The Jock and the Bad Boy (COMPLETE)

TWENTY

cw: alcohol

While I'm staring at Carter in stony silence, he takes it as an opportunity to refill his glass. "I'm serious," I continue, "People want to help. Why is that such a fucking issue?"

He scoffs into his glass. "Because you're all making a big deal out of nothing. I'm okay."

"You're drinking alone in a house full of people," I point out.

He shrugs and takes another sip. "Not, like, that much."

"Oh yeah?" I counter, "then put that down and walk toward me."

He finishes the glass but keeps it in his hand. Neither of us says anything. Finally, he sighs. "I don't have to listen to you," he says.

"Does it get tiring?" I ask, "being such a dick all the time?" I figure I'm safe because the worst he could do is take a swing at me and he can't do that if he refuses to come over here.

He doesn't look angry, just resigned. "I don't know what you want me to say."

I realize this is my chance. "Tell me what happened with you and Thayer?"

He scoffs. "Dude, is that what you think? Nothing happened between me and Thayer."

"Then why do you hate him so much?" I reply.

"Because Jackson is too nice to," he answers. "Jackson's always too nice."

"What happened?" I ask again, not realizing I'm about to get a story.

"So Jackson and I have been friends forever, right?" He begins, "And then two years ago, this other kid starts hanging out with us. He's kind of weird, doesn't play soccer, not friends with any of our other friends."

"Thayer?" I guess. Carter nods.

"So Thayer's hanging out with us," He continues, "like, all the time while we're at school. He's sitting at our lunch table." Guys' girlfriends don't even sit at our lunch table. "But Jackson and him are friends, so it's fine. I'm not gonna be like," he puts on a voice, "grr, we're high school royalty, we don't hang out with anyone different." He clears his throat and goes back to his normal voice. "Like, he and Jackson got along really well. It was good. But then summer happened." He punctuates this turning point in the story with a yawn. "And Thayer and I weren't really friends in the first place, right, so I didn't really notice anything different. But Jackson... he completely..." he throws his arms out to his sides on the word 'completely,' hard enough that he almost completely knocks himself off balance. "He completely ghosted Jackson. Didn't even update his Instagram. We found out later he even switched accounts." Jeez. "So Jackson's over here thinking he fucking died or some shit, and then there he is in the cafeteria on the first day. Crazy, right? Jackson literally thought he fucking died. So we see him, and Jackson doesn't want to say anything because he's too nice, but fuck that. Dude literally broke my best friend's heart. So I walk up to the table where he's sitting with his weird art friends and I ask him if we can talk later. And he tells me to fuck off. Like, loudly enough that Jackson hears."

Okay, so that makes a little more sense. The most shocking thing is the realization that Carter cares, like, a lot. He's normally a fantastic actor. I have to take a break from processing it all to stop Carter from getting another refill. "Dude, I think it's time for you to go home," I say.

"I'll call my sister," he sighs.

-

so there it is, the full history. what do y'all think?

thanks for reading!