The Rise and Fall of Mary Colley

Chapter 10

Monday June 2nd, 1975. 12:29 PM

"Dammit." I said when my bag of chips didn't fall done all the way in the vending machine.

"Whoa," Chuckled a familiar voice "What's the matter?

I turned around and it was Peter. Great. I had totally embarrassed myself in front of him two days ago, I really didn't feel like running into him.

"If you really want to know, I just spent my last dime on a bag of chips and it was a waste because they didn't even fall down all the way." I told him sourly.

"It's about lunchtime. What are you doing getting chips?" He asked. He was a nosy little bastard.

"That was supposed to be my lunch." I said.

"A bag of chips? Where's Jimmy? Why doesn't he buy you lunch?" Goddamn! He never stops asking questions.

"I don't know." I said, trying to make myself seem as bored as possible.

"I'll buy you lunch."

What the hell? "No thanks."

"Come on, I want to talk to you about something." He persisted.

I was hungry and curious so I said "Um, alright."

"Wonderful. How does the Mexican place near the hotel sound?" He asked with a slight grin.

"It sounds like free food to a hungry person." I replied.

He smiled again, "Great. Let's go."

He led me outside the hotel. We walked for only about 6 minutes before reaching the restaurant; La Cocina.

Right after the hostess seated us, I said "Hey Peter, I'm really sorry about the other night. I was really emotional and feeling kind of sick. I didn't mean what I said. Please forgive me."

He warmly said "It's fine, Mary. I'm sorry I tried to make a big decision for you. You're responsible enough to do that yourself."

"You don't have to be sorry."

He just looked at me and smiled. We both knew that that night was behind us now. A giant weight had been lifted off of my shoulders.

Then I asked "So anyway, what is it you want to talk about?"

Peter smiled for about half a second and then said "You know Thomas?"

I couldn't help but start smiling immensely at the mention of his name. "Yeah, kind of." I responded.

"Well, he's recently gotten into a little bit of trouble over you-"

I cut him off, "What?"

He continued, "Listen, you know how Jimmy is. He's protective, he gets jealous. First, you sleep in Thomas' room instead of going to the first party you've been able to go to in ages, then last night you left Jimmy by himself to go talk to Thomas."

"By himself? He had the guys. And three other girls!" I said, slightly amused.

"All the guys had a girl with them, when you left, it embarrassed Jimmy. Then he had to go pluck you away from Thomas."

I rolled my eyes. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because Jimmy got mad at Thomas. He told Thomas that if keeps distracting himself from his work then he'd get fired. But everyone knows it isn't about getting distracted from work, it's about you. So now Thomas isn't supposed to talk to you."

My stomach felt small. "Why are you telling me this, Peter?"

"Thomas wanted me to let you know. Don't say anything to Jimmy about it, it'll just piss him off."

"This is fucking ridiculous." I said.

"I guess. I mean, you two have had about two conversations. I don't see why you care that much."

"We've had three, actually." As soon as I said that, I regretted it. I sounded so silly, like I though three conversations was enough to make me mad I wouldn't be talking to a person again.

He laughed at me. "Sorry."

"So are you two friends or something?" I asked.

"Uh, I guess. We've spoken a few times. I mean, he's a nice guy but I doubt that when the tour's over we'll keep in touch or anything."

I panicked when he said that. That meant that they spoke from time to time. The fact that Thomas had him talk to me today means that they've talked about me at least once. They'll probably talk about me again, so Peter can tell Thomas how it went. Then, for some reason, one of them might mention what I said about my life. Then, the other person will notice how it's different from what I told him. They'll come to the conclusion that I'm a liar and Thomas will hate me for real. Oh god.

I was probably overreacting. I hope so.

"I see." I managed to say weakly.

For the rest of our lunch, I kept thinking about Thomas hating me. I felt awful. Peter tried to talk with me but I had a hard time keeping the conversation going.

When we had walked back to the hotel and went our separate ways, I went to Jimmy's hotel room bathroom and threw up.

What was wrong with me? I've known this guy for about two days and he's making me throw up.

Fuck my life.