Backstabbing

"Come in!" I shouted loudly, snuggling deeper into my mass of blankets. I had been watching a marathon of 'Dr. Who' on Netflix for nine straight hours, and felt obligated to stay right where I had been for the entire day instead of answering the lazy 'knock, knock' on my door.

"Thanks for the answering the door!" Darren glared, sniffling and taking off his thick flannel. "It's windy outside, and it's raining, and I'm pretty sure my socks are wet now, but because it's windy and rainy, they're too cold so I can't tell and you're to blame for this because you asked me to come over and here I am and I hate you." Taking a deep breath, he kicked his Vans off and they hit the legs of my old school coat rack. My lips thinned and I watched it fall to the floor with a deadpan stare. It was a common occurrence for that piece of shit to fall at the slightest touch.

"Wow, Darren. You're breaking my things now?! I'm sorry that I'm offering free wifi and Dr. Who to you, you damn hoodlum! Don't blame me because you're the twat that wore cloth shoes in the rain!" I half shouted, making an ugly frown and pointing accusingly at the fair haired Aussie.

"Who knew this would happen, though?!" He wailed, and began to pout as he righted the coat rack, haphazardly putting my belongings back on the octopus-like wooden arms.

"Put those scarves back nicely, mister!" I snapped. " And, um, I learned to wear rainboots... in the rain... at like, four years old. Please." I turned back to Macbook that was equally as snuggled into my blankets and pressed the space bar to begin the action once again. Staring intently, I was just about to be lost in the show when Darren rudely picked up the laptop, and plopped into the same place.

"Hello, sweetie!" Riversong's coy voice sang through the speakers.

"Put it down, you fool!" I called, snatching my precious from his grubby hands. I could practically hear Darren's frown as his hands heavily fell next to his legs, sending a light vibration through the springs. I paid no attention to his childish antics as he sighed heavily once... twice.... three times, obnoxiously wiggling his body into a comfortable position on my bed. I pressed the space bar again, to pointedly glare at him when he began to pull my comforter away from my body. He grinned mischievously.

"Oh, I forgot one more thing!" He winked, and completely disrupted my comfort by pulling the fuzzy blankets with him while he swung his legs over the side of my bed just to slowly lean down and pull his toe socks off...
One.
Toe.
At.
A.
Time.

"DARREN!" I yelled, pushing on his lower back. He didn't budge. Instead, he continued to slowly take his second sock off. "Darren, I'm so irrationally upset with you right now, and I hope you know that I'll never invite you over to my home again, so help me Jesus."

He threw the wet mess onto the floor, and turned to snuggle back in, rolling over into my side and cuddling me.

"Hey, move your arm so I rest my head upon thine breast." He said, and instead of waiting for me to voluntarily move, he grabbed my arm and wrapped it around his neck. He then reached for the space bar to press play a final time. As soon as the scene began to move, I reached around the rest of his face and covered his eyeballs. " C'mooooooooon, Catey Watey. I'm playing nice, right now!"

"You weren't when you took forever and a day to take your stupid socks off. By the way, toe socks? Really?"

He remained silent for a moment before we both cracked into a series of laughter.

"They're my sisters!" He wailed loudly, his eyes screwed shut.

"No!" I laughed, tears leaking from my squinting eyes. "I don't even know why I'm laughing anymore." I wheezed, wiping at my cheeks.

"Because you're a dumb American..." He whispered. I frowned once more, as deeply as I could and set my laptop off to the beside table. I got up from my bed and wordlessly began to descend from the loft into the open flat below.

After filling the red kettle with water and setting it onto the stove, I turned to my small herb garden sitting on the counter. I mindlessly touched the fragile leaves and called up to Darren, "I called you over here for a reason besides Dr. Who."

The bedframe creaked and I could see his hair hanging into his eyes as he leaned over the protective railing of the loft. "Which is?"

"Well, I didn't want to talk to Aleisha about it, because she's too worried about Luke, and I deeeefinitely didn't want to seem like the person who can't practice what they preach, ya know?" I pulled out a glass to busy my hands. For some reason, I was nervous talking about Evan. "So, Evan messaged me the other day saying he missed me. "

I paused.

"I guess I've been thinking about him and how much I miss him, too. It's stupid, though, because he cheated on me... He fucked other girls while we were together, and it THAT wasn't enough for me to give him the finger, the fact that I'm in Australia- fucking a bazillion hours away!- should be!" I whined, absently feeling the rim of the glass. "I'm sorry, you've heard the story before; you know he's a douche. I just can't help but feel like I'd be missing out if I didn't try again. It hurts, ya know... It hurts being alone and I know that we loved each other at SOME point...

"I mean, it's not the same situation as Aleisha and Luke at all. It's completely different. She left him, so I don't really feel all that bad for her. But me? I stuck it out. I stuck it out the whole way; every time I saw a new number, I fought for us and he still left me." I paused again to take a deep, stabilizing breath before continuing on. "I just can't help but think he's finally realizing all that effort and knows that I'm the one for him. I still love him..."

The kettle began to whistle and I slowly turned the stove off. I was prepping my tea when Darren finally spoke.

"Caitlin, you are a good woman. You're caring, humorous, responsible, and you are thoughtful. I've never met someone- much less an American, " He grinned ruefully, "Who is as giving and hard working as you are. You are an amazingly dedicated person and I am so inspired by you every day. This is coming straight from the heart, mind you." His smile fell flat and he pointed his finger at me. Darren's wide mouth, though, quickly configured itself back into a toothy grin and he continue. "You are one amazing person. That being said, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" He shouted.

"This guy, who used and abused you, who didn't appreciate your worth, who fucking FUCKED YOUR SISTER is not the person you want to dedicate your heart to! He doesn't deserve it! And I know you think that maybe this will be the time that he finally will snap into shape- and it bloody well could be- but after what he's done to such a beautiful person like yourself, he doesn't fucking deserve you. At all. Caitlin, please hear my words; fall out of love with this wanker so you can find someone who is worth your damn time."

Darren had shimmied down the ladder while giving his speech, and was now grabbing the hot mug from my hands. He set it on the counter behind me and pulled me into his lanky body for a hug. I nodded into his shoulder, knowing he was right. Evan was a piece of shit.

"He was dif-"
"...different when you first met, and that's the person you've in love with this whole time. I know. He's changed though, and so have you. Let go of the past." He whispered in my ear, running his long fingers through my ratted hair. I felt the emotion in my chest rise, and all I could do was breath deeply and close my eyes while Darren held me. His heartbeat was slow, and I listened for minutes that felt like eons, before I finally could look into his face and guiltily smile.

"You're right." I nodded, and he rolled his eyes. "You're so, god damn right!" I said again, louder. I released his torso, and stamped one foot on the ground with conviction. "I'm going to tell that tosser to... toss off!" Grinning widely, I watched Darren chuckle at my use of 'tosser'.

"You'll acclimate to the accent soon... I hope." I rolled my eyes and grabbed for my tea and took a deep drink.

"So, how do you get all these fancy teas? Because I'm pretty sure we don't have them here!"

"My mom sends them to me from home!"

********************************************************************************

After Darren had left later in the evening, I snuck up to my bed and grabbed my precious Macbook. Pulling up the Facebook tab, I quickly logged in and opened Evan's message. I dropped my head into the brick wall, unflinching at the sudden jarred feeling in the back of my head.

'Hey, there cutie! How are you doin? :) I know you left for australia and when you did we were on bad terms. I wanna apologize for bein such a douche...... i miss you Cay. I miss you a ton and to prove to you to you that i'm sorry I bought a plane ticket to australia to come visit you. Babe, I hope that's okay. Love you <3'

I typed my response, immediately feeling like a failure as I conceded to his request. Darren and Aleisha were going to be so disappointed.

But the heart wants what the heart wants, and I'm going to spoil that bitch.