Love in All the Wrong Places

*for clarification, this is initially told in Christy's POV, and later retold in Dave's POV*

I don’t know how long I had slept, but it had been the best sleep I had received in the last few weeks. I felt something around my shoulders and was confused momentarily before I looked up to see it was Dave’s arm still draped around me from the early hour we came in. His head was no longer rested atop mine, but was instead leaned back over the back of the couch, head tilted back, mouth wide open, a small steady stream of drool trailing from his mouth, as he snorted a few times. I chuckled lightly at how he slept. No matter how much he denied it, he snored. And it was LOUD. He snorted a couple times again, and this time it was enough to wake him up. He stirred momentarily and looked down at me with a furrowed brow to see me staring back up at him with a small grin on my face. He then takes his left hand and wipes the drool streaming down his face, hoping to rid it before it threatens to land on me. Brow still furrowed, he unwraps his right arm from around my shoulders and attempts to fix his ruffled hair. He then begins to shake his right arm out in attempts to stretch it out from being wrapped so tightly around me all night.

“Damn girl, my arm is sore. You must’ve had some death grip on me or something!”

I laughed at this and replied, “No no no, you’re mistaken. I believe you were the one with the death grip on me. If I remember correctly, you were the one who had their arm around me.”

“Yes, but if I remember correctly, you were the one who put it there.” He then looked at me with a triumphant, shit-eating grin on his face.

I pouted slightly, and crossed my arms with mock anger. “Fine. You win.”

He laughs and kisses the side of my head. “I know. I always do.”

We both laugh at this statement until we’re interrupted by the front door opening. We both snap our heads towards the front door to see Travis attempting to sneak in unnoticed. Dave and I both exchange looks, and face Travis again.

“Uh, Travis…?” I ask confused.

Travis turns around slowly and faces us, wearing a wide-eyed, guilty expression. “Uh, hey guys. Sorry if I woke you. I uh, got held up last night. And uh, am just getting back in…”

I look over at Dave momentarily and then back at Travis with a mischievous grin. “Huh…got held up last night huh? Couldn’t be that waitress from Waffle House you were talking up could it?”

Travis turns beet red and avoids eye contact. He suddenly became very interested in the loose thread on the bottom hem of his shirt. As he fiddled with the string and attempted to get rid of it, he mumbled back his reply. “It uh, may have been the waitress from Waffle House…” He then looks back up at me through his eyelashes, giving his most innocent face that he could muster.

I couldn’t help but laugh at this. I just couldn’t help but find it endearingly adorable that he was so embarrassed by this. Possibly more so at the fact that he got caught. Not that either Dave or I would care, but Travis seemed to think we would; that fact alone earned him some brownie points and another piece to the puzzle of who Travis is.

By this point, he was sufficiently embarrassed, and I could tell my laughing was beginning to make him feel uncomfortable, so I stopped; despite how incredibly hard it was. I’m not sure why I found it so funny. I was in an unusually good mood this morning, which is odd because I’m not a morning person. I mean, I still had a shit load of drama going on, but for some reason, I was unnaturally happy. Because of that, everything was funny; besides the point.

Travis then shuffles to his room, face downtrodden in embarrassment and closes his door. I feel a bit bad for laughing at him, but he has nothing to be embarrassed about. I shrug it off for now and get up to make breakfast. Just as I stand up, I feel Dave’s hand grab my left wrist and pull me back down on the couch.

“Dave! What was that for?” I ask playfully.

He then brings me into his side, much like we fell asleep last night and simply says, “I don’t wanna get up yet.”

I roll my eyes. “Don’t you want food though? I was going to make breakfast.”

At the word food, His head snaps up and he pushes me off the couch, nearly knocking me onto the floor, hitting the coffee table on the way down. Luckily I’m able to catch my balance before actually getting injured and go to the kitchen to make some French toast, eggs, and bacon. I turn the stove on and hear Dave in the other room flip the TV on. I roll my eyes and laugh to myself at him. I then look up at the mircrowave and see that it’s actually not breakfast time anymore. Far from it. It’s actually 5:00 PM. Damn. I need to get back on a normal sleep schedule. No more of this staying up all hours of the night shit. Whoops. Before I get any of the ingredients out, I poke my head into the living room.

“Uh, Dave.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you still want me to make breakfast?...It’s uh…5:00 PM…”

He then jumps off the couch and quickly turns and looks at me. I look back puzzled. He walks into the kitchen, shuts off the stove, and grabs my hand, pulling me behind him. He then knocks on Travis’ door. “Hey Trav. So uh, it’s dinnertime and C and I were gonna grab some food. Wanna come with?”
There was a brief silence before he answered. “Uh, I’d love to but uh, I’ve already got dinner plans…with uh…somebody.”

Dave then beats me to it by asking, “Is it the hot waitress from Waffle House?”

I heard Travis chuckle a bit before answering, “Yeah dude, it is. Don’t uh…wait up or anything…”

“Sweet. Have fun. See ya.” Then he drags me again to the front door. Lucky for me, I left my purse and keys on the table right inside the door. I quickly grab them, almost falling over—again—as Dave pulls me out the door and down the stairs. We get halfway down the stairs before I look down and realize that I’m still in yesterday’s clothes, I haven’t fixed my hair, I didn’t wash my makeup off last night so it’s probably all over my face. Things aren’t looking well for me. As I notice this. I stop walking, causing me to almost inadvertently fall down the stairs, as Dave still had a death grip on my hand, dragging me with him. When he noticed I stopped he turned around, brows creased. I give him my wide-eyed ‘duh’ look, and motion my entire body with my hand, signaling that I’m not up to par to go out looking like this. He just rolls his eyes and keeps going. Obviously we’re not going anywhere fancy. I heave a deep sigh and continue down the stairs with Dave. We get outside, and he resumes his position from last night; left arm draped around my shoulders. I default to bringing my right arm around his waist. Even though things are strictly platonic between us, he is still the older brother figure to me, and he makes me feel safe. Having his comforting arm around my shoulders only builds that feeling of safety.

We walked down a couple of blocks and he led me to a small hot dog stand at one of the street corners. We each bought a hot dog and a drink. After making our purchases, Dave hailed us a cab, and we went to Centennial Park to sit on the stairs of the Parthenon and enjoy the afternoon, being since we both slept the day away. We got to the Parthenon and walked over to one of the sides of the building and sat along the side. Upon sitting down, we began to eat our hot dogs. We sat and ate in silence until we finished our food. We had each been sitting against columns, across from each other. Upon finishing our hot dogs, Dave motioned for me to move over by him. He opened up his right arm for me to sit next to his side, much like last night. I smiled, and scooted over to him. I sat there, laid my head on his shoulder, and we watched as the sun gradually set. We hadn’t talked since we left the apartment other than buying our food and talking to our cab driver; otherwise, we were just walking around enjoying the others’ company.

As I watched the sun set, I got to thinking about Jessie and how she and I would drive around on nice days much like this, and most times it would be as the sun was setting. I began sniffling in hopes of not crying over the fact that she and I would never get to do that anymore. Furthermore, that I left our friendship in such shambles. I was such a terrible friend to her that afternoon. She had only been trying to help me, and dammit I should’ve listened to her. I couldn’t believe I was stupid enough to let a guy come between us. I made a promise to myself in this moment, that I would find her killer no matter what it took, and that jerk would pay for what they did; didn’t matter who it was. I heaved a huge sigh, and buried my face into Dave’s shoulder.

Dave sensed my change in demeanor, and wrapped his left arm around my other shoulder so I was now in a full on embrace with him. He began to rub soothing circles onto my right shoulder with his right hand, and then leaned down and kissed the crown of my head before laying his head on top of mine. At this point I completely lost it and began bawling my eyes out into his shirt. We sat there long after the sun set, no movement, just him sitting there comforting me and letting me try to work through my emotions. There were a few times I’d stop crying long enough to catch my breath, and would barely sniffle. Unfortunately those moments didn’t last long, because just I thought I had done all of my crying, I would remember something else that reminded me of Jessie, and I would lose it all over again. Dave never said a word or attempted to move. Just sat there embracing me; no questions asked, no words spoken, just rubbing my shoulder and back and occasionally kissing my temple to let me know he was still there. I never loved Dave more than I did in that moment. He knew just how to comfort me. He knew that I didn’t need reassuring words that everything would be alright, because we both knew that we would be fine in time. We were there for each other and would help bring each other through this tragedy. He knew that I just needed to be held; I needed that added security that someone was physically there with me and that I wasn’t alone. That factor alone was the most helpful. I’ve never been so thankful for our friendship.

I wasn’t sure how long we’d been sitting there, but it was well into the night, and a security guard came up to us asking if we knew what time it was because the park had closed hours ago. I lifted my face from Dave’s shirt, and the guard took in my appearance, and just said we needed to be out by sunrise. Dave nodded in agreement before we returned back to our original positions. After what felt like hours, but was probably only a few minutes, I turned my head from between Dave’s shoulder and arm to face his chest and breathe. I heaved a deep sigh, and looked up at Dave. He looked down at me, and I could see his red and slightly puffy face. He’d been crying just as I had. He gave me a sad smile and I leaned up and gently kissed his cheek before getting up and holding my hands out to help pull him up. He grabbed my hands and let me pull him up. I stayed glued to his right side, his right arm draped around my shoulders, and both of my arms wrapped around his waist. For some reason, I have become so dependent on Dave these last couple of days since his arrival. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because he’s now the only person I’m closest to in the world and trust the most. Maybe it’s because Dave and I are grieving equally over Jessie, just for different reasons. I’m not sure. However I know for a fact I wouldn’t be able to get through this without Dave by my side.

Dave’s POV:

When I woke up, I was startled to find a smiling Christy under my arm, looking up at me. I smiled inwardly until I felt the drool making its way down the side of my face, mere inches from landing on her head. As gracefully as I could, I wiped the drool from my face, and then unwrapped my arm from C so I could try to fix my disheveled hair. Gosh I looked like a real winner in the mornings. Obviously she found it humorous. No matter what she says, I don’t snore. She keeps saying I do, but I’m sure I would know if I snored or not. I know I don’t, so there’s no point arguing it. It was while I was attempting to fix the mop top I call hair when I felt how stiff my right arm was from holding Christy so tight against me last night. I began to shake it out to try and loosen it up when I thought I’d poke some fun at her.

“Damn girl, my arm is sore. You must’ve had some death grip on me or something!”

She laughed at this and replied, “No no no, you’re mistaken. I believe you were the one with the death grip on me. If I remember correctly, you were the one who had their arm around me.”

She’s so adorable when she tries to prove me wrong. I rebutted her reply quite suavely if I do say so.
“Yes, but if I remember correctly, you were the one who put it there.” I then looked at her in complete triumph because there was no way she could beat me out of that one.

She pouted slightly, and crossed her arms in mock anger. “Fine. You win.”

I laugh and kiss the side of her head. “I know. I always do.”

We began to laugh at the ridiculous exchange we just had when we heard the door open and see a nervous Travis trying his best to sneak in and not wake us up. Chris and I exchange looks before we focus back on Travis. I raise an eyebrow at his attempt at a ninja-esque entrance, but soon tuned it out when Christy started talking to him. Honestly, I really didn’t care where he had been last night. He had given me the chance to talk to Christy like I’d been trying to do since I got here a few days ago trying to track her down. Needless to say I was relieved to finally explain myself about what happened at the park. What she didn’t realize is that I’ve actually been trying to track her down since that kiss. I was finally able to track her down to the bus station, and I could’ve sworn she saw me, but she shook her head and got on the bus. I saw the destination was Nashville, so I knew she would go visit her parents first; especially since it had been a few months since she’d last seen them. I figured I would give her a couple days to see them before I made the trip down there myself to try to straighten all this mess out. What I didn’t expect when I went to leave that Monday morning to head to Nashville was Jessie’s dead body in their apartment. I went to say bye to Jessie only to find her recently dead. I could tell something was off when I could hear her music playing softly from the bottom of the staircase at the entrance of their complex. I felt even more off when I got to the top of the stairs to see her door ajar, followed by a pool of blood slowly making its way to the front door. I will never forget that horrifying sight. Walking in to see your soon-to-be fiancé lying on the floor, eyes wide open staring at you, right hand extended towards you, with a pleading look on her face as if asking for help. As much as I’ve been in love with Christy over the course of most of my adolescence, I was head-over-heals for Jessie. I knew a relationship with Christy would probably never happen, especially after she met Jake. I was truly happy for them, and for once was able to fully give myself over to Jessie, and these last few months had been the best with Jessie as they’d ever been in the last few years we’d dated.

I was taken out of my daze by Travis slamming his door closed. I look to see Christy standing up, and I instantly felt cold from lack of her body heat on my right side. I instantly grabbed her hands and brought her back down on the couch to sit next to me, much like she had the night before. I don’t think I could ever tire from being in this spot with Chris. If I could, I would sit like this forever. She fit so perfectly into my side. I felt like she was filling in for the fact that I could no longer cuddle like this with Jessie. I missed Jessie more than my words could ever say. I loved her like crazy, and truth be told, still love her now. She was my whole world. I don’t think I’ll ever get over her death, but I know that C will help me get through it.

I was once again, because I so often get lost in my thoughts, shaken from reminiscing on how much I missed Jessie by her playfully asking, “Dave! What was that for?”

I brought her more into my side, much like we fell asleep last night and simply say, “I don’t wanna get up yet.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Don’t you want food though? I was going to make breakfast.”

At the word food, I instantly push her off the couch to go make some food. My stomach grumbles in agreement, and I anxiously await the culinary delight I’m about to enjoy. After she made it to the kitchen, after nearly falling and hitting the coffee table no thanks to me, I turn on the TV and begin surfing the channels to see what was on. I look through a couple pages of shows, and instantly lose interest, and turn the TV off. I then hear Christy.

“Uh, Dave.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you still want me to make breakfast?...It’s uh…5:00 PM…”

I jump up, make my way to the kitchen, turn off the stove, and grab Christy’s hand to bring along with me. I then knock on Travis’s door to see if he wants to join us for food. “Hey Trav. So uh, it’s dinnertime and C and I were gonna grab some food. Wanna come with?”

There was a brief silence before he answered. “Uh, I’d love to but uh, I’ve already got dinner plans…with uh…somebody.”

I decide to give him a hard time, knowing that it had to be that waitress from last night. I saw the look he gave Christy when we were leaving. He had no intention of leaving her alone anytime soon.

“Is it the hot waitress from Waffle House?”

I heard Travis chuckle a bit before answering, “Yeah dude, it is. Don’t uh…wait up or anything…”

“Sweet. Have fun. See ya.”

I then pulled Christy behind me and I made my way out the door. I was so ready to get out of the house and just spend the afternoon with her, that I didn’t realize that she was barely able to keep pace with me due to having to grab her purse and keys from the front table. We were about halfway down the stairs before I felt resistance from my left hand. I look back at her confused, and she gives me this obvious stare and gestures to her whole body. I don’t know what her problem was. She looked gorgeous. Who cares that she wasn’t wearing makeup and she was adorned in yesterday’s clothes. No one but us would notice. I rolled my eyes and continued to drag her with me.

Upon reaching the outside, I took my place back to her side, draping my arm back around her, and she rewarded it by replacing her arm around my waist. I could get used to this. I missed this with Jessie, and I won’t deny that I’ve always wished for this kind of closeness from Christy. I know that Christy and I have always had a pretty affectionate friendship, but we had never really been as touchy-feely as we had been since I found her yesterday. I didn’t mind. This was my way of coping with the loss of Jessie. It was like C could sense that I somehow needed this, which is why she didn’t fight me on how affectionate we were being towards each other as of late. We needed each other. As we walked, I really didn’t have any set plans other than spending this beautiful evening with Christy. I began to smell hot dogs a couple blocks up, and decided that would be the ideal choice for dinner. Nothing fancy, but good nonetheless. We bought our food and drinks and I hailed a cab and directed him to the Parthenon in Centennial Park. That’s such a wonderful place to sit and just enjoy the day. If you go at the right time, often times you can miss the huge crowd of people and just enjoy the city from here. I led her around the front to one of the sides. We sat across from each other, each of us sitting up against a column. Once we had finished our food, I opened my right arm and motioned for her to come sit by me. I was severely missing having someone constantly at my side, and currently C was the girl to help me with it.

She smiled and scooted over to me. We just sat there, enjoying each other’s company while watching the sun set. No words had to be spoken. That was one of the beautiful aspects of our friendship; it didn’t have to be constantly filled with conversation or activities for us to be content. We often times were just happy to be in the same room together doing our own thing. Jessie gave us the hardest time, claiming that we acted like an old married couple when C and I got like this. We just laughed it off because honestly, our friendship had always been that way, and quite frankly, she was the only girl I’d ever been comfortable enough around to not have to be constantly doing something with.
I was perfectly content with our current arrangement, when I felt C’s head turn into my shoulder and I felt her begin to shake, followed shortly by her crying her eyes out. I don’t know what happened, but I could tell that this was a time to just sit there and comfort her. I knew from years’ experience that when she starts crying hysterically like this out of seemingly nowhere, she doesn’t want reassuring words, she just simply wants to not feel alone. The only way to help her feel that is just for someone to hold her. So, I took my left hand that I was using to help brace myself up, and wrapped that arm around the front of her. I began rubbing her shoulder and back to try and keep her calm. I’d occasionally kiss the top or side of her head to remind her that I was here and I wouldn’t let anything hurt her. I would try to reassure her not through words, but through small gestures. At times it seemed like it was working because she would stop crying, and I would slightly relax my grip on her before she would start bawling again. I would then just wrap my arms around her tighter and would occasionally rock us back and forth slightly to help soothe her. I hated when she got upset like this because I felt so helpless in trying to comfort her. I hated seeing her so sad.

We sat there for hours just like that. No words exchanged. Just us embracing each other and grieving. After a couple hours of seeing Chris cry, I began to get sad because I realized I hadn’t really grieved over Jessie yet. It still doesn’t feel real, so it hasn’t really sunk in quite yet. Holding C like this in attempts to comfort her, felt all too familiar to the ways I’d hold and comfort Jessie. Knowing that I would never be able to hold Jessie like this again began to rip my heart apart. I found myself begin to sob. I buried my head to the top of hers and we continued to hold each other as tightly as we could and cry together. I don’t know how long it had been before I heard a security guard clear his throat and ask if we knew what time it was because the park had closed hours ago. I looked up at the guard, and I could feel C’s head move towards the guard. Upon seeing our faces, his expression changed, and he looked at me and just said to make sure we were gone by sunrise. I subtlety nod my head and we resume our grief-induced embrace. After a while, I felt Christy’s head move again, my guess so she could breathe fresh air, rather than the stuffy air she had been breathing with her head wedged between my arm and shoulder. Not long after, she looks up at me, I look down at her with a sad smile. She looked so lost, confused, and without hope. As if I wasn’t heartbroken before with the loss of Jessie, seeing how broken C was made it that much worse. She then got up and reached her hands out towards me to help pull me up. I grabbed her hands and got up off the ground. I placed my right arm back around her shoulders, and she responded by wrapping both her arms around my waist as I led us back to the apartment.

As we walked, I would look down at her and know that we would be okay. Whether she knew it or not, she had been my rock for the last few years, and I wasn’t about to let that go. No matter how much she may try to deny it, she has helped me far more than she thinks I’ve helped her. She has been such a positive force in my life, always there for me to vent to and help me out with Jessie. I’m so thankful for Christy for far more than our friendship. If it wasn’t for her, I would’ve never met Jessie. I can’t imagine a life without ever meeting her. I love her more than I’ve ever loved anyone, including Christy. Christy may have been the first girl to steal my heart, but she didn’t steal it all, and Jessie had far more of it. More of it than I gave her credit for when she was alive. Jessie and I were so opposite, but we balanced each other out. I was more like Christy, which resulted in us butting heads all the time. Jessie and I rarely fought, but found ourselves constantly compromising due to our extreme differences. I have a set routine, and am not too fond of change. Jessie was very carefree, and went with the flow. She took life as it came, and learned to adapt to whatever curve balls life threw her way. I, on the other hand, didn’t deal with change well, and would freak out way too easily if I didn’t know exactly how plans would pan out. Like I said, we balanced each other out. She taught me to let go more, and I gave her some structure. It was a perfect match. I never really appreciated how amazing she truly was. I hate that I took that for granted, but I won’t ever do that from this day on. On top of figuring out who killed her, I will use this time to hopefully learn more about her, and appreciate how complex of a person she actually was. I feel like a huge change is coming in my life, and for the first time, I’m ready and excited for it.