These Days

Kayla rolled over and checked the clock. It was six in the evening, a perfectly good time for her to get dressed and leave. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and went to stand. A pair of hands shot out and grabbed her waist, knocking her back to the bed.

“Ugh, Tyler,” Kayla groaned. “I have to go home and get ready for work. I’ve got the early shift tonight. I have to go in like ten minutes.”

“C’mon Kayla, what could we do in five minutes?” He asked suggestively, kissing her naked shoulder blade.

“Tyler,” Kayla moaned. She couldn’t pass up the sex, it was just too good. Tyler pushed her down on the bed and climbed on top of her. Kayla shook her head and flipped their positions. She’d be on top this time. She was alpha-dog. Tyler leaned over to his beside drawer to pull out a condom but Kayla grabbed his hand. Of course she was on birth control.

She slipped him inside of her and laid her palms on his chest. It was a rhythm and they worked well together. It was a solid Bing, Bing, bang, bang, bang, BOOM! It wasn’t her favorite, she was more of a salsa type “dancer” with a lot of grind and swish and Tyler liked rock-n-roll it seemed.

Tyler was into it, it read on his face. He looked so full of passion, so in the moment. Kayla thought it was…cute. Tyler was overall…cute. He looked like the boy next door. Almost literally, too, he looked like Kayla’s old neighbor in Montana Evan, whom she’d always had a crush on and eventually dated. She let herself get absorbed into it and in a few minutes they both came.

“Alright, I have to go to work,” Kayla said rolling off of Tyler.

“No! Don’t!” Tyler moaned, “Stay with me.”

“I have bills to pay and people to see…” Kayla pulled on her bra and top and began looking around the room for her underpants. “I had a pink thong,” Kayla spun in a circle.

“Lamp.” Tyler pointed to the lamp across the room. Kayla’s eyebrows shot up but she walked over and grabbed it, slipping it on. Her pants were slung over the chair and she pulled those on too. “Want me to come by the bar? Keep you company?” Tyler asked. Kayla shook her head.

“No, it’s alright. It’s a Thursday so there will be, like, a crowd.” Kayla put her hair up in a pony tail. “I’ll like text you later or something, okay?” Kayla smiled at Tyler from across the room and then left. She grabbed her coat on the way out and got into her car. Tyler was a great fuck. But he was getting clingy, and she didn’t like that.

She drove home; it was only a 15 minute drive. She took a shower. She put on her second face of makeup and then drove to the bar. She bartended at a sports bar five nights a week. She made more money in tips in one night than her sister did for working in an office for a day. It also helped that she wore push-up bras and red lipstick and men were the most common patrons.

Getting out of her car that night she saw someone with their iPhone out checking the GPS. Evan Frick. Now he was a salsa song, alright.

“Evan, what are you doing in Pittsburgh?” She called out, slamming the door of her Honda and sashaying over to him.

“Job interview. Don’t think I want it all that much now though,” Evan said, looking up from his iPhone. He took in her appearance and raised an eyebrow. “You’re pretty far away from Frenchtown Montana yourself, Kayla. What brings you here?”

“I needed a change.” Kayla shrugged. “Do you want to come in for a drink? I’m bartending.” Kayla smiled. After a moment Evan smiled too.

“Alright.” But Evan’s smile was at the prospect of a nice cold beer, unlike Tyler’s out in the suburbs, who was smiling at the thought of more sex with Kayla. And it didn’t help Kris Letang at all.

“Could you not bang the wall during sex? We share it. Be considerate.” Kris said. “I mean, you didn’t just break up with the love of your life.” Kris’s glare softened at those words. So did his voice was he said, “I just, I can’t believe she broke up with me.”

Tyler rubbed his shirtless stomach and patted Kris’s shoulder. “You’ll be fine man. Lighten up. It’s for the best, she was crazy.”

“She broke up with me over the phone, how am I ever going to get closure? I’ll always be in love with her.” Kris was staring into space and Tyler shook his head. He pulled out a water bottle from the fridge and took a sip.

“Kris, again, she was fucking crazy. Every time you cousin Claire, -your cousin- sent you a text message she flipped the fuck out and would delete it, or send like thirty back saying that Claire wasn’t allowed to text you ever again. Your cousin.” Tyler squeezed Kris’s shoulder on his way out of the kitchen.

Kris sat at the table. He put his face in his hands. The love of his life had left him. He was high and dry and by himself now. Except for Tyler, his roommate. But Tyler wasn’t someone he could call at three in the morning just because he felt like looking at the moon at the same time as someone. Hell, if Tyler knew that, if anyone knew for that matter, he’d be fucked. He prayed she wouldn’t tell anyone.

Kris wasn’t romantic. But he had a tendency towards romance, and that part of him is what hurt the most. He was shocked, he was in disbelief. He was experiencing the first stage of grief.