Little Baby Pines

The lights were turned down low. It was nighttime and Kim was still at Jon’s place. She left for 2 hours to take a shower at the sorority and change, but otherwise her day was spent with him. The two were low-key and kept indoors for most of the time. At one point they went outside to walk around a nearby park.

Kim was lying down on her stomach on Jonny’s king-sized bed. The bedspread was smooth underneath her. She helped him make up the bed, something Jon never did on his own. Jon walked into the bedroom with containers filled with Chinese food. “The food we ordered just came in. Ready for some crazy Pad Thai fun?”

A smile cracked on Kim’s face. She scrambled off the bed, dancing towards him. “How is that you can say something like ‘crazy Pad Thai fun’ but lack emotion in your voice?” Her hand touched his cheek, fingers stroking his jaw line briefly. One of the containers was whisked from his hands and the fragile girl slipped past him. She twirled into the living room.

The girl plopped down onto the taupe couch, sitting near the armrest. Being the awkward boy that Jon is he sat the furthest he could from her. His legs were kicked up on the chaise part of the sectional couch. Kim picked at her container filled with squishy lo-mein noodles and chunks of veggies and chicken. Cautiously, she looked over at Jon. He clicked on the TV, searching for something to watch. He stopped on a channel. A stern gaze was on the illuminating television. His eyes intently watched the scene of the twins talking to Willem DeFoe in Boondock Saints. After their original conversation to get to know each other, he had a comfortable fluidity with words. The two joked and messed around with each other. He hadn’t known her that long, and he felt comfortable mocking the things she loves and joking around in his odd way. Yet he sat as far away from her as he could without sitting on the Lay-Z-Boy.

A white container filled with spicy chicken bits was pulled off the ground. “Jonathan?” He looked over at her, a sticky piece of chicken hung out of his mouth. “So, do you always bring girls home or just the ones you are embarrassed to be seen with out in public?”

The girl wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. Jon respected that. Nevertheless, it made him blush. Her unabashed sense of comfortableness and ease was something he wished he had instead of his jerk attitude to hide behind.

He slurped up the piece of chicken. “The girls I am embarrassed to be seen with only go with me to late night movies where I can ditch her in the traffic of Chicago at night and sneak off home.” He put the Chinese food back on the ground. “No. But to be honest, most girls don’t see the inside of my apartment, let alone stay the night here. So think of this like Charlie in the Chocolate Factory and you got a golden ticket.”

“You are kind of smug.” She set the container of food down on the ground near the leather ottoman. “The beers are in the fridge, right? Can I get one?”

“Yeah, of course. Help yourself to whatever is in there. I think I have some red wine, Corona, and Molson in there. There is also like Gatorade, Snapple, and bottled water. Actually, all that is in there are drinks and maybe ketchup.” He chuckled.

Her bare feet pad against the hardwood floors. His kitchen was spacious like his living room. The guy had a big and open apartment when it was only him living there. She was certain that if she wasn’t at the sorority she would be living in some cramped apartment with Mindy where they would have to share a bed and barely be able to pay rent. Must be nice to have a talent that pads your pocketbook with enough money to have a place like Jonathan Toews.

She firmly grasped the stainless steel handle of the sleek fridge. It popped open. Every shelf in the fridge had a bottle with some kind of liquid in it. Jon wasn’t lying. All he had in there were beverages, an economy sized bottle of ketchup, and a Tupperware of cut up watermelon (which might as well be considered a drink since watermelon is mainly water). She grabbed a Molson. “Do you want a drink?”

“Sure. I’ll have whatever you are having. Thanks, Kim.”

The caps of two Molsons were popped off and flew to the ground. When she went down to pick them up there was thunderous knocking on the door. “Expecting guests? Or did the delivery guy forget something?”

“No.” He thought for a second, fearing the worse. “No. No. Fuck. Those goddamn bastards never listen to a word I say,” he grumbled. The TV was silenced and the ottoman fell awkwardly on its side as he accidentally walked into it, rolling side to side on the shag carpet rug. It almost knocked over Kim’s container of food. Jon sent Kim an apologetic look --she didn’t understand why-- and lumbered to the front door. He cracked it open enough to stick his face in the crack. “What the hell are you guys doing here? I sent every single one of you a text and a voice mail saying that I had to cancel for tonight so that this wouldn’t happen. Yet here you are at my door.”

“You didn’t give us a good enough reason. All you said was that something came up. Well, fuck that. We want to play epic video games with our boy Tazer. Now open up, buddy. We even brought our own beer.”

“Yeah, so we won’t be emptying your fridge yet again.”

“Do you have someone in there, Taze? Like a girl?”

“Bull shit, Seabs! Tazer doesn’t meet chicks,” said the first speaker.

There were three guys at the door. The first speaker was Jon’s de facto best friend Kane. The second speaker was Brian Campbell, Soupy, everyone’s favorite ginger. And the last speaker, the considerate one, was Brent Seabrook. And there was in fact a 30 pack of Pabst under Seabrook’s arm. Kaner tapped the box to attract Jon’s attention.

Jon glared at them. “Whose idea was this?” The guilty look was all over Patrick’s face. “Patrick, dude, I even talked to you on the phone, left a voicemail, and sent multiple texts telling you to not go against my word. You know what this is, right? This is you going my word.”

“Dude, chill. Your guest can play video games with us. She and Seabs can trade off on controller. He sucks at Halo anyway.” The box of beer made contact with Patrick’s side. “Ouch.”

Jon rubbed his temple. “You guys fucking suck, but come in. Don’t be a dick to her. And Kaner, don’t be a dick. Just don’t.”

The guys followed Jon into his apartment. Patrick pulled Campbell back, “Why did he call me out?”

“Because you are the most likely to be a dick. Duh.”

The beers clinked together as they are roughly placed on the ground next to the couch. The guys skipped the kitchen, going straight to the living room. It was routine for them. They set up in their usual spots. Soupy plopped down on the chaise portion of the couch. Seabrook stretched out on the rest of the couch. A beanbag was pulled from its hiding place behind the couch for Kaner. It was thrown in front of the leather ottoman, that Seabs had to set upright, and Kaner slouched onto it. Jon’s place was the Lay-Z-Boy where he is an island. His seat was the only empty one. Soupy and Kane were busy setting up the Xbox. “Bro, Boondock Saints? Good choice,” Kaner shouted over his shoulder. Seabs took out four beers and placed them by everyone’s seats. It was Jon’s job to take the rest of the beers and put them in the fridge. Seabs looked at the box that was just sitting there not being picked up by Jon. He then noticed that Jon was in the kitchen with someone.

Kim was hiding behind the island when the guys came into the apartment. As the guys set up camp Jon coaxed her from her crouching position. The two had their backs to Jon’s guests. Jon had his hand on the small of her back, talking softly to her. “Hey, sorry about this. Every other week we have video game tournaments at my place. Today is that day and I tried to call it off but they are so goddamn stubborn. If you want, I can take you home. I am sorry.”

“Oh, don’t be. It is cool. I understand. I know Patty. Have you told him about us? This?”

“It’s been a day. No. And I don’t tell him everything. Like he would listen.”

A large smile cracked on her face. “So true. That kid is the deafest guy I have ever met and I am a girl. Girls meet a lot of guys with deaf ears. Rapists.”

“That was a terrible joke. You will get along perfect with them.”

She took a swig from her Molson. “Okay, great.” He started to move back to the living room, snaking his beer off the countertop. “Hey wait. I wanted to say that it has been nice so far. Hanging out with you. So, thank you.”

“Thank you for giving me another try.”

“Most welcome. Just don’t be a dick again.” Her hand clasped gently on his shoulder. She stood on her tiptoes and placed a small kiss on his cheek.

It was a bad move for Jon. His face immediately turned a blistering red and a stupid smile was on his face. It was a nagging smile that wanted to open up and yell out his secret.

And Seabrook was watching them. With an acknowledging nod, he stood up from his seat and relocated to Jon’s Lay-Z-Boy. It freed up space for Jon to sit next to Kim on the couch. The controllers were passed out by Soupy. For a second he was completely confused by Seabs being in Jon’s seat and a girl being in Seabs’s seat. But he continued with his original mission. “Hi,” he handed her a controller. “I am Brian. What’s your name? Wait, hold that thought. Jonny! What kind of host are you?” He hollered over his shoulder to Jon who was putting the rest of the Pabst in the fridge. The bottles clinked against the glass shelves. “Why didn’t you introduce your lovely friend to us?”

The word ‘lovely’ caught Patrick’s attention. Instead of blinding fiddling with the adapter cable he dropped it and looked at the speaker. His eyes lit up. “Park? Holy fuck.” He moved his tongue around his mouth, poking his cheeks. He let out a sigh and forgot all about his pestering of trying to push the two apart. “So you are banging her, you lying bastard.”

There was a loud clank. Jon accidentally dropped a bottle of Pabst. It didn’t bust open but was badly shaken up. “Kaner! I told you to not be a dick! Goddamnit.” The bottle was place on the bottom shelf in between two Gatorades so that he could remember to give it to Patrick later.

“Sorry, but I didn’t know she was going to be here. You should have warned me.” Patrick quickly hooked in the Xbox and twisted around to talk to Kim. His legs were kicked up and his head rested on his propped arms like a girl at a slumber party. “So Kimmie, when did you start banging Toews?” Without conversing Seabs, Soupy, and Kim threw their bottle caps at him. “Okay sorry. I am sorry. It is cool that you here, though. How is Broken Nose? You know she got out of some guy’s car fixing her shirt at that party? Homegirl got some.”

“Get out! She didn’t tell me that at all. That is awesome. Go Mindy. And, seriously, stop calling her Broken Nose. I will punch you in the face if you call her that again. You don’t look good with black eyes. Actually, you look like a scrappy dog that is hated by its owner when you have black eyes.”

Soupy and Seabrook echoed with cheers. “She is a keeper.”

“She has bite,” Soupy added to Seabrook’s comment.

Patrick only shook his head. Since he had known Parker for 2 years he had gotten used her snarky comments. She never failed to have some witty and biting banter. He nodded at Kim and sulked deeper into his bean bag. The TV switched from a black screen to the opening credits of Halo. The person with the first controller, Kaner, set up the game. “Okay, same rules as always. Randomized partners and then when that gets boring every man for himself. Winner with most kills gets free drinks from the loser at next celebration party. Second place winner gets a burger from their choosing paid for by the third place person. And since Kim is Jon’s guest, she can be on his team since Seabs didn’t sound like he wanted to share.” He slung back his beer, taking a long chug to refresh himself from his mini-speech. “Okay, everything understood? Good. To those about to die… Thank you for the free alcohol, bitch.”