Stay With Them Tonight

JASON P.O.V.

“I can walk,” Allie reminded me for the fifth time as I continued at a steady pace through the hallways. I finally rolled my eyes and looked at her, her head next to my shoulder. I grinned at her.

“I know. But it’s more fun to carry you.” Her face turned red and she turned taciturn, holding her wrist and lying like a statue as I carried her. I pretended trip and almost drop her, and she threw her good arm, her right one, around my neck, clutching me. I hid my laugh, holding onto her tighter. Supposedly so I wouldn’t drop her. A little misinterpretation never hurt anybody.

“So what happened?” I asked as we were halfway to the nurses’ station, which was stupidly on the opposite end of the building from the gym, the most likely place to get hurt.

“I wasn’t really paying attention to where I was going, I guess. It wasn’t anybody’s fault; I’m just bad at football.”She smiled, like she had made a joke, while her wrist lay limply on her lap.

“Next time, try to watch out for the biggest guy on the field. Or you could invest in bubble wrap.” She glared at me. I thought it was almost funny, but she didn't even give me a smile.

“How’s the wrist?” I asked.

“Not good, not bad. I can’t really feel it much.” She tried to move it, but abruptly stopped.

“Liar. It hurts, doesn’t it?” I pushed.

“Yeah. I fell pretty hard. It’s not the first time, though. I broke my wrist in seventh grade.” I looked at her in surprise, so she elaborated.

“I tried out for the cheerleading team.” She said, straight faced. “Kelly got a skirt and pom-poms; I got a few weeks in a cast.” I couldn’t hold back a chuckle.

“I can’t say I’m surprised.” She rolled her eyes at me. I noticed she had left her arm around my neck, and wondered if she was even aware of it. Did she make me crazy on purpose?

“Allie?” A voice said from behind me. I turned, Allie having no choice but to turn with me. Rachel was standing there, looking unsure. Allie stared at her, saying nothing.

“Um, are you okay?” Rachel took a few steps towards us. Allie smiled a little. I was surprised when she didn’t tell Rachel off, or berate her for leaving our little group. As far as I knew, it was the first time they had spoken since it happened. I didn’t know what to do; I couldn’t exactly leave because, selfish as it was, I didn’t want to put Allie down. Rachel turned away slightly, looking ready to leave.

“I fell, Jason is just being ridiculous. How are you doing?” Allie replied quickly. Rachel looked as surprised as I felt that Allie was being so nice. She faced us again, but didn’t move any closer; there were two classroom doors between us.

“I’ve been okay. Actually, I’m kind of fed up with everything.” She blushed. “I mean . . .” she sighed, running a hand through her hair. In the brief silence that followed before another voice interrupted, they looked awkwardly at each other.

“Rachel! You know, you have to wait for me. You can’t just leave.” Some blonde and scantily-clad girl came around the corner and started when she saw us. I didn’t remember her name, but I did remember that she had come onto me heavily at a party not long ago. Her gaze darted to Allie in my arms.

“Oh, Jason, you’re so nice! Taking a hurt girl to the nurse!” She smiled coyly at me, and I could tell she practiced that look.

“Hey, I may be injured, but Jason didn’t have to take me. I can walk perfectly fine.” Allie smiled at the girl, looking perfectly at ease, and swung her legs lazily. Her arm was around my neck, and I was holding her closely. With what she had said, it didn’t seem like a normal trip to the nurse anymore.

The first time I had seen Allie like this was when she had been standing up to Tracey (who even I know can be a helluva bitch to other girls). Something had changed about my attitude towards Allie since then, and that was when I started getting closer to her. As it clicked in my head, finally discovering the beginning of all of this with Allie, I saw that the blonde chick was walking away, while Rachel was tottering between following her and staying with us.

I turned again, Allie in my arms, and continued towards the nurses’ office, not waiting for Rachel to decide to leave. Allie encouraged Rachel to go on, but she came after us ad fell in step beside me. Allie grinned at her, while she smiled uncertainly back. I was slightly disappointed that I didn’t have Allie to myself anymore, and surprised that Rachel hadn’t gone.

*****

“What happened here?” The nurse asked as we walked through the door. Allie shrugged, and Rachel stood behind me, not knowing what to say.

“She collided with a two-legged buffalo and fell on her hand. Or her wrist. It looks like she hit her knee somehow, too.” I explained succinctly, going to set Allie down on one of the beds that had the surrounding privacy curtains pulled back. I took a seat next to her.

“Thank you for bringing her, Jason.” The nurse gave me a look. She had met me once before, and it hadn’t been pleasant. I guess she hadn’t forgotten me. “You can go back to class now.”

“The coach told me to stay and bring her back,” I lied. She stared at me, and went to the phone. “He’s out on the football field, he probably won’t answer.” She ignored me, punching in a number. I rolled my eyes and saw Allie look at me oddly.

“Yes, I have a student here . . . I haven’t checked her out yet. No, is Jason supposed to bring her back? Oh.” She sounded disappointed. Luckily, Coach and I did get along well. He often kept me from getting in trouble from teachers who thought I was the worst thing to ever walk in this school.

“Alright. Class ends soon, so they probably won’t be back in time. Okay, goodbye.” She hung up the phone and stared at me. I grinned while she tsked, coming over and gently picking up Allie’s arm. She felt along the wrist, watching and asking Allie questions about the fall and where it hurt when she pressed down on her wrist.

I walked over to Rachel quietly in the far corner. Some people may have a grudge against her for what she did, but I didn’t really care, nor was I really surprised that Rachel had chosen her long-time friends over people she had met for two weeks.

Rachel asked how everyone was doing, trying not to sound too curious, but eventually it came down to this subject.

“So are you two going out or something? Last time I knew, you guys hated each other.”

“No, we’re not.” We watched the nurse with Allie.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you sound like you want to go out with her.” she smirked at me. I laughed, earning another look from the nurse.

“It wouldn’t work out. I can’t love anyone, remember? That’s what everyone says,” I stated almost proudly. It was true. I didn’t believe I could love one person unconditionally. Tracey had come close, but she had also estranged me from the idea of being able to love one person forever. I was definitely averse to going out with someone; Allie was no different.

“You like her though, right? You look like you used to with Trac-” Rachel abruptly stopped talking. She had been at this school as long as I had, so of course she knew about the whole Tracey thing. It was basically fucking public record by then, and I was tired of hearing about it.

I saw that Allie and the nurse were both eavesdropping, trying to look like they weren’t. My mood soured, I walked out the room, walking quickly down the hallway.

I was out in the parking lot before I realized it. I stared out at the cars, looking for mine, before realizing we had driven in Allie’s truck this morning. Sure, I knew she hid a spare key in there, and I could find it if I really wanted to, but she would skin me alive for touching her “baby.”

I looked out across the field, where there were trees dense enough to hide in for a while. There were only a few minutes until the end of class, so the PE class I was in had gone in to shower, and there was no one else on the field.

Before I could think too seriously about going out there, the back door banged back open behind me, and of course, Tracey stood there.

“I saw you walk past my classroom. Are you okay?” She sauntered closer to me, hips swaying.

“Tracey, stay the hell away from me.” I ordered. I had directed angry words at her multiple times after we broke up, so of course she didn’t stop. My mom had raised me on the principle that you were not, under any circumstances, allowed to cuss around girls, but I had given up talking nicely to Tracey long ago. She never stopped, always picking away at me, trying to convince me that we still needed to be together.

“Why?! You’re the one who cheated on me!” she yelled, sounding whiney. I exploded.

“You cheated first!” I exploded. “Stop acting innocent, Tracey! Grow the fuck up!” She still acted like she had done nothing wrong, looking at me like I had just killed a puppy.

The whole school and anybody who knew us thought I had cheated on her and dumped her easily, when actually we were through when I walked in on her with another guy at a football game.

I don’t know what I would have done had it been when she was drunk or possibly on something, but I could never believe that she would do something like that after two years of being with me. It had made me all the more angry that it was clearly her decision to cheat, without any regard to what I would think.

Still, she had spread the word that it wasn’t her fault, that I was the big bad wolf who slept with a multitude of girls during our relationship. It was the start of my reputation as a cold player, but I had added to it a lot since then.

“I only kissed him, Jason. It didn’t matter at all! You were the one who slept with that slut!” She tried to reason, not for the first time. I stepped closer, looking down at her and clenching my fists. I reminded myself that my mom would flay me alive if I ever hit a girl, even one like Tracey.

“I was committed to you, when we were together. Apparently you weren't, and that's why it was over before I even slept with her. Tracey, let it go.” I walked away again, this time feeling the absolute finality of it. I knew I wouldn’t ever go back to her- there was nothing remaining of any chance we ever had, and I was sure that nothing she did would make up for that.

She had successfully ruined any will I had to try to be faithful, to anybody.