Come Wake Me Up

I stumble into the bus, and all eyes land on me. “What the fuck happened last night?” I question immediately, holding my pounding head.
“Other than Danielle ‘casually’ running into you at the bar last night? I’m not so sure.” Jack puts air quotes around the word casually.
“Danielle was there?” I question. “I barely remember getting to the bar.” I sigh heavily and fall onto the couch. “What did I do?”
“I don’t know, man. I can’t really remember either.”
“I’m pretty sure you won asshole of the year award,” Zack chimes in, looking up from his game of COD. I stare at him. “Not in that way!” he immediately corrects. “You threw me on Danielle duty, and I got to hear all about how much she hates Virginia and something about her going out of her way to make sure Virginia regrets moving to Towson. I don’t know.”
I let out a laugh. “Virginia’s not really someone to mess with,” I inform him. “I don’t think there’s much Danielle can do to her that hasn’t already been done.”
“Really?” Rian questions.
I nod slowly. “I, uh, I asked her to be my girlfriend before we left, and she turned it down,” I confess. It’s something I’ve kept from my best friends simply because I didn’t want the humiliation.
“What? Why?” Jack leaps from seat with his back to me to the couch across the way.
“Jordan—“
“Her ex?”
I nod. “Yeah, he used to beat her, and she wants this Danielle shit to be over with first, too.”
“Wow,” Rian marvels. “That would explain the scars.”
“Scars?” Jack and I ask in unison.
“You didn’t see them at the bar? I don’t remember much, but I definitely remember having a conversation with Flyzik and Ri about it,” Zack recalls.
“I think there was just one,” Flyzik corrects.
“Regardless, you’ve basically dated this girl for a month, and you haven’t seen that or more?” Jack calls me out.
I shrug and rub the back of my neck. “I wouldn’t really know about the more part.”
“What are you talking about ‘you wouldn’t know’? You’ve had sex with her.”
“Uh, I actually haven’t.”
“Whoa, wait. Two people with similar reputations haven’t slept together yet…dear god, you’re in love with this girl.”
“What? Love? Jack, you’re fucking crazy. I’ve known her for a month and—“
“You haven’t tried to sleep with her yet. That’s impressive.”
“Yeah, most girls you’ve slept with, you don’t even remember their names,” Rian adds.
“She’s different,” I argue. “At least, I want her to be.”

My phone rings, and Virginia’s name flashes on the screen. “Hey, you,” I greet.
“Hey.” Her voice is quieter and a little more tired than it was two days ago when we talked last.
“Is everything alright? You sound tired.”
“I am,” she laughs. It’s forced, and I can tell. “I’ve been up for thirty-six hours. Picking up a second job was a horrible idea, and I spent all of last night in the library studying. Literally, I didn’t leave until seven this morning.”
“I can’t tell you how happy I am that I didn’t go to college.” She laughs again. “What else is going on?”
“Rachel’s in the hospital. She wasn’t feeling well yesterday, and when I came home today, she seemed better and then all of a sudden she wasn’t. Turns out her appendix was about to explode. She’ll be fine, but it was scary.”
“Oh my god.”
“Oh, I’m not done yet,” Virginia chimes in. “Jordan was at the bar last night.”
“Really now? Danielle showed up at the bar I was at last night. Granted, I’m in LA, but that’s still a little suspicious.”
“I had him thrown out right away, but he still managed to shout quite a few rude things on his way out.”
I sigh. “Virginia, listen to me, okay? I don’t care what he said to you. It’s not true.”
“H-he called me a whore and that I don’t deserve to be with anyone. That I was an ugly bitch for dating his girlfriends ex-boyfriend, and…” She sniffles. “I might have thrown a martini glass at him.”
I can’t help but chuckle at that statement. “I want you to listen to me, okay? You’re fucking perfect. You don’t deserve to be with him—you deserve to be with better than him.”
“Thanks, Alex.” She sniffles again.
“So, don’t cry, okay? Don’t let anyone know they’re getting to you. The best revenge is smiling back at the bastards because then they think they’re not in your head, even if they are.”
She’s quiet for a moment. “It’s weird, but I really miss you.”
“I miss you, too. I’ll be back for a visit in two weeks. Don’t you worry your pretty little mind.” I hear her giggle. “Other than that, how’s boring old Towson?”
“Boring and old. How’s live and exciting LA?”
“Live an exciting. Obviously.”
“Alex, we’ve got to go! Come on, man!” Flyzik shouts from the front of the bus.
“Hey, I’ve got to go, but I’ll give you a call later, okay?”
“Yeah, that’s fine,” Virginia answers.
“Feel better, Virginia. Remember, smile.”
“Thanks, Alex.” She hangs up.