Social Suicide

T H I R T E E N : A Liar Among Us

SOCIAL SERENITY: ZANDER
Monday, October 29 2018
Music was thumping, drinks were cold, guests were lively. It was nearly eight-thirty; almost everyone had arrived.
"Here you go, guys."
Damon, Greg, and Sebastian took a couple beer bottles out of my hands. My twelve-hundred square foot home was nearly full to the brim with cheesy baseball decor—thanks to them—for the get together I was hosting as Captain. It was a celebration for the game we had won the previous night.
Greg was on the football team, not ours, but I couldn't not invite him. The four of us went together. The only other outsiders allowed were members' serious partners.
I was about to sit beside them when my phone buzzed in my pocket. The name made me smile.
(8:24pm) Ari: Would you mind picking me up from the game?
(8:25pm) Z: Not a problem. Meet you on the south side in ten minutes
Once I arrived, I waited another two minutes before deciding to call her. It rang almost ten times.
"Hey, you've reached my voicemail. I probably won't call back, so when you hear the beep, send me a text."
I chuckled under my breath, looking up. And then I saw her.
She was smiling to herself, something of a rarity. I always seem to forget how beautiful she is until I'm with her again.
Aristelle began jogging over once she spotted my car. She opened the door with one hand raised to shield her eyes from the raindrops. "You cool if I get your seat all wet?"
"Any time," I assured her. It was then that I realized how that must have sounded, because Ari's cheeks flushed a hint of red as she slid in the passenger side.
"How's the party?"
"You'd know if you'd gotten there on time," I joked.
She scoffed playfully. "That bad, huh? Ah, don't worry. I'll liven it up."
I held my apartment door for her and she was drunkenly saluted by Christopher Douglas and Shane Taylor. She responded warmly—for her, anyway—until Kody grabbed her attention. He was too close to her even for my liking. And even though I knew that it was just the way he was with everyone, it still rubbed me the wrong way when it came to her. I knew how much she valued her personal space.
"Hey." I caught Ari's elbow and nodded toward my bedroom. "There's a hairdryer in there and a tee-shirt, if you want one."
She gave me a thank you for saving me look, and let me lead her inside. Kody quickly diverted his attention elsewhere.
"Thanks for that," she said aloud once she exited my bathroom, her hair now dry.
"Mm-hm." I dug through a drawer for a moment and threw her the first shirt I was willing to part with. Hers was already removed, so I averted my eyes as best I could. "I'll see you back out there."
Since my confession with unworldly bad timing to her last Wednesday, I've tried to forcibly remove the rose-colored glasses when it came to her. Aristelle Aurora Avery is equal parts heaven and hell. A dream and a nightmare. A want, a need, and everything I can't have. She's everything, and it doesn't even matter.
But it's okay, because I'd rather have her in my life as my friend than not at all. That, I definitely could not bear.
Ari emerged from my room, and I realized I had never seen her in green before. It was the type of green you would find deep in a rainforest—a sort of velvety emerald.
She smiled when she noticed me looking, then sat next to me, a soft and tired gaze upon her face. One of the only times I'd ever witnessed her to be gentle. I wondered what she could be thinking.
"You all right there?" she directed at me.
I blinked. "Sorry. Sorta lost in space today."
"Been there." She rubbed her hands together, excitement now glowing in her sapphire eyes. "Am I too late? Don't tell me I missed the peak of the party."
"You tell us. What do you have in mind?" Bailey asked her.
"In the case that what is said by the team stays with the team?"
"Of course," I confirmed. When she returned to the party, there were only nine others besides us left.
She grinned devilishly. "Then how about a few rounds of Two Truths and A Lie?"
"Is that just what it sounds like?" Kody queried, sinking back into the couch.
I answered, "If someone guesses the lie incorrectly, they take a drink. If it's correct, the liar takes a drink." I grabbed a bottle of tequila on the shelf behind me and placed it on the table. "I'll start us off."
"This outta be good." Damon smirked.
I took a second to put them together. "I got fired from Home Depot for sleeping inside one of those little houses. I know Morse Code. The last time I wet the bed was middle school."
Sebastian laughed aloud. "The lie is about wetting the bed in middle school. It was definitely freshman year."
I raised my eyebrows. "That was you."
"Well—"
"The first one," Aristelle interrupted. "It's either working at Home Depot or the reason you were fired that's a lie."
"I feel like it was the place. Wasn't it Lowe's?" Sebastian mumbled to Damon, who just shrugged him off. Bass was already drunk; we knew to ignore most of his jabbering at that point.
"I never slept in the craft shacks. I got caught sleeping on a high shelf behind some wood panels." I poured half a shot for everyone but Ari and I. "Bottoms up."
She took a swig from the bottle anyway, then swiped her bottom lip with her thumb to catch the excess. "You know Morse Code?"
I nodded.
"So do I."
That could come in handy, I suppose. "Good to know," I whispered.
"Can you two eye-fuck each other later? I have a game to win."
I cleared my throat. "You're not off to a great start then, man," I told Evan, then looked at Aristelle as I slid the bottle toward her. "You're on my left, so..."
"Great. Hmm." She tapped a short, French-manicured nail dramatically on her chin. "I absorbed my twin in the womb. I've been fifty-one-fiftied. I've never had a threesome."
It was a toss-up. I knew she had half-siblings who were twins. There was a chance she could have had one, too. The code wasn't totally out of proportion—I've always known she was wild. But that wild?
As for the threesome, I could see it happening if the opportunity presented itself to her with the right people.
"Are the bids in yet?" She was already prepared to fill some shots. She scanned the circle.
"I say it's the first one," I decided.
"I vote for the second," Kody pitched in.
"No way," Christopher spoke up. "There's no way the third isn't the lie for this one. But I can fix that."
I'm going to pummel him.
Damon scoffed. "You wish you could snag one woman, let alone two. Avery is way out of your league."
"Nice pun," I commented.
"Thanks. It was intentional."
She smiled briefly at his defense. "Anyone else care to venture a guess?"
"I'm gonna agree with Jackson," Bailey said. Damon and Ben nodded along.
"And for the win!"
Felt good to get it right. I was curious about the code, but didn't want to pry.
It was Bailey's turn. He got as far as mentioning that his first ever concert was One Direction before I spaced out again.
Was Aristelle going to act like nothing happened again, like she did a year and a half ago? That almost killed me.
Part of me hated the power she held over me, even with her lack of trying. She had always kept me at arm's length—that part wasn't new.
I'd been in love before. I think. It didn't feel like this, though, like it might crush me if I move half a step too quickly.
She felt too broken to be loved. There was nothing I wanted to do to persuade her otherwise. She needed to come to terms with the rest of her life before adding onto it.
The game was over after a few more rounds. We found out Damon almost vacuumed up his hamster when he was a kid, Ben paid a classmate to bury him alive during recess in third grade, Aristelle knew American Sign Language, and Sebastian was allergic to grass. Damon had won by a hair. I stood at the door to say goodbye to them all once we realized it was past two o'clock already.
Aristelle was still sitting on the couch. She stood when the last of them closed the door and she met my waiting eyes.