One More Time Left to Say Your Goodbyes

As I stood in the living room with Charlie, she had no idea what to say to me. I could have stood there all night and told her how good she looked, but I figured it wasn’t something she wanted to hear. Besides that, talking about fucking girls outside of Casey’s apartment was bad enough, but doing it inside? That was just cruel.

“Are the other guys coming?”

“You mean Ronnie?” I scoffed.

She turned away from me, not so much embarrassed that she’d asked but more so embarrassed because I was giving her such shit about it. She didn’t reply to me, so I took it as yes, she did mean Ronnie.

“He’s staying somewhere else.”

“Where at?”

“Some hotel. What’re you going to do, Charlie? Go find him and be so excited that you guys are once again together and you can be the fucked up best friends that you were before?”

“God damn, Max. Why are you being such a fucking asshole?”

He shrugged. “Being on tour does that to you I guess. Knowing that I can fuck any girl I want, knowing that if I wanted to piss all over some girl and she wouldn’t mind, kind of gives me this cocky attitude. I like knowing I’m the best looking guy in the fucking room.”

“I beg to differ.” Was her attempted argument.

“Right,” I shot back. “I forgot, you’re a much better looking dude than I am.”

“Oh, fucking good one Max. You’re so fucking funny.”

I ignored her, walking away. I went into the kitchen and pulled open the fridge, rummaging through it to find something to eat. I was fucking hungry and that plane food was bullshit. But, I changed my mind and closed the fridge, walking back out to the living room.

“Why don’t you go back in the kitchen and find something to eat?” Charlie snarled at me.

“Because, while I was over there. I was thinking.”

“Oh please. Fucking enlighten me on this topic.”

“If I’m hungry and I drink, I’ll get drunk faster and I’ll be drunk as fuck. Which will make fucking Casey that. Much. Better.” I said, tapping her on the nose after the last three words.

She shoved my hand away. “You’re fucking disgusting.”

“Oh come on, Charlie.” I grinned down at her, running my hand down the side of her face. “Admit it, you’d fuck me if I wasn’t dating Casey.”

“I wouldn’t fuck you for shit.”

I ran my fingers across her mouth. “Come on Char,” I said, pronouncing her name the way it was intended to be pronounced. “You’re fucking wet. Admit it.”

“Don’t fucking touch me!” She yelled loudly, shoving me away.

“I don’t remember us ever having angry sex,” I laughed, knocking her upside the head lightly. “But I’m sure we could try—”

She stood up suddenly and shoved me so hard, I stumbled backwards and fell onto the couch, knocking my head against the end table. She came at me so quickly, I didn’t even have time to move away from her. With her hand pressed against my neck and through gritted teeth, every word she said was a fleck of spit on my face.

“If you make one more fucking comment or if you fucking touch me again, I swear to God, I will fucking beat the shit out of you Max. And if you say a word to me about Casey, your fan base will slowly dwindle away into nothing.” She slammed my head against the arm rest of the couch. “Do you fucking understand me?”

“Oh you’re terrify--”

She slammed my head down again. “Do you. Fucking. Understand. Me?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

She pulled away from me and moved herself away from me. She turned the TV on and stared at it with a blank face. I felt like getting mad at her, like fucking yelling at her or something, but to me it seemed like there was something she was upset about. Maybe she wasn’t so much angry at me, but at something else and I had merely set her off to the point where she decided to let her anger out. But I decided to let it go. She obviously was not okay with me at the moment and I didn’t want to further piss her off anymore than I already had. We sat in silence and watched some informercials on TV until Casey came barging through the door, barely able to hold it open. I remained on the couch while Charlie jumped up to hold the door open for her. Casey made a small remark under her breath and then I heard his loud ass mouth.

“Char--”

“Oh shit!” I heard a loud thud and the alcohol crashing to the floor. I turned around quickly to see Casey with the door against her ankle and the alcohol on the ground next to her. I made sure none of the glass bottles had broken and then helped her up, examining her. Outside the door, I could hear a slightly hushed conversation and then the sound of flesh meeting t shirt.

I opened up the door all the way and Ronnie looked at me indifferently. He seemed excited to see Charlie again, but wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do about it. While Casey walked into the kitchen, I heard her murmur towards him.

“Seriously Ronnie, keep your fucking mouth shut. I will talk to you about this shit later.”

He nodded at her. “Okay Charlie.”

“Quit fuckin’ calling me Charlie. How are you supposed to even know my name? You’ve never met me before, dip shit.”

“Right, okay.”

“Everything all right in there?” Casey yelled from the kitchen.

Charlie first to reply, wanting to keep Ronnie from letting anything out. “Yeah, it’s fine. I’m sorry that I dropped the fucking door on you. This moron stepped on my foot.” She said, pointing to Ronnie with her thumb.

“Jesus Ronnie,” Casey laughed. “I bring you over here to cheer my friend up and you step on her foot.”

Ronnie laughed, closing the door behind him and coming close to Charlie’s side. “Guess I’m just a big fucking idiot, right?”

“Well, idiots aside. I got alcohol, so why don’t we get a little drunk and pass out?” Casey said loudly, seeming like she was already drunk.



I rolled over in Casey’s bed, my body stuck to the sheets. I reached over and grazed her exposed chest slightly to make sure she was asleep. There was neither a moan nor a protest, so I figured it was safe ground. I grabbed my clothes and dressed as adequately as I could, ready to go out into the living room and catch Ronnie curled up with Charlie. But as I made my way out there, all I could hear was them talking about something. I stopped short of being seen when I heard Charlie crying.

“And then we just got in this fucking fight over nothing and Alex grabbed my hand and he held it kind of tight,” she paused. “Like this. And then I left.”

I heard the couch shift slightly, as I guessed Ronnie had moved over to ‘comfort’ her. “Why do you put up with that shit, Charlie?”

“I don’t know. Same reason I put up with Max’s shit today.”

“What do you mean Max’s shit?”

“Nothing. He was just being a dick is all. You know how he is.”

“Did he try to sleep with you?”

I felt the room go quiet and I heard the shifting of the couch one more. I closed my eyes as I realized that I had been caught. The tension in the room was so fucking tight it could have been broken like stepping on a piece of plastic. But as I slowly opened them, I noticed they hadn’t seen me.

“Charlie. Did Max try to--?”

“No. No, he didn’t.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive,” she spoke quietly. “He loves Casey. Why would he try sleeping with me?”

Ronnie laughed loudly. I heard Cassie smack him lightly, laughing and trying to tell him to be quiet all at the same time.

“I have a question for you.” He finally said.

“Okay.”

“Are you fucking retarded?” He said, and then they both burst into fits of laughter. I heard Charlie cover her mouth as she started to snort slightly.

“What do you mean?” She asked once they had both stifled their giggling.

“I don’t know,” Ronnie said. “Max has just turned into a giant asshole. I’m not sure how long he’s been dating Casey, but she seems like a nice girl and he cheats on her constantly.”

“He cheats on her?”

“All the time. Every fucking night Charlie.”

“Fucking asshole.” I heard her say loudly. I saw as she tried to rise from the couch, but Ronnie must’ve grabbed her and pulled her down.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to tell her.”

“It won’t do any good. Max will still cheat on her and she won’t break up with him.”

“I don’t care. I’m still going to say something.”

As Charlie got up from the couch, I stood up. She shrieked loudly and covered her mouth with her hands. “Were you fucking listening to us?”

“Do not go in there and tell her.”

“Why not? She deserves to know, you asshole.”

“I’ll tell her about us. And I’ll tell her about Ronnie.”

“What about Ronnie?”

I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll tell her about us.”

She stared at me for a few minutes before shoving me hard. She shoved me again. And again. And again. Until Ronnie finally got a hold of her and held her down.

“You’re fucking crazy!” I yelled at her. “Your boyfriend fucking hits your stupid ass and that’s why you’re trying to fucking hit me and shit. Fucking freak.”

“Fuck you Max!” She screamed. “Fuck you!”

“Guess your life hasn’t changed. You’re still getting your stupid ass beat, huh? Must fucking deserve it if it keeps happening to you!”

“Fuck off you fucking asshole!” She screamed. I saw her body go slightly limp against Ronnie and she started to cry. “Fucking… Dick. Fucking…”

Her words trailed off as she folded herself into Ronnie’s chest and I heard Casey jump out of bed. She came out into the hallway, wearing the bed sheets as clothes, rubbing her still drunk face. “What the hell is going on out here? Charlie? Charlie, why are you crying?”

Ronnie rubbed the side of her head, mouthing the words. “I think she’s a bit drunk.” Towards Casey. But I knew full well that she wasn’t drunk. I knew that before I came out to listen to their conversation, because Charlie didn’t drink. He folded his hands together and put them under his head to signify that he was going to go lay her down. I shook my head in disgust at him. Of course he’s going to walk away with Charlie again, fucking asshole.

“Come on Max.” Casey yawned. “Let’s go back to bed.”

And so I followed her back to the bedroom. I wasn’t sure it if was my half of a boner that wanted to follow her, or the fact that if I listened to Charlie crying in the other room and Ronnie trying to comfort her, I might fucking lose it. Nonetheless, I followed her back to bed.

And in between her heavy breathing and my grunts the vents were full of Ronnie talking softly to Charlie and her spitting back at him with tears in her voice. And somehow, that was louder than anything else in the entire fucking room.