I slammed the door to my car a little more harshly than necessary. But for a very good reason: Jack was an asshole. I’ve known him my whole life, and I knew he could be a little cruel, but this was going too far. Having only two friends, and then suddenly finding out they were gay together wasn’t exactly what I was expecting on my birthday two years ago, but the secret came out, and I still cared about them. Who cares if they’re gay and do the nasty all the time? I was still their best friend, a confidant. But a few weeks ago Jack told me there was a girl at his work. I presumed he was trying to tell me to get a life and a girlfriend and stop hanging out with him and Andy (Blonde Bimbo, Jack’s nickname for our bud.). But he told me she totally had a crush on him, and since he was feeling extra cruel, he’d lead her on to the point where she’d never trust another guy again. I laughed at his plan, and actually agreed with it, never thinking twice. Maybe it was because I was high. Maybe because I thought it was just some ugly girl. I never saw her before. Then one day Blondie and I were waiting for Jack as usual after his work and he apparently called her over. I didn’t get a look at her, to be honest; I wasn’t having a good time that night. Jack told me that we’d get a little high and they’d drop me off at home so they could go ‘fuck’. Gay guys aren’t always daisies and rainbows and sunshine, as I assumed. But these two guys were my best friends, and I couldn’t tell them I didn’t want to go home just so they could have anal sex. And I couldn’t tell them that messing with a girl was evil. So Monday I walked in to Walgreen’s and got my usual, and walked to Jack’s register. When I looked up, I didn’t see Jack’s leering grin. Instead I caught sight of the most beautiful person I had ever seen. And then suddenly everything clicked in my head, and I knew she was the girl Jack was messing with. I couldn’t help but stare and feel sorry for her. It was then that I knew I had to help her, without Jack knowing. It would be tough enough getting her to be friendly, I supposed, because she looked so shy. That’s why I decided to visit her again. First I called Jack, just to make sure.

“ Hello?” He answered the phone nonchalantly, and I heard some disturbing sounds in the background.

“ Jack.”

“ Alright fine. We are having sex. Or we were.” I heard Blondie shouting in the background. “ And Andy says that he hates you for calling and me for picking up. Hold on.”

I heard the phone being put down on the bed. I sighed and waited. I heard Jack’s voice.

“ Oh baby, you know you don’t hate me. You pretty boy.”

“ Jack, you’re dirty.” Blondie squealed. I was beginning to get mad. It was only about eight, and they were at it?”

“ Alright babe…er, Cole. I’m here.”

“ Nice one.” I shuddered. “ But you’ve called me worse.” I waited for him to think and then launched into innocent conversation. “ Jack, are you working tomorrow?”

“ Nope. Rile Bile Riley is.” His voice returned to a normal male voice, instead of all high and girly. I looked at the ground upon his insult.

“ She’s pretty.” I said, and then shushed. There was silence, and I wondered what the problem was anyway. I could tell when a guy was attractive, so you would expect Jack to know when a girl is attractive. I fumed. It was stupid.

“ Oh.” He said after a good silence. “ Well, as you know my friend, I am incredibly cruel. And she gets what’s coming to her. Alright Coley Oley?”

“ Sure, but I don’t get why you have to be such a jerk.” I muttered.

“ Hey Cole, don’t you remember? Your girl cheated on you. Quite a few times. Yeah, doesn’t that make you want to be gay? We don’t do stuff like that. Andycakes and me.”

I snorted in disgust but I knew he kind of had a point. My ex-girlfriend was a two-faced bitch. Not to be harsh, but dating other people behind my back, and having sex with numbers of people isn’t exactly what I would call honesty. It was all because I suppose I couldn’t satisfy her. And she didn’t have the heart to tell me. She’d come over and we’d cuddle and she never felt guilty. I couldn’t believe it when she told me. But I knew this girl at Walgreen’s, Riley, was different. And I would save her from Jack, and his nasty plan to ruin her future.

“ Jack, I got to go.” I told him. “ There’s a party.”

“ Oh, you aren’t hanging out with your boys?”

“ Nah, I need some loud rock music and normal people. I can’t function well with your ghetto booty music and gayness.”

Jack laughed and I heard Blondie saying something beyond him. I just hung up.

---

I arrived at the scene a little late, people already streaming out of the house. But the cops weren’t around, so it wasn’t a bust- yet. I walked through the door, and immediately tripped over a couple making out viciously. It took me a minute to rip my wide eyes away. I never was the type of guy to display my affection, or be that beastly. I had come to the party to find some company other then my gay buds, but this mission was starting to prove pointless. I was about to head out the back door (to avoid the wolverines making out by the front one) when I heard a low and seductive voice. I cringed at the sound.

“ Where you going, stranger?”

“ Leah. What an honor.” I sneered. Seeing her made my head spin, and my heart pound. Not in a fluttery way, oh no. In a way that made me want to pound her perfect skin, clear blue eyes, and beautiful black hair to the ground. Not to mention her pretty little arms and long, perfect legs and...

“ It’s been a while Cole. Can’t I say hi to a friend?” She said, smiling a little, her lips curling seductively. I ran a hand through my hair and sighed.

“ Friend? That’s an understatement.” I said dryly. I waited for her to frown, but her smile got even more catty. She threw her arms around me, leaned in close, and whispered, “Dance with me.”

I pulled away, letting my broken heart pound frighteningly hard against my chest. I was afraid she’d see it bulging out at the rate it was going, but if she did, she had no notion to tell me.

“ Baby, I missed you.” She said, pretending to be weak. She let her fingertips graze my face softly. I almost closed my eyes.

“ Leah, you’re a rotten piece of shit. You know that?”

“ Still being hard on me?” She said in an innocent baby tone, and my lip curled into another sneer.

“ Hard on you? Hmm, who are you cheating on this time, or rather, how many are you cheating on?” I turned around and tried to walk away and I heard her sigh in way that revealed sadness.

“ You don’t know what it’s like Cole. I loved you.”

I still hadn’t turned around to face her again. It was too hard, and too easy to roll right back into the role of supportive boyfriend. I tried to ignore her as I kept walking.

“ You know you want me. You know...you loved me.” She said as softly as she could, but so that I could still hear. I almost wanted to run from that word: love. It hurt so much, like being rolled over by a steamroller. Then jack hammered. Testily, I crossed the room, and flung myself into an old couch. Parties weren’t what they used to be. Someone sat beside me and burped. Disgusted, I turned to them. But what could I say? ‘Excuse me, but you burped, and that’s gross. Get away from me.’ No, I sat back and sighed, waiting for them to leave.

“ Wanna smoke up?” The guy said, already looking halfway there. I shrugged and got up. He followed me out the back door, where there was no sign of Leah, or wolverines. I yawned and waited for the guy, and he took his time as he ambled through the crowd. He finally reached me, and I went even further to the alley behind the house. It took him longer to get through the crowd in the backyard, so I leaned against a garage door and waited. He reached me and looked me in the eye.

“ Got a bong?”

“ No, why would I carry one around?” I asked, watching people mulling around outside. He shrugged and pulled out a pipe.

“ Got any weed?”

“ You asked me.”

“ Oh yeah!” He smiled and patted me on the back like a friend. “ Good to have you around to keep me in check dude. You know Kevin, you’re a great pal.”

I nodded and scratched my arm a little, watching him fumble with an Altoids tin. He was pretty shaky and I wondered where he got the stuff.

“ Hey listen-” I started. But he cut me off.

“ It’s fine, it’s fine. Dude, Kevin, what’s wrong with your face? You look... nicer.”

“ I’m not Kevin.”

“ Right. And I’m not Oprah.” He chuckled to himself.

I didn’t bother to point out that due to his skin being whiter than snow, and his gender, he couldn’t possibly be Oprah. I just shook my head and waited until he was ready. After a minute or so, he handed me the pipe and a lighter. I inhaled, and passed it to him, holding it in. I decided to see how long I could do it, so I nearly passed out before it let the smoke out. I coughed a bit and felt as if I didn’t want to smoke anymore. One hit from a pipe wouldn’t do much, but I felt I didn’t need it. All I could think about what that girl at Walgreen’s. Before I knew it I was walking away from the guy, and towards the door. He didn’t ask me where I was going; in fact he probably forgot I even existed. Pushing my way through the crowd I noticed something. Or, someone. There was a girl, with blonde hair in a ponytail, and she was tugging another girl with auburn hair. My heart stopped; it was her.

She was wearing a silly grin, and being tugged by her friend, who was laughing already. They looked as though they were heading inside to the bathroom, or (my heart stopped again) a bedroom. I struggled to breathe. What if she was a lesbian? But I shook my head quickly to clear it from the smoke. If she liked Jack, she wasn’t gay. But he could have assumed she liked him. But Jack out of all people could tell these things. But then again...

So I grabbed the nearest person, some girl, and flung her around to face me.

“ You know those two girls?”

“ Yeah, Natalie and-”

“ Are they...you know...together?”

“ They’re friends, if that’s what you’re asking.” She said, a little wary of me. “ Nothing more.”

“ Thanks.” I let her go, and ran after them. By the time I got inside, they had disappeared, and I was slightly pissed off. I caught my breath against a wall, and looked around, still hopeful. And then I noticed auburn hair, from the couch I was sitting on earlier. Once again, my heart, and entire respiratory system stopped working. As I began breathing again, I paced around. What could I say to her? Could I tell her about Jack? Could I warn her, and whisk her away? She wouldn’t believe me, most likely. She probably thought I was a weirdo, walking away from her at the store. I was stunned at the moment though. How could I have known the person Jack wanted to hurt, was the most beautiful thing in the world? I knew I had a big heart, but are guys supposed to act like me? Are they supposed to have mushy-gushy feelings, and trying to help the world? A swaggering figure answered my question. This rowdy guy plunked himself next to Riley and stared to talk to her. She inched away a bit, and he continued to ramble on. She looked past him, most likely looking for her friend. I decided it was now or never. I marched over to the couch, walked around to face her, and gave her the sweetest smile I could muster.

“ There you are, sweetie-pie! I thought I lost you in the crowd. Well, we’d better get going!” I grabbed her arm and tugged her off the couch, leaving the hulking guy gawking at us. He shut his mouth and snorted in disdain. I led her away from the couch and to an empty hallway.

“ Oh my gosh. Thank you so much!” She said with pure admiration. “ I was afraid the gorilla would put his paws on me, but I didn’t know how to make a break for it.” She giggled, and shook her head. Then she finally took a good look at me, and realized who I was. I stood there rubbing my arm and looking down while her face echoed surprise.

“ You’re Jack’s friend.” She said simply, and tilted her head in that cute way she did in the store.

“ Yeah.”

“ Is he here?” She said, trying to hide her eagerness, but I painfully heard it. I shook my head.

“ Just me.”

“ Oh.” Her face fell a bit, but then she looked at me again. I felt a blush creep through my face, and I hoped the inadequate lighting hid my red appearance. “ What’s your name?”

“ Cole.” I muttered, and stopped rubbing my arm. She smiled a little.

“ I’m Riley. Hey listen thanks for saving me from that goon.” She looked around, as if trying to find and exit from me. “ I’ve got to find my friend now. It was nice...meeting you.” She giggled.

“ Yeah, you too.” I said, and she turned away. I almost screamed after her. I almost yelled that Jack was gay, and playing a big prank. I almost told her it was all a hoax. But I just whispered.

“ Be careful.”

But she had walked away already, leaving me leaning against the wall alone. I shook my eyes clear of hair, and left to go home.

---

I took my sister’s leftover vicodin that she had given me, and pondered about my predicament. Did I really just want to save Riley, or did I want something more out of her. I was probably approaching this the wrong way. If I wanted to save her from Jack, I would have just grabbed her and told her. But maybe I didn’t want to just save her from Jack; maybe I wanted to save her from the whole world. As the calmness and lethargy hit me from the drug, I realized something I didn’t think would happen after Leah screwed me up and over. I realized that I liked someone.