Manage Me

The silence was killing me. Katie stared at me, her mouth hanging open. I was still panting. I had no idea what had possessed me to say that to her, but I wasn’t ready for her to leave and that was exactly what she was going to do unless I stopped her. So I just said the first thing that popped into my mind. The silence stretched on, Katie still staring at me with a dumbstruck expression. I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly.

“A-as my maid. Full time. In the pool house.” I stuttered.

Katie slowly melted back to life. I smiled and was then met with a stinging sensation on my cheek. She slapped me.

She fucking slapped me!

“What the hell?”

“Where do you get off?” She screeched at me. I stumbled backwards. Okay, that was not the response I was looking for.

“I-I..”

“No! You! Don’t talk. What makes you think that you can ask something like that? You don’t even know me! I’m done! I did my job, and now I’m leaving. Enjoy your clean house, Mr. Barakat.” She turned on her heel and stomped off to her car.

I stood there and watched her drive away without moving a single muscle. I didn’t understand. I mean, sure, that was probably a little much, but she had sounded so upset. I had no idea how such a simple question could make her so mad. My posture finally slumped and I shuffled back into my house.

I looked around, really studying it. It was so clean. Sparkling even. I hated it. It made me think of Katie. I hurried into the kitchen, grabbing the cans of beer out of it. I popped one open and chugged it down before throwing the can to the floor. I stared down at it, the last few drops left in it dribbling out onto the floor.

Good.

But it wasn’t enough. I picked up the phone and ordered two large pizzas and endless cartons of Chinese food. I ran up the stairs, skipping steps along the way, and pulled all of the clothes out of the drawers. I ripped the blankets off of my bed, crumpling them into a heap. I slowly walked through the house, deliberately tossing the clothing around. I even went so far as to go outside and dumb some in the pool.

Fuck the pool. Fuck the pool house too.

I tore into it, running my hands all over the windows she had so painstakingly cleaned. Smudges streaked down them. I smirked as I saw the remnants of the grass she had cut still lying outside. I grabbed handfuls of them, tossing them on the floor and in the water. I threw another empty can in there for good measure.

The doorbell rang and I sprinted to it. I ripped it open, desperately hoping it was Katie on the other side, only to find it was the pizza man. My shoulders sagged as I handed him the money. Just as he left the Chinese food showed up. I paid for that too, and then flung half of it on the floor. I ate some of it, just to leave the empty cartons lying around. More and more empty beer cans found their way onto the floor as well as I steadily drank my way through two six packs. I just didn’t care.

I started feeling sick from all the running around and beer chugging I had been doing. I stumbled my way to the bathroom and spewed everywhere. Not all of it made it into the toilet either and I smirked again.

It’s like she was never even here.

I flushed the toilet, even I wasn’t that disgusting, and crawled my way up the stairs. I threw my last can of beer onto the floor and made my way into my room. I was sure there was puke on my shirt, but I didn’t bother to change it. I hoped it would make its way onto my sheets and stain them.

Just as my eyes closed I heard the doorbell ring again. I shot up, tripping over my own feet as I rushed to make it down the stairs. I hastily pulled the door open, but it still wasn’t Katie standing there. It was Cassadee. I saw Rian lurking behind her, his eyes shifting from apologetic to concern immediately. I noticed Cass was angry, though her eyes held a tinge of sadness as she took in my appearance.

“What the fuck do you want?” I slurred. Cass pushed her way past me and I stumbled backwards into the wall.

“This is worse than Holly.” Rian mumbled, running a hand over his head.

“FUCK HOLLY!” I yelled. “FUCK KATIE TOO! FUCK GIRLS!”

“Thanks, Jack.” Cass said dryly. Her voice was sad though. It made me angry.

“Back to my original question of: what the fuck do you want?” I snapped. Rian moved to place an arm around Cassadee’s shoulders, pulling her close.

“It’s not important now.” She mumbled.

“Then get the fuck out! I don’t need your couple bullshit right now.”

“Calm down, Jack.” Rian said sternly.

I glared at them both. Sickness suddenly rose in my throat again and I sprinted away from them. I just barely made it into the kitchen before hunching over and hurling into the sink. I rinsed the vomit down, swishing water around my mouth and grimacing. I felt a hand on my back and turned my head to see Cass staring down at me with worry. I heard Rian in the background, talking to someone on the phone.

“C’mon, Jack-o.” She sighed.

I let her lead me to the couch. She placed me down and I curled on to my side. My vision was swimming. She covered me with a blanket as my eyes slipped shut. I heard footsteps approach her.

“Do you know what happened?” Rian’s voice asked.

“No.” Cass whispered.

“Matt and Zack are on their way over. I couldn’t get a hold of Alex.”

Just his name sent another surge of hatred through my system. Katie wanted nothing to do with me, but she had flirted with him. She had his fucking telephone number. He’d probably gotten hers as well. And he’d probably been texting her all day.

Fucking bastard.

“I don’t think he would have been the best person to bring over here anyway. This is about Katie, Ri. I know it.” Rian sighed.

“Alex is still his best friend, Cass. He probably doesn’t even know Jack likes Katie because he wouldn’t have asked her out if he did.”

He asked her out already?!

“Fuck Alex.” I mumbled. Even though I had more to say on the subject it was the only thing I could get out.

“Just go to sleep, Jack.” Cassadee soothed, brushing the hair off of my forehead.

The tiredness came crashing back down at her words. I sighed and allowed her to tuck the blanket more securely around my body. I felt myself drifting to sleep, hearing Rian softly kiss Cass before both of their footsteps faded away and I gave into my drunken exhaustion completely.