The Sound of Summer

7. May I Undress You?

"You have 60 seconds to get the fuck out of my apartment," the stranger says, his voice so steady and calm it sends a chill down my spine. I watch Andre's reaction from over the stranger's shoulder, feeling much more relieved now that I'm out of his line of sight.

"This is none of your business," Andre says cooly, though he is not nearly as composed as he wants to be.

"It is now. Listen, cabrón [bastard,] you can still leave here with some dignity okay? don't make it worse than it needs to be" there is playfulness in the strangers voice, the same kind of playfulness that's in AJ's. Maybe that's what sets Dre off because he raises his fist and shoots it forward. It all happens so quickly, so much so that the stranger seems surprised when Dre's fist meets his face. I let out a horrified scream, as the stranger stumbles back from the impact

"Joder [fuck,] he curses as he slowly turns his way back to Dre. I can tell from the way he's standing that he's angry. He squares his shoulders, but doesn't move to hit Dre back. I'm glad but it strikes me as odd. Dre has a lazy smile plastered on his face and he laughs a laugh that terrifies me. The sound dies the moment he looks at me, at the fear, the hurt, the disgust on me face, at the way I'm clutching on to the stranger. It seems to sober him for a moment.

"Get the fuck out of here Dre. You're not sure? Well I'll make it easy for you. We're done." I say it firmly before snaking my arm around the stranger and slamming the door in Dre's face. I make sure to lock it in case he tries to open it. I only know that he's walked away from his shadow beneath the door. My head is spinning, a combination of being drunker than I've ever been and trying to piece together how things between me and Dre got so bad so quickly.

When the world focuses again I realize the stranger is staring at me, his hand pressing down on the cheek Dre punched. Even in the dim lighting of his room, I can tell he's absolutely mouthwatering. He's the first to break the silence.

"It's funny that you think you're welcome to stay in here?" he says calmly, his voice returning to that early playful tone I heard. I chuckle at the comment, but it comes out as a weird hybrid between a laugh and a sob.

"I know. I'll leave in a few minutes I just wanted to be dramatic," I say, my voice sounds like I'm about to cry, but I begin to laugh at myself instead. You knew today was gonna end this way, but you couldn't help be optimistic could you?

"I'm really sorry about him. Does it hurt?" I take a few steps closer to him and reach my hand out to touch his face. He doesn't swat my hand away, surprisingly, but flinches when my fingers touch his skin. I bring my eyes to meet his and feel my stomach flutter when I realize he's looking at me. Holy shit he's hot. He looks so familiar, but I can't place him

"I've had worse," he says so softly I swear he's whispering. My eyes wonder to his lips, and I feel myself instinctually bite my own. I realize I've been staring at him for too long and quickly break our eye contact. I stumble backwards, but steady myself on his bed. I'm grateful for stability because I know I have about 5 minutes before things get really fucked up.

He walks towards what I realize is a mini fridge and pulls out a bottle of wine. He raises it to his cheek and winces when the cool bottle meets his skin.

I'm suddenly filled with so much rage and hurt on the stranger's behalf.

It's your fault he got hit. It's your fault you and Dre were even fighting.

I shoo the thoughts away quickly. No, no more of that shit. It's his fault. This whole night was his fault.

"I can't fucking believe him! What a fucking lowlife! What kind of asshole eats a girl out and gives her a promise ring one day, and then wants to break up the fucking next? A tiny-dick ass, low self-esteem ass, ain't shit nigga is who the fuck does that!" I can tell my outburst surprises the stranger, but he just stares at me with a blank face. I take it as an invitation to offload the rest of my burdens.