Empty Graves And Shallow Hearts

The phone was ringing the moment we walked in.

“Dude, answer your phone!” Lee yelled from behind me.

“No.” I threw my purse on the floor where I took off my shoes. “All the important people have my cell number. And the machine will get it.”

“Gee, you’re nice.” Matty plopped on my couch, flicking on the T.V.

“I know, thank you Matty boy.” I gave him a cheesy smile before retreating to my bedroom.

“Where on earth are you going?” Lee was yelling from the living room.

“If you must know,” I backed up and popped my head out into the hallway, glaring at the boys in front of the T.V., “I’m going to take a quick shower.”

“Yeah you need one, especially after your breakfast with Oliver over here.” Curtis smirked.

“Shut up fool!” A fluffy pillow was chucked straight at Curtis’ face.

“Hey! Don’t wreck my house while I’m showering, okay?”

Silence.

“Okay?”

They settled down a bit, grunting their okay’s.

Closing the bedroom door behind me, I practically ran to the bathroom, and blasted the water on in the shower. Before the water even began to warm up, I stripped down and got in.

The water hit me like a semi. I jumped back, pressing myself to the wall farthest from the stream of ice. Getting in so fast had been a bad, bad idea; it was just a little too cold to bear. I inched my way around the water and slipped back out of the little tiled cube reaching in to turn up the temperature for a split second.

Grabbing my towel, I wrapped it around my body and walked back out into my bedroom. It always took a little while for the water to heat up in my room. I sat on the bed, realizing I was tired. I hadn’t gotten a full night of sleep, and it was taking a toll on me. I decided to lay down while waiting, loving the comfort of my mattress.

A quick nap was starting to seem real good. I shut my eyes, feeling sleep take over when the sounds of clanking of glass and multiple drawers opening and closing snapped me back.

I opened the door and was about to see what was goin’ on. The moment I stepped out the door I realized something. I was in a towel.

‘Oops.’

Quickly, I closed the door and dropped my towel, throwing on sweats and a t-shirt. There was no way I was going out into a room filled with guys while I was in a towel.

The boys were in the kitchen fumbling around in the cabinets and refrigerator, probably looking for something to eat. I cleared my throat. They all froze and slowly turned to me, looking like deer caught in headlights.

“What are you guys doing?” I kept my voice calm and quiet.

“Nothin…” Oli said, trying too hard to look innocent.

“Uh huh.” I tapped my foot. “Just don’t eat everything, ok guys? My roommate is gonna be comin’ home sometime this week and I don’t want to go out and get more food for her.”

“You have a roommate?” Curtis straightened up.

“Yes, I do hon.” I gave him a light smile. “Now I’m going to go shower, again, if you boys don’t mind.”

There was a chorus of alrights. I was off.

Praying they wouldn’t break everything and eat everything else, I stripped down and hopped into the now steamy shower. It was perfect temperature.

----------

I stepped out of the shower, completely refreshed. That was exactly what I needed.

Drying my hair with one towel, and another wrapped around me, I walked into my bedroom.

“Hello there, ma’am.”

I jumped at the voice. It belonged to Oli, who was sprawled out on my bed, a bottle in his hand.

“For goodness sake Oli! Don’t do that!”

“Gee, sorry.” He made a pouty face.

“Yeah, okay. What are you doing in here?”

He rolled around, and took a swig from his bottle. “I just wanted to say hello.”

I sighed. “You said hello. Now you should get out.”

“Aw but why?” He sat up.

“Uh, I need to get dressed?” I twisted my body, making the towel around me move a bit.

A smirk crossed his face. “No you don’t.”

“No!” I scoffed. “Out!”

“No!” Oli spoke in a high pitched voice.

“Don’t mock me mister.”

“Don’t mock me mister,” he squeaked.

I lunged toward him, holding on to my towel with one hand. He scooted back as fast as he could, but not fast enough. I grabbed his ankle and dragged him toward me. He reeked of alcohol.

“Have you been drinking?” The question was automatic.

“Maybe.” He made a long face and attempted to hide his bottle behind his back.

“Give me that.” I snatched the bottle before he could get away. It was a large bottle of tequila, almost gone. It had been a gift from a friend who moved away about a month before. “You got into my alcohol cabinet?” It was more of a rhetorical question.

“Possibly…” He answered anyways.

“What is wrong with you? You can’t just drink people’s stuff like that!”

“You said we could! You said we couldn’t eat everything! So we drank!”

“Oh my god.” I rubbed the back of my head, holding my towel and bottle with one hand. “This wasn’t even opened yet. Did you drink all this by yourself?”

“If I said yes…” he rolled around and jumped off the bed. “ Would I be in trouble?”

I thought for a moment. “You sure as hell would be drunk. Should I be mad at you? Did you do something else?”

A flash of guilt ran through his features. “Maybe.”

I scoffed again. “Get out Oliver.”

“Sorry!” he ran for the door and quickly shut it behind him.

I laughed to myself as I threw on a pair of jeans and a tshirt. I tossed my towels in the hamper and flicked off the lights, walking out of the room. The moment I stepped out into the hall, a scent of burnt popcorn attacked my senses. My eyes burning and nose stinging, I walked into the living room.

The four guys, Oliver, Matty, Curtis and Lee, in that order, were strewn about the couch. The microwave was going, with a bag of popcorn in there, burning.

“Can’t you guys smell that?”

They all jumped and yelped, causing me to giggle a bit.

“Yeah, we do.” Lee said with his eyes closed.

“Reminds me us we of, ah, burning houses.” Curtis smiled lazily.

“So you guys are going to burn my microwave down…?” I was already a bit impatient.

“Oh dear you no. Just the bag!” Oli slurred, turning onto his stomach.

“Are you seriously all drunk?” I asked, now observing the several empty bottles on the floor and table.

“What gave you that idea?” Matty tried to stand up, but failed miserably.

“Uh, well the bottles for starters. . .” I trailed off.

“Rubbish!” Oli screamed into a pillow, “That is a state of being! We are not being we are thinking! Experiencing! We are not drunk!”

“We are totally different now! State of mind! Fuck!” Curtis threw himself back on the couch.

“That’s funny,” I fake laughed, “You guys probably can’t even think when you’re like that.”

“What are you talking about?” Lee’s words were slurred.

“Yeah!” Oli finally turned over. “It’s so much more easier to think more straighter when the room… spins.” He sighed the last word.

“The room only spins because you can’t think straight.” I tapped my head in attempt to explain. “You guys really shouldn’t be drinking so early in the day.”

I glanced at the clock hanging on a wall to my right. 2:16. So it really wasn’t that early. I hoped they wouldn’t notice.

“Why don’t you stop th-thinking so damn straight and have a drink? Your logic is k-killing me.”
Oli put his hand over his face, dragging it down. All of a sudden, he smiled and stood up. He lightly placed his prized bottle on the table. Slowly, he backed away, his hands in front of him, as if it might fall any minute. Lee stuck his foot out behind Oli, and he stumbled backwards onto the couch. The boys roared with drunken laughter.

‘Poor lad,’ I thought.

“Okay, you know what guys?”

They all perked up.

“Put the bottles in the bin next to the sink and go get in the car! We’re going back over to Kylie’s.”

They cheered and attempted to get up. It took a few tries, but they were finally up and going. And once again, we were all in the car on our way to Kylie’s house.