Chapter five

Sidney and I ended up buying absolutely no furniture for his house. Instead, every chance he got, he jumped on a couch or a bed and made me do the same. By the end of the day, I must have jumped on more beds than I ever had when I was little. Every person in the store was glaring at us instead of staring when we left, and I had to admit, it was oddly exhilarating to jump on all those beds with a guy I hardly know.

“So, we discussed where to paint everything. Do you remember?” I asked him as we walked to our cars in the quiet dusk.

“Yellow in the family room, gray almost everywhere else and blue in the dining room,” he repeated back to me.

“Very good!” I joked, for what seemed like the first time in a long time. I was actually having fun. Emma would be proud. “You’ve passed your first test. So just call me when you’ve got all the colors up, and I’ll come and look at them. Oh, and keep looking for furniture,” I said, backing towards my car as he still stood in the middle of parking lot, watching me go. He nodded once and waved before turning around and heading towards his Range Rover. I got in my little Kia, and turned it on, then headed in the direction of Emma’s parent’s house. She’ll want to know about this whole adventure.
-
“It was actually really fun,” I concluded to Emma over Ben & Jerry’s and hot chocolate back I my apartment. She just sat there, mouth gaping, staring at me. She moved her hands in front of her face a little and rearranged herself a bit. I’m going to get it now.

“Let me get this straight,” she started, closing her eyes to think about her attack. “You went paint shopping with Sidney Crosby.” I nodded once in agreement. “You went furniture shopping with Sidney Crosby.” Nod. “You even jumped on beds with Sidney Crosby,” she said, sounding slightly annoyed, not an Emma trait. “And, and…” she trailed off and looked around to find the right words. “And you’re not totally smitten!?” she finally shrieked at me.

“Well, I don’t know,” I stated with a shrug of my shoulders. “He is really good looking, but it’s not like I’m trying to sleep with the guy,” I said, taking another spoonful of the ice cream that was resting in my lap.

“Maybe you should,” she said with a slight smile. “Aves,” she started, putting on her cutesy Emma voice.

“Yes?” I asked, looking up at her.

“When’s the last time you’ve had sex?” she asked, putting a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth.

“Uh,” I replied, stuck for words. I couldn’t remember the last time I had sex. It was probably in college. Who knows. It’s not like I missed it until she mentioned it. It was never a big deal to me. “I can’t remember…” I said, bracing myself for her reaction. Her eyes grew wide and the dropped her spoon into the bucket of ice cream.

“Avery Jones! How could you let this happen!?” she yelled, jumping off the couch to pace around the apartment. I just sat there. I have to admit, I was slightly scared. “You work too much,” she said simply, and stopped her pacing.

“Well, no I don’t,” I said defensively. She just stared at me like that was the stupidest thing I had ever said.

“When’s the last time you’ve come out with me?” she asked accusingly, staring me down with eyes similar to the devil’s. I had to look away from her piercing glare. “Ha! Exactly,” she said, plopping back down on the couch, having won this battle.

“Maybe I do work too much…” I said, trailing off, swirling my ice cream around in its container.

“Let’s go out,” Emma suddenly said, hoping up off the couch and making her way to my bedroom, and then my closet. Have I mentioned she’s spontaneous? I knew if I argued it would only hurt my case, so I grudgingly pulled myself up off the couch and followed her into my closet where she began to throw clothes at my face.
-
We ended up at Diesel about an hour later, with Emma forcing me to drink. “You need to… relax,” she spluttered, already tipsy.

“Emma, I’m fine,” I said, setting down my drink and taking in her, I mean my, ruined shirt. She already spilled a martini down the front of her, but don’t worry, a cute guy was there to help her out while I watched from the sidelines. On second thought, maybe I would need a beer to get me through the night. None of this martini crap. “One Iron City please,” I asked a passing bartender with exasperation. If I’m going to be out with my drunk friend, I might as well dull the memory. He handed me an uncapped Iron City and I downed half of it in seconds. Better.

“Look Aves! A guy! He’s holding my hand!” Emma screeched at me from across the floor. I just nodded my head. She doesn’t care what I think anyway. She’s too preoccupied with her guy who’s holding her hand, and by the looks of it, trying to get in her pants. I always feel like a babysitter when she makes me go out. Maybe I should have more fun… I drank the rest of my beer and ordered another before heading out on the dance floor. Within seconds, a decent looking guy was behind me, dancing. On most nights, I’d shove him off, but something told me not to. “Yeah Aves!” Emma screamed drunkenly as her guy tried to kiss her while mine ran his hands down my thighs.

By this point, I didn’t really care about much. The alcohol had dulled my senses and I was just going through the motions. I let this guy, whatever his name was, take me over to a couch in the corner and kiss me. He kissed me for awhile, with little participation on my end. I even let him feel me up, but as soon as his hands went to my pants, I sat up, grabbed my purse and went to go find Emma. I heard him call out after me, but I kept walking. She was in the same situation as I just was, but she was much more drunk. I grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the guy’s grasp. He glared at me as I dragged Em out of the club and to my car, but by that time I realized neither of us could drive. What a night this turned out to be. I sat down on the curb, dejected and waited for a taxi to pass.

“Avery, why’d you do that? I liked him,” Emma slurred as she sat down next to me and rested her head on my shoulder.

“You didn’t like him Em. The alcohol liked him,” I replied, only a little clearer than her confused words. “What was his name?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted slowly. “I’m sorry I made you come out. I can tell you’re mad now. I would be too.” She just had to use her sweet voice on me.

“It’s alright Em,” I said as a taxi approached. I got up and hailed it. “But from now on, I get to pick what we do.”