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San Francisco, Lovely
SCENE FOUR.
A/N: First, you fantastic readers get this chapter a day early. Second, this chapter is not the St. Patrick’s Day one. I had to switch around some ideas. Next chapter shall be that one. Enjoy! (03/09/2011)
The Giant, Joey, crossed the living room floor for what must have been over thirty minutes or so. His one hand was rubbing his chin and his other rested behind his back. His brown eyes darted down at the floorboards as he muttered to himself.
“I mean, she is kind of cute. I wouldn’t say overly cute but—Okay, she’s fucking hot. It’s not like I’d ever go for her or would I? No! Most definitely not.”
Across the room, Darren sat on the black leather couch plucking a few chords on his guitar. He gazed up from his own tune and stared at his best friend who was wearing out the floor by walking back and forth over the same spot. So, he placed his guitar down and clapped his hands together.
“Um, Joey?” The curly haired one started. “Do you I need to enrol you into therapy or something?”
“Therapy costs money, money that we don’t have.”
“Okay... Then would you like to talk to me about something then?” Joey shook his head and continued his pacing and muttering. “Well if you do, I’ll be right over here, playing the guitar while you’re over there burying yourself in some problem that you don’t want to share with your best friend that’s been there for you through thick and thin. The person that knows you saw The Notebook five times in the theatres. The person that—“
“It’s the dwarf!” Joey cracked and groaned.
Darren smiled with triumph. “What about her?”
Joey staggered over to the loveseat in the corner and flopped down onto his stomach, his head buried in the pillows. “Everything is her fault!”
“I’m sorry; did she do something to you?”
“She came into my life, that’s what she did. She waltzed in here with her flowing gold hair and her gorgeous smile and brilliant eyes. Who does she think she is?! Pisses me off...”
The best friend raised his triangle-like eyebrow and a smirk started forming on his chapped lips. He folded his hands together and placed them on his knee. He leaned forward to Joey, “Does someone have a crush on Venna?”
“A crush?!” Joey shot up suddenly and stared at Darren incredulously. “A crush is a word used by elementary children when they don’t know what hormones are and think that they are in love with someone that has not gone through puberty. Therefore, I, Joseph Richter, do not have a crush on Ven—the Dwarf!”
He stood up and began to pace again around the room. Darren’s eyebrows were up to his hairline with a complete disbelieving expression.
“Just because she has aspects that could be identical to some Greek Goddess or this gives off this bright pink aura that she is capable of love and affection—“
“Joey.”
“That doesn’t mean anything! It doesn’t mean...” He trailed off as his eyes widened slightly. Darren watched as realization quickly slapped Joey across the face. “Oh hell to the fucking no! This cannot be happening...”
“Oh.” Darren snickered. “But it is.”
Joey began to smack the palm of his head against his forehead rapidly. “No, no, no, no, no! This is completely unacceptable!”
“Step One: You admit that you are powerless over this feeling—that your life has become unmanageable. The second step is that you have to come to believe that the power greater than—“
“This isn’t an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting! This is a National Crisis!”
“Yeah... I’m going to call a clinic for you.” Darren grabbed his phone; however, Joey slapped it out of his friend’s hand. “Okay, rude.” The Giant stepped back and closed his eyes. “I don’t see what the big deal is. So what if you like Venna?”
“We are enemies! There is a rule that clearly states that you should not be smittening with your sworn enemy! Giants and dwarfs just don’t go together.”
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“I’m being realistic!” Joey shouted. “Think about it Darren, what if you liked Sami? You two are enemies.”
“One, Sami and I are not enemies. I’m just Sherlock Holmes trying to unravel a mystery. And two, you just admitted that you like Venna.”
“Fuck...” Joey breathed out. Darren walked over and patted Joey on the shoulder with a sympathetic, yet satisfied, smile. “This is going to be dangerous, isn’t it?”
“Depends how you take the situation. You have to be willing to stop calling her a Dwarf and willing to be civil with her.”
“What am I suppose to say? Hey Dw-Venna, I was wondering if you wanted to grab some lunch?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“No! Every guy knows that you don’t tell a girl that you like her, it makes you look like an idiot.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know that we we’re five.” Darren started with a stern stare. “Look, you just have to man up and stop being so loose. Don’t you want to get married? Don’t you want to have a family? Don’t you—“
“SHH!” Joey shook his hands in front of Darren’s face. “Did you hear that?”
“Don’t even try to switch the subject, Joey.”
“Shut up!” He covered the other boy’s mouth just as a shout erupted followed by another. Both of their eyes shot down to the floor as another shout echoed. Joey removed his hand from Darren’s mouth just as Darren broke out into a sprint towards the Exit stairwell. The Giant was hot on his friend’s trail as the slid to a stop. Darren pushed the already cracked open door and stepped into with Joey right behind.
“Why are you being such a bitch about this?” Sami was the first one to yell.
Venna screamed back, “Uh, maybe because I don’t want you to die!”
“I’m not going to fucking die!”
“Then take the goddamn pills!” By this time, Joey and Darren were fully inside the apartment, standing in the dinner room. Venna had thrown the orange cylinder bottle at Sami’s chest. “You promised that that if we moved out here that you’d find help and take the pills.”
“I’ve been looking...”
“Clearly, not efficiently!” Venna sighed deeply and turned her body slightly. Her face was covered with a crimson shade and her brown eyes were filled with frustrated tears. She caught the figures of the males and turned fully.
“We heard shouting. So we just...” Was all that Joey could say.
But neither of the girls said anything. Instead, Venna grabbed her messenger bag and walked out the door. Joey looked from Darren to the pale Samaria, to the door then back at Darren. Without a single word, Darren just nodded and shortly after the Giant was bee lining it after Venna.
Darren’s eyes averted to Sami who slammed down the bottle onto the coffee table. She walked down the small hallway. “Sami!” Darren exclaimed, walking after her. “Sami, what happened?”
The room he followed her into was an amber-coloured lit room. Black and white photographs hung on the cloth lines that were draped across the room. There were pictures of the Bay Area and some of what seemed to be parts of New York. Darren’s eyes flickered towards Sami as she busied herself with moving a paper in a tub of what seemed to be chemicals.
He stood behind her, watching over her shoulder. The picture she produced was of a little girl with a balloon in her hand and an enough though the photo was black and white; the smile of the child seemed to glow.
“I like this one.” Darren pulled down a coloured picture. It was a scene of a lonely man sitting on a park bench. Although he was lonely he had a sparkle in his eyes that could light up the world. “He seems sad, almost as if he lost something.”
“It’s my grandfather. My grandmother had passed away a long time ago. I suppose he was walking down memory lane.”
Darren placed the photo back where he found it. “She was probably a wonderful woman.”
“I wouldn’t know. She died before I was born.” Sami spoke.
’Right through the very heart of it; New York, New York...’ Darren sang like a canary under his breath.
“What are you doing here?”
“It’s like Joey said, we heard shouting.”
“So you thought it was a good idea to burst into an apartment without permission? What did you think you’d be some kind of hero or something?”
Darren looked taken aback and stared blankly at the girl who had her arms cross tightly over her chest. He licked his lips, “Yes that’s what I thought I’d be: a hero.” His eyes rolled. “I wanted to make sure that you weren’t getting murdered.” Pause. “You and Venna.”
Sami didn’t respond to his honesty too quickly. “Venna and I got into a fight.”
“No, really.” The corners of the male’s lips curled up into a grin, and he chuckled. Sami’s lips twitched. “What are those pills for?” She stepped back slowly, her arms wrapped around her as a form of protection. “You can trust me.”
Somehow, Sami knew that she could trust him.
“They’re for my disorder. A few years back I was diagnosed with Cyclothymia, it’s a form of Bipolar Disorder. It’s not as serious but it’s still up there.” This time, Darren was really taken aback. “You don’t have to say the cliché speeches of you’re sorry and all that shit. I get it.”
“Why haven’t you been medicating yourself?”
Sami smirked playfully; her protective guard was easing quickly. “You’re just full of questions, aren’t you? I’m incredibly stubborn. Venna noticed that the bottle had been full for the past couple of days and asked my why. When I couldn’t come up with some excuse, she knew exactly what was going on. I’m a terrible liar to her anyways, she’s knows me better than I know myself.”
“She’s just trying to look out for you, Sami.” Darren sighed. “Don’t push her away.”
“I’m not! I swear, I’m already losing most of my mind. She keeps me ground.” The girl frowned. “Sometimes I don’t think she knows how much she means to me, you know. We don’t fight.”
“You two sound like an old married couple.”
“Shut up!” Sami laughed and smiled small.
“Is that why you left New York?” Darren approached the girl. Using his thumb he wiped away a few stray tears from the corner of her blues. Sami just looked down. “There’s more...?” She nodded. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want too. Just an honest man’s opinion, you shouldn’t risk your life if you have access to help. Take advantage of it.”
“I just don’t know if I trust you fully, yet.” She watched him with careful eyes as he flipped through a scrapbook.
He glanced at her, his eyes glistening, and pushed a strained of hair behind her ear. “I’ll wait a lifetime if it guarantees trust between us.”
“Hey! Slow down!” Joey chased after Venna down the bike path towards the ocean. “Please!” Venna stopped in mid step, standing like a statue. Joey nearly bumped into her. “Look, I know you’re upset—“
“Upset?” Venna laughed shallowly. “I’m furious!”
“Can I ask what happened?” Venna began walking again as Joey asked his question.
“You can ask but that doesn’t mean I will answer.” Joey sighed; he could see his breath from the cool night air in front of him. He followed the girl. “Why are you following me, Giant?”
“Um, maybe because you shouldn’t be walking around a city that you know at eleven o’clock at night?” He said with an obvious tone. “You could get raped.”
“That is what pepper spray is for.” She could sense that he rolled his eyes. “Just go...”
“No.”
Venna groaned and ran her fingers through her messy, windblown hair. They approached a bench but only the Dwarf was the one to sit on the cold metal bench. Her legs and arms were crossed. The ocean was only a few miles away; the waves were smashing against the rock barriers. Only a few feet away were a railing, Joey leaned against it facing Venna.
His stare was intense as she pretended to not notice. But it was starting to piss her off. “Would you cut it out? God, you’re so... so... Ugh.”
“Ugh, huh, that’s a new one.” Joey clicked his tongue and rubbed his chin as if he were in a deep thought. “So what’s your favourite sport?”
“What?”
“I said, what’s your favourite sport?”
“Soccer. Why?”
He shrugged, crossing one foot over the other. “Just asking. What’s your favourite number?”
“Four...”
“Awesome.”
Silence.
Venna crossed her legs on the bench tilting her head to the side. “You’re awkward.”
“I hear it’s a bad trait to have.”
She shrugged. “It’s alright, I don’t mind it. It means that a person has character.”
“So, it’s a good thing...”
“It means you don’t think of sex every minute of the day.”
Joey made an ‘o’ shape with his mouth and nodded. Stepping forward, he walked towards the bench and decided to occupy the empty space to the right of Venna. From the corner of his eye, he noticed the girl shriving but trying to make it not obvious. He shrugged off his zip up hoodie and handed it to her.
“Here.”
Venna pushed the sweater away. “I don’t want your disgusting Giant germs on me.”
“Look, I’m just trying to be friendly. If you didn’t notice, we got off on the wrong foot. I judged you.”
The girl started to clap. “Wow, you’re on a roll tonight, aren’t you? First you’re looking out for me because you don’t want me to get raped and now you’re apologizing for judging a book by its cover. Congratu-fucking-lations. You should win a prize or something.”
“I don’t need your attitude.” Joey’s eyes narrowed at her, placing his sweater around her shoulders. “Or your sarcasm. I don’t understand why when I attempt to be civil with a girl they always end up being so goddamn bitchy. Like, sor-ry, I was just trying to be a gentleman of some sort.”
Venna frowned to herself and stared down at the palms of her hands. She understood that he was trying, which she thought was odd, but whatever.
“So Darren told me that the pub down the street does this big bash for St. Patrick’s Day, I hear it gets pretty rowdy.”
“Guaranteed someone goes to the hospital, a fight happens and there’s always that one girl that dances on the bar.” Venna raised her eyebrow. “Last year, my stomach had to get pumped, it was terrible. You’d think I’d be cautious now.”
“Obviously you’re not. From what Sami told me, you were pretty wasted.”
“And from what Darren told me, you were as well.” He chuckled and blinked. “Funny, the only thing I remember is that I kissed this girl, a few times. Of course it was a drunk kiss but it felt real. Has that ever happened to you?”
Venna furrowed her eyebrows together as flashes from the first night whizzed through her mind. It was all a blur but the scenes were starting to be clear the longer she thought about them. The one memory flashed to her standing in the middle of the living room amongst a sweaty, drunk crowd. Someone had approached her with yet another shot, she remember the taste of it being Jägermeister. They’re conversation dragged on. The image of the other was blurred but the person was taller and had a crooked smile.
“What’s your name?”
“Venna.”
“Ah, that’s Greek for Beautiful Butterfly.” The person said/
“Oh, I’m sure. What’s yours?”
“Joseph, but everyone calls me...
“Joey.” Venna gasped and her eyes widened. Joey turned to her. “Oh my God.”
“Are you okay?”
“I gotta go... apologize to Sami.” Venna quickly got up and handed back Joey’s sweater. “Um, thanks for the talk. Bye.”
Venna started to walk quickly back to the building. Joey rose from his seat with confusion in his brown eyes. “Venna!”
Little did Joey know that he wasn’t the only one that suddenly got squirted. Whether his feelings were real or not, he knew that being civil made him look like an idiot.
The Giant, Joey, crossed the living room floor for what must have been over thirty minutes or so. His one hand was rubbing his chin and his other rested behind his back. His brown eyes darted down at the floorboards as he muttered to himself.
“I mean, she is kind of cute. I wouldn’t say overly cute but—Okay, she’s fucking hot. It’s not like I’d ever go for her or would I? No! Most definitely not.”
Across the room, Darren sat on the black leather couch plucking a few chords on his guitar. He gazed up from his own tune and stared at his best friend who was wearing out the floor by walking back and forth over the same spot. So, he placed his guitar down and clapped his hands together.
“Um, Joey?” The curly haired one started. “Do you I need to enrol you into therapy or something?”
“Therapy costs money, money that we don’t have.”
“Okay... Then would you like to talk to me about something then?” Joey shook his head and continued his pacing and muttering. “Well if you do, I’ll be right over here, playing the guitar while you’re over there burying yourself in some problem that you don’t want to share with your best friend that’s been there for you through thick and thin. The person that knows you saw The Notebook five times in the theatres. The person that—“
“It’s the dwarf!” Joey cracked and groaned.
Darren smiled with triumph. “What about her?”
Joey staggered over to the loveseat in the corner and flopped down onto his stomach, his head buried in the pillows. “Everything is her fault!”
“I’m sorry; did she do something to you?”
“She came into my life, that’s what she did. She waltzed in here with her flowing gold hair and her gorgeous smile and brilliant eyes. Who does she think she is?! Pisses me off...”
The best friend raised his triangle-like eyebrow and a smirk started forming on his chapped lips. He folded his hands together and placed them on his knee. He leaned forward to Joey, “Does someone have a crush on Venna?”
“A crush?!” Joey shot up suddenly and stared at Darren incredulously. “A crush is a word used by elementary children when they don’t know what hormones are and think that they are in love with someone that has not gone through puberty. Therefore, I, Joseph Richter, do not have a crush on Ven—the Dwarf!”
He stood up and began to pace again around the room. Darren’s eyebrows were up to his hairline with a complete disbelieving expression.
“Just because she has aspects that could be identical to some Greek Goddess or this gives off this bright pink aura that she is capable of love and affection—“
“Joey.”
“That doesn’t mean anything! It doesn’t mean...” He trailed off as his eyes widened slightly. Darren watched as realization quickly slapped Joey across the face. “Oh hell to the fucking no! This cannot be happening...”
“Oh.” Darren snickered. “But it is.”
Joey began to smack the palm of his head against his forehead rapidly. “No, no, no, no, no! This is completely unacceptable!”
“Step One: You admit that you are powerless over this feeling—that your life has become unmanageable. The second step is that you have to come to believe that the power greater than—“
“This isn’t an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting! This is a National Crisis!”
“Yeah... I’m going to call a clinic for you.” Darren grabbed his phone; however, Joey slapped it out of his friend’s hand. “Okay, rude.” The Giant stepped back and closed his eyes. “I don’t see what the big deal is. So what if you like Venna?”
“We are enemies! There is a rule that clearly states that you should not be smittening with your sworn enemy! Giants and dwarfs just don’t go together.”
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“I’m being realistic!” Joey shouted. “Think about it Darren, what if you liked Sami? You two are enemies.”
“One, Sami and I are not enemies. I’m just Sherlock Holmes trying to unravel a mystery. And two, you just admitted that you like Venna.”
“Fuck...” Joey breathed out. Darren walked over and patted Joey on the shoulder with a sympathetic, yet satisfied, smile. “This is going to be dangerous, isn’t it?”
“Depends how you take the situation. You have to be willing to stop calling her a Dwarf and willing to be civil with her.”
“What am I suppose to say? Hey Dw-Venna, I was wondering if you wanted to grab some lunch?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“No! Every guy knows that you don’t tell a girl that you like her, it makes you look like an idiot.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know that we we’re five.” Darren started with a stern stare. “Look, you just have to man up and stop being so loose. Don’t you want to get married? Don’t you want to have a family? Don’t you—“
“SHH!” Joey shook his hands in front of Darren’s face. “Did you hear that?”
“Don’t even try to switch the subject, Joey.”
“Shut up!” He covered the other boy’s mouth just as a shout erupted followed by another. Both of their eyes shot down to the floor as another shout echoed. Joey removed his hand from Darren’s mouth just as Darren broke out into a sprint towards the Exit stairwell. The Giant was hot on his friend’s trail as the slid to a stop. Darren pushed the already cracked open door and stepped into with Joey right behind.
“Why are you being such a bitch about this?” Sami was the first one to yell.
Venna screamed back, “Uh, maybe because I don’t want you to die!”
“I’m not going to fucking die!”
“Then take the goddamn pills!” By this time, Joey and Darren were fully inside the apartment, standing in the dinner room. Venna had thrown the orange cylinder bottle at Sami’s chest. “You promised that that if we moved out here that you’d find help and take the pills.”
“I’ve been looking...”
“Clearly, not efficiently!” Venna sighed deeply and turned her body slightly. Her face was covered with a crimson shade and her brown eyes were filled with frustrated tears. She caught the figures of the males and turned fully.
“We heard shouting. So we just...” Was all that Joey could say.
But neither of the girls said anything. Instead, Venna grabbed her messenger bag and walked out the door. Joey looked from Darren to the pale Samaria, to the door then back at Darren. Without a single word, Darren just nodded and shortly after the Giant was bee lining it after Venna.
Darren’s eyes averted to Sami who slammed down the bottle onto the coffee table. She walked down the small hallway. “Sami!” Darren exclaimed, walking after her. “Sami, what happened?”
The room he followed her into was an amber-coloured lit room. Black and white photographs hung on the cloth lines that were draped across the room. There were pictures of the Bay Area and some of what seemed to be parts of New York. Darren’s eyes flickered towards Sami as she busied herself with moving a paper in a tub of what seemed to be chemicals.
He stood behind her, watching over her shoulder. The picture she produced was of a little girl with a balloon in her hand and an enough though the photo was black and white; the smile of the child seemed to glow.
“I like this one.” Darren pulled down a coloured picture. It was a scene of a lonely man sitting on a park bench. Although he was lonely he had a sparkle in his eyes that could light up the world. “He seems sad, almost as if he lost something.”
“It’s my grandfather. My grandmother had passed away a long time ago. I suppose he was walking down memory lane.”
Darren placed the photo back where he found it. “She was probably a wonderful woman.”
“I wouldn’t know. She died before I was born.” Sami spoke.
’Right through the very heart of it; New York, New York...’ Darren sang like a canary under his breath.
“What are you doing here?”
“It’s like Joey said, we heard shouting.”
“So you thought it was a good idea to burst into an apartment without permission? What did you think you’d be some kind of hero or something?”
Darren looked taken aback and stared blankly at the girl who had her arms cross tightly over her chest. He licked his lips, “Yes that’s what I thought I’d be: a hero.” His eyes rolled. “I wanted to make sure that you weren’t getting murdered.” Pause. “You and Venna.”
Sami didn’t respond to his honesty too quickly. “Venna and I got into a fight.”
“No, really.” The corners of the male’s lips curled up into a grin, and he chuckled. Sami’s lips twitched. “What are those pills for?” She stepped back slowly, her arms wrapped around her as a form of protection. “You can trust me.”
Somehow, Sami knew that she could trust him.
“They’re for my disorder. A few years back I was diagnosed with Cyclothymia, it’s a form of Bipolar Disorder. It’s not as serious but it’s still up there.” This time, Darren was really taken aback. “You don’t have to say the cliché speeches of you’re sorry and all that shit. I get it.”
“Why haven’t you been medicating yourself?”
Sami smirked playfully; her protective guard was easing quickly. “You’re just full of questions, aren’t you? I’m incredibly stubborn. Venna noticed that the bottle had been full for the past couple of days and asked my why. When I couldn’t come up with some excuse, she knew exactly what was going on. I’m a terrible liar to her anyways, she’s knows me better than I know myself.”
“She’s just trying to look out for you, Sami.” Darren sighed. “Don’t push her away.”
“I’m not! I swear, I’m already losing most of my mind. She keeps me ground.” The girl frowned. “Sometimes I don’t think she knows how much she means to me, you know. We don’t fight.”
“You two sound like an old married couple.”
“Shut up!” Sami laughed and smiled small.
“Is that why you left New York?” Darren approached the girl. Using his thumb he wiped away a few stray tears from the corner of her blues. Sami just looked down. “There’s more...?” She nodded. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want too. Just an honest man’s opinion, you shouldn’t risk your life if you have access to help. Take advantage of it.”
“I just don’t know if I trust you fully, yet.” She watched him with careful eyes as he flipped through a scrapbook.
He glanced at her, his eyes glistening, and pushed a strained of hair behind her ear. “I’ll wait a lifetime if it guarantees trust between us.”
“Hey! Slow down!” Joey chased after Venna down the bike path towards the ocean. “Please!” Venna stopped in mid step, standing like a statue. Joey nearly bumped into her. “Look, I know you’re upset—“
“Upset?” Venna laughed shallowly. “I’m furious!”
“Can I ask what happened?” Venna began walking again as Joey asked his question.
“You can ask but that doesn’t mean I will answer.” Joey sighed; he could see his breath from the cool night air in front of him. He followed the girl. “Why are you following me, Giant?”
“Um, maybe because you shouldn’t be walking around a city that you know at eleven o’clock at night?” He said with an obvious tone. “You could get raped.”
“That is what pepper spray is for.” She could sense that he rolled his eyes. “Just go...”
“No.”
Venna groaned and ran her fingers through her messy, windblown hair. They approached a bench but only the Dwarf was the one to sit on the cold metal bench. Her legs and arms were crossed. The ocean was only a few miles away; the waves were smashing against the rock barriers. Only a few feet away were a railing, Joey leaned against it facing Venna.
His stare was intense as she pretended to not notice. But it was starting to piss her off. “Would you cut it out? God, you’re so... so... Ugh.”
“Ugh, huh, that’s a new one.” Joey clicked his tongue and rubbed his chin as if he were in a deep thought. “So what’s your favourite sport?”
“What?”
“I said, what’s your favourite sport?”
“Soccer. Why?”
He shrugged, crossing one foot over the other. “Just asking. What’s your favourite number?”
“Four...”
“Awesome.”
Silence.
Venna crossed her legs on the bench tilting her head to the side. “You’re awkward.”
“I hear it’s a bad trait to have.”
She shrugged. “It’s alright, I don’t mind it. It means that a person has character.”
“So, it’s a good thing...”
“It means you don’t think of sex every minute of the day.”
Joey made an ‘o’ shape with his mouth and nodded. Stepping forward, he walked towards the bench and decided to occupy the empty space to the right of Venna. From the corner of his eye, he noticed the girl shriving but trying to make it not obvious. He shrugged off his zip up hoodie and handed it to her.
“Here.”
Venna pushed the sweater away. “I don’t want your disgusting Giant germs on me.”
“Look, I’m just trying to be friendly. If you didn’t notice, we got off on the wrong foot. I judged you.”
The girl started to clap. “Wow, you’re on a roll tonight, aren’t you? First you’re looking out for me because you don’t want me to get raped and now you’re apologizing for judging a book by its cover. Congratu-fucking-lations. You should win a prize or something.”
“I don’t need your attitude.” Joey’s eyes narrowed at her, placing his sweater around her shoulders. “Or your sarcasm. I don’t understand why when I attempt to be civil with a girl they always end up being so goddamn bitchy. Like, sor-ry, I was just trying to be a gentleman of some sort.”
Venna frowned to herself and stared down at the palms of her hands. She understood that he was trying, which she thought was odd, but whatever.
“So Darren told me that the pub down the street does this big bash for St. Patrick’s Day, I hear it gets pretty rowdy.”
“Guaranteed someone goes to the hospital, a fight happens and there’s always that one girl that dances on the bar.” Venna raised her eyebrow. “Last year, my stomach had to get pumped, it was terrible. You’d think I’d be cautious now.”
“Obviously you’re not. From what Sami told me, you were pretty wasted.”
“And from what Darren told me, you were as well.” He chuckled and blinked. “Funny, the only thing I remember is that I kissed this girl, a few times. Of course it was a drunk kiss but it felt real. Has that ever happened to you?”
Venna furrowed her eyebrows together as flashes from the first night whizzed through her mind. It was all a blur but the scenes were starting to be clear the longer she thought about them. The one memory flashed to her standing in the middle of the living room amongst a sweaty, drunk crowd. Someone had approached her with yet another shot, she remember the taste of it being Jägermeister. They’re conversation dragged on. The image of the other was blurred but the person was taller and had a crooked smile.
“What’s your name?”
“Venna.”
“Ah, that’s Greek for Beautiful Butterfly.” The person said/
“Oh, I’m sure. What’s yours?”
“Joseph, but everyone calls me...
“Joey.” Venna gasped and her eyes widened. Joey turned to her. “Oh my God.”
“Are you okay?”
“I gotta go... apologize to Sami.” Venna quickly got up and handed back Joey’s sweater. “Um, thanks for the talk. Bye.”
Venna started to walk quickly back to the building. Joey rose from his seat with confusion in his brown eyes. “Venna!”
Little did Joey know that he wasn’t the only one that suddenly got squirted. Whether his feelings were real or not, he knew that being civil made him look like an idiot.