idea that a woman should feel ashamed of her sexuality."

"Right. I get that. So you kissed him. Yay feminism."

"Something like that." She smiled.

"Where did you even meet him?"

"At the dance studio." She brushed back a strand of her hair. "We've known each other for years."

"He does ballet?"

"No, he's a hip-hop dancer."

"Oh my god." I laughed. "You're from different dance styles. Like those crappy dance movies."

"How DARE you insult those movies?" She slapped my shoulder, and then pouted. "You said you were going to be nice."

"To you, not to movies. I didn't know you liked them so much, although I should have guessed. So..." I smirked. "Is there a big dance competition coming up, and you need to team up to win the prize money and save the studio?"

"Hmmm, why didn't I talk to Jay about this earlier?" She huffed, and crossed her arms. "Complete mystery."

"Okay - sorry, sorry." I sat back in my chair. "So really - how is it going?"

"It's going okay, I think. We've been texting and that's been nice." She sighed. "It's just... I don't know if it's the right time. We're like three months away from prelims, and it's probably a bad idea to get involved with someone now."

"I guess." Ellie had always cared about school more than I ever did, and I didn't quite get it. Certainly not as a decent excuse to give up on someone you found attractive and got along with. But looking back, I feel like Eric could have really derailed me if I hadn't already studied for that last test.

Mechanically marching in and dealing with the things that already made sense to me was all I'd had to do - dealing with the way I'd felt in the week since would have been harder if I'd had to focus on other things at the same time. "So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know!" She threw her hands up. "This is the part where you offer some advice."

"You're really scraping the bottom of the barrel if you're asking me for advice."

"Well, Sara's hard to get alone these days." She grinned. "I do wonder though... You're not a complete idiot - what would you do?"

"Well, first of all, thanks for that ringing endorsement of my intelligence."

"You're welcome." She tilted her head. "So?"

"Ugh, Ellie. I don't know." I rubbed my chin while she stared at me pointedly. "Okay, if it really was me, you pretty much got to see what exactly I actually did. Eric kissed me, and all my plans went out the window."

"For curiosity's sake - what were those plans?"

"I..." It felt bizarre to try and think back to them - like it had been years since, or decades, instead of just a few months. I shrugged. "I was just going to wait. Not get involved with any guy, and just hold out until I was in university, and didn't have to lie to anyone. Just do nothing, until the time was right, and keep my sexuality a secret. But then Eric came along, and you know how that worked out."

"Yeah."

"I guess trying to... balance it might help? What I did just wasn't realistic - not when you're suddenly confronted with the reality of a guy you like. Maybe you just need to not let yourself get overwhelmed by him - force yourself to not sink too much of your time into seeing him, until you can know him better and know that he won't mess you up." I wondered how things might have turned out if I'd done that with Eric. Or if I even would have been able to do that.

Ellie groaned. "I hate how much sense that makes."

"Sorry." I grinned.

She smiled back, but then her face dropped, and she rubbed her arm. "What if he doesn't want to wait? What if he gets bored with me?"

"Well, then he's stupid." I shrugged. "You're one of the most exciting people I know."

"Nawww, you're getting mushy." She got up and wrapped me in a very tight hug.

I gave her a quick one-armed squeeze. "Get off me, or I'll stop saying nice things."

"Okay." She laughed, and went back to her seat. She tilted her head and studied me. "Thanks. That really helps, actually."

"I know. I'm as shocked as anyone." I grinned ruefully, and held up my glass. "One more?"

"Sure, thanks."

We finished our last drink while chatting about less meaningful things, and then she headed home. I fired up Dragon Age for the thousandth time, thinking it might make me feel a bit better to help an Elven mage slay darkspawn and other monsters, and maybe find love and friendship along the way.

It didn't quite work out that way - I got quite caught up in the process of lovingly crafting my character. It got a bit out of hand, and I'd already had to scrap the whole thing a few times when I got stuck wondering if I'd somehow subconsciously made a certain facial feature on my character look too much like one of Eric's.

It was quite late when I eventually finished that part, and got properly started, so just completing the initial levels saw me into the early hours of the morning. I was aware of how late it was, but because I'd been moping in bed for a lot of the last week my sleep cycle was a little messed up, and I wasn't really that tired. I still had about two weeks off though, so I could afford the disruption.

But I was quite shocked when my phone buzzed, and it was Jamie.

[Hey]

[U up?]

______________[Yes. You okay?]

[Ya]

[Cant get Uber]

[Too late]

[Can I pls wait at your house]

______________[Yeah, sure.]

I made my way out to unlock the gate, trying to be quiet. I figured I'd wait out on the street for him, since I was outside anyway. It took much longer than I thought. I was beginning to wonder if I should message him - or maybe even call the police - when a figure came shambling around the corner at the end of the street.

I had a brief moment of panic and involuntarily started moving towards my gate - we lived in a nice neighbourhood, but you never know - but then it passed under a street light, and it was very clearly Jamie.

He looked rough. I made my way down the street to go help him, and before I got over to him, he'd doubled over facing the gutter and was making retching noises. I wrinkled my nose, but he didn't seem to have actually puked, so I stepped closer. He looked up at me in bleary surprise, and then smiled.

"Hey, JAY!" He pointed down to the gutter. "Nothing left to come up."

I looked at his shoes, which looked slightly wet, and I caught the faint odour of vomit. Gross.

"Hey, buddy." First time I'd ever used that word out loud, but it felt appropriate. "Come on. We should go inside..."

He nodded. I grabbed his arm to steady him, and managed to pull him upright, then started marching him down the street towards my gate. He leaned against me as we walked - he was clammy and cold, and the thin sheen of sweat on his skin glimmered sickly in the light of the street lamps.

My mind flashed back briefly to how perfect he'd looked leaving my house for the party. The contrast was stark, and if I wasn't so worried about getting him off the street without him puking on me, I might have found it amusing.

I got him through the gate, and he leaned against the wall next to my glass door while I locked up and came back to open the door.

"Just wait here. I just want to get a bag or something to put your shoes in, so we can leave them outside." I looked him up and down. "Maybe your jeans too - there's a bit of... I'll be right back."

"Okay." He said, nodding slowly.

"Okay."

I went inside, and dashed into the garage to grab a plastic bag. The first one I pulled out was clear, so I rifled around as quietly as I could to find one that was black plastic - probably better not to see inside. I made my way back to Jamie. He'd stripped almost completely down, and was standing there out in the cool night in nothing but briefs and a pair of socks.

"Vomit on my shirt, too." He said, holding up the smelly bundle.

"Uh, okay." I handed him the bag, not getting any closer to him than I had to. It took a while for him to fumble his stuff into it and tie it shut. I didn't even try to help, because I didn't really want to get too close to the smell.

I tried to imagine how pre-Eric me might have reacted to Jamie in his barely-clothed state. Even then, I imagined it wouldn't have been particularly exciting, given the rest of him - his breath reeked, and he was moving like a damn zombie. Not really my 'type', insofar as I have one.

"Okay," he said, dropping the bag outside my door. "That good?"

"Sure."

He seemed a little better at that point, and didn't need much help navigating the doorway. I led him directly to the bathroom and sat him down next to the toilet.

"If you're going to puke, do it in there."

"It's fine." He was slurring slightly. "Not going to. Did twice. Nothing left."

"Just warning you. If you puke in here, and it's not in the toilet, I'm going to lock you in until you're sober enough to clean it up yourself."

"Okay." He laughed.

I made my way back out into my room. I couldn't really let him go home like this. If he was having trouble finding an uber, the sun would probably be up before he got home. I did have a sleeper couch - it was where my brother slept when he visited us.

I really didn't want Jamie to puke on it, but he seemed okay - or, at least, emptied out. So I thought I could risk it. I'd need to lend him clothes if he left now, anyway. It seemed easier just to let him sleep it off.

Grabbing a bottle of water from my fridge, I went back into the bathroom and handed it to him. "Here, drink this. Small sips."

He nodded, and accepted the water in silence.

"Do you want to crash on my couch?"

"Would be nice. You sure?"

"Yeah. Hang on, I'll go make it up quickly."

I folded out the couch and got the standard bedding out of my closet. I doubled up on everything, setting down two layers of sheets, and putting covers over other covers. It seemed like a good idea, just in case he wasn't quite as all-puked-out as he thought he was. I grabbed another water and headed back into the bathroom.

"Thanks, man." He handed me the empty bottle, and took the new one from me. I climbed into the bathtub and sat down, facing him at a diagonal.

I grinned. "So, how was the party?"

He just put his head back against the wall and groaned.

"Did you and Megan fight?"

He nodded. "Yep. Big time."

I said nothing.

"She um..." He had a quick sip of water. "She broke up with me."

"Oh no. I'm sorry." I grimaced.

He waved his hand lazily in the air. "Nah, it was fair. Just so fucking embarrassing. She screamed at me. For like half an hour. In front of everyone."

"Shit."

"I really liked her, you know. She was like... hot, and fun. A bit mean, but in a super sexy way."

"Uh, okay." I wasn't quite sure how else to respond to that.

He sighed. "I didn't really handle it well. I kinda fucked up."

"What did you do?"

"When she was done... I just went to go dance. Everyone was staring at me. I felt so stupid. But I didn't want to leave. She wanted me to." He exhaled deeply. "But I was pissed off. She could have taken me upstairs... or out on the street. Or something. Done it there. No one watching. You know?"

I nodded. "Sure."

"So then I stayed. Drank a lot more. And then I..." His mouth twisted. "Kissed another girl. Then one of Megan's guy friends wanted to hit me. She was crying. It was a mess."

"Did you fight him?"

"Nah, people were holding us back. I was already trashed. Would have fucked me up."

"Well, that's good, at least." I shrugged.

"Yeah... Don't tell Ellie, okay?"

"That you broke up?"

"Nah, she'll figure that out. Just... the other stuff. Embarrassing."

"Yeah, okay." I yawned. "You want to go to bed yet?"

"Can I shower first?"

"Yeah, of course. Towels are over there," I extracted myself from the tub. "Do you need any clothes or PJ's or anything?"

"Nah, I'll just sleep in my underwear." he said.

I watched him as he got to his feet, to make sure he didn't fall over, and he seemed steady enough now. I made my way out, shut the door, and grabbed a book to read while he showered. It was hard to make any progress with my reading - I was actually pretty tired now. But I didn't know if I should just go to sleep or not.

It felt like I needed to at least look like I was doing something other than waiting for him to finish up in the bathroom. I wasn't exactly sure what the correct etiquette was for interacting with unexpected, drunken guests. Fortunately, it wasn't too long until he was done.

Coming out of the bathroom, he made a beeline to the sleeper couch, and collapsed onto it with a grateful groan. "You are the fucking best, man."

"Thanks," I laughed. "Can I turn off the lights?"

"Yeah."

"Do you need anything else?"

"Nah, man. Thanks," he said drowsily, his eyes already closed.

"Okay," I said.

"Thanks, Jay." I heard his voice from the other end of the room.

"No problem. Night."

"Night."

I'd barely had time to put down my book on the bedside table and settle back into bed, before I heard the soft drone of Jamie's snoring drifting over from the sleeper couch. I reached over to turn off my lamp, chuckling quietly.