Saturday, November 27, 2004
6.
6.
Gary and Charlie sat on opposite sides of a chess board in the game room. Down the hall, the band was playing an extended jam on a prog rock theme that Charlie didn’t recognize. Colette was lying on the couch next to him, her head on a pillow on his lap. She was dozing lightly. Audra was sitting next to Charlie, and she listened as he related the argument he’d had with Kat out on the porch.
“Well, that explains a lot,” she said.
“Oh?” Charlie picked up his knight, and took out one of Gary’s bishops with it. Gary frowned, and stared harder at the board.
“Yeah. She came storming into the living room about half an hour ago, grabbed Bill and took off with him somewhere.”
“Realllly.” Gary picked up a piece and moved it. Charlie moved his own piece. “Check,” he said. “So Kat’s gone off with Bill. They’re probably doing one of two things, then. Maybe both.”
Audra sat back and considered this. She’d been friends with Kat a while, and knew that she wasn’t above using her charms to get what she wanted, and well, Bill wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. “So if I’m Kat, where do I go to cheat on my boyfriend without him catching me? Especially when there’s no way of getting out of here any time soon?”
Gary moved his queen and looked up at Charlie. “Checkmate”
“What? How?”
“If you move there, you’re dead. If you move there, you’re dead. I’ve got you.” He sat back on the couch, and folded his arms behind his head.. “If it were me, I’d go out to the pool house.” He looked at Audra. “Not that I’d ever consider that, mind you.”
She hit him in the head with a pillow. “You’d better not. I’ll scratch any girl’s eyes out that looks at you.”
“Okay,” Charlie said. “So what do you think I should do?”
“Well,” Audra said, “the way I see it, you’ve got three options. Option one, you do nothing. Just let this run its course, and then Monday, you decide it didn’t happen and everything’s the way it was.”
“I think I’ve already killed that option.”
Audra chuckled. “I’d say so. Option two, you go out to the pool house, find that nothing’s happening, and maybe you feel guilty. This way leads back to her, also.”
“If I’m going to go out there, it isn’t going to be for nothing.”
“Option three, you go out there, catch her in the act, make a great big bloody fool of yourself, and then you’re free to do what you want.” She leaned over the chessboard. “Look, Charlie, I’m not going to beat around the fucking bush here. It’s obvious you’ve already made your choice, whether or not you even know it.”
He sat back and thought about it. Audra was right, and all he had to do was look at the beautiful girl sleeping peacefully against him to realize it. But he didn’t know what he wanted to do. He knew that he didn’t really want to find Kat in flagrante delicto, as it were, with Bill, but at the same time he felt like he had to know.
“Look, man. You can sleep on it if you want, but I’d just go out there and lay it all on the line. You’ve never been one to shy away from a problem. I wouldn’t expect you to start now.” Gary set up the chessboard again. “We can play another game, if you want.”
“No.” He shifted his weight slightly, sliding out from Colette. Audra put a pillow under her head, and she moved a little, but didn’t wake up. “I think I need to go find out whether or not I’m a jackass.” He walked towards the door.
“You want me to come with you, Charlie?” Gary started to get up.
“No, this is something I need to do on my own.” He walked out of the room. Audra and Gary watched him go, then Gary stood up.
“Let him go, Gary. It’s not going to do any good for the both of you to be out there. Besides, you’ve still got a houseful of guests.”
“Ahhhh, you’re right, I guess. Maybe I’ll go back and see what’s going on with the bands.”
Charlie walked out into the snow. The snow had stopped completely for the moment. The full moon appeared through a hole in the cloud cover, illuminating the back yard in its ghostly pale glow. He looked down as he stepped off the porch. Two sets of footprints headed off in the snow from the porch, straight towards the pool house. Just as I thought.
He trudged across the back yard, pausing briefly to look back at the house. He could see some illumination from the front of the house, but most of the back rooms were dark. As he turned to go on to the pool house, the moon disappeared back behind a cloud, and the yard was dark again. He could see a small glow coming from the pool house, but Kat had been smart not to turn all the lights on.
“What am I doing out here?” he said to nobody as he approached the pool house. “I could be inside, enjoying the warmth, getting drunk. But no, I had to come trudging out here to see if I’m a schmuck.”
He reached the pool house door and stopped. He noticed that the snow had been brushed off the small utility box where the spare key was. He hadn’t even realized that Kat knew there was a spare key, let alone where it was. He dug into his parka, and pulled out his own keys. Quietly, he slid the key into the lock, then slowly opened the door. As he slipped into the pool area, he could hear Kat moaning loudly. They were at the far end of the pool, sitting in the shallow end. Kat was straddling Bill, writhing about. Bill had his eyes closed. Charlie walked over to the edge of the pool.
“Well, this is a fine how do you do,” he said. Kat yelped and jumped off Bill. She quickly moved to hide behind him.
“Ch-Charlie,” Bill stammered, “it’s not what it looks like.”
“I don’t know, Bill, it looks like you’re fucking my girlfriend. That’s what it looks like from this end of the pool.” He started walking down towards the shallow end of the pool. Bill got out and grabbed a towel from a table near the steps. He put his hands out, palms up.
“Hey, man. We’re cool, okay?”
“I don’t think so. But I’m also not stupid enough to try and fight you, even if you’re only wearing a towel.” He picked up the pile of clothes on the ground, and tossed them towards the two of them. “I tell you what. You’re welcome to her. I think that she and I are done anyway, wouldn’t you say, dear?”
Kat cowered behind Bill. This wasn’t what she’d wanted, not at all. “Charlie, I...”
“Oh, no. There’s nothing to say anymore.” He laughed. “You know why I went out for the draft, Kat? Because I didn’t want you holding my leash for the rest of my life.” He turned on his heel, and walked towards the apartment door.
“Charlie, wait. I’m sorry.”
“That’s not going to work this time. You know, all this time, I should have realized that you were just stringing me along. You never let me go all the way, but I come out here to find you fucking one of my best friends just about at the drop of a hat. How the fuck am I supposed to deal with that?” He walked over to the sliding door. “Put your clothes on and go back to the party. You and me, we’re finished. Bill, I have a feeling that you and Doug may be finished too.” He stepped through the sliding door and slammed it closed as Kat broke down and started to cry. Bill tried to put his arm around her, but she just pushed him away.
“Fine,” he said. If Charlie was right, he was going to have to find a way to soothe Doug. He put his clothes on, wondering if he’d completely tossed everything in his life into the toilet, and then headed back over to the party. All of this just so you could get your rocks off, he thought as he walked back through the snow, which had started to come down again.
Kat sat by the pool crying. Charlie opened the sliding door again and stepped out onto the top step. “Still here? Where’d your new pet go?”
She looked at him. “I bet this makes you real happy, Charlie. I bet you’re happy that you’re finally done with me.”
He sat down on the steps. “You’ve got to be kidding. I didn’t want any of this. I figured that you and me, we’d just quietly go our separate ways at the end of the year. I figured I’d get drafted and head off to some little Canadian town, or the midwest, and you’d go off to school, and that would be the end of it.”
“I never wanted any of this.”
“Didn’t you? As I recall, the open relationship thing was your idea. How many of my friends have you slept with? How many of the people that walk down the hall, slapping me on the back and treating me like the biggest jackass in the world, have you spread those cheerleader legs for?”
“Does it matter, Charlie? How do you think I felt, being less important then a frozen piece of plastic?”
“Then why string me along? Or did I come a little to close to the truth out on the back porch?”
“You want me to say it, Charlie? Fine. I’m shallow. I’m all about my appearance as it relates towards everyone around me. I can’t be like Kim. I’m not smart, just pretty. So why else would I gravitate towards the most popular guy in my social circle.” She started pulling on her clothes, not looking at him now. “And it was fine, at first. But when I realized that I was always going to be second to that damn game, I decided to do something about it. But I did the wrong thing, didn’t I?”
He regarded her as she finished putting her clothes on. “Bingo. Rather than cutting me loose and going after someone else, Scott Mitchell, for example, you decided to just screw around on me figuring, (correctly, by the way) that I wouldn’t notice. It helped that you never let me go all the way.”
“That wasn’t me. That was you.”
“Oh please. Give me a break. You always got me going, then shut me down. Many a night has been spent in that room dealing with a case of blue balls, sweetie. You just didn’t want me to figure out that you weren’t a virgin anymore.” He stood up to go back into the apartment. “Make sure you close the door behind you.” He walked back through the sliding door.
Gary and Charlie sat on opposite sides of a chess board in the game room. Down the hall, the band was playing an extended jam on a prog rock theme that Charlie didn’t recognize. Colette was lying on the couch next to him, her head on a pillow on his lap. She was dozing lightly. Audra was sitting next to Charlie, and she listened as he related the argument he’d had with Kat out on the porch.
“Well, that explains a lot,” she said.
“Oh?” Charlie picked up his knight, and took out one of Gary’s bishops with it. Gary frowned, and stared harder at the board.
“Yeah. She came storming into the living room about half an hour ago, grabbed Bill and took off with him somewhere.”
“Realllly.” Gary picked up a piece and moved it. Charlie moved his own piece. “Check,” he said. “So Kat’s gone off with Bill. They’re probably doing one of two things, then. Maybe both.”
Audra sat back and considered this. She’d been friends with Kat a while, and knew that she wasn’t above using her charms to get what she wanted, and well, Bill wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. “So if I’m Kat, where do I go to cheat on my boyfriend without him catching me? Especially when there’s no way of getting out of here any time soon?”
Gary moved his queen and looked up at Charlie. “Checkmate”
“What? How?”
“If you move there, you’re dead. If you move there, you’re dead. I’ve got you.” He sat back on the couch, and folded his arms behind his head.. “If it were me, I’d go out to the pool house.” He looked at Audra. “Not that I’d ever consider that, mind you.”
She hit him in the head with a pillow. “You’d better not. I’ll scratch any girl’s eyes out that looks at you.”
“Okay,” Charlie said. “So what do you think I should do?”
“Well,” Audra said, “the way I see it, you’ve got three options. Option one, you do nothing. Just let this run its course, and then Monday, you decide it didn’t happen and everything’s the way it was.”
“I think I’ve already killed that option.”
Audra chuckled. “I’d say so. Option two, you go out to the pool house, find that nothing’s happening, and maybe you feel guilty. This way leads back to her, also.”
“If I’m going to go out there, it isn’t going to be for nothing.”
“Option three, you go out there, catch her in the act, make a great big bloody fool of yourself, and then you’re free to do what you want.” She leaned over the chessboard. “Look, Charlie, I’m not going to beat around the fucking bush here. It’s obvious you’ve already made your choice, whether or not you even know it.”
He sat back and thought about it. Audra was right, and all he had to do was look at the beautiful girl sleeping peacefully against him to realize it. But he didn’t know what he wanted to do. He knew that he didn’t really want to find Kat in flagrante delicto, as it were, with Bill, but at the same time he felt like he had to know.
“Look, man. You can sleep on it if you want, but I’d just go out there and lay it all on the line. You’ve never been one to shy away from a problem. I wouldn’t expect you to start now.” Gary set up the chessboard again. “We can play another game, if you want.”
“No.” He shifted his weight slightly, sliding out from Colette. Audra put a pillow under her head, and she moved a little, but didn’t wake up. “I think I need to go find out whether or not I’m a jackass.” He walked towards the door.
“You want me to come with you, Charlie?” Gary started to get up.
“No, this is something I need to do on my own.” He walked out of the room. Audra and Gary watched him go, then Gary stood up.
“Let him go, Gary. It’s not going to do any good for the both of you to be out there. Besides, you’ve still got a houseful of guests.”
“Ahhhh, you’re right, I guess. Maybe I’ll go back and see what’s going on with the bands.”
Charlie walked out into the snow. The snow had stopped completely for the moment. The full moon appeared through a hole in the cloud cover, illuminating the back yard in its ghostly pale glow. He looked down as he stepped off the porch. Two sets of footprints headed off in the snow from the porch, straight towards the pool house. Just as I thought.
He trudged across the back yard, pausing briefly to look back at the house. He could see some illumination from the front of the house, but most of the back rooms were dark. As he turned to go on to the pool house, the moon disappeared back behind a cloud, and the yard was dark again. He could see a small glow coming from the pool house, but Kat had been smart not to turn all the lights on.
“What am I doing out here?” he said to nobody as he approached the pool house. “I could be inside, enjoying the warmth, getting drunk. But no, I had to come trudging out here to see if I’m a schmuck.”
He reached the pool house door and stopped. He noticed that the snow had been brushed off the small utility box where the spare key was. He hadn’t even realized that Kat knew there was a spare key, let alone where it was. He dug into his parka, and pulled out his own keys. Quietly, he slid the key into the lock, then slowly opened the door. As he slipped into the pool area, he could hear Kat moaning loudly. They were at the far end of the pool, sitting in the shallow end. Kat was straddling Bill, writhing about. Bill had his eyes closed. Charlie walked over to the edge of the pool.
“Well, this is a fine how do you do,” he said. Kat yelped and jumped off Bill. She quickly moved to hide behind him.
“Ch-Charlie,” Bill stammered, “it’s not what it looks like.”
“I don’t know, Bill, it looks like you’re fucking my girlfriend. That’s what it looks like from this end of the pool.” He started walking down towards the shallow end of the pool. Bill got out and grabbed a towel from a table near the steps. He put his hands out, palms up.
“Hey, man. We’re cool, okay?”
“I don’t think so. But I’m also not stupid enough to try and fight you, even if you’re only wearing a towel.” He picked up the pile of clothes on the ground, and tossed them towards the two of them. “I tell you what. You’re welcome to her. I think that she and I are done anyway, wouldn’t you say, dear?”
Kat cowered behind Bill. This wasn’t what she’d wanted, not at all. “Charlie, I...”
“Oh, no. There’s nothing to say anymore.” He laughed. “You know why I went out for the draft, Kat? Because I didn’t want you holding my leash for the rest of my life.” He turned on his heel, and walked towards the apartment door.
“Charlie, wait. I’m sorry.”
“That’s not going to work this time. You know, all this time, I should have realized that you were just stringing me along. You never let me go all the way, but I come out here to find you fucking one of my best friends just about at the drop of a hat. How the fuck am I supposed to deal with that?” He walked over to the sliding door. “Put your clothes on and go back to the party. You and me, we’re finished. Bill, I have a feeling that you and Doug may be finished too.” He stepped through the sliding door and slammed it closed as Kat broke down and started to cry. Bill tried to put his arm around her, but she just pushed him away.
“Fine,” he said. If Charlie was right, he was going to have to find a way to soothe Doug. He put his clothes on, wondering if he’d completely tossed everything in his life into the toilet, and then headed back over to the party. All of this just so you could get your rocks off, he thought as he walked back through the snow, which had started to come down again.
Kat sat by the pool crying. Charlie opened the sliding door again and stepped out onto the top step. “Still here? Where’d your new pet go?”
She looked at him. “I bet this makes you real happy, Charlie. I bet you’re happy that you’re finally done with me.”
He sat down on the steps. “You’ve got to be kidding. I didn’t want any of this. I figured that you and me, we’d just quietly go our separate ways at the end of the year. I figured I’d get drafted and head off to some little Canadian town, or the midwest, and you’d go off to school, and that would be the end of it.”
“I never wanted any of this.”
“Didn’t you? As I recall, the open relationship thing was your idea. How many of my friends have you slept with? How many of the people that walk down the hall, slapping me on the back and treating me like the biggest jackass in the world, have you spread those cheerleader legs for?”
“Does it matter, Charlie? How do you think I felt, being less important then a frozen piece of plastic?”
“Then why string me along? Or did I come a little to close to the truth out on the back porch?”
“You want me to say it, Charlie? Fine. I’m shallow. I’m all about my appearance as it relates towards everyone around me. I can’t be like Kim. I’m not smart, just pretty. So why else would I gravitate towards the most popular guy in my social circle.” She started pulling on her clothes, not looking at him now. “And it was fine, at first. But when I realized that I was always going to be second to that damn game, I decided to do something about it. But I did the wrong thing, didn’t I?”
He regarded her as she finished putting her clothes on. “Bingo. Rather than cutting me loose and going after someone else, Scott Mitchell, for example, you decided to just screw around on me figuring, (correctly, by the way) that I wouldn’t notice. It helped that you never let me go all the way.”
“That wasn’t me. That was you.”
“Oh please. Give me a break. You always got me going, then shut me down. Many a night has been spent in that room dealing with a case of blue balls, sweetie. You just didn’t want me to figure out that you weren’t a virgin anymore.” He stood up to go back into the apartment. “Make sure you close the door behind you.” He walked back through the sliding door.
