Page 56 of Dirty Roulette
My last class ended up being canceled, but the assignments were still posted online for us to complete. I sit down at a bench by the parking lot, putting in my information to grab an Uber to head back to my cousins when text messages pop up on top of my screen.
Noah: Can you swing by the store? I need to talk.
Payton: Sure. I’m leaving campus right now.
Noah: Okay, I’ll be here.
Smokey Vinyl was a short ride. When fresh air hits my nostrils, I hightail it away from the Toyota Prius. It looked like a tampon on wheels, and it reeked of smelly feet and too many people catching rides with him. The Uber driver was singing along to Mariah Carey, and my ears were bleeding.
The front door is covered in new posters for bands playing locally and different upcoming concerts. The bell chimes as I walk in. The familiar scent of cigarettes burnt into the carpet greets me.
Noah uses a switchblade to cut open a box of new merchandise. It looks like a bunch of shirts in a variety of different colors and sizes.
“Hi...” I say. Noah looks up at me, pushing a long strand of hair behind his ears. Gosh, he puts my locks to shame with how shiny and undamaged his ends are. I test the waters with a lame joke to break the tension, “have you ever thought of making your last name Fence?”
Teeth peek through his lips in the smallest of smiles as he blew a laugh out of his nose. “Screw you.” The switchblade waves at me.
“Noah... Fence... get it... No offense.”
“I’ve heard that a couple of times. Shit ain’t happening.” The brief smile sinks and dissolves quicker than a raccoon washing cotton candy. His lips curl out dejectedly.
Sweat puddles in my palms as I coil them into tight balls. “Are you okay?” I ask.
His dark eyes stare at the box, picking at the tan tape sealing everything inside. “I thought she would have turned up by now. ”
“I know...” I swallow hard.
He places the knife on the counter and takes a lungful of air. His eyes glance away like they are starved and everything inside him is beaten to nothing.
“She broke up with me, and it didn’t make any sense.
..” He pauses, curling his lips over his teeth and staring into the carpet.
I’m tangled up in the pain tattooed on his face.
“She came over that morning and we...” He swallows, the words dripping off his tongue.
“I... we... fuck...” He runs both hands through his hair.
My heart batters, bruising the flesh inside my ribs. Not another word needed to be said.
“I’m sorry...” I lick my chapped lips, my tongue dries up sticking to the roof of my mouth.
“The whole time... she told me she was in love with me.”
Everything inside me rots hearing what he says. Charlie never uses the L word with guys. A host of emotions crisscross his face, mixed with pain and anger. None of it makes sense. Tears gum up in my throat, it burns, and the saltiness meets my taste buds. “That doesn’t sound like her.”
“She came backstage.” He circles his finger around, his eyes haze over as he recounts it.
“Threw her drink at me and ended it right before we performed... told me she lied, never wanted to see me again. She didn’t explain why, she just cried storming off.
” Noah rubs the edge of his nose with the back of his hand and sniffles.
“She never tells guys she loves them... Charlie always ended things with anyone before that feeling even surfaced.”
“Wow...” He runs his hands over his face and tilts his head back. The sky is falling and raining down, crushing us with every horrible feeling it can drop. “She was pissed at you, and decided to stay here with me until she figured out her living situation,” he mentions.
I slump my sagging body against the counter. “I don’t blame her, I was lying about messing around with her brother... It sucks, I think I broke my own heart by dumping him.”
Eyebrows slide up his forehead. “It was obvious the minute he dragged you out of the hot tub that he cared about you.”
“Yeah...”
“Is he always pissed off at the world?” Noah asks.
I run my tongue over my teeth and huff. “Only when Charlie and I do stupid things.”
“He freaked me out at that party, but if I had a little sister I’d probably be the same.”
“Well, I’m sure I messed up that relationship too.” Regret for everything I ever did wrong seeps like rot through my bones. The lies eat away at my flesh like an awful decaying body with nothing left but the trench they were dumped in.
“Brody drugged us both...” The bulge in my throat wrenches up and down.
The assault of the words hit Noah straight in his face, and he’s swarmed with emotions. His eyes water, and he presses his fingers deep into his sockets. “Fuck!”
Acid slicks the back of my throat. “I honestly don’t remember much.”
“We played but left right afterward. My Gramps was rushed to the hospital.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“He had a stroke and hasn’t been responsive.”
My stomach sinks and fills with cement of dread with those words. “Then why are you here? Shouldn’t you be at the hospital?”
“I can’t think straight. She’s missing, he’s dying. I can’t...”
“Close up and go down there and be with him. Don’t waste your time here.”
“Yeah...” Noah says.
It takes a couple of minutes before he agrees to close the store and leave. Pain radiates off him and I stay until he locks up the doors and heads to his car. I sit on the cement parking barrier watching traffic and waiting for another Uber driver to pick me up.