Under My Skin - 13. Part II, chapter 3

- III -

I was amazed when by spring break, I almost didn’t think of Alex anymore. I was falling head over heels for Sam, and at first, I was torturing myself about it again – I guess I am masochistic or something – thinking that Sam probably didn’t feel the same way as I did, and that I was getting myself into yet another devastating pit of feelings. And then one of those days, Sam looked at me and rolled his eyes.

“Jesus,” he grumbled. “Jake, will you please stop doing this to yourself?”

I blinked.

“What?” I asked carefully.

“I can see your eyelid twitch every time you look at me,” he said seriously.

“Oh, God...” I sighed. “Sam...”

He sat next to me.

“Jake,” he said softly. “If you want me to stop...”

I looked at him in astonishment.

“No!” I frowned. “Sam, Jesus... That’s not it!”

“Then what is it?”

I shook my head, feeling my face starting to burn.

“Sam,” I muttered and looked away from him. “I guess I just want to see you and nobody else...”

He was so silent that I finally looked at him. I was afraid to see horror in his eyes, but instead, he just took my face in his palms and kissed me on the lips with his soft, warm mouth. From that day, I felt complete and happy, even though at first, it was really hard to believe.

Landon never said anything to Christy, and I couldn’t bring myself up to tell her. I tried doing it several times, but I just couldn’t say it. Finally, I gave up, hoping that it would work out on its own somehow. Maybe Landon would stop screwing Danetta – after all, he did say he loved Christy... I told Sam about it, and he just shrugged.

“I guess telling her would be the right thing to do,” he said. “But what she doesn’t know can’t hurt her, right?”

I agreed with that wholeheartedly. I mean, Alex wasn’t completely brainless. He would be extremely careful now, right? Ugh, wrong. Shit hit the fan on the last day of Spring Break.

I was so happy, I felt like singing. I just got three acceptance letters – on the same day, can you believe that?! –from all three schools I applied to. It was unbelievable. I seriously thought that the minute someone else besides Sam and Christy saw my drawings, they would die from laughter. And yet there I was, staring at the acceptance letters. I shook my head and laughed. This was crazy and totally unreal. I thought which school should I go to, and then decided to talk to Sam and Christy, and also figure out which one would offer me a better scholarship. I put the letters away and dialed Christy’s number. She answered almost instantly, and she sounded very cheerful.

“Chris,” I said. “You busy?”

“Nope,” she said, and I immediately knew that she was eating ice-cream.

“Is it all right if I come over?”

She snorted.

“Do you even have to ask that?” she said, and I laughed.

“Okay. I’ll be there in half an hour or so. I have some awesome news!”

“Sweet,” Christy said and sighed.

“You just ran out of ice-cream, didn’t you?” I asked with laughter.

“Yeah,” she sounded so sad, it was comical.

“Oh, Bailey...” I sighed. “I’ll get you some.”

I stopped by the store and got two boxes of cherry and chocolate ice-cream. Christy would kill for cherry and chocolate ice-cream. Soon enough, I parked my car next to her house, and this time, I didn’t even bother ring the bell. I just walked in and shouted, “Honey, I am home!!”

“Come in!” she yelled from the living room.

I went there and she almost fell off the couch when she saw ice-cream.

“Oh my God, Summers,” she said with feeling. “I love you so much, you have no idea!”

“You don’t love me,” I said seriously. “You love ice-cream that I bring.”

“Whatever,” she laughed and grabbed her huge spoon.

We were watching TV and eating ice-cream – it felt great. I told her about my acceptance letters, and she hugged me so suddenly that she almost whacked me with her spoon. I laughed and licked ice-cream stains off my fingers.

“So yeah,” I said finally. “Now I am trying to figure out which one would give me a better scholarship...”

“Well,” Christy licked her spoon. “What if it’s the one in Arizona?”

“Then I guess I’ll have to move,” I shrugged.

“What about Sam?” she frowned.

“We talked about it,” I nodded. “A week ago, actually. He said that if I went to Arizona, he’d come with me. The company has a branch there, so he’d just transfer.”

Sam worked for the same computer company as Matt.

“That’s awesome,” she breathed, and her eyes suddenly became sad. “Oh, Summers... If you go over there, I’ll miss you so much!”

“I’ll miss you too,” I sighed. “But it’s not like I’d be going to a different planet. We’ll come back for holidays and whatnot...”

“I know,” Christy nodded. “But I’ll miss you, Jake...”

****

It was almost six in the evening when Christy asked me if I could give her a ride to Alex’s place.

“Matt’s car is in the shop,” she said apologetically. “So he borrowed mine.”

“Sure,” I shrugged. “No problem.”

We got into my car and I looked at Christy.

“So how are the things between you two?” I asked casually while I was driving down the road.

“It’s great,” she smiled. “Jake, I am so in love with him, it’s crazy!”

Took all my strength not to cringe at that.

“I mean, you don’t feel the same way about him anymore, right?” Christy asked quickly and I grinned.

“No, Bailey,” I said and stopped at the red light. “Landon does nothing for me now.”

“Thank God for Sam,” she muttered, and I laughed.

She was totally right though. Sam was my salvation. I couldn’t believe how whole I felt with him. It was like, suddenly, there was no gap in my soul and all the puzzle pieces had finally fit together.

Finally, I pulled into Alex’s driveway and turned off the car.

“Thanks, Jake,” Christy smiled. “Hey, do you wanna come in and say hi to my boy-toy?”

At first, I almost said no, thanks. But then I thought that Christy would probably misinterpret my unwillingness and think that I was still crazy about him. So I sighed and said, “Sure.” We got out of the car and walked to the front door of Alex’s house. Christy tried the doorknob and grinned when it turned easily.

“Let’s sneak up on him,” she said.

Suddenly, I wasn’t so sure of the fact that Landon wasn’t completely brainless.

“Errr...” I said uncomfortably. “Maybe you should just yell for him... I mean, what if you... I don’t know... Scare the crap out of him?”

Christy laughed softly.

“That’s the idea, doofus,” she said energetically. “Come on!”

Oye, this had better be uneventful... We tiptoed upstairs, and Christy swung the door of his bedroom wide open. I could tell that she was about to yell, “Surprise!!” but then she just froze on the spot, and I closed my eyes. Oh, God... Landon was brainless. He was butt-naked and he was doing something – which I tried to forget immediately – to Danetta, who was also completely naked. Alex was wearing a latex glove, and suddenly, I had a flashback of the night when Christy and I watched Fight Club together. Remember that scene, when Brad Pitt and Helena What’s-Her-Name are having sex, and Pitt is wearing a yellow rubber glove? Yeah, that’s exactly what it reminded me of.

“Christy!!” Alex looked like he was about to have a heart attack. “Oh my God! Christy!!”

She hadn’t said a single word. She just turned around and walked away. I almost punched Alex right then, but I ran after Christy without even glaring at him instead.

“Chris, wait!” I finally caught up to her outside. “Wait!!”

She stopped and looked at me, and I winced when I saw her eyes. There was no pain in them, no tears, no anger. They were completely empty. I pulled her towards myself and kissed her hair. Right now, I wanted to kill Landon with extreme violence.

“Come on,” I muttered and got her in the car.

I almost pulled out of the driveway when the door of the house swung open and Alex ran outside. He was wearing light-blue jeans and nothing else.

“Christy!!” he yelled and ran towards my car. “Wait!! Jake, please!”

I stopped the car and rolled down the window. He got closer and I looked up at him.

“Get the fuck away from her,” I said quietly, and he just blinked. “Or I will run you over with my goddamn car!”

“Jake...” he muttered. “Christy, please...”

I slammed on my gas pedal so hard that my engine barked at me. I was thankful that there was nobody on the street and I didn’t hit anything.

I drove to our with Sam apartment, and the entire way there, Christy was completely silent. She just stared out of the window without even blinking. When we got to the apartment, I got out of the car, and Christy just sat there without moving. Son of a bitch, I thought bitterly, and opened her door.

“Come on, Bailey,” I said softly and tagged on her sleeve.

She slowly got out and followed me inside, looking like she was sleepwalking. Sam was at home, and his eyes immediately became tense and narrow the minute he saw Christy’s blank expression. He looked at me with a silent question in his eyes, and I just nodded. Yup, she found out. Sam tightly pressed his lips and went into the kitchen. I sat Christy down on the couch, and she couldn’t look more indifferent even if she tried.

Sam brought a bottle of scotch and a short glass from the kitchen. He poured just a little into the glass, and carefully handed it to Christy.

“Drink, Chris,” he said softly.

She took the glass and obediently drank. Then suddenly, she coughed, squeezed her eyes shut, and almost dropped the glass, but I managed to get it just in time. Finally, Christy opened her eyes and looked up at me.

“Jake...” she muttered and started to sob.