Pressing Play | Watty's 2015

Part 3

"Tiffany, wait," I hear yelling outside my bedroom window. My next door neighbor, Alan, was chasing his girlfriend out of his house who just so happens to be my one of my best friends. "What the hell do you want, Alan? You cheated on me. How could you ever do that to me," Tiffany yells with tears running down her face, mascara smearing. "It wasn't my fault. She came on to me," Alan yells back. "It doesn't matter whether you or Cathleen from student council started it. You should have ended it," Tiffany stomps her foot that leaves a loud noise ringing through the neighborhood. Alan rakes his hair with his hands as he gets even more frustrated.

"Hey, you okay," I peak out my window. "Great, you heard everything. Listen I don't need to you to butt in on everything," he gets angry. "I wasn't trying to-," I'm interrupted. "I don't care. Just stay the hell away from me," he yells at me and walks into his house. That was weird, I thought to myself. I exit my house and go to his door following him as he didn't lock the door. I walk in silently, locking the door behind me so no one followed. His room was the first one near the upstairs. I walked in with him staring at me as he lye on his bed. "What the hell are you here for," Alan whisper screams at me. "I had to make sure you were okay," I smiled.

"I didn't ask you to," he smarts off. Usual Alan. Stupid seniors think they can run everything. "Oh shut up you little tough ass," I tease around. I've known Alan since I moved here, one of my first friends. He rolls his eyes. "Well since your here and we haven't talked in forever, we might as well sit on the floor and chat a while," he scoots to the floor and I join him. During this, I totally forgot I was wearing my booty short pajamas with a rainbow top. "Nice shorts, tough ass," he punches my shoulder. I stick out my tongue. "So what happened back there," I ask out of curiosity. "Cathleen came over to study because I promise I'd help her. She leaned in and we kissed. She told Tiffany that we had a full on make out session and now she hates me," he twiddles his thumbs. "Wow well Cathleen has always hated cheer team," I make my awkward face that he's come to know. "True to that," he laughs as I join him. It becomes awkwardly silent. Then it just happens. My lips and his together. Kissing deeply. I didn't know what to do. This was Tiffany's ex boyfriend. Is this bad? I push him away. "I can't do this, your my friend's boyfriend," my hand still on his chest. I didn't want to let go honestly. "You know she talks trash about you all the time," he grabs my hand. "Why the hell would you say that? I don't want to see you again," I get up and leave to my house. I retire to my room and sleep the rest of the night.

Beep. Beep. Beep. My alarm goes off as I go to take my shower. I see my wet red hair stick to my body as I wash my shampoo out. The hot water against the fresh cuts from three days ago quickly stung. I cringe at the feeling. I grab my towel and towel-dry my hair. I dry my body off. When I enter my room, I see my little brother with tears on his face sitting on my bed. "Oh my god what's wrong Matt," I saw the bruise on his face. "Dad is here and I came out to them and he got a little angry that I was gay and punched me in the face a little," Matt explains and I put my arms around him. "Why is he here," I ask. "He needed somewhere to stay. He got evicted so mom said he could stay in the basement," his tears made him sound muffled. "Let me get my clothes on and then I'll go talk to him," I make him look up at me and he nods. We hug each other one last time and he leaves to his room. I grab a band tee and some jeans. I put them on, dry my hair, and walk down the stairs. "Dad," I smile falsely and he hugs me, "Can I talk to you? Alone?" He nods his head yes.

We walk to the living room while my mom sits in the kitchen. "Why the hell would you hit him," I yell immediately. "Well my son is not gay okay? Boys like girls and girls only," he says. "No that's not true, I'm pansexual, I like everyone. You can stop being a homophobic asshole and let Matt be who he was meant to be," I walk off and grab a poptart from the kitchen. I hear him mutter, "damn bitch," under his breath. I walk to my room and sit on my bed. I hear my phone beep.

From: Stacy
Hey wanna go shopping?

To: Stacy
Sure. Come pick me up. Can Matt come with?

From: Stacy
Sure why not.

Quickly after sending the last text, I walk to Matt's room and ask him if he wants to come with. He says yes with pure excitement. He grabs his wallet and shoes. I grab my wallet and my sneakers. We go outside and see Stacy's little beetlebug parked and perked in my driveway waiting on the two of us. "Hey Matt, haven't seen you in a while, how ya been," Stacy asks as she backs out of the driveway. "I've been good, a little crooked," I stare at him with laughter coming from my mouth. Stacy looks at me with confusion written on her face. "Oh he's gay," I tell her so she can be in on the joke. "Woah is your whole family gay," Stacy asks with excitement. "No just us," I smile as the rest of the ride to the mall is quiet.

We make it to the mall and she parks near the front of Macy's which is thankfully near Hot Topic, my favorite store. "Ok we will hit up Hot Topic first and go from there," she smiles at me and we all get out of the car. "Matt you want anything from there," I ask as I put my arm around his shoulder. "Can I maybe have some nail polish," he asks and I look at him with awe. "Of course," I ruffle his hair. We walk into Hot Topic and I look for a Black Veil Brides shirt. I find one and Matt finds him some dark dark blue nail polish. The cashier rings it up and I pay for it. We walk out and head towards the food court. I see someone out of the corner of my eye, Alan. He walks to me. "Hey can I talk to you," Alan's dark brown eyes look at me. "She can," Stacy takes Matt as Alan and I walk somewhere to talk.

"What do you want," I inquire. "Tiffany doesn't want me anymore. I told her I wanted to be with you," he tries to kiss me as I turn my head. "I don't want to, okay," I start off, "I can't do that to her." Even if Tiffany was a complete bitch. "But she hates you," he says once again. "I don't care if she hates me so much that she wants me to kill myself, she's still a friend and I don't date people's boyfriends," I walk away angry and meet Stacy with Matt over near a table. "What did he want," Stacy asks in disgust. "He wants me to date him," I tell her. "Gross. Right after he cheated on Tiffany too," she does her eye roll. "Isn't he our neighbor," Matt asks with curiosity. "Yes," I said. "I never liked him," he laughs. "Me neither," Stacy joins in with him.

"I'll be right back," I tell them as I walk towards the bathroom. When I walk in, I head straight to the third stall which was open and I used it. I flushed the commode and walk to wash my hands. I see Luna standing there with someone, maybe a friend. "Victor, I'm glad you could meet me here, but I'm not so sure I want to date you," Luna's sweet, soft voice could be heard throughout the bathroom. "But Luna I like you a lot," Victor's rough edgy voice was not a sound you'd want to hear. "There's just this girl I really like and I hope she likes me too. The sun reflects off of her red hair and her green eyes stare at me with beauty and shine," she describes someone, me. "Your bi, that's nasty, I ain't dating someone who's gay," he says. "Please I want to be with you, but as a friend and a friend only," she tries to get him to calm down. It goes quiet and I realize they are kissing. I walk out of the bathroom with something I haven't felt in a long time, heartbreak mixed with happiness.