pink nights / sally face

sal's house

the next morning, i woke up on the floor of larry's living room. i sat up and looked over to the couch to see ash asleep.

i stretched and crawled closer to the sliding glass doors. it looked early. i didn't have the time on me but i guessed maybe 8 or 9. i was exhausted and actually a little angry that i woke up so early. the morning sky was pretty though at least. it was clear with the exception of the occasional flock of ducks. faintly, i could hear them call out to each other.

finally i decided to get up. i was in a brown shirt that made it to my mid thigh. i figured i had changed to go to bed.

in only socks, i decided to sit on larry's balcony. it was a risky decision just because of how loud the sliding doors can be. i took a chance with ash being a heavy sleeper though. as expected, she wasn't bothered.

i sat in a chair and shivered. it was a little colder than i had expected for the sun being out. it was crisp though and i could feel that summer was ending just in the way the birds cooed and the trees sounded in the breeze. i looked out to the lake and wondered how cold the water was. i imagined the fathers and sons taking one last fishing trip for the summer.

the sliding door opened and out came sal.

"hey, hope i'm not intruding." he raised a hand to say hi.

"no, not at all. i just woke up too early." i gestured to the chair next to me.

sal sat, "are you cold?"

"i'm alright, it's not too bad."

"i can see the goosebumps on your arms. here," he shrugged his hoodie off and handed it to me. "you can wear this."

"aw, are you sure?" i took the jacket and looked at sal, trying to find an emotion in his eyes.

"i have a long sleeve on anyway, it's okay." his voice was soft and raspy from waking up.

i slid the jacket on and zipped it up, "thanks." it was still warm from the heat of his body and smelled like him ...

i had no clue what to say to him. between what happened last time and what happened last night, i felt like the air between us was so dense that i might as well have just filled my lungs up with cement with the hopes of having them sink to the very bottom of my body and die.

i sighed, "i'm-" i could feel the cement. "im sorry about last night."

sal looked at me with eyes very readable now. confusion. "what do you mean? what is there to be sorry about?"

"i mean, i guess i'm apologizing for larry, really. but, i just want you to know that i know it was weird and i had no idea what any of it was about." i held his confused gaze.

"y/n? did you blackout?" i could see from his squinted eyes that sal's eyebrows were furrowed.

"what? no?" i said defensively. i started to think, "chug challenge with ash, playing smash, going out to smoke with you and larry." it was all there. no lapse in time.

sal's confusion didn't leave, "i didn't smoke last night though, did you?"

i shook my head, "no, i know you didn't. you got up and left pretty soon after larry had even started."

sal laughed, "y/n, i really think you blacked out. i'm sorry but i don't think that happened."

my stomach joined my lungs at the bottom of my bottom. suddenly, i was wasn't worried about the tension with sal, i was worried about my judgement.

"so, that didn't happen? we didn't go outside with larry last night?"

he shrugged, "i mean, maybe you did. i didn't though. i'm pretty sure we were all in the living room. you know, up until everyone fell asleep."