Thirteen
Dana watched him go, and pursed her lips. Then she laid her head back, looked over at the screen. She clicked the remote. The screen went black. Then she laid her head back.
"Don't you look comfortable?"
Her eyes opened. A man stood over her. He wasn't big. Jesse and Evan could both have put him out in a fight, no problem. But that wasn't going to make a difference. So Dana did what she had to do: she acted like she wasn't afraid, and prayed that she didn't need to be.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Colin," he said. He smiled half-heartedly. "You must be Dana."
"Oh. You're the room-mate."
"I don't think we've met."
"No, we haven't. I'm Dana. Nice to meet you."
"Evan's told me a lot about you," he said. "You sound very nice."
"Good of you to say."
"Of course."
"I should probably get going. It was nice meeting you."
"You're very pretty, you know. I'm surprised. Evan doesn't usually go for your type, but you're just…" he made a face. "Right up my alley."
"That's… nice."
"You think so?"
"I'm not interested," Dana said. She pushed herself up from the sofa. She just had to slip her shoes on, slip her coat on, and out the door. It sounded so much simpler in her head, when there wasn't a guy standing in front of her who could stop her if he wanted to. It probably wouldn't even be hard, and the worst part was that he probably knew it.
"Oh, come on. I'm not saying you have to, you know, do a whole lot."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm just asking if you'll go out for a drink. I'll drop you at your place afterward."
"I don't think that sounds like a very good idea, Colin."
"Is it, what? My looks? I'm not good looking enough? Need to spend more time in the gym?"
"No." She was getting enough bad vibes that she was ready to forget the jacket and the shoes, and call someone. Evan would be back eventually, and she could pick her stuff up.
"What, then?"
"I'm with Evan."
"What?"
"I like him. I don't want to screw this up."
Colin blinked. He looked at her. His lips pursed. And then they pinched together like a duck's bill. And then he closed his eyes as his mouth spread wide. He could hardly contain his amusement, though Dana couldn't understand what was supposed to be so funny.
"Screw what up?"
"Whatever this is," Dana said.
The words came out of her mouth sounding a little strange. She wasn't sure what she was feeling about Evan. She wouldn't have called it love, though. Not if you'd paid her to say it. And yet, now, in the moment… the words almost came easily. Her head felt like it was spinning.
"The relationship you two have?"
He laughed. He fell backwards onto the sofa, the one where she'd been laying just a minute ago. He stretched out and grabbed his stomach and laughed.
"What's so funny?"
"Oh my God!" He slapped his leg. "Evan, he's good, I'll give him that. Oh my God!"
Dana pulled a shoe on. She wasn't going to give him more time than necessary, that much she was sure of. His behavior was erratic. Maybe he was drunk, or something. Maybe he was high. Maybe he was laughing at some joke that she couldn't understand, and if she gave it enough time, then she'd be able to figure it out. But she wasn't sure what that joke was.
"You want to know the funniest part?"
Dana looked up. Colin rubbed at his eyes. Tears came away from them. He threatened to burst into laughter again at a second's notice. She wasn't sure she did want to know, the way that he looked at her. The way that he hinted at something that she wasn't sure she wanted to be a part of.
"What's that?"
"The funniest part–I mean it, the funniest part–is that you actually believe this stuff."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Dana bit off the part where she informed him that he was acting like a crazy person. It was something she'd gotten good at, working at a library. She dealt with people who had something going on in their head every day, so it was a skill she got to practice.
"He's using you, you know that, right?"
"I don't think there's anything a guy like that has to use me for," Dana said. "If he wanted to get laid, I'm pretty sure he could manage it."
"Manage it? Sure. I know better than most, let me tell you."
"Must be hard," she suggested. Whatever he wanted to hear, she was ready to say it. Just as long as it got her out of that room.
"Apparently not. You know why he came after you, right?"
"No," Dana said. It was something that had bothered her.
Oh, he said a lot of stuff about how he couldn't stop thinking about her. That was stuff that he said to everyone. She couldn't prove it, of course. But she wasn't stupid. She knew. "Are you going to tell me?"
"Because I told him to," Colin said.
"What, like... some kind of weird pity-fuck thing?"
"Pity? No way. You were a challenge, babe. I thought you'd put up a real fight. There aren't many women who can ignore him the way you did that first night. I made a big bet with him. Oh, it was glorious. I never figured that he'd break you down so easy. It was amazing."
Dana felt something rise in her throat. But she didn't throw up. Because in spite of herself, she was tougher than that. But the dream, such as it was, was over. At least there was that.