Two Ways to Love [ON HOLD]

Chapter Two

                                                            Chapter Two

“So did they look exactly the same?”

     Jill yelled the question into my face as she slumped down on the couch, leaning unsteadily toward me. Her eyes were glossy and somewhat distant, and her breath was just awful; a mixture of cigarette smoke and various alcoholic beverages. Also, I swore I could smell a hint of vomit.

     “The same as what?” I asked her, leaning away from her and smiling widely. I actually liked Jill and I didn’t want to offend her by letting her know how utterly disgusting her breath was right now. She didn’t seem to notice my avoidance though. She just giggled loudly and slapped my arm playfully.

     “Your boyfriend!” she exclaimed. “Didn’t he have a twin or something? I thought you said he was coming to visit?”

     “Oh,” I said, understanding what her question meant. “Yeah, he does. But he’s not visiting. He’s kind of moving back to town and he’ll be living with Ron until he finds a place of his own.” I yelled back at her, trying to speak loud enough so she’d be able to hear me over the music. Jill raised her eyebrows at me. “So ..?” she pressed. “Did they look alike?”

     “Of course they did,” I told her, laughing. “They’re identical twins!”

     Jill’s eyes darted to somewhere across the room, and when I followed her gaze, I saw Adam. He was leaning against a large speaker, talking to some guy I vaguely recognized from school.

     Jill placed a hand on my arm and I looked back to her.

     “Well, since you have two of your boyfriend now, can I have Adam then?” she asked me, her voice playful. But I knew that she was dead serious about it. Jill had always liked Adam.

     Deciding to let her disturbing comment about the ‘two of your boyfriend’ slip due to her current alcohol intake, I said: “Adam isn’t something I can give away. I don’t own him, Jill. And you know he has a girlfriend. Even if she is a bitch.”

     “Who’s a bitch?” Adam asked. I looked up to see him standing in front of us, a beer bottle dangling casually from his left hand.  I glanced back to the guy he’d been talking to earlier.

     He was cute. Dark-skinned and athletic-looking.

     “Saw you checking me out, Barclay,” Adam said and my eyes shifted back to his face. “So I came over here.”

     I smiled at him.

     “Don’t you know not to butt in on a female conversation?” I asked him. “We were sharing secrets here, you know.”

     Adam smiled widely at me and reached his hand out, wiggling his fingers in the air.

     “But I’ve come to rescue you, Barclay, from this awful choice of music.”

     I laughed. He was so right about that. Whoever decided which CD’s were being played at this party, obviously had no idea what the word ‘good’ meant. The music was worthless.

     I glanced over at Jill and the back to Adam. I grabbed his outstretched hand and let him pull me up from the couch. I decided that spending time with a drunken Adam beat spending time with a drunken Jill.

     I let him lead me through the room and onto the large balcony. He let the door stay ajar as we sat down on some of the cushions that’d been placed outside, and leaned our backs against the brick wall of the house.