I'd Do Anything

In the short 28 years Trisha had been alive, she had seen all kinds of relationships. Happy ones, miserable ones. Single, double and even triple sided ones. Abusive and loving. Caring and cruel. But nothing made her more upset than the case of Lana and her boyfriend Issac.

Oh, they swore up and down that they loved each other. But when she was out of earshot he’d start picking on her, to Trisha of all people. He had never cheated, but when girls threw themselves at him he never stopped it. And Lana had huge jealousy issues. She’d tell Trisha she trusted him while flipping through his text messages.

Trisha knew that Lana could do better. In her opinion, Issac was white trash. There was no other term to describe him. Despite what Lana said, he wasn’t intelligent, he wasn’t going places, and he was not the one. And quite frankly, Trisha was tired of watching her best friend allow herself to be destroyed.

Trisha was trying to explain this to Max at the bar, hand gestures flying. They had gotten dinner then meandered back towards the bar, catching up. Trisha wondered when the last time she smiled so much was. Probably the last time she hung out with him. It felt like finding a long-lost necklace or watch, and now that it was back it was like her body finally felt balanced again.

That was a stupid analogy. She’d have to make a mental note to never use it in her comic.

“Really.” She groaned at Max. “When I finally broke up with Anthony, I swore up and down I’d never let someone treat me like that again. Now I’m watching her go through it and she won’t fucking listen.”

“Well, now you know how I felt.” He said. “You wasted so much time with that kid. And who always had to be your prom date anyway?”

Trisha rolled her eyes. “You.”

Annalise laughed. She had been sitting on Max’s other side. “You were her prom date?”

“Oh, yeah. This genius decided to dump her boyfriend of almost a year two weeks before the prom. So of course she can’t get a date, because he swore anyone who went with her would get the shit kicked out of them. And I didn’t have a date because all the girls were afraid of Trish –“

“Oh, shut up Max. You just didn’t know how to talk to any of them.”

“So I had to go with her.”

“Hey, we had fun.” Trisha said, sipping her beer. “We were like the only people who were actually enjoying ourselves.”

“Did you get beat up?” Annalise asked.

“Nah, he knew better than that.” Max thought for a minute. “You know, I think my mom still has a picture of us framed. I’m reasonably sure she points it out to every girl I bring home. She always loved you.”

“Yeah, cause I was the only person who could put up with you.”

Annalise laughed at their antics again.

Max turned back to the subject matter of Lana and Issac. “Aren’t you worried they’ll overhear?”

“Lana doesn’t really come here.” Trisha shrugged. “She likes classier bars. And we make a point to try not to see each other outside of work. Issac comes here, but quite frankly I don’t give a shit if he hears me.”

Max laughed and Annalise shook her head.

“Come play a game of pool with me before you get in trouble.” Annalise said.

“You just want to kick my ass.”

“Hey, you beat me last time.”

“You were drunk as shit. If I remember correctly, Lars had to pick you up to get out of here.”

Max shook his head as they headed over to the table. He looked up as someone sat in Trisha’s vacated seat and grinned. “Hey.”

“Hey.” David Desharnais replied, squinting at the selection of taps, and then he turned around and looked at Annalise and Trisha. “That her?”

Max sighed. He had known this would be coming. “Yep.”

“Hm. She’s pretty.”

“She used to hit boys for saying that.”

Max had told Davey all about Trisha. How happy he was to be able to get her back into his life. Especially with the way things had ended with them. They had gone to a house party the summer after they graduated, and after that night Trisha just seemed distant. Max couldn’t remember a thing about that night. Next thing he knew, she had packed her belongings into her pick-up truck, which he still didn’t understand why she had the damn thing, and he didn’t see her again for ten years. His parents thought that he knew her family was moving away from Connecticut.

“How’d it go?” Davey asked. “Your little date?”

“It wasn’t a date. What is this? Grade school?”

“Whatever.”

Max leaned back and cracked his neck. It made his chest hurt. “It was good. I don’t know. I did miss her. A lot. You don’t meet a lot of people like Trish. But she’s different now. I don’t know. She’s…”

“She’s older.” Davey finished. “You’re older. Ten years can change people.”

“I guess.” Max shrugged.

Davey studied his friend for a moment, then snorted. “What? You get a head injury too?”

“What?”

“You’re still in love with her, aren’t you?”

Max rolled his eyes. “Jesus, this is like grade school.”

“Come on, admit it. All your little teenage failures wrapped up in that little package over there getting her ass handed to her by Annalise. Friend zoned from day one. I’ll bet you’d do anything to have her.”

“Trisha is my friend.” Max said firmly.

“So you won’t mind if I ask her out.”

“Go right ahead. I hope she decks you.”

“Why? So you can keep her?”

“No. So I can see the look on your face.”

They both shut up as Trisha slinked back over and dropped into the seat Annalise had been using.

“Did she – “

“She annihilated me.” Trisha said miserably.

Trisha had expected to lose the game against Annalise, but it didn’t mean that she hated losing any less.

“Trish, this is my teammate Davey.” Max said after being nudged for the fourth time.

Trish gave him a practiced smile, her convention smile. “Hey.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you.” Davey smiled. “You’re prettier than Max lets on.”

Trisha laughed. “No wonder I never had a prom date.”

“Hey, that was your own fault.” Max said.

“You should come out to dinner with me sometime.” Davey said.

Trisha smiled and shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“Why not?”

“You’re not my type.”

“Why?”

“The why game, huh?” she asked, finishing her beer. “Well, for starters, I’ve had bad luck dating Max’s teammates.”

“You can thank Michael Mancini for that.” Max supplied.

“Secondly, I hate the why game.”

“She really does.” Max added.

“Max! Why are you siding with her?” Davey demanded.

“Peanut gallery, shush.” Trisha said. “And finally, I work way too much to go on dates. And don’t you have a girlfriend or something?”

Max laughed.

“I don’t actually.” Davey said.

“Well then, next time Lana breaks up with her boyfriend I’ll set you up with her. You’re more her type anyway. I’m going to go change the music on the jukebox.”

She walked towards the neon lights at the end of the bar, and Davey shook his head. “Max, best of luck. She’s a nightmare.”

“Still not getting this part where I’m in love with her.”