“Is Danielle here?” Ashley says when Reid answers his door.
I try not to breathe too heavily, so Reid won’t hear me. Ashley’s phone is on, at the top of her open purse. My phone is jammed against my ear. The cell crackles like fire against my face.
“No, she’s not,” Reid answers. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to go through with this, but Ashley swears it’s the only way to convince me that Reid is what she says he is. I finally gave in after days of her wearing me down. I want to prove her wrong and slay all my doubts. Now Ashley’s at Reid’s front door, while I’m in the alley listening to their conversation.
“Well, I need to talk with her,” Ashley says, sounding upset, pretending to cry.
“Oh yeah, you’re her friend.”
“Ashley.”
“We met the day I drove you to the library, right?” he asks, then there’s an awkward silence as Reid doesn’t ask why Ashley needs to talk with me.
“We had a big fight, and now she’s missing,” she says, making the lie sound like solid truth.
“She’s not over here,” Reid says, sounding almost bored.
“I’m really worried,” Ashley says through more fake tears. “It was a big fight.”
“Over what?”
“Over you.”
“Me?” Reid says. I just know he’s breaking out that special smile of his for her.
“You.” I imagine her fingers adjusting the strap of the tight white top I picked out. I’m wondering if Reid’s looking at her like he looks at me.
“You wanna come inside, it’s hot as a jungle out there,” he suggests. I hear Ashley follow him into the house. From the number of steps, they’re probably in the living room.
“Thanks, it’s cooler in here,” she says. I imagine her tossing her hair back out of her eyes.
“Cooler down the basement,” Reid adds. “Come on down, I’ll get you a beer.”
“That would be great, thanks,” Ashley lies. I tell myself everything she says is a lie; I wonder if it’s the same with everything Reid’s told me. I listen to them walk down the basement stairs, and I imagine them sitting on the couch by the big-screen TV.
“You’re fighting about me?” Reid asks over the sound of beer bottles being opened.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have come over here,” Ashley announces. It sounds like she’s drinking, but strangely I don’t hear her gag like I did my first time or pronounce it “grotesque.”
“Umm, I don’t know how to say this,” Ashley says. She’s talking softer now; it’s getting harder to hear, especially over the increased pounding of my heart.
It sounds like Reid whispers, “You can say whatever you want.”
“You see, this is so embarrassing. You don’t even know me.”
“My mistake,” he says, then laughs. “I guess I’m allowed to make one.”
Ashley giggles the kind of giggle we’d make fun of other girls at school for doing when some boy said something only slightly funny. “Well, I made one coming here.”
“What do you mean?” he asks.
“We fought because I told Danielle how I’ve thought about you ever since we first came over here. But when I saw you that day, I knew.” Ashley lets the lies rush out of her.
“Knew what?”
“Knew I couldn’t stop thinking about you,” Ashley says, followed by a long silence, which I wait for Reid to fill by saying something like, “Wow, that’s nice but, you see, Danielle is my girlfriend,” or “You’d better leave now,” or anything. But there’s just quiet.
“I could tell when I saw you the other day,” he says at last. “The way you stared at me.”
“I could tell in your eyes exactly who you were.” Ashley’s breathing heavy.
“You wanna smoke a joint?” Reid says, I think. He’s back to almost whispering.
Another long pause. “That’s not what I want in my mouth.” Ashley lets the bold words fall.
“Cool.”
“No, Reid, cold as hell,” she says. I even gave her the words to say.
“You are very sexy,” he purrs. No doubt he’s also pawing her. “From what I can see.”
I hear rustling sounds over the echo of my breaking heart.
“Very hot, very sexy,” he says, then I hear what sounds like a kiss. It goes on for a while, the longest moment of my life. It ends when Reid finally says, “Especially your mouth.”
More rustling sounds, then the sound of a beer bottle being set down on a table. More moaning and slurping. And now the jingle of a belt buckle being undone, followed by my boyfriend Reid saying to my best friend forever Ashley, “Why don’t you show me that sexy mouth in action?”
• • •
“I hate you!” I shout at Reid’s unshaven face. I wanted to yell it into the cell as soon as I’d heard his words and deeds. Shout it as I let myself in through the back door. Scream it as I got to the top of the basement stairs. But I waited. I waited until I saw him sitting on the sofa with his pants around his ankles, while Ashley assumed my usual position.
“Hey, wait,” Reid says as he starts pulling up his pants.
“I hate you!” I shout again, and again, and again.
“This was all her idea!” He points at Ashley.
“You’re right, it was,” Ashley says, taking the cell phone out of her purse.
“This is bullshit!” he shouts, then tries to cool down. “Danielle, just wait. Look at me.”
“I’ve already seen enough of you!” I scream at him. “How could you do this to me?”
Reid doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t apologize. He doesn’t care. Ashley was right.
“I’m your girlfriend,” I cry out.
“You were never my girlfriend,” Reid says like he’s spitting in my face. “You were a girlfriend.”
“Fuck you, Reid!” I shout as I race up the stairs. I hear Ashley’s steps behind me; I don’t hear Reid’s. I wonder if he heard my tears as I ran through his house, or the sound of the front door as I slammed it loud enough to shake the windows. But mostly, I wonder if he heard me lifting the keys to his Viper off the kitchen table.