I'm Just a Kid That Tried Too Hard

Previously:

Greg kept congratulating me all the way home. Tyler wanted to have a sleepover so he didn’t have to deal with Brad. He had pulled me aside and told me what happened before he met up with the rest of us. He followed us back to my apartment. Things don’t go like that though.

I pull up and squint at my stairway. There’s a figure sitting there. I hit Greg’s arm and nod in that direction. He leans forward to get a better look. “Devin…Is that Brad?”

I gasp. That’s exactly who it is. Why is he outside of my house? I hop out of my car and all but sprint to the man. “Brad! Are you alright?” He lifts his head at my voice. I can see he has a rather large bottle of liquor in his hand and he wobbles as he stands.

“You know,” he slurs, “You’re a real fucking bitch. A huge…a huge whore. You’re—“ He looks past me to Greg who just got out of my car. “You’re fucking my teammate?! I knew you would! I bet you fucked Tyler on your date tonight! So my teammates and my roommate! WOW DEVIN.”

I’m shocked. I look at him and he glares back at me. I can’t even form words. I understand that he’s drunk but I always believed that statement ‘a drunk man says what a sober man thinks.’ This hurts. It makes my heart hurt. How could the guy I had been with say these awful things? I’m suddenly so overwhelmed that tears start to fill my eyes. I had been having such a good night too.

“Brad. I want you to listen to me, and you listen good. I am NOT fucking your teammates. I’m not fucking anyone actually.” I pause and take a deep breath. Honestly, if I let him walk away now then he’d surely get arrested. I sigh and run my fingers through my hair, “Greg, help me get him inside. He’s not driving. He’s not going anywhere.” I turn to Seguin who had arrived half way through Brad’s rant. “I’m sorry but can we rain check on our sleepover?” He nods and hugs me which causes Brad to grunt rudely.

Greg snaps at him, “Brad, shut the hell up.” He and I manage to get him into my apartment and onto the couch. He shouts rude remarks at me the whole time. I don’t notice that I’m actually crying until Greg wipes my tears away. “Dev, he doesn’t mean them. He loves you ok?” I nod, not thinking too much about his choice of words and bid him farewell.

This leaves me with Brad.

I get a water bottle and bottle of aspirin and leave it on my coffee table. I’m still crying and he’s still rambling. He won’t even look at me. I throw a blanket over him and flick the light off.

In the darkness I can still make out the trace of his form. He’s finally stopped talking. I stare at him for awhile before starting towards my room, “Goodnight asshole.”

He grumbles something incoherent that I roll my eyes at.

I enter my room and strip down to my bra and underwear before tossing on an oversized New Found Glory t shirt that stops mid-thigh. I sigh and crawl into bed. I really can’t sleep tonight. I am much too aware of the fact that Brad is in the other room. I haven’t really seen him around, so seeing and having him here and then him saying all those things is a bit of a shock to the system.

Somewhere along these thoughts, I drift off to sleep.

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Brad’S Point of View

“Devin….Devin, please wake up. I made you some bacon…” I crawl onto her bed. I don’t remember too much about how I got into her apartment or why I was there but I’m taking full advantage of it. She had cut off all contact with me, besides that one accidental skype.

Then I remember that she had gone out with Seguin last night. I almost get angry but realize that I am the one in her apartment this morning. Not Tyler.

She groans and pulls the covers over her head, “Noooo…” Then she snaps up and rolls off the bed. “Brad you better stay the fuck away from me if you don’t want me to break your damn nose.” She stares at me with hurt written all over her face.

I frown at her. Obviously getting shitfaced didn’t get me anywhere last night. “Devin, look. I’m sorry for whatever I said last night I-“. She cuts me off before I can stumble out an apology.

“Do you know what you called me last night? No? You called me a fucking whore. You accused me of sleeping with Tyler and Greg. You called me a slut and a bitch, Brad. That hurt. It hurt a lot. I never thought that I’d hear that from a guy that I really-” She stops and takes a breath to try to calm herself down.

It doesn’t work. She starts crying quietly. I can hear her before I even look at her face. Instinctively I step forward to cradle her in my arms. She doesn’t pull away much to my surprise. I put my hand on her hair and try to calm her down. “Shh…shh…Devin I didn’t mean any of it. I was angry. I was so, SO angry at myself. I thought that this…we would get in the way of hockey. If I’m being honest, I’ve been absolute shit. I was mad my teammates were still able to talk to you and take you out and be there for important events. I…I’m so sorry. You’re none of the things I called you. You’re not even close.”

Somewhere in my speech she stops crying and she wraps her arms around me. We stand like that for awhile before she looks up at me. “Did you say bacon?” I nod, looking down at her with a small smile. She leaves my arms and darts into the kitchen.

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Devin’s Point of View

Do not go back to Brad. Do not go back to Brad. Do not go back to Brad.

Good plan. I look over at him again as we lay opposite each other on the couch watching 28 Days Later. He must feel my eyes on him because he looks over with a smile. I look down embarrassed because this is probably the 5th time in 10 minutes that he has caught me looking at him. I pull the blanket we’re sharing closer to me.

He pauses the DVD with the remote. “Devin. Do you want to talk?” I shake my head and instead crawl over to curl into his side. He pulls the blanket back over us and puts his arm around me while I un-pause the movie. He leans in closer and whispers in my ear, “So is this the part where we have make-up sex or…?”

“No shut up you dick I’m trying to watch a movie” I respond with a laugh. He laughs along and kisses my temple before focusing once again on the movie.