Bite Your Tongue

9:10 P.M.
Brian;;

Fuck my life.

I had managed to slip out of the house without anyone noticing me, but I knew sooner or later they’d come looking. Which was why I was walking around aimlessly, trying to clear my head.

I couldn’t recall ever having felt worse than I did at that moment. Zoe didn’t trust me at all, though, now that I thought about it, she did kind of have a reason not to. Korinne probably hated me—I still couldn’t forget the look on her face after I’d gotten frustrated with her. I wished I could take it back. I hadn’t meant to be so harsh, but it had just happened. I really, really wanted her to talk, and I guess the stress of the evening was getting to me.

The most puzzling thing of all was what Zoe had said.

“Don’t be an idiot, Brian! I’ve seen the way she looks at you, like she’s plotting the best way to push me off a cliff so she can step in and have you all to herself!”

I couldn’t stop thinking about that. And no matter how hard I tried to pretend that it didn’t affect me, it did. I wanted Korinne to look at me differently. I liked hearing that she did. But I shouldn’t have, because I was supposed to be with Zoe. Right? I wasn’t even sure of that anymore. I was a bit shocked when Zoe said she wanted to take a break, but also a bit disappointed that she hadn’t just broken up with me completely. I felt like I was only with her out of obligation—to what, I didn’t know—but it didn’t feel right. And honestly, the thought of getting back with her made me feel kind of trapped.

I sighed and kicked a rock with the tip of my shoe. I knew I should probably go back to Stevie’s, since it was getting dark and everyone would start worrying, but I knew that the second I returned, they’d be all over me with questions. And right now, I just wanted to sit and be silent. I didn’t want to talk to anyone, but I didn’t necessarily want to be alone either. I wanted…well, I wanted Korinne. I loved how I could always tell she was listening, even though she didn’t talk, and how I felt like I could tell her anything.

Except in this situation, she probably wouldn’t be the best person to talk to. I didn’t know how she would react. I didn’t know how she would react if I told her everything that had gone on in my head over the past few weeks, everything about how on edge I felt when I was around her.

I can’t talk to her, I thought. Because…shit. I think I’m falling for her.

+++

9:16 P.M.
Korinne;;

“Where’d he go?” Stevie asked, poking her head into the guest room. I shrugged and followed her back downstairs.

Zacky had just turned up the volume on the TV so The Ring Two could be heard more clearly. He saw Stevie and me in the doorway, though, and looked troubled.

“Is Brian still up there?”

“No, he just left,” Stevie said.

Zacky rolled his eyes and sighed. “I’d better go see if I can find him. He shouldn’t be wandering around on his own when he’s in one of his moods.”

“Do you want us to pause the movie?”

“No!” shouted Matt, looking fearfully at the TV. “Don’t open the body bag!”

“It’s fine. Besides, Matt seems to be enjoying this,” Zacky said with a laugh. He got up off of the couch and disappeared into the hallway—to get his jacket, I guessed. I hovered by the door. I wanted to go with him to help find Brian, but I knew Zacky would read too much into it. But Brian had looked so miserable when he left, and I hated thinking of him just walking around by himself, being slowly eaten alive from the inside out by his own bad mood. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling—I was practically an expert on that.

Zacky returned a minute later with a navy blue coat.

“I’ll be back, guys,” he called. A few muffled grunts were called back in response. He opened the front door and stepped outside, leaving the door to swing shut behind him. I caught it before it could close, though, and the absence of sound made Zacky turn around.

“Where are you going?” he asked, confused. I shut the door and walked over to stand next to him. He raised both eyebrows and smirked slightly at me.

“I take it you want to help me?”

I nodded. Zacky’s smirk widened. “All right then.”

And then we were off. We walked for a few minutes, seeing nothing but a few stray cats and some cars driving by. It was dark enough that a flashlight would have been necessary if the streetlights didn’t exist.

“Are you sure you don’t like Brian?” Zacky asked suddenly.

No.

I nodded. Zacky stopped walking and turned to face me. “Are you really, really sure?”

Absolutely not.

Another nod. Zacky didn’t look convinced, but thankfully, he let it go.

“I think if we split up we might find him more quickly. He can’t have gone far,” he said. I nodded in agreement.

“Don’t worry. This area is mostly residential, so you won’t have to deal with any nighttime prowlers. We’ll meet back here in twenty minutes if we don’t find him.”

Oh, thanks, Zacky. Now the only thing I’m going to be able to focus on will be those lovely nighttime prowlers you just mentioned.

We went our separate ways, Zacky heading farther down the street from Stevie’s house, while I went in the other direction. I was kind of freaked to be out here by myself, but at the same time I didn’t want Zacky to be there if I found Brian. I knew he would somehow pick up on the fact that I liked him, if he hadn’t already.

I walked for about ten more minutes without seeing anything or anyone, except for a small blur I think might have been a raccoon that scared the shit out of me. I was getting ready to give up and head back to where I was supposed to meet Zacky when I spotted a tall figure walking up ahead. And as stalkerlike as it sounded, I could tell it was Brian from the way he walked.

That’s creepy.

Shut up.

I kept following him to see where he was going, hoping he would just turn around and decide to go back to Stevie’s house so I wouldn’t have to chase him around the neighborhood. He was walking ridiculously fast, too, and I was getting kind of tired.

The loud squeal of tires from somewhere in the distance made me turn around. A car was zooming down the road, its headlights just starting to be more and more visible. From what I could tell, they were speeding. And even though the car was still a good bit down the road, I could hear the ridiculously noisy music blasting from obviously open windows. I rolled my eyes.

Stupid idiots. Have fun dying in a fiery explosion.

I focused back on Brian in time too see him reach into his pocket. He pulled out a small square and at the same time, a piece of paper that must have been caught somehow flew away and landed in the middle of the road. Brian flipped open the square—which I now realized was his cell phone—and looked at its glowing screen for a moment. Then he seemed to notice the paper. It must have been pretty important, because he stepped off of the sidewalk to go get it.

An inescapable feeling of dread fell over me suddenly, and the world seemed to slow down as two things became very clear to me—one, that Brian was standing directly in the middle of the street, and two, that the car behind me had no intention of stopping. I felt the breeze ruffle my hair as the car flew past me, blasting what sounded like a 50 Cent song. And Brian still hadn’t returned to the sidewalk.

What is he doing? Does he not see the car?

I walked faster as I became aware that Brian didn’t see the car, wouldn’t until it was too late, and that if I didn’t want him to die, I was going to have to do something. The car still wasn’t slowing down, and he still wasn’t moving. And before I even thought it over fully, I was running.

I ran faster than I ever had in my life, driven by the fear that I wouldn’t get there in time; that basically the sole reason for my continued existence would cease to be. The seconds ticked by and without warning, I felt the same pressure that had occurred when I tried to talk earlier take over my body once again. It was back with a vengeance, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist it this time. I had to…I needed to…

“BRIAN!”

The words exploded from my mouth in the form of a scream. Brian looked up to see where the noise had come from, and he saw me hurtling towards him. Then his eyes flickered to the car that was dangerously close to him, close enough for the headlights to illuminate his perfect face frozen into a mask of fear.

Somehow, with a last burst of energy, I propelled myself forward and yanked on his arm, sending us both tumbling sideways, but out of harm’s way, as the cars sped past us and screeched around the corner. I felt my head hit the pavement, hard, as Brian fell on top of me, and then there was a shooting pain in my arm, but I didn’t mind. He was okay. Brian was okay.

“Shit! Korinne, are you okay?” Brian asked frantically. He moved so he wasn’t crushing me with his weight and looked me over for signs of damage.

“I’m fine, except for the fact that I just saved your sorry ass from getting run over!” I snapped. “What the fuck were you thinking? Do you just go merrily leaping into the path of oncoming cars on a regular basis? Are you insane?”

Brian stared at me for a second with what I guessed was shock, before smiling a smile that would have made me giddy if I hadn’t been so irritated with him.

“Why the hell are you smiling at me?” I shoved him with my non-injured arm. “Idiot! I’m yelling at you!”

“Yeah…you’re yelling at me,” he said, looking happier than I’d ever seen him.

What the fuck?

“Why are you so damn happy? You do realize that you just nearly got run over, right?”

“Korinne…you talked,” he said dramatically. I just looked at him.

“I did?”

Brian nodded slowly, probably now thinking I was crazy.

Oh. The scratchiness in my throat hadn’t fully registered with me, nor had the sound of my voice.

“But are you okay?” he asked, concern showing all over his face.

“I’m fine,” I said, though my arm kind of hurt and things were getting a bit fuzzy and I could feel something dripping down the side of my face. Brian’s eyes widened.

“You’re bleeding.”

“I am?” I reached up to touch my head and cried out as pain shot through my arm.

“Korinne?”

Wow, he sounds so far away.

“Korinne!”

And then, the last thing I saw before the darkness fully dominated my vision was Brian’s worried face as he called my name.

+++

9:45 P.M.
Brian;;

My mind was reeling. I felt like I was going into shock, even though I wasn’t the one who had hit their head on the ground.

She talked. She talked. Korinne had talked, actually spoken to me like I’d wanted her to. I couldn’t wrap my brain around it. But for the moment, there were more pressing matters to attend to.

I quickly grabbed my phone and called 911. I didn’t want to take any chances—it looked like Korinne had hit her head pretty hard, since it was bleeding and all. I gave the woman on the phone the name of the street we were on, and then I hung up and called Zacky, who said he would be there in a minute or two.

I checked to make sure that Korinne was breathing—that was the only thing I could remember from the first aid unit we’d done in 9th grade Health class—and was relieved to find that she was. Now all I had to do was wait for the ambulance.

Zacky showed up a minute later, talking hurriedly into his phone.

“I called Stevie,” he said. “She said she’s on her way, too.”

“Of course,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“So what happened?” Zacky asked. “I saw that car you mentioned on the phone—and damn, they were going fast. They’re probably dead by now.”

I looked at Korinne, who, despite being unconscious, still managed to look absolutely gorgeous. “She saved my life, Zacky,” I said honestly.

“What? How--”

“I would have gotten hit by that car if she hadn’t pulled me out of the way. It’s a good thing she was there.”

“Woah. That’s…that’s pretty intense, man,” Zacky said, stunned.

“Yeah.”

The ambulance arrived a few minutes later. They placed Korinne on a gurney and loaded her into the back of the truck while I told one of the EMT’s what had happened.

“Would you like to ride along with us?” he asked.

“Sure,” I replied. I climbed into the ambulance and squeezed myself into a spot right as another car pulled up nearby. I heard someone shouting and groaned when I saw Stevie marching angrily towards the ambulance.

“Miss, you can’t go in there! There’s not enough room,” the man said. Stevie glared at him.

“That’s one of my best friends in there! I will windmill kick you in the face!”

“Stevie! You can’t threaten a medical professional,” I said.

“Watch me,” she snapped.

The man threw up his hands in surrender and stood back so Stevie could get inside.

“Just don’t get in the way, miss,” he said, before joining us in the back of the car and shutting the doors.

“Stupid asshole,” Stevie mumbled under her breath. “Move over,” she said to me.

“What?”

“Move over, Brian. I don’t have any room.”

“Well, me neither!”

“Listen, either you move over or I sit on you. It’s your choice.”

I envisioned rolling my eyes as I moved over a bit, giving Stevie the chance to settle into a seat. I couldn’t help but feel annoying—I kind of wanted to be the only one to ride to the hospital with Korinne.

But there’s not really much I can do about that now, is there? I thought as I sat back for what was sure to be an interesting trip.