Point of View: AJ
I rushed up the stairs after Leslie. "Leslie!" I called, I knocked on her bedroom door and shook the handle. Locked. "Les, please. Can I explain?"
Her voice was thick and emotional, "You can't do that to my brother," she hollered, "Hasn't Nick been through enough bullshit without you stealing his girlfriend away from him?"
I leaned against the door. "I'm not stealing his girlfriend," I yelled. "Les if you'd heard that whole conversation, you would've seen a totally different situation. You'd understand that it wasn't like that at all..."
Leslie tore the bedroom door opened so fast, and I hadn't expected it, that I fell into the room sideways and before I could catch my balance I landed on the floor. I lay there looking up at her. She glared down at me from behind the door where she was standing, wearing pajamas and fluffy bunny slippers. Her eyes carried the kind of anger Nick's were sometimes capable of, but that I hadn't seen since the night we fought at the night club, when Nick had gotten his stomach pumped.
"Explain. You've got ten minutes."
I sat up quickly as Leslie sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled a hair brush out of her suitcase and started counting strokes through her hair.
"I was smoking and Kayla showed up and we were talking and--" I decided to leave the attempted kiss out of the story, "--she was really upset. She needed someone to talk to about some shit that happened..."
"What shit that happened?" Leslie asked.
"Her ex tried to rape her," I answered. Leslie's eyes softened. I knew I'd struck the nerve I needed to convince her she didn't need to report the incident to Nick. Kayla owed me fucking big time. "She needed someone to talk to and Nick's... God-knows-where... so she came here. Because she and I have been growing closer ever since.." We met didn't sound right, though that was the truth. "Since Nick's been gone," I said, which was also the truth.
Leslie frowned sadly, "Is she okay?" she asked. "Does Nick know?"
"I- I think so," I stammered. I legit didn't really know either.
Leslie had dropped her hair brush down and now was hugging a pillow to her chest. "I feel so bad for her. And then -- oh my God, I called her a whore. She must be so freaked out right now."
Well, yes, but only cos she thinks you're telling Nick, I thought. I nodded, though, and said nothing.
Leslie frowned, "Do you have her phone number? I need to call her."
I hesitated.
"Suuuuure..." I said slowly. "I um.. I gotta get it. Hold up."
I scurried to my room and yanked my cell out of my pocket, calling Kayla.
"Hello?" her voice was thick from crying.
"I told Leslie about Leon and told her thats why you came to talk to me. 'K? Bye," I said in a quick rush.
"AJ? Wha-" Kayla started to ask, but I shut the phone before I could hear whatever it was she'd been about to say.
I grabbed a piece of paper and quickly scribbled her phone number on it before heading back to Leslie's room. I handed her the paper, "Here."
Leslie took it and smiled sadly, "I'm sorry I doubted you," she said, "I'm just so used to you and Nick being horny bastards that I just assumed..."
"Yeah, no, I get it..." I said. "Just please don't tell Nick."
Leslie shrugged, "Why would I? Nothing happened."
"Right. Right."
Later that night, I was in my bedroom feeling like shit.
I knew I'd done the right thing, resisting Kayla, standing up and walking away. I knew I had made the right choice. But that didn't make it easier.
Honestly, I wanted Kayla more than I'd ever wanted any woman I'd ever met before. I didn't know why, it was just some strange unbelievable gravitational pull. I couldn't believe I'd resisted it.
I grabbed my cigarettes off the table and lit one, holding the ash tray on my chest as I stared at the ceiling.
My "two brains" were at odds with each other. My regular brain was saying all that good stuff, about it being the right thing and about Kayla being Nick's. My penis was screaming a totally different story, though. You jackass loser, he was yelling at me, You couldda totally gotten laid! You still could! Get in the God-damned car! What're you stupid? Nick never needs to know... and you get to sleep with the girl you like. But my brain had it's own rebuttal.
What I wanted was a lot deeper than sex.
That was a first.
But she's Nick's. I reminded myself, and quickly pulled the blankets over my face to hide.
