Never Have I Ever

I wake up the next morning to my cell phone vibrating incessantly. I groan and unlock it with numb fingers. A mixture of shock and panic settles like a rock in my stomach when I find the source of the noise: 13 unread texts from Jack.

I open them all and they all seem to have the same theme: Where am I?
I frown in confusion and ask him what he means. I turn to my side and pull the blanket further up on my shoulders.
My phone vibrates again and I open the message.

Dude, did you forget? Breyden’s band at the park? Today? Hello? Dude, seriously.

I roll my eyes at his overuse of the word ‘dude’, but then his words really sink in. Shit.

Fuck, I made plans with Cali to finish our English project when I got home last night.
Alex, what the Hell? We’ve literally had these plans for weeks now. And she really wants to see you even though you punched her bf?
Apparently… Look, can you just tell Breyden that I’m really sorry? We really have to get this finished.
Shit, man, I didn’t mean to freak you out. Yeah, I can do that. Seriously though, I’m sure he’ll be cool with it. You can totally just come with us next weekend.
Okay, thanks.

I sigh and cover my eyes with my arms. Shit.

-

About two hours later, Cali and I arrive at a small playground. Its path cuts through a light tree area, separating it from the Little League Baseball field.
It’s just a small little area with two tire swings that are almost always broken, monkey bars, a platform with a few slides, and a smaller platform with a swing set for toddlers.
There’s a small building like structure with a picnic table that promises hours of pulling out painful splinters if you sit on it.

We each sit down on a tire swing. Cali’s is perfectly intact – for now – while I have to balance mine, as one of the three chains have come undone.

“So,” Cali says, dragging out the word longer than necessary, “What shall we do?”
I snort at the little British accent she’s taken up.
“Why, I’m not sure,” I say playfully, “I do believe we came here to work.”
“Oh, how boring,” she deadpans, “Why don’t we do something else?”
She drops the accent after ‘boring.’
“What do you suggest?”
She bites her lip and shrugs.
“Uh… Twenty questions?”
“Sure. You first.”

Cali leans back in the tire swing, sending her curly locks tumbling behind her. I try not to notice the way the sun makes her already beautiful eyes sparkle.
“Alright. Who’s your best friend?” she asks.
“I can only pick one person?”
“You can only pick one.”
“Didn’t you do this to me before, with Danny?”
“You’re avoiding the question.”
“I’m not avoiding it!”
“Yes, you are.”

“Fine!” I laugh, “Jack. Jack’s my best friend.”
She giggles and brushes her bangs back on her head.
“Your turn.”
“Okay… What’s the most embarrassing thing to have ever happened to you?” I ask.
“Oh, God,” she laughs, “Okay, don’t laugh at me.”
“I’m not going to promise anything, because come on! That’s the point!”
She pouts.
“Fine. Okay, so – God this is embarrassing – okay, okay I’m ready.”
I laugh.

“Oh, God,” she laughs, “Okay, don’t laugh at me.”

“I’m not going to promise anything, because come on! That’s the point!”
She pouts.

“Fine. Okay, so – God this is embarrassing – okay, okay I’m ready.”

I laugh.
“Shut up. Okay, so, when I was in like third or fourth grade, I switched schools for the third time. It was about two weeks into school and I was still uncomfortable with everything, and I think the teacher I had knew it. He was meaner to me then he was to most of the kids and well, he flat out terrified me.”

"I have a feeling I know where this is going," I say, hopping out of the tire swing.

I walk closer to her and hook my arm around one of the poles that supports the structure and lean away from it.

"You probably do. Okay, anyways, we had this thing called a School Wide Picnic where the middle school and high school basically have this whole day to just on the school’s lawn and hang out. I had like three bottles of water that day and - Hey! Don’t laugh, it was June!"

I snort and cover my mouth with my hand.
“Sorry.”
She rolls her eyes before continuing.
“Anyhow, we had to go back inside for the last half hour before the day ended and I really had to pee, but like I said he scared me.”
“Oh my God, Cali, you didn’t.”
“Right in front of his desk,” she admits.

We both burst into fits of laughter.
“Okay, okay,” Cali cackles, wiping tears off of her cheeks and smudging black along their bones, “my turn. Are you really bi? I’m sorry if that’s rude, I don’t mean to be; it’s just something I heard at school.”

I shake my head.
“Nah, that’s not rude. But yeah, I’m bi.”
She nods and pulls herself back upright on the swing.
“Okay. Your turn.”

I bite my lip and dig my shoe into the multi-colored pebbles.
“This is probably really intrusive, but did you really have sex with Danny?”
She snorts.
“No.”
“No, like you didn’t or no like you’re not going to answer that and I’m a total asshole for asking?” I ask.

Cali laughs and hops off of the swing. She stands in front of me with her arms crossed.
“You, Alexander Gaskarth, are anything but an asshole. I meant, no I didn’t have sex with him.”
“Oh. He told me you did.”

She smirks.
“Yeah, I know. I also know that you punched him for it. Thanks for defending my honor and everything, but I didn’t really need and or want your help. Besides, he’s a boy; all of you lie about your sex lives. Boys will be boys.”
She pokes my nose, grinning widely.

I laugh whole-heartedly. There’s something immensely relieving in knowing that she didn’t really have sex with him.
The feeling washed over me quickly. It was like something had been restricting my breathing for the last twenty-four hours and I hadn’t even noticed until it was gone.

"Come on," Cali says, casually slipping her hand into mine, "we should go work on our project."
“Yeah, okay,” I agree.