Friends With Benefits

After clearing the air with Will, I walked the three blocks to Fletch’s house. His mother informed me he hadn’t come home, but she promised to tell him to call me when he did come back. I knew Fletch was probably driving around aimlessly to calm himself down. I sent him a couple of texts and left him some voice mails, asking for him to talk to me, message me, or call me whenever he got a chance so I could explain what had happened. I stayed up until eleven o’clock that night but didn’t receive a single response from Fletch. Tired, I decided to go to bed, hoping Fletch would take a night to sleep on what had happened, calm down, and that things would be back to normal in the morning.

When the morning rolled around, however, Fletch didn’t come to pick me up for school. Will had already left and I ended up giving a last minute call to Eric. I reached school after an torturous ride in the backseat with Chuck Fink, who wanted to tell me all of the racist jokes he knew. We pulled into the parking lot just as Fletch was getting out of his car. I chased him down, but he ducked into the crowd of students to avoid me. I had hoped he wasn’t mad any more, but he seemed to be even more furious than when I had last seen him.

Seeing how odd things now where between us, Sara demanded a full explanation of what was going on in first period. I explained to her what had happened, not able to completely prevent myself from crying. Rather than the expected “I told you so” lecture, Sara was kind and comforting. She assured me Fletch just needed time to calm down and that he needed a little space. However, Sara said she would try to help me talk to him and get him back in any way she could if Fletch didn’t come to his senses in a reasonable amount of time. What seemed a reasonable amount of time to everyone else was an inordinate one to me since every minute Fletch was furious with me ticked by more slowly than the last.

I waited through Monday and Tuesday, hoping it would be enough time for him to come around and let me tell him the real story. However, Fletch only seemed to grow more distant and hate me more the more time and space I gave him. By the time lunch rolled around Wednesday, I was desperate. I had tried giving Fletch space, but it wasn’t working. I had implored Will to explain things to Fletch several times, but Fletch brushed him off with the same fierce sneer. Sara hadn’t been able to get through to him either and he hadn’t listened to Eric. I even went to Chuck as a last resort, but Chuck only emerged a matter of minutes later with a bloody nose from where Fletch had punched him as thanks for his interference. Finally, I was able to corner him right outside the cafeteria before lunch was due to begin. He had no way around me and I knew this meant I could have time to talk to him about what happened.

“Go away, Aileen,” Fletch hissed at me as soon as he saw he didn’t have a way around me.

“Fletch, we need to talk…” I began.

“I don’t care what you have to say,” Fletch glowered.

“Please, just listen to me,” I begged. “You don’t know what happened. You just walked in and…”

“I think I saw enough to know what was going on,” Fletch snorted.

“But you didn’t!” I protested. “What happened between Will and I…”

“Was just what you’ve always wanted?” Fletcher growled.

“No,” I insisted, shaking my head.

“Oh, give it up Aileen,” Fletch snorted. “You always wanted Will. You always felt the two of you were destined to be together…”

“Fletch,” I tried.

“Honestly, the fault is mine. I shouldn’t have been so gullible,” Fletch snorted. “I should have known you would drop me like a hot potato the first time Will took an interest in you…”

“I don’t want Will!” I protested.

“What? You want both of us now?” Fletch snorted. “One dumb asshole stroking your ego isn’t enough? That’s all I was to you, you know? I was just a convenient placeholder…”

“Fletch, please, listen to me,” I begged him. “I don’t care about Will. It’s you. It’s always been you. What happened with Will was… an accident. I don’t care for him. I don’t… I don’t love him, not the way I love you…”

“I don’t want to hear it,” Fletch hissed at me. "I didn't want to hear this bullshit from Will and I definitely don't want to hear it from you!"

“He was just upset… his parents are thinking about moving,” I begged. “He wasn’t in his right state of mind… I want to take it back. I wish I could take it all back…”

“I can’t believe you, Aileen,” Fletch spat at me. “You’re pathetic.”

“Please,” I said, not able to bite back the tears, “Please… you have to believe me… You have to know I didn’t want this… You have to know… I love you…”

“The only thing I know is that you, Aileen Iverson, are the biggest slut on the face of the earth,” Fletch yelled at me. “And I hate you. I hate you with every fiber of my being.”

“Fletch…” I said in a barely audible whisper.

“Just leave me alone,” Fletch demanded. “I never want to see you or talk to you or hear you or even acknowledge your existence. I just want you to disappear. Permanently.”

“Fletch… please…” I begged.

“Get away from me,” Fletch growled, shoving me aside roughly and then walking off. I turned around just to notice most of the student body staring at us.

Not only had Fletch just completely broken my heart in two, but he had called me a slut and told me he hated me in front of everyone we went to school with. It was too much to handle all at once. Between being denounced by the guy I was in love with and being completely humiliated in public, it was all I could do to retreat to the girls’ bathroom and lock myself in one of the stalls. I would have been content not only sitting in the stall and crying for the rest of lunch but remaining in there for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, Sara showed up and knocked on the door. After telling her to go away a few times, she used some of the tricks she had picked up from Eric to force the door open.

“Oh, Lenny,” Sara sighed after forcing her way into the bathroom stall. She wrapped me in a tight hug, but that wasn’t enough to quell my aching sobs. “It’s going to be okay…”

“No it’s not,” I sobbed into her shoulder. “You heard him. The whole school heard him! He hates me and he doesn’t want anything to do with me!”

“He’s just upset,” Sara reasoned. “He’ll come around once he gets all of the anger out of his system.”

“No he won’t,” I insisted. “He would have come around already. He’s done with me. He doesn’t want me any more…”

“It’s going to be fine,” Sara tried to reassure me.

“Nothing’s ever going to be fine ever again!” I shouted at her. Sara sighed, picked me up and took me to the office where my mother was called to take me home. Sara tried to make up an excuse that I was sick, but the school nurse saw through that. However, she did let me off for the rest of the day due to “severe emotional exhaustion.”

“Everyone needs a personal day, dearie,” she said to me sweetly before my mother came.

Normally, I don’t consider my mother particularly observant, but she seemed to know exactly what to do. When I refused to talk about what had me so upset, she didn’t press the matter. Instead, she took me to the store where she bought my favorite flavor of ice cream and all of my favorite junk foods. She then went to the video store and rented all of the movies I really like. After taking me home, she allowed me to veg out in front of the TV, wallowing in my own misery.

About thirty minutes after school was supposed to let out, our front doorbell rang. I went to answer it, thinking it was Sara coming to support or comfort me in my time of need. I opened the door and was shocked to find Kristy Murphy standing there, her backpack still slung over her shoulder. I knew her bus stop was a good two blocks away from our house and she really didn’t have an excuse for dropping by. I was momentarily afraid, worried that she had heard via Fletch what had happened and was now here to blast me for ruining her brother’s happiness.

“Hey,” Kristy said quietly.

“Hi,” I said back meekly. We were both quiet for a moment. “Do you want to come in?”

“No,” Kristy shook her head. “I just wanted to tell you… that you shouldn’t worry. My brother will pull his head out of his ass soon enough…”

“What?” I balked. I knew Kristy learned a thing or two from her older brother, but it was a little hard to stomach the precocious little girl I had watched grow up cussing in front of me.

“I know he’s being stupid,” Kristy said. “I know you don’t like Will. I mean, I’m not an idiot. I know why you and Fletch were always trying to spend time ‘alone’ and why you’d always be flushed and bothered when we’d come home early or walk into the room without knocking. You two like each other. I guess you two love each other.”

“He told me he hates me, Kris,” I shook my head. “He told me he wouldn’t care if I disappeared off the face of the earth.”

“He’s mad. You of all people should know Fletch says the stupidest stuff when he’s mad,” Kristy assured me. “And he’ll come around. If I have to make him, he’ll come around.”

“What did Fletch tell you happened?” I ventured nervously.

“That Will kissed you, then you slapped him,” Kristy shrugged. “It’s obvious that’s not what you wanted. I think Fletch is really mad at Will, but he’s taking it out on you. Maybe it’s because he feels more in control of you and your emotions. He probably doesn’t think he can take on Will, so he’s trying to make you feel as bad as he does as if that will make him feel better.”

“Well, he’s completely succeeded in making me feel as bad as he does, if not worse,” I grumbled.

“He’s not happy either,” Kristy assured me. “He’s miserable. He just doesn’t realize the only way he can be happy again is if he apologizes and reconciles with you.”

“Why does he have to put me through all of this then?” I frowned.

“My amateur understanding of psychology is just that relationships in general are complicated,” Kristy shrugged. “But it’ll be worth the wait, I’m sure. However long it takes for the two of you to get back together will be worth it.”

“How did you get so wise even though you’re so young?” I sighed.

“I think I got all of the smart genes from our parents while Fletch got all of the genes that help him develop musical talent using various parts of his body,” Kristy shrugged. “Or maybe it’s just that girls mature faster than boys.”

“Thanks for coming over,” I smiled at her weakly.

“No problem,” Kristy shrugged. “Ill try and talk to Fletch too, though I don’t think he’ll listen.”

“Thanks,” I nodded. We said our goodbyes and I headed back to my pity-nest I had formed from blankets and pillows in front of the TV.

Sara did come over a little while later and made her best attempt to comfort me. After she left, I went to bed, not feeling hungry at all when supper rolled around, and curled up in my bed. I knew everything was my own fault and I blamed myself for everything one hundred percent.