WESLEY
When I awoke the following morning, I had a massive headache, which was without question due to a hangover. I barely remember coming into the house and getting in my bed. I do remember tumbling over the garden hose, which I’d forgotten to coil back up onto its spindle.
I groaned as I turned my back toward the window because the sunlight coming in was too bright. I rubbed my forehead with the palm of my hand, hoping and praying it would make my head stop hurting. I glanced at my cell phone, which had fallen to the floor. I reached out, picked it up and noticed I had a text message.
Keysha: I’m worried about you. Call me.
“Yeah, right,” I grumbled as I set the phone on a nearby nightstand. “You don’t care about me, Keysha. If you did, you would’ve given me another chance. You knew how much I needed you, yet you turned your back on me. Go to hell!”
I needed aspirin because rubbing my forehead wasn’t cutting it. I pulled myself to an upright position and sat on the edge of the bed. I felt a little light-headed. After I collected myself, I grabbed my cell phone and walked down the hall toward the bathroom. I opened the medicine cabinet and removed a bottle of extra strength Tylenol. I filled a Dixie cup with water then swallowed two pills. I closed the lid on the toilet, sat down and then rested my elbows on my knees. I slumped my head between my shoulders and meditated on my life.
I was happy I’d gotten in the house before my dad, who’d finally returned to work. He stayed out late in order to attend a welcome-back party his coworkers hosted in his honor. Grandmother Lorraine returned home once she’d received word from her neighbor that the young men who’d wrecked my dad’s car and shot up Lori’s grandmother’s house had been arrested for trying to rob a local convenience store.
I scored some alcohol from my old drinking buddy Ed Daley, who’d recently returned to Thornwood from rehab, which obviously didn’t work out for him. Ed was more than happy to supply me with alcohol so that he could restore the tradition of calling me Whiskey Wesley. I can’t pinpoint exactly when I made the decision to backpedal and allow myself to be seduced by the false promise of alcohol. I suppose I was searching for someone to blame for my misery. One day I was sitting around depressed about how everything had turned out: the house fire, the move to Indianapolis, being shot, the loss of the court case, the loss of Keysha and my vexing relationship with Lori. I was in pain and my world was a spinning blur of drama and heartache. Alcohol offered a way to numb my feelings and slow everything down.
My cell phone vibrated again. I looked at it and saw Ed Daley had sent me a text message.
Ed: U got a prom date yet? If so I’ve scored a hotel room 4 some after prom action.
Good old Ed, I thought. He always knew how to pull strings and get people to do favors for him. I exhaled and stammered for a moment before deciding to give Lori a jingle. When she answered the phone she sounded as if she was around a crowd of people.
“Hey, stranger,” she greeted.
“Where are you?” I asked, wishing the Tylenol would kick in.
“At the Cricket Store looking at cell phones. What’s up?”
“So are we going to do this prom thing or what?” I got straight to the point.
“You can’t ask me any better than that? And why are you talking so slowly? You sound like you’re high or something.”
“I just woke up and I’m still a little groggy.”
“You just woke up? Wesley, it’s noon.”
“Really? I didn’t realize it was so late in the day.”
“You don’t sound as if you really want to go to prom with me. You’ve been ignoring me. I thought you were trying to hook back up with your beloved Keysha. What happened with that?” Lori was being her usual feisty self. She knew damn well she wanted to go, but was making this more difficult than it had to be.
“I don’t want to talk about Keysha. She’s old news as far as I’m concerned.”
“Oh, really?” I could picture Lori’s cynical smile in my mind.
“Lori, will you please go to junior prom with me?” I asked as politely as I could so that I could get her answer and hit Ed back.
“Yes. I’d love to go to prom with you. Get dressed. I’ll be over in about thirty minutes. I have my mom’s car for a few hours. I’ll come by, scoop you up and we’ll go look at prom dresses.” I could tell that I’d clearly just made her day. I really didn’t feel like shopping for prom dresses, but I didn’t have anything else to do.
“Okay,” I agreed and ended the call. I sent Ed a text back informing him that I did have a date.
The following week I was given a clean bill of health and no longer needed the use of the sling. It was liberating to have the use of my right arm again. I no longer had to ask Lori to write my notes for me, nor did I have to worry about forcing my left hand to do tasks it wasn’t accustomed to doing.
It was now Wednesday and I’d just entered the gymnasium. I was taking a shortcut and was on my way to the cafeteria. I wasn’t even paying attention to the two girls trotting around the track until one of them called me. I looked up and saw Keysha and her girlfriend Maya.
“Hey, you,” Keysha said and continued to jog in place. Her skin was glistening with perspiration and her breathing was labored.
“What’s up?” I acted nonchalant, as if her stopping to speak with me didn’t matter to me one way or another.
“How have you been?” She stopped jogging in place.
“I’ll catch up with you later, Keysha,” Maya said as she nodded her head in my direction.
“Okay, Maya. I’ll see you in the locker room in a minute,” Keysha said as Maya continued on.
“When did you start running?” I asked. Ever since Keysha got involved with the theater people she’d become a different person.
“Maya convinced me to do it. We’re working on shedding a few pounds for the prom.”
“Yeah, the prom. You’re going with that player, Antonio the sex machine.” I didn’t hold back the way I felt about him at all.
“Antonio is not like that, Wesley.” Keysha was defending him and I didn’t like it.
“Yeah, right. Whatever, Keysha, I’ve got to go,” I said and began to walk away.
“Wesley, wait. I want us to be friends. I don’t want any hard feelings between us,” she said. I didn’t like her anymore and I damn sure didn’t want to be her friend.
“I don’t want to be your friend. What did you tell me a few weeks back? Oh, yeah, it’s decision time. And I’ve decided that I don’t want to have anything to do with a girl who doesn’t believe a person can make a mistake. I don’t want to be friends with a girl who is suspicious and I damn sure don’t want to be friends with you,” I snapped.
“You know you don’t mean that, Wesley. I know you better than you think I do.”
“You don’t know me, Keysha.” I dismissed her claim as hogwash.
“You’re depressed, Wesley. That’s why you’ve started drinking again.”
“And you’re crazy, Keysha. That’s why you’re seeing a shrink!” I yelled at her. My animosity toward her had grown into raging hatred. I glared into her eyes so she could see the heat in my eyes.
“Yo, Wesley. Come here.” I turned in the direction of the voice. At the other end of the gym Ed Daley was waving me over.
“Wesley, Ed is bad news. You shouldn’t—”
“Keysha, stay out of my business!” I growled before turning my back and walking away.