One-Night Stand

WHEN I ROLLED over, my arm hit something hard. Peering through one eye, I saw the girl from last night passed out. And she was snoring. I sighed to myself, rubbing the hangover from my face and rolling out of bed. Her clothes were strewn about the room, so I gathered them into a pile and tossed them on the floor next to the bed. Hopefully she would be gone when I got back. She was a good one-night stand, but nothing beyond that. I threw on some jeans and shoes and pulled on my shirt as I was closing the front door softly.

“It’s usually the other way around,” a snotty voice said behind me.

I cringed. It was Lucas’ girlfriend. I pulled down the rest of my shirt as she glared back at me.

“And you know from experience?” I retorted.

She huffed as she took a long drag of her cigarette. “Whatever.”

“Are you judging me as you take a drag of a cancer stick? At least my transgressions won’t kill me,” I snapped back at her quick judgment.

She pushed off the rail and raised an amused eyebrow. “You obviously don’t know Tina. Good luck.” She snickered as she put out her cigarette and flicked it off the balcony. She tossed her head and went back into her apartment.

“That’s littering,” I said as she slammed her door.

Tessa would have pulled her by the hair and down the stairs to pick it up. I grumbled at this chick’s lack of respect. I retrieved the cigarette and pounded on her door. When she opened it, I flicked the cigarette at her chest and walked back down the stairs.

“Are you kidding me? You jerk,” she shouted after me.

I flipped her the finger, proud as shit. I had never been the asshole, but it felt damn good. This year would be my year. Fuck everyone else.

I grabbed a coffee from the local coffee shop. It was still early on a Sunday morning so it was relatively quiet. I took a seat to kill time so I didn’t have to go back to Tina. How the hell Lucas’ girlfriend knew she was in my apartment was a mystery to me. I had gotten pretty drunk, though. I polished off the rum and the beers in between hooking up with Tina on the bench. I didn’t even remember bringing her back to my place. I hope she didn’t turn out to be a psycho. I didn’t need that shit right now. Soccer and school. That was it. That was enough.

I stood in front of my apartment door an hour later hoping she would be gone, but she wasn’t. She had made a pot of coffee and was frying bacon in her bra and underwear.

“There you are.” She flashed a smile.

“What are you doing?” I crossed my arms, not the least bit amused.

“Making breakfast, silly. This was all I could find. You really need to go to the store.” She kept her back to me.

“You need to go.” I stood stiffly in front of my open door.

“What?” She turned around. Her smile faded, replaced with a scowl. “Are you fucking kidding me?” she yelled.

“Do I look like I’m kidding? It was a fucking one-night stand, not a date.”

She was hot, but clearly unhinged. Who the hell sticks around after a drunken hookup and makes breakfast half-naked?

“You’re a prick.” She stormed into the bedroom and came out a second later hopping on one foot as she slipped on her heels. “You’re missing out.” She flipped me off on her way out. “Asshole.”

A laugh from the hallway drew my attention. Lucas’ girlfriend was leaning on the railing with a smug smile plastered on her face. “Told you.”

I grunted and slammed my door. This place was jacked up. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I finished the bacon and drank some more coffee and then crashed on the couch before afternoon practice.

My phone alarm woke me thirty minutes before practice. I took a quick shower and then jogged to the field to run off the residual hangover. I joined the guys for goal practice.

“So, Tina, huh?” Steven chuckled.

“Dude, what the fuck? How does everyone know?” The other guys were listening now.

“You live next door to Casen, dude,” Steven replied.

“Who?”

“My girlfriend.” Lucas walked up. “Nice job with Tina. You are officially a Bear.” He patted me on the shoulder.

“Team slut?” I asked.

“Yep, and now she’s your problem.” Steven laughed.

“Great,” I grumbled.

“What are you sissies doing? Kick the damn ball,” Coach Reynolds shouted.

Practice was tough, and not because I had drunk too much. I hadn’t conditioned since senior year, and I felt it in every muscle of my body from yesterday’s practice. Coach yelled at me throughout practice, and the guys gave me shit. I was really going to need to step up my game.

After practice, Lucas caught up with me as I headed back to my apartment.

“You’ve left quite an impression on Casen.”

I glared over my shoulder. “Are you going to give me shit about your girlfriend? Sorry I threw the cigarette at her, but she shouldn’t have thrown it on the ground.”

He stopped walking. “You did what?”

Shit. I shook my head and kept walking.

“Be a dick to whatever girls you want, but not my girl, man,” he yelled after me.

I raised my hand in acknowledgement and then picked up my pace to a jog. My legs were throbbing when I made it back to the apartment. I tossed down some ibuprofen and made a mental note to buy some muscle patches. I scrolled through my emails on my phone and then Baylor’s name popped up as an incoming call. I promised I would call when I got here, but I didn’t. I thought about answering her call, but I declined it and texted her I was good and thank you instead. I ignored her reply and threw my phone onto the couch next to me. I needed to get her out of my head.

I was just falling asleep on the couch when a knock on the door woke me. Groaning, I stumbled to the door. Casen was standing outside with a light bulb in her hand.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“Can you change my light bulb? I’m not tall enough, and Lucas isn’t answering his phone. It’s in my bathroom, otherwise I would have waited.”

I was ready to say something rude, but I thought about Lucas’ request and I sighed instead, taking the light bulb from her and heading into her apartment. It was the same one-bedroom as mine, so I headed straight to the bathroom. I reached up, unscrewing the burnt bulb and putting in the new one.

“That’s a nasty scar you got there,” she said from the doorway.

My shirt had inched up when I was changing the bulb. I shifted uncomfortably as I pulled it down and then walked back through her apartment without a word.

“Hey,” she called out.

When I faced her, she adorned a soft apologetic expression. I had been here for less than forty-eight hours and was already getting pitied looks.

“Don’t do that,” I said evenly.

“Do what?” she asked defensively.

“Don’t look at me like that. Ever,” I warned and then slammed her door. Instead of going back to my apartment, I went for a run. I doubt that was what Lucas had in mind.

Tina was sitting on the stairs when I got back.

“Hey.” She smiled sweetly.

“What do you want?” I rolled my eyes and walked past her with the bag of muscle patches I grabbed at the store on the way back.

She jumped up and followed me. “I’m sorry I lost it this morning.”

I sucked in a guilty breath and then turned to her. “Look, I’m sure you’re a nice girl, but I’m not interested. Not in a girlfriend, or another hookup.”

Her face dropped. “Oh, okay.”

Dammit. I didn’t owe anybody anything, but I felt bad. “My girlfriend died last year and I’m here for soccer. And that’s it. I’m sorry.”

Her eyes popped up, and she stared at me with that look of pity I had become uncomfortably familiar with, but I think it was enough to get her to leave me alone.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“No one does, so are we good here?” My head was pounding again.

“Yeah, okay. You know where to find me.”

“Yep, sure thing. Thanks.”

She spun slowly and walked away. I let out a huge sigh of relief. Before I closed the door, I caught Casen peeking out her door. She closed it quickly after our eyes met briefly. I shut my door, wondering if everyone was this nosy around here.

My phone rang again, and when I turned it over, I saw I had six missed calls from Baylor and Brandt. My heart sped up as I called back Brandt. A sick feeling rushed through me. Brandt answered on the second ring.

“Hey, man, what’s up? Is everything okay?” He had called to make sure everything was okay because Baylor was freaking out that I wasn’t answering her calls. “No, man, I’m fine. Just getting settled in, you know?” After appeasing him for a few minutes, we hung up. He said Baylor was doing well, but was struggling being away from me. It wasn’t fair to hear that. It wasn’t fair that she was struggling. She had my brother. And she was having a baby with him.

I was struggling.

I hopped in the shower, turning the heat up as hot as my skin would tolerate, and tried to scrub away the last five years of my life. I missed the hell out of Tessa, but I couldn’t move on if I let her ease into my thoughts all the time. And I needed to move on. It will be a year next month since the accident. A year was a respectable amount to grieve. It had to be.

My eyes dropped to the large gash across my side. The scar was still raised, but the pink had faded, settling into the permanence of white. It would be a constant reminder of that day. The day I held the only woman I could ever see myself loving in my arms and rocked her lifeless body until I went numb with pain and blind with rage. It consumed me still, and I knew if I didn’t leave my old life I would lose the only two people left who loved me. I could make enemies here and not give a shit. Let Tina think I’m a prick. Let Casen think I’m the world’s biggest jerk. I didn’t care, because I was here for me and only me.