Smoked Out

“Took you long enough.” Talon said as I made my way to his door. He was out having yet another smoke and he looked annoyed when I reached him. I probably looked just as annoyed because let’s face it; neither of us wanted to be here with each other right now. He took one last puff of his cigarette and made sure to blow the smoke in my face before putting it out and opening his door. “We have an hour and then you gotta go.”

“You know this is technically my house, right? My parents own it.” I said still angry that my parents decided to rent it out to him. I couldn’t help holding a grudge over them for this one and I definitely wasn’t used to people bossing me around in my own house, especially people who weren't my parents.

“And I’m paying them for this half of it which means you leave it when I say you do.” He shut the door loudly behind us and it made me jump a little. “Go on, make yourself comfortable.” He fluttered his hand in the direction of the couch in a mocking way. Couldn’t he just leave the sarcasm behind for an hour so I could stand him a smidge more than I could now?

I walked over to the couch and sat down, taking in the lower part of the house I used to walk around whenever I wanted to. It was weird seeing the place decorated with Talon’s things. Metallica and AC/DC posters were hanging on the walls along with some other posters with bands I hadn’t heard of before like Of Mice & Men and Breaking Benjamin. A 34” flat screen TV sat on the far back wall with a black and red electric guitar leaning against an amp beside it. The kitchen was behind me in the same place it always was; to the left of the door. He had left a pile of dishes in the sink which didn’t surprise me and a half eaten bowl of macaroni and cheese sat on the tall rounded kitchen table. I knew where his room was and I let my eyes wander briefly to the staircase that led down to it as well as the laundry room my parents were allowed to use twice a week.

Looking around made me miss having the house to myself. I knew that this was benefiting my parents and their money situation and so I tried not to feel so selfish. It was hard though, especially when they made Talon the king of the dungeon. I wanted to be king of the dungeon. I don’t care if I’m a girl; I always wanted to have the basement to myself. What was the point when I really thought about it though? I was going to be going away to University soon anyway.

“Nice decorating,” I said rolling my eyes. “Do you even play the guitar or is that just for show?” So many guys at my school tried to flirt with girls by telling them they were in a band or played some kind of instrument. It was sickening to watch as every single one of them fell for it and were disappointed later when their new boyfriends still hadn’t played anything for them.

“You aren’t the only one with a passion,” I never knew it was possible to sarcastically wink at someone until Talon did it just now. “I think we should start you off with the basics, get you warmed up. There’s no need to jump right in and get you all hot and bothered.” I coughed awkwardly at his choice of words.

“Well here’s the test Mr. Sherik gave me from the first week of school.” I handed him the test and frowned when his face scrunched up at it.

“This is terrible!” He laughed. “Alright, here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to help you redo this test so that you get them all right and we’ll probably have to work on some practice questions a bit later on as well and then we’ll move on to what Mr. Sherik is teaching us now. Here, try the first question again.”

I took the test back from him and read over the first problem. “I don’t know what I’m doing though!” I said frustrated, this time with the math problem and not with Talon.

“Math is something that takes time. You have to remember that, okay? Don’t beat yourself up every time you don’t get the question right on your first try.” I sighed and looked at the problem again. This time I attempted to answer it again on the space left beside the previous answer I had gotten wrong.

Talon took the notebook I had placed on the coffee table in front of us when I had sat down and opened it to a fresh page. He began writing something on it and then pushed it over to me. Lesson One: The Basics. “Are you serious?” I asked, raising my eyebrows at him.

“You’re doing it wrong again and I don’t want you to erase any of your mistakes. You need to learn from them. I want you to try the same problem again on this page and when you begin to mess up I’ll interject and tell you what you did wrong.” I raised my eyebrows again.

“Why are you taking this so seriously? I mean, thanks, but you don’t have to kiss my ass because you want me to help out your brother.” I regretted what I said as soon as I said it, but I couldn’t take the words back now.

“I’m not kissing your ass, Macy. I’m trying to help you because that was our deal. I said I would help you in exchange for Axel’s enrollment in your class and that’s what I’m doing. Unless, of course, you’ve changed your mind.” He snapped at me.

“I hate that you’re the only person available to help me.” I muttered. It was true though. I had gone to the tutor center at school today only to find out that every tutor in school was booked up. How are the rest of us supposed to do well in school if they don’t have enough people to tutor everyone who needs help?

“And I hate that I have to be the only one available to help you. Are you done now? Can we move on? I told you I have some things I need to do later so I can only spend so long with this.” I could hear the irritation in his voice as it took over his usual sarcastic tone. I ignored him and started working on my problem again. I noticed him shrug at me in the “what the fuck” way but continued writing anyways.

By the end of the hour I had completed three questions and was severely disappointed in myself. I had to admit that Talon had a lot of patience with me seeing as I messed up about a hundred times. I suddenly thought back to Beverly and how I hated that she could do these problems in her sleep. She didn’t even come to class and she got almost all of her answers right on her test. Mr. Sherik had handed them back to everyone today and congratulated them on doing a great job and starting the semester off well. I guess I was the only one in the class who sucked so bad they needed to have a tutor.

“Can I see your test?” I asked bluntly as I started to place all of my things in my bag.

“No.” Talon said just as bluntly.

“Well why not? I want to see if you’re as good at math as Mr. Sherik thinks you are.” I admit I was just being nosy but I was curious to see how much better he did than me. Maybe he only got a 50 and was just doing the tutoring thing because he was forced into it. Maybe everything he had taught me this afternoon hadn’t been right. “Is that it on the fridge?” I said smirking and walking over to it. Talon jumped up from the couch and grabbed it off the fridge before I could reach it. “Hey!”

“No cheating!” He said, raising it in the air and laughing. I started to jump up, trying to get it from him but he was too tall and I couldn’t make it the last few inches to reach it.

“You saw mine!” I whined, not sure why I was being playful with him now. He looked down at me and smirked. “Why are you smirking at me like that?”

“Nice bra. I didn’t know you were into polka dots.” He winked at me as I quickly backed away from him and covered my white and pink polka dotted bra with my shirt. It must have slipped when I was jumping for his test.

“You perv!” I said, suddenly disgusted with him again. I grabbed my stuff and made my way to his door.

“It’s okay if you’re a virgin, Macy. You’ll find your way to the lace eventually… maybe.” He started laughing and I had to hold myself together as best I could so that I wouldn’t slap him.

“Fuck you.” I said, slamming the door and leaving his ridiculous sounding laugh behind me. Maybe Talon and I could have been friends in another lifetime. Maybe if we had continued talking after his party in the ninth grade things would be different between us and I wouldn’t hate him so much. But things didn’t happen that way and there was no way I was going to come around to a guy like that. He could take his stupid pickup truck and his stupid guitar and shove them up his ass.

I walked through my front door and sat down on the living room couch with a huff. I was in no mood to deal with anything right now. How dare he comment on my sex life as if he knows anything about it? As if I would tell him anything about it anyway. If I had one that is. So what if I’m a virgin? I consider that to be a pretty damn good accomplishment for someone my age. I don’t sleep around. It’s part of having a good reputation. And my bra choices wouldn’t change even if I did have an active sex life.

The phone rang and I picked it up without looking at who was calling. “Hello, Macy Crawford speaking.” I said in the sweetest voice I could muster.

“Wow.” Talon scoffed through the phone. “Hello, Talon Langworth speaking.” He made his voice very high pitched for that one. I felt my body tense at the sound of his voice.

“What do you want?” I groaned. “I thought you had stuff to do.”

“I was calling to let you know that I can’t help you tomorrow so don’t bother stopping by if you thought I was going to.” Oh, what a nice guy he was calling to let me know that I shouldn’t come over. Well woopdidoo, I don’t want to come over anyway!

“Wasn’t planning on it, I have ‘shit to do.’” I said mocking his favourite choice of words. “Carson and I are working on a project.” I heard him laugh on the other line.

“Carson Whitford? My best friend, Carson?” He asked in hysterics.

“Yes.” I said matter of factly. “So don’t worry. I wasn’t planning on stopping by.”

“Good luck,” He said still laughing. “Carson isn’t going to show up. Are you kidding me? Unless you’re going to be screwing him later he isn’t going to be anywhere near you tomorrow, especially if you’re going to be working on a school project.”

“I think you’re wrong. He is going to show up.” I said coldly, hoping I was right. “I can’t work on my math until Friday anyways. I have the project tomorrow and I have skating lessons on Thursday which I’m sure you haven’t forgotten about. So I’m coming over Friday, be ready.” I was trying to take charge now instead of letting Talon think he could walk all over me.

“I’m not spending quality party time helping you with math. No. I’ll help you on Sunday.” I was getting so sick of hearing his voice through the phone that I wanted to gouge my eardrums out. I’d had enough of Talon Langworth for one day.

“You are if you want me to keep your brother in my class.” I knew this was a low blow, even for me. But I knew it was the only way he would agree to help me. “Judging from your silence, I take it as Friday at your house. See you then.” I hung up the phone and leaned back into the couch, letting out a deep breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding in. I had to find a way to block him from getting under my skin all the time. He was driving me crazy.